The BLACK AUGUST Planning Organization and Peoples MEDIA Center presents:

Monthly Political Prisoner workshops and letter writing campaign.

Every last Saturday of the month from 11am-1pm.

4132 Georgia Ave NW, Washington, DC 20011 between Upshur & Taylor 3 blocks North of Petworth green line metro station. Bus #70/71/60/64

March 28, 2009: Marshall Eddie Conway & Jack Johnson

April 25, 2009: Mumia abu Jamal

May 30, 2009: Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald

June 27, 2009: Sekou Odinga

July 25, 2009: Dr. Mutulu Shakur

Special Happy Birthday Assata Shakur (7/18)

August 29, 2009: Ruchell “Cinque” Magee

September 26, 2009: Sundiata Acoli

October 31, 2009: Imam Jamil Al-Amin

November 28, 2009: Marilyn Buck

December 26, 2009: Russell “Maroon” Shoatz

Each month we will feature a different political prisoner. Workshops will include an overview of their history and the circumstances of their captivity. Participants will be strongly encouraged to write the PP a letter following the workshop. Donations will also be accepted and sent along with the letters.

“Any movement that doesn't support its political prisoners is a sham movement.”

-Ojore Lutalo

For more info:

black.august07@gmail.com

or 202-271-7763 (BAPO), 202-722-0150(PMC)

visit: www.legacybookclub.com

www.myspace.com/blackaugust_dc

Mission Statement

The Black August Planning Organization (BAPO) is committed to the task of ensuring that our political prisoners (PPs) and prisoners-of-war (POWs), particularly those of the black liberation movement in the USA, are not forgotten. We advocate on their behalf, disseminate their teachings and principles, and tell their stories of struggle against injustice. By doing this, we hope to contribute to the fight for their liberation and to inspire those of us outside of captivity to pick up where they left off.

In addition to the individual PP/POWs, we also commemorate the history of the movements and organizations of which they were a part, as well as of the movements and organizations which preceded them, thus providing an historical overview of the ongoing movement for black liberation. Furthermore, we encourage all organizations, no matter what their cause, to contribute earnestly and with good work to the cause of black liberation and to the freedom of all PP/POWs. After all, the unspeakable persecution suffered by such fine political activists and thinkers as Marcus Garvey, Assata Shakur, and Mumia Abu-Jamal sufficiently proves that Unless we fight for true liberation and power for ourselves and others, today's activist may well be tomorrow's political prisoner!

“Any movement that doesn't support its political prisoners is a sham movement.”

-Ojore Lutalo

What is Black August?

Blessed are those who struggle;

Oppression is worst than the grave.

Better to die for a noble cause

Than to live and die a slave.

The Last Poets

BLACK AUGUST began in 1979* as a commemoration of the life, the death, and the material and spiritual contributions of several freedom fighters who were assassinated or otherwise persecuted at the hands of the racist and reactionary United States government (via the California Department of Corrections) as it worked to suppress the black liberation movement that had emerged (after about 1960) to fight against injustices within the California Penal System. These freedom fighters included, along with scores of others, George Jackson, his brother Jonathan Jackson, William Christmas, Fleeta Drumgo, W.L. Nolan, Alvin Miller, Cleveland Edwards, Khatari Gaulden, James McClain, Ruchelle Magee, John Cluchette, Lateef Allen, and Sujaa Graham. With the exception of Jonathan Jackson (the leader of the August 1970 Marin County Court House rebellion), these men served in the black liberation prison movement known as the "Black Guerrilla Family". In this regard, these men prominently worked and in some cases sacrificed their all, including their very lives, for the people's massive resistance against injustice. That is to say, they fought against racist bigotry, class prejudice, and oppression both inside and outside of the prison walls. To quote George Jackson, "We attempted to transform the black criminal mentality into a black revolutionary mentality. As a result, each of us has been subjected to years of the most vicious reactionary violence by the state."

As time has passed, BLACK AUGUST, as a black consciousness commeration, outgrew its beginnings in the California prisons and became recognized nationwide as an annual celebration of the black liberation movement in its entirety, that is, from the sixteenth century slave rebellions in the Americas to the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X and, furthermore, to the subsequent militant work of the Black Panther Party and the Student National Coordinating Committee. In this growth, BLACK AUGUST still encourages resistance against all manner of injustice and racist bigotry, and it calls upon us to remember all who struggled against oppression, with a particular emphasis on current political prisoners and prisoners of war.

Through education, BLACK AUGUST provides an opportunity to study the black liberation movement and its every attempt to destroy slavery and racist oppression in the Americas. Despite state-supported violence in the United States this liberation movement continued in stubborn perseverence. Hence, in the work of Gabriel Prosser, Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, the Montgomery Improvement Association, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Kwame Toure, Fannie Lou Hamer, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, the Student National Coordinating Committee, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Revolutionary Action Movement, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ("NAACP"), the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Black Liberation Army ("BLA"), and a host of other organizations, the black liberation movement has continued from slavery through the present. Valuable lessons can be learned from this history.

For those reasons, the Black August Planning Organization (BAPO) promotes and celebrates BLACK AUGUST and we are honored to be a part of this process. Through BLACK AUGUST, and through valuable lessons drawn from our modern-day political struggles for liberation, we in BAPO hope to acquire a better understanding of ourselves.

*Some of the original founders went on to create the Black August Organizing committee (BAOC) based in California

Goals

The permanent goals for BAPO are as follows:

As a commemorative exercise, keep BLACK AUGUST alive and promote it throughout the Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C. metropolitan region and beyond.

Create and sustain another line of contact between political prisoners and prisoners-of-war, on the one hand, and the “Movement” on the other hand.

Identify and address the needs of our community to whatever reasonable capacity our resources can accommodate, and do this consistent with and in honor of the life's work of our political prisoners and prisoners-of-war whom we honor.

Take advantage of our strategic location in the nation's capital, the seat of U.S. political power, and push the issue of liberating our political prisoners and prisoners-of-war on the U.S. Congress and on the executive and judiciary branches of the U.S. [government]. We should do this because theoretically we have access to all U.S. senators and representatives.

Be consistent and thorough in our programs that serve to promote the interests of our political prisoners and prisoners-of-war and that also serve to increase awareness about this important issue.

Encourage all activist/revolutionary/reformist organizations to work for the liberation of our political prisoners and prisoners-of-war.

Incite and/or direct people towards effective actions that could alleviate or, at the very least, draw attention to the conditions of degradation in our communities.

Happy Birthday Assata!!! Come sign the national B-day card!!

Join the Black August Planning Organization this Saturday June 9th as
we celebrate
the
60th birthday of our dear mother and sister – Assata Shakur in DC as
part of the nationwide Happy Birthday Assata campaign. The purpose of
this program is to honor this shining example of resistance and
determination as we continue the fight for freedom. We are also taking
this time to acknowledge that the fight is far from over and though she may
have been liberated from prison almost 30 years ago, this brutal and
repressive American government has never forgotten.

In 2005, a $1 million dollar bounty was offered for her capture. We also
recognize that Assata Shakur is not the only one of our Black Panthers to
have come under attack recently. In the burgeoning 21st century we have
also witnessed the seizure of Imam Jamil al-Amin (formerly known as H.
Rap Brown) on trumped-up charges and four Panthers of the San Francisco 8
on 34-year old charges that had previously been dropped. So on this
occasion we honor and reflect, not for nostalgia, but with the intention to
encourage ourselves to continue fighting.

The program will start at 5pm at the Emergence Community Arts
Collective Center (733 Euclid St. NW - 1/2 block off of Georgia
Ave). There will be an intense, provocative, and informative panel
discussion about the histories and current conditions of Assata Shakur,
Imam Jamil, and the San Francisco 8. The panel discussion will be
followed by a Q&A session. We will break at 7pm and reconvene
at 7:30pm, 1 block away at Sankofa Bookstore (2714 Georgia Ave) to view
the rare documentary about Assata Shakur "Eyes on the Rainbow" (47mins) and "Legacy of Torture: the war aginst the Black liberation movement" (28mins) which showcases the San Francisco 8. This will be followed by an informal discussion with Q&A. We will also be adding our signatures to a worldwide birthday card courtesy of the Hands Off Assata campaign.

The speakers will include Soffiya Elijah an attorney and professor who
has worked closely on the case of the San Francisco
8 as well as other political prisoners.
Masai Ehehosi who was a former POW as part of the Black Liberation Army
and is currently part of Imam Jamil Al-Amin's community. And Rosemari
Mealy a close friend of Assata Shakur, former Black Panther and one of
few authorized to have and screen the rare film.


For more info call 202-271-7763 or e-mail black.august07@gmail.com or
visit
www.myspace.com/blackaugust_dc.

To learn more about the happy birthday Assata mobilization go to
www.happybirthdayassta.org

For more info on Imam Jamil and the San Fran 8, visit:

http://myspace.com/freetheimam

www.myspace.com/freesf8

Rafael Cancel Miranda

Puerto Rican nationalist and former political prisoner for 28 years, who, along with Andrés Figueroa Cordero, Irvin Flores and Lolita Lebrón, protested the criminal nature of the U.S. colonial domination of Puerto Rico by opening fire on the U.S. Congress in 1954. He was sentenced to eighty-four years for "an attempt to overthrow the government by force and violence." As a result of pressure from the Puerto Rican Independence movement and the international community, he was released without conditions in September of 1979.

Translation of Solidarity Message from Rafael Cancel Miranda:

The Palestinian and Puerto Rican people have a lot in common.  We are two nations under attack, who face the same aggressor, though he may be called by different names.

Having spent 28 years of my life in the Anglo prisons of the United States, I can easily understand the plight of the men, women and Children of Palestine who find themselves in Israeli prisons.  As we all know, Israel is an Anglo spawn.  It has often been said that societies are judged by the way they treat their prisoners.  If that's the case, then we can conclude that the Anglo/U.S. and Israeli societies are extremely sadistic and demonic, given the crimes and tortures they've perpetrated against their prisoners.  All the horror stories in the world are insufficient to convey the lack of humanity exhibited by these two aggressors, which are one and the same.

I admire the Palestinian people, because I know how much love and courage it takes to struggle with their determination.  My people, the people of Puerto Rico are engaged in a similar struggle.  I can say without fear of self deception that we will win; not only because truth and reason are on our side, but because we are ready to do whatever is necessary to secure the rights of our peoples.

Receive my strong embrace and solidarity with our brothers and sisters imprisoned in Palestine.

Palante

Rafael Cancel Miranda

San Juan Puerto Rico,

September 12, 2006

Russell "Maroon" Shoats

Russell "Maroon" Shoats

AF-3855

SCI Greene

175 Progress Drive

Waynesburg, PA 15370-8090

"My name is Russell 'Maroon' Shoats and I am a New Afrikan Political Prisoner of War, who at this moment is serving a prison sentence at the Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, state institution. … In response to the heightened repression of the New Afrikan liberation movement in general, and the unjustified killing of New Afrikan youth by the repressive police in the [Philadelphia] community, from August 1970 until January 1972, the date of my capture and arrest, I was active on the armed front of the New Afrikan Liberation Army." –from "I am Maroon!"

To My Palestinian Comrades

From Russell "Maroon" Shoats, a New Afrikan/Black Political Prisoner, to the Palestinian Political Prisoners.

Having joined the ongoing struggle for self-determination for Afrikans born in the United States in 1967, i was then and still am now inspired by the valiant people of Palestine.

Since then i've clearly come to learn that both of our struggles are connected by our people's equal desires to be free.

So when you suffer, we suffer; when you make progress, we make progress; and when you win your freedom, we will also celebrate! Because in our hearts we too are Palestinians!

Ever forward to victory!

"Straight Ahead,"

Maroon

September 7, 2006

Marilyn Buck

Marilyn Buck

#00482-285

5701 8^th St. Camp Parks B

Federal Correctional Institution

Dublin, CA 94568

Greetings to all who stand for a fee, just, liberated Palestine. I was still an infant when Palestine was dismembered, hacked into pieces and driven off its land. It was 18 or 19 years thereafter before I heard that Palestine was alive, that there had not been the burial the imperialist and Zionist powers had hoped. Life coursed then as now through diaspora veins connecting the hearts of Palestinian people worldwide.

The will and resistance of the Palestinian people taught and inspired me along with other anti-imperialists and internationalists. I greet you and honor you who defend the Palestinian nation and its people. If only I could be present to embrace you, to stand beside you for your homeland.

Those who struggle for a lifetime are the bearers of the future!

Your sister in solidarity.

Marilyn Buck, U.S. anti-imperialist political prisoner

Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3

Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3

#72148

CCR UB #3

Louisiana State Penitentiary

Angola, LA 70712

To my Palestinian brothers and sisters. Herman Wallace and myself greet you from the belly of the beast! (Prison.)

We would so much rather be there in person, to honor your courage and determination against the zionist state of Israel!

For the last 35 years, we have watched the Palestinian people resist the genocide of Israel against the Palestinians while the western world and media tries to make the world see you as a people unfeeling, without love of family, or people of the world.

Your fight for the destiny and control of the Palestinian people's future is both inspiring and courageous! The world must not rest until the Palestinian people has their own state, with sovereign rights and East Jerusalem as its capital! I salute your courage, I salute your sacrifice, I salute your determination, I salute your victory!

Sincerely,

Albert Woodfox

Angola #3!

September 7, 2006

Debbie Sims Africa of the MOVE 9

Debbie Sims Africa, MOVE 9

#506307

451 Fullerton Avenue

Cambridge Springs, PA 16403-1238

The MOVE 9 are members of the revolutionary MOVE organization imprisoned since 1978 after a police assault on their headquarters in Powelton Village, Philadelphia. In 1985 the government dropped a bomb on the MOVE house on Osage Avenue in Philadelphia, killing 11 people, including 5 children.

Salute and solidarity to all our strong, loyal committed revolutionary sisters and brothers in Palestine.

The committed example that you continue to set in your country is being felt by all of us here in the USA too. The Move Organization is generating a united, revolutionary vibration to you and all political prisoners around the world through our unending fight for freedom and justice. We are linked together as one to confront and expose the demon intimidation tactics the oppressor uses to beat down and kill off the fighting spirit in all freedom fighters. We must keep fighting back, no matter what or how things may seem. We are obligated to show others the urgent need for change and guide them in the direction of revolution. We must never let ourselves be divided despite any so-call differences, because finally, we have the most important thing in common our fight against the enemy, the oppressor, the enslaver, this system, and any difference among us is secondary to that. What this system fears most is unity because they know unity is power. Power of the people is the key to bring this system to its knees.

We have committed our lives to revolution. Our men, women, children, our infants have lost their lives, they were murdered by this system. We know all of you have lost family, loved ones, and comrades too. The MOVE 9have been unjustly imprisoned for almost 30 years, we are innocent. But despite our innocence, we've been beat jailed and had family members murdered, not because we are guilty of any crime but because we stand up against this rotten, corrupt government and fight for what is right and because we expose these government officials, judges, and police for the diabolical monsters they are. We know all of you have suffered injustices there, the stories we've heard affect us personally and pushes us to fight harder, cause while we are located in different parts of the globe we understand and can relate to what you are going through. Stay strong my brothers and sisters and know that we will not let the lives of our family, your family, any freedom fighter be in vain. We will never stop fighting this system. The seed for this revolution is planted, and though we may not cross paths in our life time, our roots will be planted in the same soil. LONG LIVE ALL FREEDOM FIGHTERS LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!

To quote John Africa

"Solidarity is unity, without unity you can't have revolution…Revolution is organization just as solidarity is togetherness … The word people should be a symbol of identity which should unite people and dispel war but to call everybody a person and go to war against people is to say that people are compelled to conflict making peace hopeless and everything people are striving to make, to have, to be … If we expect to accomplish the defeat of oppression, we are going to have to understand the power of assertion, a single mind is an assertive mind, when we think as one we are as no other, when we think as one another we're defeated because one is one and another is something other than one."

LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA FOREVER

Bill Dunne

Bill Dunne

#10916-086

U.S.P. Big Sandy

PO Box 2068

Inez, KY 41224:

"My name is Bill Dunne. I fell in 1979 as a result of an effort to effect the armed liberation of a comrade from jail. My politics fall in the anarcho-communist realm: radical socialism somewhere between rigid and hierarchical vanguard parties and disorganized and scattered non-parties. They aim at an egalitarian and democratic social organization in which all people will have the greatest possible freedom to develop their full human potential."

To Boston Jericho's Black September Memorial

Salutations and solidarity to the participants in this commemoration of Black September, a landmark event in the history of popular resistance to exploitation and oppression!

The brutal suppression of the Palestinian people's aspirations to self-determination by the Jordanian monarchy in September of 1970 is only incidentally an illustration of the inhumanity of the ruling class. History has shown us ad nauseam there is no limit to the murder and mayhem agencies of repression will inflict on the people in furtherance of their masters' interests. Nor is the event more than incidentally a defeat. People were killed and injured and forced to leave their homes and communities and cast into poverty, and the objective of Palestinian liberation was not attained. The courage of the Palestinian people, however, was indelibly written in blood and their will was not broken.

The point, then, of remembering Black September is not to mourn the losses and condemn the oppression, though doing so goes without saying. It is to celebrate the spirit of the Palestinian people who would rise up for freedom nothwithstanding their long odds against armor and artillery and aircraft, who rise up in resistance to the depredations of king and capital, who rise up in continuing struggle against imperialist thuggery from one generation to another and yet another. Memory must not dwell on the price of pursuing life, liberty, and happiness. Instead, it must focus on affirmation of the indomitable consciousness that impels people to that pursuit and to accept nothing less. So acknowledge the tragedy of Black September, but commend and support the Palestinian commitment to justice and protracted struggle it represented. And let us hope it is contagious!

Moreover, we must extend that recognition and support to the Palestinian people's current resistance to Israeli aggression. Their cause is our cause, 'cause what is visited on them will eventually be visited on others of the oppressed class as soon as the oppressor class wants something they have. If we, through our silence, allow the visitation to be legitimized on Palestinians in Gaza and Lebanon and the West Bank and the people with and among whom they've made their homes, we will hasten the time when those tactics are used against us.

The Palestine plight is not some far-away issue affecting only some "foreign" group. Contemplating my first thunderstorm in years as it raged across the patch of sky visible from the federal transit camp's hole 7500 miles west of occupied Palestine, I could not escape images of the human-made thunder and lightening raining down on the people of South Lebanon and the much bloodier consequences thereof. Just because they were only images and not reality to me did nothing to ameliorate the atrocity—induced anger and sadness—or the uncomfortable knowledge I was and remain in the hands of the same government of little Eichmanns that enables and supports the slaughter of Palestinians and Lebanese by the Israeli military whose signs and sounds disturbed me in that remote dark concrete corner. That discomfort is only the thin edge of the wedge.

And I must also recognize you, who took time from your lives and your own struggles with the vagaries of life under late capitalism to recognize and support Palestinian resistance to oppression. Such is the way to realizing our human commonality, our rights as humans and the deprivation thereof. Such is the path to building true international solidarity against exploitation and oppression. Such is the road to revolution.

The future holds promise!

Bill Dunne

USP Big Sandy

7 September 2006

Byron Shane Chubbuck

Byron Shane Chubbuck # 07909-051
USP Beaumont
P.O. Box 26030
Beaumont, TX 77720

Byron Shane Chubbuck is a Cherokee/Choctaw political prisoner, captured in 1999 for robbing banks to support the Zapatista Rebels of Chiapas. He is serving an 80 year sentence in federal prison.

Greeting Brothers and Sisters of Earth

we are all connected we

are all related!

I love the Palestinian

people because they have the guts

and heart to stand up

against the greatest source of lies

on earth.

"The Zionist"

Tribesmen of Cain.

Those "brood of vipers" who

Seek to destroy sovereignty

on a global level. And fully

intend on destroying the will

of all arab peoples who refuse

to obey the World Banks, Central

Banking madness.

Stay Strong

warriors!

Fight tooth and

nail like

American Indian

Movements always have.

Stop at nothing

Time is very

limited now.

Love and respect

Oso Blanco de Aztlan.

[Byron Shane Chubbuck]

Jaan Laaman

Jaan Laaman (W87237)

Box 100

South Walpole, MA

02071

Anti-imperialist political prisoner, captured in 1984, in Cleveland, Ohio, with several comrades who came to be known as the "Ohio 7." They were accused of being members of the United Freedom Front (UFF), a group that took responsibility for targeting the offices of the South African apartheid regime, U.S. military bases, and corporations profiting from war and apartheid.

David Gilbert

David Gilbert

#83A6158

Clinton Correctional Facility

P.O. Box 2001

Dannemora, New York 12929

"In response to the murderous government assault on the Black Liberation Movement and the unending, massive bombing of Vietnam, the Weather Underground formed in the early 1970's. I spent 10 years in underground resistance. On October 20, 1981, I was captured when a unit of the Black Liberation Army and allied white revolutionaries attempted to take funds from a Brinks truck, with the unfortunate result of a shoot-out in which a guard and two policemen were killed." David Gilbert from "Can't Jail the Spirit," 4^th edition, March 1998

Israel's apartheid-like occupation of Palestine is a most blatant and brutal violation of human rights. That reality combined with the courageous resistance there make the struggle a front-line in the world today. I urge everyone who is committed to humanity and to freedom to make support for Palestinian self-determination, including full and fair provisions for the needs and rights of all Palestinians in the diaspora, a top priority.

David Gilbert, 9/7/06

(Anti-imperialist political prisoner in the U.S.)

Jalil Muntaqim

Jalil Muntaqim

#77A4283

Auburn Correctional Facility

Po Box 618

135 State Street

Auburn, NY 13024

To: Jericho Boston—Solidarity with Palestine Independence Movement

Fr: Jalil A. Muntaqim (a. Jalil Bottom)

Re: Solidarity Means Struggle

Dt: September 17, 2006

Bismillah Ir Rahman Nir Raheem:

As Salaam Alaikum

Revolutionary Greetings Friends and Supporters:

It is my prayer this message finds all of you in the very best of health and continued high fighting spirits. Today, the Jericho Movement Boston Chapter joins with other progressive people and groups to acknowledge and honor the Palestinian Independence Movement in all of its various forms of struggle. For Jericho to join in sponsoring this event is to essentially extend the solidarity and support of all U.S. political prisoners, many of whom have been in prison over 3 decades. This solidarity speaks to an understanding of our fighting a common enemy, extending this understanding there continues to be a need to struggle in our mutual self-interest and political determination.

When different peoples, different oppressed peoples are fighting against the same enemy, then we need to recognize that solidarity means struggle. I can not truly be in solidarity with the Palestinian Independence Movement without being willing to engage and confront your enemy who is also my enemy. Our struggle is not divorced from yours, but rather our front line struggle is your rear front struggle, while your front line struggle is our rear front struggle. Hence, anti-imperialist and anti-zionist initiatives in the U.S. serve to free us from white supremacy and national oppression. Our fight against white supremacy and national oppression serves to free you of U.S. imperialism and proxy wars in support of zionism.

When we in North America fail to act, fail to confront and engage our common enemy we have betrayed you and our words of solidarity become empty and hollow. Therefore, it is the duty of political activist and progressive folks in this country to build a mass and popular movement that specifically challenges white supremacy and national oppression here. The struggle in the U.S. needs to grow and evolve in a consistent level of resistance that corresponds to—if not exceeds—the degree of oppression and reaction by U.S. imperialism. Unfortunately, that is not happening here, and because of this failing, more Palestinians are dying who could have possibly been saved. Harsh truths, but truths none the less, and it is far time that progressive forces in the U.S. come to terms with this reality.

In this regard, and in terms of Jericho Amnesty Movement, I have recently proposed that for the 10^th Year Anniversary of Jericho '08, that Jericho organize a national conference, march and demonstration to be held in New York City. The theme of the national determination would be "When the U.S. Won't—The World Will Recognize the Existence of U.S. Political Prisoners". Ultimately, such a national determination will serve to demonstrate before the United Nations and the world the U.S. has political prisoners, and these political prisoners represent a legacy of struggle opposing U.S. imperialism, opposing white supremacy and opposing national oppression. By building and raising the issue of U.S. political prisoners onto the national debate and in the international community, we will be undermining and exposing U.S. imperialism and zionism, providing pragmatic support to those engaging U.S. imperialism around the world. Solidarity means struggle, and our struggle is united with those fighting our common enemy. But it will only be when we take responsibility, unite and fight for our own political prisoners, can we truly say we are in solidarity with any other peoples' fighting our common enemy. We are on the front lines, and our captured and confined are front line activists which Jericho has sought to represent in a national determination.

Therefore, I ask all those attending this event to join with Jericho in support of this proposal for the 10^th Year Anniversary of Jericho, to tell the world we join them in solidarity by continuing the fight here, asking them to condemn U.S. imperialism for its inhumane treatment of U.S. political prisoners.

When we strengthen our resolve and capacity to confront U.S. imperialism here, we will in essence be unified with the Palestinian peoples in their war against U.S. imperialism and zionism in Palestine. Let our solidarity be more than words or financial gratuity, when failing to provide same support for our own U.S. political prisoners. Rather, when we fight to free and liberate our own, we will weaken our common enemy ensuring our comrades overseas are better able to be victorious in their many and varied battles. That would truly be solidarity in the meaning of struggle.

Mas Salaam—

Remember—We Are Our Own Liberators!

Jalil A. Muntaqim

Hanif Shabazz Bey

Hanif Shabazz Bey

S/N Gereau #295933

Wallensridge State Prison

P.O. Box 759

Big Stone Gap, Va. 24219

September 13, 2006

I am a Virgin Islands freedom fighter who was involved in the movement for independence from U.S. hegemony during the early seventies.

I was ultimately convicted with four comrades in 1973 for the armed attack on the Nelson Rockefeller owned golf course in St. Croix, V.I. on September 6, 1972.

I was sentenced to eight consecutive life terms plus 99 years for the alleged killing of eight American tourists, and I have been exiled in U.S. prisons since 1973.

The recent Zionist aggression in which the world witnessed Israeli war planes drop cluster bombs on helpless Lebanese children was precipitated by the U.S. government's greed for oil, as the attack was actually staged so the U.S. and Zionist Israel can secure control over the Eastern Mediterranean coastline for the shipping of millions of barrels of oil, now coming out of the recently inaugurated "BTC" pipeline.

The Balfour Declaration in 1918 was invoked to quench the imperialist thirst for land and oil, as was the European incursion in 1948.

The erecting of the Apartheid Wall in occupied Palestine, in an effort to stifle the economical livelihood of the Palestinian people is not seen as an emblem of power, but rather as a harbinger of weakness. It also shows the Zionist fear and lack of confidence, and serves as a reminder of the strength and resolve of the spirit within the Palestinian populace.

All the freedom loving people of the world are inspired by the Palestinian Resistance to imperialist aggression for the past 100 years. In time the world Intifada will escalate and drive imperialism from the face of the earth.

We stand with you and we support your efforts.

In solidarity,

Hanif Shabazz Bey

Herman Bell

Herman Bell

DIN 7960262

Sullivan Correctional Facility

P.O. Box 116

Fallsburg, New York 12733-0116

"In Support of Palestinian Political Prisoners"

by Herman Bell

To the Palestinian people, their political prisoners and detainees held in israeli jails. To our brothers and sisters in struggle, we u.s. political prisoners and prisoners of war extend greetings and solidarity and commend you for your stout-hearted resistance to zionist occupation of your land. Your dogged resolve to expel them is admired and respected more than ever. We recognize your plight and honor your historic resistance to this occupation and aggression.

Across the border from you—in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in mother Afrika, and in the belly of the beast itself, the same war against u.s. imperialist designs and its quest for global domination wages on. And at every turn babies cry, and mothers grieve; and sons, daughters, husbands and wives are martyred. In Gaza, a family of beach goers is cut down by zionist tank shells as they recline on a lonely stretch of sand to catch some sun and much needed respite from the stress of bombs, tanks, and overflying warplanes. On a war-torn street in the West Bank, captured by television before a global audience, the figures of a father and son are riddled with bullets as they huddled desperately behind the shelter of a wooden barrel from withering zionist firepower.

After a long train of abuses, people reject injustices and they eventually respond aggressively. This is what usually creates political prisoners and prisoners of war and is why we gather here at this time to honor and immortalize your implacable spirit in tenaciously resisting zionist occupation of your homeland. Therefore, as you have ably demonstrated, we categorically reject the prescribed reality of long suffering and acceptance of our plight served up by the forces of power and greed. Our vision is one that dank prison cells, truncheons, electrodes, waterboarding and the like cannot hope to alter or forestall. To coin a phrase: "we claim no easy victories and tell no lies." And we shall remain a vigilant and firm supporter of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, as we stay the course in our own struggle 'til victory is won.

In solidarity,

Herman Bell

Sundiata Acoli

Sundiata Acoli #39794-066

(Squire) P.O. Box 3000

USP Allenwood

White Deer PA 17887

Sundiata Acoli was born in 1937 in Texas and grew up there. In 1956 he became a computer programmer for NASA in California and later programmed computers for various corporations in New York.

During the Civil Rights era of 1964, Sundiata traveled to Mississippi to help register black voters. In 1968 he joined the Harlem, NY Black Panther Party and was arrested in the New York Panther 21 conspiracy case. After 2 years in jail he and all co-defendants were acquitted of all charges. Upon returning to the streets COINTELPRO and its stepped-up police provocations drove Sundiata underground where he joined the Black Liberation Army (BLA).

On May 2^nd, 1973 while driving the New Jersey Turnpike Sundiata and two comrades, Assata Shakur and Zayd Shakur, were ambushed by state troopers. During the gunfire Zayd and a trooper were killed. Assata, Sundiata and another trooper were wounded. Assata was captured at the scene and Sundiata was captured two days later in the woods. Both were sentenced to life plus 30 years consecutive in separate trials. Assata was liberated in 1979 by a multinational BLA Task Force and lives in Cuba. Sundiata has been in prison since his capture. He has come up for parole twice since 1992 and each time was denied parole and given and extensive "hit" (time period) before he becomes eligible for a parole hearing again.

September 6, 2006

Greetings, Bros, Sisters and Comrades,

It's good to see you all honoring Palestinian freedom fighters. They have long borne the main brunt of the fight against u.s. imperialism in the Mid-East. They are doing there what we who want freedom should be doing here—and one day will do here. Meanwhile i send my warmest solidarity to the Palestinian political prisoners and may we continue to struggle in solidarity until we and all oppressed people are free worldwide!

In struggle and solidarity,

Sundiata Acoli

Bashir Hameed

Bashir Hameed 82A6313

Great Meadow Prison Box 51

Comstock, New York 12821

Bismallah ir Rahman ir Raheem

As Salaamu Alaykum,

My name is Bashir Hameed. I was formerly known as James D. York. I am a former member of the Black Panther Party and one of the many political prisoners held by the u.s. government for my political activism.

I would like to express my solidarity with my Palestinian sisters and brothers around the world in memory of both Black September and their continuous heroic struggle being waged by them around the world.

Their intifadas and ceaseless struggle against the forces of oppression are an inspiration to us all and all peace loving people the world over.

I salute you all and I pray that Allah will continue to guide, bless and reward us all. Be well and continue to intensify our struggle.

In solidarity,

Bashir