[Cdhrsupport] Boston demo to Free the SF 8

[SF-8 case]

Demonstration to Free the San Francisco 8: 
Protests against U.S. Torture and Racism

by Danni West
Email: <mailto:dannimarilynwest (nospam) 
gmail.com>dannimarilynwest (nospam) 
gmail.com<http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/#> 
<http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/#>(unverified!) 14 Feb 2007

Boston, MA, February 14th • Activists, students, 
teachers and church leaders from the groups Coast 
to Coast Solidarity- Boston and Queers Against 
Prison- Boston rallied this morning at South 
Station followed by a string of banner 
appearances and educational events across the 
city. This demonstration was part of a national 
call to action demanding lower bail and the 
release of the San Francisco 8. Eight former 
Black Panthers were arrested January 23rd, 2007 
in California, New York and Florida on charges 
related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco 
police officer. Similar charges were thrown out, 
over 30 years ago, after it was revealed that 
police used torture to extract confessions when 
some of these same men were arrested in New Orleans in 1973.

Lower Their Bail: Free the San Francisco 8
Richard Brown, Richard O'Neal, Ray Boudreaux, and 
Hank Jones were arrested in California. Francisco 
Torres was arrested in Queens, New York. Harold 
Taylor was arrested in Florida. Two men charged 
have been held as political prisoners for over 30 
years – Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim are both 
in New York State prisons. A ninth man -- Ronald 
Stanley Bridgeforth – is still being sought. The 
men were charged with the murder of Sgt. John 
Young and conspiracy that encompasses numerous acts between 1968 and 1973.

Harold Taylor and John Bowman (recently deceased) 
as well as Ruben Scott (thought to be a 
government witness) were first charged in 1975. 
But a judge tossed out the charges, finding that 
Taylor and his two co-defendants made confessions 
after police in New Orleans tortured them. Their 
torture lasted for several days, with police 
employing electric shock, cattle prods, beatings, 
sensory deprivation, plastic bags and hot, wet blankets for asphyxiation.

Information sharing, bright displays, and speak 
outs have been organized to testify that 
Bostonians will not stand for this abuse of good 
people who fight for justice. Demands for the 
freedom of the San Francisco 8, all political 
prisoners and an end to prison expansion in Massachusetts rang out clearly.

"Despite the recent birthday of the President who 
issued the Emancipation Proclamation, we still 
see slavery legal and in full effect within the 
prison industrial complex. The issue that needs 
addressed is a broader, underlying force of 
systemic, institutionalized white supremacy, but 
today, we rally specifically to show support and 
solidarity with the San Francisco 8" said Jason 
Lydon, the Director of Community Church of Boston.

Danni West, one of the organizers for today's 
actions, reminded the assembled people that, "as 
northerners, we cannot allow ourselves to forget 
that the confessions which these ridiculous 
criminal complaints are based upon, were 
extracted through torture in the city of New 
Orleans. As we push for the freedom of the San 
Francisco 8, may we keep the humin-made disasters 
in the gulf, the torture caused by the government 
in the face of the storms barely a year and a 
half ago, in our hearts as well."

For further information visit:
<http://www.cdhrsupport.org>www.cdhrsupport.org
www.massdecarcerate.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/cdhrsupport_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20070214/11efcf3b/attachment.html