[Pnews] Abolition Collective letter of support for Jalil Muntaqim

Tue Jun 6 10:12:16 EDT 2017

https://abolitionjournal.org/abolition-collective-letter-of-support-for-jalil-muntaqim/ 

  Abolition Collective letter of support for Jalil Muntaqim

June 5, 2017 
<https://abolitionjournal.org/abolition-collective-letter-of-support-for-jalil-muntaqim/>
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The Abolition Collective expresses its support and solidarity with Jalil 
Muntaqim, Political Prisoners, and the right of incarcerated people to 
engage in popular education. Jalil has been politically active since his 
incarceration. Most recently, he was punished for teaching an 
administratively sanctioned Black History class in Attica Prison, and 
was transported to a supermax prison where he was held in solitary 
confinement for four months.

*Political information we need to know:*

Jalil Muntaqim, née Anthony Bottom, is one of the longest held Political 
Prisoners in United States history. He has spent more than 45 years in 
prison due to his political activism. A former member of the Black 
Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, Jalil was 19 years old when 
he, Herman Bell, and Albert “Nuh” Washington, (collectively known as The 
New York 3), were targeted for “neutralization” by the FBI’s Counter 
Intelligence Program (Cointelpro) and its offshoot, project “Newkill.” 
In 1974, despite a dearth of evidence and several instances of 
prosecutorial misconduct, the New York 3 were convicted for the 1971 
murders of two New York City police officers. Jalil and his supporters, 
including the Abolition Collective, maintain that the “neutralization” 
of the New York 3 was and remains a form of state repression against 
radical liberation movements. The US Senate Church Committee’s 1976 
report on COINTELPRO and political repression describes how the FBI, 
CIA, and local police pursued assassinations as another means of 
“neutralizing” political leaders.

Unlike Chicago Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, Jalil 
survived COINTELPRO and he has remainedpolitically active in prison 
<http://freejalil.com/2016paroleletterfacts.html>. In 1977 he founded 
/Arm the Spirit/, a national prisoners newspaper. He also initiated a 
national prisoners campaign to petition the United Nations on the issue 
of prison conditions and the existence of political prisons. In 1986, 
Jalil drafted a legislative bill for New York State prisoners to obtain 
good time off their maximum sentence. Prison officials presented him 
with two separate commendations for quelling potential prison riots.

Jalil continues to face repression for his political beliefs and past 
acts. He has been denied parole nine times despite serving his sentence 
and meeting all the parole requirements. In their most recent decision 
to deny Jalil’s parole, with no tangible indication that the elderly 
teacher is a social threat, The New York State Parole Boardclaimed 
<http://freejalil.com/2016decision.html>his release, “would be 
incompatible with the welfare of society.”

Jalil was recently punished for teaching an administratively sanctioned 
Black History class in Attica Prison. His December 5, 2016, lecture 
focused on the organization and ethics of the Black Panther Party, 
including its 10-Point Program, Codes of Conduct and Eight Points of 
Attention. For teaching this lesson, Attica’s administration charged 
Jalil with inciting “gangs,” “violent conflict,” and “demonstrations.” 
They transferred him to the supermax prison, Southport Correctional 
Facility, where he was held in solitary confinement for nearly 4 months 
despite the fact thatThe United Nations 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2014/12/05/un-committee-against-torture-says-u-s-must-reform-its-use-of-solitary-confinement/>,The 
Center for Constitutional Rights 
<https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/tools-resources/fact-sheets-and-faqs/torture-use-solitary-confinement-us-prisons>, 
and other agencies define solitary confinement as a form of torture. On 
March 13, 2017, Jalil was released from solitary and transferred to 
Shawangunk Correctional Facility where he was placed on a Close 
Supervision Unit, enabling prison authorities to closely monitor his 
activities. It took another two weeks for him to receive his personal 
property.

Both topics addressed in Muntaqim’s class are globally researched 
because they provide information and knowledge important to people 
seeking to understand democracy and social justice. The history of the 
Panthers is routinely covered by the media and taught in classrooms. 
Over 2 million citations for the “Black Panther Party” can be found in a 
Google search, with 41million references for a search on “black gangs.” 
That content is not inherently accurate or definitive but it is 
available for those who want to think and learn. Jalil’s punishment 
shows how the prison makes teaching history and critical thinking 
criminal offenses.

Though Jalil and other political prisoners are scrutinized more closely, 
and punished more often than “common-law prisoners,” Muntaqim’s 
treatment is not unique. New York Prisonsare 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/nyregion/new-york-prisons-inmates-parole-race.html>plagued 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/nyregion/new-york-state-prisons-inmates-racial-bias.html?_r=0>with 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/nyregion/governor-cuomo-orders-investigation-of-racial-bias-in-ny-state-prisons.html>institutional 
racism.Jalil writes 
<http://www.freejalil.com/JalilSHU2016_2017.html>that discriminatory 
practices and political repression in prisons “must be exposed and 
challenged by all freedom loving people.” As University and non-profit 
sponsored prison education programs have become more popular in recent 
years, it is critical that we recognize, affirm, and defend the right of 
incarcerated people to develop and teach their own educational programs 
towards self-transformation; and it is important that we do not allow 
the prison to whitewash the history of oppression and resistance from 
prison education programs and intimidate those who wish to teach a more 
truthful account of our collective struggles.

The Abolition Collective urges that we make connections between 
common-law prisoners and prisoners persecuted for political acts. 
Bridges between abolitionism and freedom movements will span the support 
and recognition given recently released prisoners such as Chelsea 
Manning and Oscar Lopez Rivera, and provide a foundation to educate 
about and advocate for the release of political prisoners such as Jalil, 
and other BPP and AIM activists who remain largely unknown to the public 
<http://afgj.org/politicalprisonersusa>.

With the 45th POTUS and current Attorney General expanding prisons and 
legitimizing prison abuses and torture, we see Jalil’s struggle as 
linked to our own work to stop censorship, repression, and torture.

*Please Support Jalil Muntaqim:*

Visit his websiteFreeJalil.com <http://www.freejalil.com/>.

Write to Jalil at: Anthony J. Bottom #77A4283

Shawangunk C.F.

P.O. Box 700

Wallkill, NY 12589-0700

Donate to his commissary by sending a postal money order to the address 
above.

Write to fellow teachers and advocates for justice, particularly those 
teaching about political movements, to support educators inside prison 
and cite Jalil Muntaqim’s case.

Contact NY Governor Andrew Cuomo to address prison repression, torture 
and abuse of Jalil Muntaqim:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, Executive Chamber, State Capitol, Albany, NY 12224

518-474-8390/7516 (Albany); 212-681-4580 (NYC)

*http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php*

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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