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<font size=3>A YAKI-SIZED HOLE IN THE UNIVERSE<br>
By Nancy Kurshan & Steve Whitman <br>
<br>
Qwusu Yaki Yakubu (aka James Sayles) was an extraordinary human being and
a committed revolutionary. He was born on May 29, 1947 and went to
dance with the ancestors on March 28, 2008, at age 60. He spent
almost 40 years, on and off, in prison. James Sayles went in as a
brilliant but uneducated youth. Yaki emerged in 2004 as one of the
leading revolutionary thinkers in the U.S. <br>
<br>
When prisoners rebelled in 1978 against the barbaric conditions at
Pontiac Prison in central Illinois, Yaki was in Stateville Prison.
About 50 prisoners at Pontiac were indicted for participating in the
rebellion and 17 of them, all Black, were charged with murder and thus
faced the death penalty. The case became one of the largest death
penalty cases in the history of the U.S. Yaki became the strategic
leader of the effort to defend the Pontiac Brothers, working from inside
his cell at Stateville prison. The trial went on for years and
became a cause that was picked up around the country and the world.
A major victory was achieved when the jury did not find even one of the
Pontiac Brothers guilty of the death penalty charge. After spending
millions of dollars, the State could not get even one conviction.
The “not guilty” verdicts were stimulated in large part by the Black
people on the jury.<br>
<br>
Yaki was a C-number prisoner. These are people who were convicted
of crimes many, many years ago, at a time when there were draconian
sentencing laws. They grow old and die in prison regardless of
their activities or behavior inside. The only way for a C number
prisoner to be released is to have his/her case presented to the parole
board. The parole board then decides whether or not to release that
individual. For years and years, almost no C number prisoners were
released (about 1% a year) while others who had been convicted of the
same crimes in later years were set free. <br>
<br>
Yaki, along with David Saxner and others on the outside, launched a
campaign to free all C number prisoners. People persistently
lobbied the Parole Board and traveled to their hearings to try to insure
that the process was a transparent one. Yaki was finally released
on April 1, 2004.<br>
<br>
Upon his release he continued to struggle to free all the other C number
prisoners as part of the Committee to Free C Number Prisoners.
Indeed, the rate at which they were released did accelerate although
there are still too many who remain incarcerated. Yaki also held a
full time position at the John Howard Association, a Chicago-based prison
watch dog organization. Additionally, he participated in the
campaign to free Indiana death row political prisoner, Zolo Azania.
<br>
<br>
Yaki was even more than an activist revolutionary. He was a deep
political thinker, writer, and the founding editor of several journals:
Vita Wa Watu: A New Afrikan Theoretical Journal; CrossroadA New Afrikan
Captured Combatants Newsletter; Notes from a New Afrikan POW
Journal. Often writing under the pen name Atiba Shanna, his
articles were read throughout the US, both inside and outside of prison,
and even crossed borders to other countries. He frequently defined
and clarified political issues for people concerned with freedom
struggles. He himself drew widely from international struggles,
particularly those in Algeria, Vietnam, Latin America and most
definitively Africa. The journals reprinted many articles from
these great revolutionary thinkers.<br>
<br>
In particular, Yaki was influenced by the writings of the African
revolutionary, Franz Fanon, which dealt with the colonial
mentality. Yaki wrote about the relevance of Fanon’s work to the
New Afrikan freedom struggle. Yaki studied at great length the writings
of many revolutionaries. He was fond of quoting Amilcar Cabral, the
African revolutionary. One of Cabral’s best-known quotes was “Tell
no lies, claim no easy victories.” <br>
<br>
In that spirit it is important to remember Yaki as the passionate
revolutionary that he was, a revolutionary in the clearest, most explicit
way possible. He believed that the freedom of Black people in the
U.S. (New Afrikans) could only come about by a revolution. He was
not at all opposed to small steps that might be seen as only reforms but
he believed that a revolution was needed to free Black people. He
hated the condition of Black people in the U.S. One of Yaki’s
favorite quotes was the one by Malcolm X: “Don’t be shocked when I say I
was in prison. You’re still in prison. That’s what America
means, prison.” Yaki also believed that if violence was necessary
to end the horror of the mass incarceration and destruction of Black
people by the U.S., then so be it. <br>
<br>
Yaki was a nationalist, in the spirit of Malcolm X. He stated that
“The stand of Malcolm, the stand that We must take up and creatively
develop, is the stand of the nation for its independence, and of the
working class for social revolution.” Yaki believed that although
many of the conditions that Malcolm faced in his time were quite
different, “We know with certainty that Malcolm left a legacy of
unselfish commitment to the struggle of Afrikans in the U.S. for the
realization of our national and revolutionary interests.” (Crossroad,
Vol. 3, Nos. 2&3, p.17)<br>
<br>
Yaki was also an internationalist. He felt connected to all
oppressed peoples who struggled to control their own land and more
equitably distribute their own resources. A quick review of the
journals he edited reveals articles reflecting the struggles in South
Africa, Namibia, Cuba, Brazil, Vietnam, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Italy and
more. There were articles about the past as well as contemporary
issues. For Yaki believed that “the road to the future goes through
the past”. (Crossroads, V. 1 No. 4, Jan 88 pg 13).<br>
<br>
Yaki from within his prison cell, removed from the direct influences of
women, struggled to understand the condition of women, and particularly
Black women in the U.S. The publications printed articles such as
“Notes on the Link Between Oppression of New Afrikan Women and the New
Afrikan National Liberation Revolution” and advertised Black women’s
organizations around the US. Yaki sought out and printed articles
by Margaret Burroughs, Assata Shakur, Safiya Bukhari, Aminata Umoja and
others. He did not want to repeat the practice of other movements where,
“once in power, they failed to fulfill the promises made to women in the
course of struggle.” (Vita Wa Watu, Book 9, Pg 3) At a time when
many nationalists were resistant to accepting gay liberation, Yaki
understood that homophobia needed to be defeated as part of the struggle
of the human family. <br>
<br>
Yaki believed that what organization someone belonged to was not
determining. He was adamant that what mattered is ideology and
practice, that leadership becomes apparent through theory and practical
activity. The breadth of the journal articles reflect that non-sectarian
attitude. They also reflect both sides of the coin: Yaki’s belief
that although ideological work is essential, practical activity is
absolutely necessary as well. The journals reflect a myriad of
struggles that were taking place across the country around police
brutality, control unit prisons, grand juries, police spying.
Often there were articles about the fight to free political prisoners,
many of whom were given voice through the journals-- Sundiata Acoli,
Assata Shakur, Jalil Abdul Muntaqim, Mutulu Shakur, and many others. The
journal kept the plight of Ruchel Magee alive. Yaki had the
greatest respect for, and was chagrined by, the continued imprisonment of
Marilyn Buck who has spent most of her life behind bars, punished by the
government for her close association with the Black liberation
movement. <br>
<br>
Jazz was a passion of Yaki’s, and unbeknownst to many, he was an able
conga drummer. Yaki was very interested in culture in all forms,
and the journals printed articles about Hip Hop, Paul Robeson, and
explored the relationship between art, culture, and labor. <br>
<br>
In Yaki’s final months he was lovingly cared for by his wife, Acreeba
Mohammad. A memorial service was held on April 4 and produced an
outpouring of love, admiration and respect from a broad range of people
who love Yaki. Stepping up to the open mike were a number of
ex-prisoners, some who came from faraway because Yaki had been so
important to them. Some described how their lives had been turned
around by encountering Yaki in prison and participating in the study
groups that Yaki initiated. Others were Pontiac Brothers whose
lives were saved through the effort to free the Pontiac Brothers.
Still others were C number prisoners who had gained their release from
prison in no small part to the efforts of Yaki. <br>
<br>
The church was filled with family members as well, many of whom
spoke. Yaki’s brother, Louis, related how Yaki had always pushed
him to reach higher, to do more. Acreeba said he was her knight in
shining armor. She described how when she was young and had
difficulty herself with the law, Yaki took care of her kids, changed
their diapers and fed them until she could be there again. <br>
<br>
Among many others who spoke that day were representatives from the Puerto
Rican Independence Movement, including Jose Lopez, from the Puerto Rican
Cultural Center, who spoke about Yaki’s internationalism and reiterated
that Yaki understood that nationalism and internationalism must go hand
in hand. Also present were ex-political prisoners Alicia Rodriguez
and Luis Rosa.<br>
<br>
As one speaker said towards the end: “We love you, Yaki. We love
you for being a husband, a father, a friend and a great human being with
a smile that we saw far too rarely. And we love you for being a
revolutionary.” As Arundhati Roy would say, his passing leaves a
Yaki-sized hole in the universe.<br><br>
<br><br>
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