[Ppnews] Reparations and Political Prisoners

[Political Prisoner News]

REPARATIONS AND POLITICAL PRISONERS

http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/commentary.cfm?ArticleID=8753

by Dr. Conrad W. Worrill
March 12, 2007

One of the critical demands of the Reparations Movement is the 
release of African in America political prisoners. The issue of 
African in America political prisoners often gets swept aside in our 
demands in the Reparations Movement. This should not be. There are 
many sisters and brothers who have sacrificed much for the liberation 
of African people in America and are locked up unjustly in America's 
prisons and are political prisoners.

When we discuss political prisoners, we are talking about "those 
persons harassed, arrested, framed, and imprisoned because of their 
relatively peaceful political activity against the' destructive 
conditions that their people live under."

The goal of our political prisoners has been "to transfer power from 
the corrupt and racist business people, government officials, psuedo 
intellectuals, policemen, judges, and jailers and keep them down to a 
captive nation of people to be free." We should all be aware that 
Marcus Garvey, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Honorable Elijah 
Muhammad, Sister Callie House, and Huey P. Newton spent time in jail 
because they fought for our freedom, just as Brother Mumia Abu Jamal 
remains a political prisoner for his uncompromising political journalism.

The origin of the campaign that has resulted in the more than one 
hundred women and men who are locked up in America's prisons as 
political prisoners, many of them African in Americans, is related to 
the "secret war" that was waged against the Black Liberation Movement 
by the FBI.

Former FBI Bureau Director J. Edgar Hoover, in the 1960s and 70s led 
this campaign. This illegal and top- secret onslaught was called the 
"Counterintelligence (COINTELPRO) program that targeted Black 
activists and organizations." Its goal was to disrupt, dismantle, 
discredit, and neutralize Black groups and leaders, thus seriously 
crippling our movement. They were successful.

That is why it is important for African people in America to join the 
Reparations Movement and help rebuild the Black Liberation Movement. 
One of our critical demands of the Reparations Movement must be the 
freedom of our political prisoners and prisoners of war.

The Jericho Movement explains, "The issue of whether or not political 
prisoners and prisoners of war exist inside the borders of the United 
States of America is one that the government of the United States has 
successfully been able to refute. They have been able to deny the 
existence of political prisoners and prisoners of war because we have 
not taken the battle to them and forced them to address this issue."

We can begin publicly addressing the issue of our political 
prisoners, in a massive way, on August at the Millions For 
Reparations Mass Rally and ignite, educate, and inspire our people to 
expand the Reparations Movement to include, as a key component, our 
political prisoners.

In this context, the Jericho Movement further explains that there 
"are brothers and sisters, men and women who, as a consequence of 
their political work/or organizational affiliations were given 
criminal charges, arrested or captured, tried in courts and sent to 
prison. While trying them as criminals, the government maintained 
files on them referencing their political activities, designed to 
insure they remain in prison." We must expose this tactic by the 
United States Government in our demands that our political prisoners be freed.

The Reparations Movement must be more energetic in demanding and 
calling for the release of our political prisoners and prisoners of 
war that include Jalil Bottom, Charles Sims Africa, Debbi Sims 
Africa, Herman Bell, Kojo Sababu, Lorenzo Stone Bey, Mark Cook, Mumia 
Abu Jamal, Mutulu Shakur, Ojore Lutalo, Phil Africa, Richard Mafundi 
Lake, Robert Seth Hayes, Sekou Kambui, Sundiata Acoli, and Jamil 
Abdullah AI- Amin.

It is only fitting that we remind ourselves that the Honorable Marcus 
Garvey, was one of our first political prisoners targeted by the 
United States Government, indicted on the trumped up charges of mail 
fraud and convicted. The masses of our people in the mid 1920s 
demanded Garvey's release from prison. In 1927, more than 100,000 
African people demonstrated and protested that he be released. Garvey 
was released in 1927 and deported from the United States as a 
condition of his release.

Let's free our political prisoners by joining the Reparations 
Movement and help intensify our demands for their release.


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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