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I hope the following piece will inspire you to take action, if only to
send a birthday card (a little love) to our brother warriors (411
included). <br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><b>OVER 40 BIRTHDAYS IN
PRISON! <br>
</b>by Kiilu Nyasha <br>
(March 7, 2005) <br><br>
<b>Hugo L. Pinell,</b> affectionately known as Yogi Bear, will be 60
years old on March 10. <br><br>
<b>Ruchell Cinque Magee</b> celebrates his 66th on March 17. <br><br>
Yogi entered the prison system in 1964 when he was about 19 years
old. Against good advice from a sistah-mama, he turned himself in
for having assaulted a young woman while drunk, feeling great
remorse. He’s been there ever since. <br><br>
Ruchell had only been released from “The Farm,” the notorious
slave-plantation turned prison in Louisiana known as Angola, about six
months. He had been captured for relating to a white girl as a
teenager in the 1950’s in KKK territory -- definitely a no-no. He
was incarcerated in an adult prison for eight years and then banished
from the State, allowing the latter to confiscate property owned by his
mother who passed while he was jailed. <br>
In 1963, he was hanging out with his cousin and friends and got into an
argument over a $10 bag of marijuana. His antagonist called the
police who found Magee in the parked car, beat him badly enough to
require his hospitalization for three days and jailed him. <br><br>
At this point, the details hardly matter. Neither of these cases
would have garnered the average joe more than a year or two. But
these two brothers have refused all these years to sacrifice their
dignity, and both have always had the temerity to stand up in
self-defense and the defense of their fellow prisoners. Ruchell as
a jailhouse lawyer, Yogi as a martial artist -- i.e., <i>freedom
fighters.</i> <br><br>
<b>Trophies for Black August: <br><br>
On August 7, 1970</b>, after seven years, two trials and countless
petitions filed against his illegal incarceration, Magee joined the other
guerrillas in the Marin Courthouse, when Jonathan Jackson stormed the
court armed to the teeth and liberated William Christmas, James McClain
(on trial for assaulting a guard), and Magee (testifying for
McClain). They took the judge, prosecutor and three jurors hostage
thinking they would be insurance, and planned to drive to a radio station
to announce the murderous/racist prison conditions and demand the release
of <i>The Soledad Brothers</i> (John Clutchette, Fleeta Drumgo, and
George Jackson). They never got out of the parking lot. The
San Quentin guards got there in time to shoot up the van killing all
three guerillas and the judge, seriously wounding the prosecutor and
Magee, and slightly injuring one of the jurors. Angela Davis was hunted
down and captured for having legally purchased the guns (Jonathan Jackson
had been her body guard in her defense activities for the Soledad
Brothers in a dangerous climate.). Ruchell was charged with
everything they could think of, although they had to drop the murder
charge since he lay unconscious at the scene of the incident. <br><br>
Magee remains in prison to date. His own jailhouse lawyering got
him released from the Pelican Bay SHU back in the early 1990s and he is
currently on the Corcoran Prison mainline. As brother Willie
Sundiata Tate has often stated, “Ruchell never hurt anyone.” <br><br>
<b>August 21, 1971, </b>was the day Soledad Brother, George Lester
Jackson, was murdered on the yard of San Quentin State Prison, in
addition to three prison guards and two inmate trustees. Six
prisoners were singled out and charged with various counts of murder and
assault: Fleeta Drumgo,Willie Sundiata Tate, David Johnson, Luis
Talamantez, Johnny Spain, and Hugo Pinell. Johnny Spain was the only one
convicted of murder, and has been out of prison since 1988. Yogi
was convicted of assault and has spent the last 30+ years in solitary
confinement (no contact, no phone calls). He has been in Pelican Bay’s
torture chamber since 1990. <br>
For more details on these Black August events, you can go to
<a href="http://www.hugopinell.com/" eudora="autourl">www.hugopinell.com</a>,
or google “Black August” + “Kiilu Nyasha.” <br><br>
For those of you who are not aware of the level of torture the Pelican
Bay SHU metes out, here are a few details. Pelican Bay is located
in the Northwest corner of California on the Oregon border in pristine,
redwood territory. The prison is solid gray concrete and the SHU
(Security Housing Unit) is completely windowless with only doors for
entrance. It looks like a large tomb. It’s hi-tech with
automatic doors and gates, only artificial light, and even the so-called
yard is nothing more than a “dog run” or outdoor closet with 20’
high walls covered on top by Plexiglas. SHU prisoners are locked
down 24/7 except for a possible hour on the dog run where they can
exercise alone with no equipment whatsoever, not even a ball. They
are not permitted any arts, crafts, and only a very limited number
of books and property. They are chained hand and foot whenever they
leave their cells escorted by two prison guards. Visits are limited
to weekends and holidays and no more than two hours. As mentioned
earlier, their visits are conducted in a “phone booth” and they cannot
make calls to the outside. In short, Yogi’s mother, who has been
visiting him for all these years, has not been able to hug her son in at
least 30. <br><br>
The State claims it has no <b>political prisoners</b>, yet these two
brothers have done the equivalent of <i>double-life</i> sentences.
It doesn’t seem to matter how much clean time they have; whenever they go
to board, the answer is always the same: come back in 2-5 years.
<br><br>
<b>WHAT KIND OF SOCIETY HAVE WE BECOME?</b> <br><br>
Collectively speaking, we seem to have lost our humanity altogether. How
else would we tolerate the caging of human beings under tortuous
conditions for scores of years? <br><br>
When will we speak out vociferously for an end to this horrible system of
torture and enslavement? <br><br>
Please take a minute to at least send these brothers a birthday greeting
and give them a lift. <br>
They can be reached as follows: Hugo L. Pinell, A88401, D3-221, Box
7500, Crescent City, Ca. 95531-7500. Ruchell Cinque Magee, A92051,
3C-127, Box 3471, Corcoran, Ca. 93212. <br><br>
I’ve been in communication with these righteous soldiers (more or less)
since 1971 -- consistently for the past 15+ years. I love them both
and know in my heart that they would be an asset to our community were
they to be released. Enough is enough and too much is too damned
much. Write letters, sign petitions, do whatever you can to
demand their immediate release. Don’t let them spend another
birthday behind prison walls. <br><br>
<br>
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<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
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