Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
issue 12D
ec
06
28 Year Wait to H
onorC
ops’Valor by Stu B
ykofsky4
Exchange betw
eenM
OV
E and B
ykofsky 6
Here’s Your A
nswer
by Delbert A
frica7
Response to B
ykofsky by M
ike Africa
10
Response to B
ykofsky by M
OV
E 9 W
omen
12
Policies of E
nslavement
by Janet Africa 14
MO
VE
Statement on
parole 16
FO
M N
YC
Statement 18
Parole and P
oliticalP
risoners by JanineA
frica with O
rie Ross 19
Hugo P
inell deniedparole
21
Herm
an Bell denied
parole22
Support Jalil Muntaqim
’sA
ppeal23
Th
e M
OV
E O
rga
niz
atio
n
PO
Bo
x
19
70
9
Ph
ilad
elp
hia
, PA
19
14
3
(6
10
)
49
9-
09
79
on
am
ov
ellja
@a
ol.c
om
ww
w.o
na
mo
ve
.co
m
Intern
ation
al Co
ncern
ed F
amily an
d
Frie
nd
s o
f Mu
mia
Ab
u-J
am
al
PO
Bo
x
19
70
9
Ph
ilad
elp
hia
, PA
19
14
3
(2
15
)
47
6-
88
12
ic
ff
ma
j@
ao
l.
co
m
ww
w.
mu
mi
a.
or
g
CO
NT
AC
T
US
A
ND
GE
TIN
VO
LV
ED
!
20
08
the
MO
VE
9 a
re
elig
ible
for P
AR
OL
E!
IN N
AT
UR
AL
LAW
WE
TR
US
T!
ALLPR
AISES TO TH
E OR
DER
OF LIFE!
TH
E P
OW
ER
OF
TR
UT
H IS
FIN
AL!
LO
NG
LIV
E M
OV
E!
LON
G LIV
E R
EV
OLU
TIO
N
LO
NG
LIV
E J
OH
N A
FR
ICA
!
LO
NG
LIV
E J
OH
N A
FR
ICA
!
LO
NG
LIV
E J
OH
N A
FR
ICA
!
ON
AM
OV
E!
LO
NG
LIV
E JO
HN
AF
RIC
AO
NA
MO
VE
!It has com
e to our attention that copsinvolved in trying to kill our M
OV
E fam
ily on August 8,
1978 were recently given aw
ards for demonstrating valor
and bravery on that day (Stu Bykofsky's D
aily New
s arti-cle follow
s). There is absolutely no bravery, no valor in
cops that admitted to trying to kill innocent M
OV
E m
en,w
omen, babies, and anim
als. These are cops that actual-
ly testified to emptying their guns into corners of the
basement of our house w
here they heard babies crying,reloading their guns and em
ptying them again in the
direction of crying babies. These are cops that attacked
our unarmed brother, D
elbert Africa, as he cam
e out ofour house and beat him
almost to death for no reason at
all except to vent their sadism and racism
. Police offi-cials blatantly lied and denied the attack on D
elbert but itw
as caught on camera by a new
s team, so they w
ereexposed for not only being vicious but also for beingliars. R
ight after this vicious attack on MO
VE
peopleand as a direct result of it, the U
.S. Justice Departm
ent
MO
VE
WEBSITE
www.onam
ove.com
NE
VE
R FO
RG
ET 1985! N
OW
IS TH
E TIM
E TO
FRE
E TH
E M
OV
E 9!
Send stam
ps, phone cards, Kinko’s copy
cards or donations to help with the high
cost of Phone calls, copies and m
ailing
Send donations directly to the
MO
VE
Nine for postage, photo copy-
ng, and to pay for their pre-paid callsTo send them
donations, you must
send money orders only. (adresses
on page 9)
Write to different new
s media/papers in
your area,
in P
hiladelphia and
in the
papers near the prisons where the M
OV
EN
ine are being held demanding justice for
MO
VE
.
Encourage B
ookstores and/or organizationsto
buy our book “25 Years On the M
OV
E” in
bulk at a discounted rate so that MO
VE
info
s ava
ilab
le in
you
r are
a.
*Arrange
speaking engagem
ents for
Ram
ona Africa or other M
OV
E m
embers.
*Write, F
ax, Call the follow
ing: *G
ov
ern
or E
d R
en
de
ll 225 M
ain Capitol B
ldg., H
arrisburg, Penna. 17120
*D.A
. Lynn Abraham
1421 A
rch Street, P
hila., PA
19107Tel: (215) 686-8700 *M
ayor John Street
City H
all Philadelphia, P
A19107
Tel: (215) 686-3000 D
emand an investigation into the unjust
imprisonm
ent of innocent MO
VE
mem
-bers!
*Organize
fund raisers
like m
usicalbenefits, dinners, drives, etc. to helppay for organizing activities and to payfor the fight to free the M
OV
E N
ine.
*Start a chapter of F
riends of MO
VE
Ta
ke
Ac
tion
! - Th
ing
s y
ou
ca
n d
o to
su
pp
ort M
OV
E
De
c 0
62
on the move
Dec 06
39 on the m
ove
Frien
ds o
f MO
VE
CO
NTA
CTS
Marylan
dA
meejill W
hitlock/ am
eejill@hotm
ail.com(B
altimore)
Sabrina G
reen/freem
ove9mum
ia@hot-
mail.com
(Glenn B
urnie)
Mich
igan
Abayom
i Azikiw
e/ac6123@
wayne.edu
(Detroit)
New
York
Orie Lum
umba/
lumum
(Brooklyn)
Anne Lam
b/m
ateare@w
orldnet.att.net (B
ronx)S
uzanne Ross/
suzannewross@
aol.com(N
ew York C
ity)
Upstate N
ew Yo
rkLeslie jones &
JasonC
orwin/
info@youth4m
umia.org
(Ithaca)
Oreg
on
Brenton G
licker/ breakthechains02@
yahoo.com
(Eugene)
Pen
nsylvan
iaTiffany R
obbins/ friendsofm
(Chester)
Fatirah A
ziz/ litestar01@
aol.com(P
hiladelphia)D
enise Garner/
sweetydjazz@
verizon.net (H
arrisburg)
TexasC
hrishon Bell X
/africaonam
ove@yahoo.
com (H
ouston)
West V
irgin
iaS
andy & Jam
es Evans/
redoctober008@adel-
phia.net(Morgantow
n)
Main
eD
an Chard/pvg@
rise-up.net (P
ortland)
Califo
rnia
Ricardo A
lvarez/ ricardoalvarez@
mnhc.c
om (S
an Fran.)
Raekw
onMuenda/
raekm@
aol.com(S
acramento)
Donna W
allach/dbw
(San Jose)
New
JerseyK
evin, Maiga, E
llie &B
ob/sjfriendsofm
ove@hot-
mail.com
(Pennsauken)
Delaw
areS
andy Jones/ sandra-joyjones@
comcast.net
(Wilm
ington)M
arpessa & Jahfree
Kupendua/
nattyreb@com
cast.netW
ilmington)
Spain
Francesc A
rnau/antianglada@
hotmail.co
m (B
arcelona)
Belg
ium
Peter Terryn/
(Bogerhout)
Fran
ceC
laude Guillaum
aud/claude.guillaum
aud@fre
e.fr (Paris)
Marina R
ajewski/free-
mum
(Clerm
ont Ferrand)
Cuvelard N
icholas/ rastam
(Laveine)
Czech
Rep
ub
licB
artek Bobkow
ski/bbobkow
mUn
ited K
ing
do
mC
inaed Decanntun/
cinead.decanntun@ire-
land.com
Germ
any
Michael S
chiffmann/
mikschiff@
t-online.de(H
eidelburg)
Au
striaC
hristian Lidenhaler/on_a_m
ove@m
ail.com(Innesbruck)
Africa
Abujahlil C
hacha/A
(Ivory Coast)
Om
ar Africa/
omarafrica@
aol.com(M
orocco)
ItalyG
uiseppe Pipitone/
ilan)
Petition for Sekou
Kam
bui25
Veronza Bow
ers heldcaptive by F
ederalprison
26
Robert Seth H
ayesP
arole Update 27
Is Honoring M
umia a
Crim
e? B
y Hans B
ennett 28
Action for M
umia 29
Support MO
VE
! 31
28 Years Later
by Debbie A
frica 33
Interview w
ith C
arlos Africa 34
Interview w
ithC
onsuella Africa 36
MO
VE
Guidelines 38
Write to the M
OV
E 938
Friends of M
OV
EInternational
39
indicted the Philadelphia Police Departm
ent for vicious-ness. Police C
omm
issioner Sylvester Johnson issued theseaw
ards while apologizing for it taking so long (28 years)
for them to be recognized. U
nderstand something, these
awards w
ere given to 9cops from
the MO
VE
9's case,including tw
o of the four cops captured on film viciously
beating our brother Delbert A
frica, this is definitely delib-erate and not a coincidence. T
hey're sending a message,
planning a so-called strategy. Stu Bykofsky says that he
knows if there w
ere allegations of police misconduct that
day it wouldn't have taken 28 years to put the cops on trial.
What planet is B
ykofsky living on? Very few
cops areever even put on trial for police brutality. C
ase in point,D
istrict Attorney (now
Governor) E
d Rendell refused to
prosecute the cops that were seen
onfilm
beating ourbrother D
elbert on August 8th. W
hen MO
VE
refused tobe quiet about it and consistently pushed the issue, R
endellsaid he couldn't identify the cops from
the film. W
henD
elbert identified the cops by name, R
endell still tookm
ore than a year to file charges against these cops, andthen he only filed charges of "official repression," not"attem
pted murder" or even "aggravated assault." T
he pre-siding judge of this farce of a trial, Stanley K
ubaki, nevereven allow
ed the jury to decide the case; heacquitted the
cops of all charges himself. In the M
ay 13, 1985 govern-m
ent bombing of M
OV
E w
here babies, wom
en, men, and
animals w
ere burned alive and shot to death to prevent anyescape from
the fire, not one single official was ever
charged with anything. W
hen our sister, Ram
ona Africa,
the only adult to survive that vicious attack filed a federalcivil suit against these officials and got a verdict in ourfavor, the presiding judge, L
ouis Pollak, over-ruled thejury and granted "im
munity" after
theverdictto the only
two individual defendants that had not already been grant-
ed imm
unity-the police comm
issioner and the fire comm
is-sioner. O
nce again Bykofsky is exposed for just being a
butt-kisser for this rotten system because he's a journalist
and knows
about these examples and countless
more
thatw
e don't even know about, yet he m
ade the asinine remark
about cops being put on trial for police misconduct. T
heissue of w
hy it took so long to recognize these cops israised by Police C
omm
issioner Johnson and Bykofsky but
was not answ
ered so MO
VE
will answ
er it. These cops
were not aw
arded before because this government did not
want to call attention to this m
assive injustice and raiseeven m
ore questions that it couldn't answer w
ithout indict-ing itself. M
OV
E w
ill also tell you why system
officialsare focusing on these cops now
, giving them aw
ards forbravery now
. For those of you that don't already know, the
MO
VE
9 are coming up for parole soon (2008), and offi-
cials want to vilify
MO
VE
, label us as violent, as cop-killers w
hile labeling the cops as heroic victims in order to
try to build a case against the MO
VE
9 being paroled,that's all this is really about. T
he MO
VE
9 have been inprison for alm
ost thirty years for a crime that they didn't
on the move
3D
ec
06
on the move
38 D
ec 06com
mit, a crim
e that officials knowthey
didn't comm
it, and now they're m
ounting acam
paign to keepM
OV
E in prison. T
hereis absolutely no reason w
hy the MO
VE
9should not be paroled (they never shouldhave been sent to prison in the first place)and that's another reason for these officialtheatrics. T
hey have no valid reason todeny M
OV
E parole so they're trying to turn
public sentiment against us by praising the
cops, generating sympathy for the cops and
defaming M
OV
E. T
hey're starting a cam-
paign against the MO
VE
9 and the MO
VE
family ain't gonna sit by quietly and w
atchthis vicious plot unfold w
ithout exposing itfor w
hat it is. Anytim
e these officials come
with these offensive tactics w
e're coming
right back at 'em and exposing them
indefense of our fam
ily. Stay alert becausew
e expect more of these deceptive and
pathetic tactics from officials as the year
2008 gets closer. This is just the beginning.
TH
E M
OV
E O
RG
AN
IZA
TIO
N
Wr
it
e
to
a
M
OV
EP
riso
ne
rT
he
MO
VE
9 h
av
e b
ee
n lo
ck
ed
do
wn
for 2
8 y
ea
rs. M
um
ia h
as
spe
nt o
ver 2
5 ye
ars o
n d
ea
thro
w.
Write
the
m a
lette
r to e
nc
ou
rag
e
the
ir fierc
e e
xa
mp
le!
De
bb
ie S
ims
Afric
a#
00
63
07
Ja
ne
t Ho
llow
ay
Afric
a#
00
63
08
Ja
nin
e P
hillip
s A
frica
#0
06
30
9S
CI-C
am
brid
ge
Sp
ring
s4
51
Fu
llerto
n A
ve
nu
eC
am
brid
ge
Sp
ring
s, P
A1
64
03
-12
38
Mic
ha
el D
av
is A
frica
#A
M4
97
3C
ha
rles
Sim
s A
frica
#A
M4
97
5S
CI-G
rate
rford
P.O
. Bo
x 2
44
Gra
terfo
rd, P
A1
94
26
-02
44
Ed
die
Go
od
ma
n A
frica
#A
M4
97
4S
CI-M
ah
an
oy
30
1 M
ore
a R
oa
dF
rac
kv
ille, P
A1
79
32
Willia
m P
hillip
s A
frica
#A
M4
98
4D
elb
ert O
rr Afric
a#
AM
49
85
SC
I-Da
llas
10
00
Fo
llies
Ro
ad
Da
llas
, PA
18
61
2-0
28
6
Mu
mia
Ab
u-J
am
al
#A
M8
33
5S
CI-G
ree
ne
17
5 P
rog
res
s D
rive
Wa
yn
es
bu
rg, P
A1
53
70
Ne
w M
OV
E D
oc
um
en
tary
isn
ow
be
ing
dis
tribu
ted
--------------------------T
he
ne
w d
ocu
me
nta
ry, titled
“MO
VE
”is h
igh
ly in d
em
an
d a
nd
no
w a
vail-
ab
le fo
r pu
rcha
se. A
fter to
urin
g film
festiva
ls an
d w
inn
ing
aw
ard
s inte
rna
-tio
na
lly this film
is no
w in
dis
tri-
bu
tion
. T
o
ob
tain
y
ou
r
ow
nc
op
y p
lea
se
co
nta
ct
co
ho
rtme
dia
@y
ah
oo
.co
m
To quote
JOH
NA
FR
ICA
,quote, “W
hen you understandthe principle
of freedom you
are intolerant of anythingthat
threatens freedom
, W
henpeople are jailed freedom
isthreatened and everybody inthis system
is in jail, includingthe jailer, and the people thatp ay
the jailer. . . For you see
it is impossible to com
mit a
person to
the burden
ofprison
without
comm
ittingyourself
to the prisoning bur-den of keepin
that person, inprison,” end quoteL
ON
GL
IVE
JOH
NA
FR
ICA
!
To quote, JOH
NA
FR
ICA
,quote, “W
ater do not believein prison, w
ater is the power
of LIFE
, for water flow
with
the freedom of LIF
E, nobody
can stop the power of free-
dom, this is w
hy nobody will
stop the power of M
OV
E,”
end quote, L
ON
GL
IVE
JOH
NA
FR
ICA
!
MO
VE
Gu
idelin
es
Editor’s N
ote
On the M
OV
E! T
his newsletter is an organizing tool. W
e ask that it is copied and distrib-uted w
idely. The fight for political prisoners is key to all liberation struggles. N
ot only dow
e need our incarcerated brothers and sisters on the streets beside us, but we have spent too
much tim
e and too many resources supporting prison com
missary, visiting costs, and raising
children who need their im
prisoned parents. Fighting for political prisoners exposes
exploitation of our comm
unity by the prison industrial complex w
hile illuminating the issues
that were deem
ed so threatening that this system felt com
pelled to incarcerate these freedomfighters. A
s we fight for political prisoners w
e continue teaching the lessons PP
s felt most
passionate about. Fighting for the M
OV
E9 m
andates explaining MO
VE
Law
, the belief inthe absolute priority of L
IFE
. Battling for M
umia A
bu Jamal dem
ands telling his story ofaccurately reporting on M
OV
E, police brutality, and all injustices.
This issue is laid out to first introduce the reader to the current attacks on the M
OV
E9,
ranging from P
hiladelphia’s honoring of the murderous cops involved in the attack of 1978,
to Bykofsky’s m
edia campaign against them
. Then, m
embers of the M
OV
E 9 explain their
case in further detail. We’ve also included statem
ents from other political prisoners current-
ly battling the parole boards to continue solidarity with these brothers and sisters. (T
hanksto the Jericho M
ovement for organizing these statem
ents.) These issues, as explained in this
newsletter, are not isolated to M
OV
E. P
arole is yet another tool used by this system to fur-
ther exploit and oppress the people. Right now
we have an opportunity to create a strategic,
nation-wide m
ovement m
andating parole and/or clemency for all our political prisoners. A
sJanet A
frica, and many other authors explain, parole and other prison policies are not lim
it-ed in their im
pact soleley to inmates. T
hey obviously affect those close to them, but m
ore-over, are testing tools that later are applied to all people. P
arole is a barometer to see how
much people w
ill tolerate from this system
. We have an opportunity to clearly m
andate thatw
e will not accept any of this oppression and dem
and our people come hom
e!
We ask all political prisoner’s fam
ilies, support comm
ittees, and concerned people to please,for your conscience and safety, join w
ith us. We need to build a strategic cam
paign aroundthis issue. A
ll those interested in participating please contact us. We can hold nation-w
ideconference calls as w
e build our platform. P
erhaps, now is the tim
e to pay the nationalparole board a visit, or pressure the A
CL
U, or other bodies into civil suits. W
hatever ourstrategy, w
e need action!
This issue concludes both w
ith explanations from C
onsuella and Carlos A
frica on the paroleboard’s history of abuse tow
ards MO
VE
, and statements from
Friends of M
OV
E chapters
nation-wide for their call to action on behalf of the M
OV
E9. P
olitical prisoners have doneso m
uch for all of us. They have sacrificed their daily freedom
s for true liberty. They con-
tinue their battle from behind bars. W
hat will w
e do for them?
LO
NG
LIV
E JO
HN
AF
RIC
AF
OR
EV
ER
!
Dec 06
4 on the move
on the move
37 D
ec 06
28-year wait to
ho
no
rco
ps’valo
r
by S
tu B
ykofsky
Ph
iladelp
hia D
aily New
sS
eptem
ber 24, 2006
TW
EN
TY
-EIG
HT
years isn't too long to wait, is
it?In 1978, Frank Rizzo w
as mayor, Jim
my C
arterw
as president, Poland's Cardinal K
arol Wojtyla
became Pope John Paul II, "L
averne andShirley" w
as TV
's biggest hit, "The D
eerH
unter" was the best picture, and Philadelphia police carrying out a judge's order
on Aug. 8 w
ere fired upon by MO
VE
"revolutionaries."
Stakeout Officer Jam
es Ram
p died, several other cops and firefighters were
wounded and other cops risked their lives on that hum
id August m
orning. Their
bravery was never recognized by their city or even by their departm
ent.
That changed last w
eek when nine officers w
ere honored during PoliceD
epartment com
mendation cerem
onies at Fraternal Order of Police headquarters.
The nine are Police O
fficers James R
amp, L
awrence D
'Ulisse, T
homas H
esson,C
harles Stewart, Joseph Z
agame, H
arry Mackel, Jam
es Farry and Albert C
rane,and L
t. William
Krause.
The m
eeting hall was packed w
ith friends and family of the N
ine, plus the fami-
lies of dozens of other cops recognized for outstanding police work in recent
months. T
he Nine each received the V
alor Aw
ard, the department's highest,
given for bravery under fire.
The B
ig Question w
as why it took 28 years to recognize the N
ine.
The B
ig Answ
er was not forthcom
ing.
No one w
anted to venture an opinion - not former stakeout O
fficer Hesson, shot
in the chest that day; not former L
ieutenant Krause, shot in the stom
ach and rightarm
; not current Police Com
missioner Sylvester Johnson, w
ho was in hom
icidein 1978 and rem
embers being stunned by the police radio call about a ferocious
gun battle in Powelton V
illage.
"They should have done it a long tim
e ago when I had people alive w
ho would
appreciate it, my fam
ily and all," said Hesson, w
ho still carries bullet fragments
in his chest. He w
as gunned down as he ran across the street to aid the m
ortallyw
ounded Ram
p, who had not even draw
n his gun.
and the constant pressure our fami-
ly was putting on the parole board
and politicians, when w
e went
before the parole board theyrem
oved the stipulation that we not
be associated with any M
OV
Em
embers. B
ecause that meant our
children! Our sisters and brothers
are our family m
embers and w
ew
ere not having that. I was
released January 6, 1994, which
made m
e have a remaining 8 years
that I had to do on parole. From1994 until m
y sentence was com
-plete I w
as on parole. I had to gosee a parole officer once a m
onth,then every six m
onths, until finallyI had com
pleted my tim
e. And
Carlos had like a year left that he
had to complete and he had to do
the same thing. A
nd every time w
ew
anted to travel somew
here we
had to go see our parole officer,things like that, as though w
e were
criminals. M
OV
E people aren’t
criminals
I was sentenced to 23 years
because my case w
as severed bythe governm
ent’s hopes of breakingthe M
OV
E O
rganization up. They
were hoping that if they severed
me, and along w
ith the other two
who announced that they w
ere nolonger M
OV
E m
embers, that there
would be a break in the
Organization. It didn’t w
ork thatw
ay. I did my sentenced until I
was eligible for parole. T
hat’s why
my sentenced w
as different fromthe M
OV
E 9, w
ho have 30-100years each, w
ho went in front of
Judge Malm
ed. He took it aw
ayfrom
the jury and decided to sen-tence them
himself.
This is to m
ake people aware of
just how insane these cops are. It’s
not just the MO
VE
Organization
experiencing this stuff. When w
ew
ent to prison it was not just
MO
VE
in those jail cells. There
were lots of people in those prisons
who didn’t even know
MO
VE
. Soif they’re saying this is only anissue w
ith MO
VE
then explain allthose other people long beforeM
OV
E got there and long after
MO
VE
was gone. A
nd thosepeople com
plained of police brutal-ity also. System
trains people tothink that cops are right and w
hat-ever a cop says goes. B
ut copslock up innocent people, and stealtens of years of their lives aw
ay.W
e’re taught by JOH
N A
FRIC
A,
in our Guidelines, that you don’t
have to have a reason for the copsto lock you up, they do it andthey’ll create a reason after.
LON
GLIV
EM
ER
LEA
FR
ICA
’SLIG
HT
!
on the move
5 D
ec
06
Dec 06
36 on the m
ove"I've been trying to get them
to do itfor a long tim
e, but for some reason
they wouldn't do it," he said.
Krause w
as "surprised" to get therecognition, but not surprised it took28 years.
"I understand why," he said darkly.
I asked him to explain.
He paused. "I don't w
ant to getinvolved."
Retired stakeout cop D
'Ulisse w
on-dered if the delay "w
as political orw
hatever."
I think "whatever," but I can't be sure,
so I brought the question toC
omm
issioner Johnson, who carefully
distinguished between the 1985 O
sageA
venue battle with M
OV
E and the
Aug. 8, 1978 shootout.
"When a lot of people talk about
MO
VE
, they talk about 1985,"Johnson said. "In 1978, it w
as totally,com
pletely different. I apologize tothem
for taking so long" for the recog-nition.
Did som
e sort of politics play a role?
"I try to stay away from
politics asm
uch as I can. I just try to do theright thing and the right thing is tohonor them
," Johnson said
I looked back at the clips from 1978
and saw a traum
atized city. Were the
honors denied the cops because Phillyfelt sham
e or guilt for allowing the
MO
VE
situation to fester for 15m
onths? Was it fear of law
suits?W
orry about fanning radical tumult?
The city's teeth w
ere on edge after theshootout.
I tried to get a few w
ords out of James
Ram
p's son, who lost the m
ost thatday, but som
eone pulled him aw
ay,m
aybe someone w
ith bad feelingsabout the press, I don't know
.
I do know if there had been allegations
of police misconduct that day it
wouldn't have taken 28 years to put
the cops on trial.
But it took 28 years to honor them
.
Stakeoutcops in frontof M
OV
E’s
headquartersduring the1977-1978siege.
Interview w
ith Consuella A
fricaM
y name is C
onsuella Africa. In
1978, August 8, during the con-
frontation that started in 1977, Iw
as arrested on trumped up
charges. Six hundred cops came
out to our home, storm
troopers,w
ith one thing on their mind and
that was to annihilate the M
OV
EO
rganization. On A
ugust 8, 1978w
e were asleep and they cam
e toour hom
e and attacked our home.
We w
ere surrounded by cops. They
were on the rooftop, the streets,
everywhere! W
e had nowhere to
go, even if we w
anted to go some-
where! I’m
in the basement; I
could see them through the slats in
the window
s. We’re trying to save
our babies, protect them in our
arms. I saw
the cops facing me,
making statem
ents like, "Did w
ekill those m
otherfuckers yet?!T
hey’ll never call the mayor anoth-
er ‘motherfucker!’
Where those
niggers at? Did they dig a hole in
the ground?" They w
ere trying tom
ake sure we w
ere dead! "Kill
anything you see moving!" T
hoseare the statem
ents the nine cops"honored" by Philadelphia andanother 500 of their cronies w
erem
aking! Bullets w
ere coming so
close to my face I could see sparks,
feel heat, hear the whizzing of the
bullets. They drilled a hole into the
floor to have better access to us inthe basem
ent. We didn’t have glass
in our window
s, we had w
oodenslats. T
hey took cranes and literal-ly knocked the slats out so theycould have good access at us totake aim
and kill us.
I was arrested as w
ell as other
mem
bers of my fam
ily, twelve all
together but two w
ere releasedbecause they disassociated from
theM
OV
E O
rganization. I did 16years of a 23 year sentence. M
ysentence w
as 10 – 23 years fortrum
ped up charges of aggravatedassault and conspiracy. T
his was a
lie. I never assaulted anybody. Ididn’t conspire to do anything. Iw
as simply in m
y home w
ith my 19
month old breast-feeding baby
when they cam
e out to my hom
eand attacked m
e and my fam
ily. Iw
ent to prison. I was sentenced by
Judge Levi A
nderson and held incontem
pt because I refused to shutup and let them
take away m
y free-dom
. He gave m
e 8 years of con-tem
pt charges. And 10 – 23 years
total.
I was in M
uncy prison. I did 16years for a crim
e I didn’t comm
it. Iw
as eligible for parole at my m
ini-m
um. I first cam
e in 1990 and atthe tim
e I went to prison I w
asdenied parole as w
ere all MO
VE
mem
bers: Alberta, R
amona, C
arlos,and w
e were all denied parole
because we w
eren’t going to goalong w
ith the stipulation that we
not be associated with M
OV
Epeople. W
e said no, we’re not
doing that, the MO
VE
Organization
is our family, our belief, so to hell
with you and your dam
n parole. Sow
e stayed in prison. Carlos cam
eup first D
ec. 13, 1992, I believe.H
e was released. I cam
e upJanuary 6 and I w
as before theparole board, and the pressure ofcom
mitted M
OV
E supporters and
activists we w
ere working w
ith,
on the move
De
c 0
66
on the move
De
c 0
635
On O
ctober 3, 2006, the MO
VE
Organization em
ailed its response to StuB
ykofsky’s article (The M
OV
E Statem
ent ran on the front page) toB
ykofsky. He w
as apparently online at the same tim
e and began emailing
back. The conversation follow
s.lFrom
bykofss@phillynew
s.comTo O
NA
MO
VE
LL
JA@
aol.com
Rew
rite this to include MO
VE
's refusal to obey lawful court orders. Y
ou seemed to have
over looked that.
From O
NA
MO
VE
LL
JA@
aol.comTo bykofss@
phillynews.com
You're assum
ing the court order, any court order, is lawful just because it has a judge's sig-
nature on it. You're also assum
ing that the terms law
ful or legal are synonymous w
ith right.A
re you really that stupid, Stu? Are you that brainw
ashed by this government, that m
uch ofa m
indless robot of this system, that you can't even see through the contradictions, the lies?
Wasn't slavery legal, law
ful? Was it R
IGH
T? W
asn't the Holocaust legal, law
ful? Was it
RIG
HT
? Wasn't A
partheid legal, lawful? W
as it RIG
HT
? Wasn't it illegal, unlaw
ful toresist these abom
inations? But w
as it WR
ON
G to resist these things? A
ccording to history,w
asn't this country founded by people who are said to have defied legality, defied the gov-
ernment (K
ing George), w
ent to war w
ith cops called Red C
oats? Aren't these people cele-
brated as heroes, freedom-fighters? D
o you believe in the Fourth of July, IndependenceD
ay, the Am
erican Revolution? W
hich is it, Stu? Is it right to defy legality, the govern-m
ent when you know
it's wrong or is it right to quietly accept oppression? D
oesn't theD
eclaration of Independence say that it is not only a right but a duty to confront and if nec-essary abolish this governm
ent if it is oppressive? Do you believe in the D
eclaration ofIndependence, Stu? W
hat makes Paul R
evere, Nathan H
ale, Patrick Henry, and others,
"freedom-fighters" w
hile making M
OV
E "crim
inals?" Also, are you saying that defying a
court order justified that vicious attack on MO
VE
men, w
omen, pregnant w
omen, and
babies? Were M
OV
E people accused of m
urder, rape, robbery, kidnapping, drug traffickingor som
ething when those cops cam
e out to our home trying to K
ILL
MO
VE
, not arrest us?N
o! You're the one w
ho definitely overlooked important facts, Stu, not M
OV
E.
The M
OV
E O
rganization.
From bykofss@
phillynews.com
To ON
AM
OV
EL
LJA
@aol.com
Legal is not synonym
ous with right.
Signed court order is just what it says, "order." D
o you understand plain English?
Obey it and then fight it in court, like norm
al citizens who don't break the law
and themhold them
selves above it. You fight the system
with guns, don't blam
e me if you get shot.
And no tears for D
ear Delbert.
The cops over-reacted, they gave him
a boo-boo, but you bastards killed a cop anddestroyed a fam
ily.
Any tim
e you equate the U.S. w
ith Nazi G
ermany or the old South A
frica or King G
eorgeyou m
ake a smacked ass of yourself. T
he Colonials FIR
STpetitioned PE
AC
EFU
LLY
andw
ere forced into revolt. Didn't the A
frika Klan get rich thanks to the "racist" court system
?
Wise up - and m
ove out. Find another country that will tolerate your insanity as long as the
U.S. has.
And have guts to sign your ow
n name next tim
e. I'd like to know w
hich misguided dope I
am addressing. O
r maybe everything you do is a co-op.
crimes w
hatsoever! Mary didn’t have any felonies, m
isdemeanors, or
none of that. Mo w
as forced to max out, w
hich he did. I came up for
parole after Alberta m
axed out on her time. W
hen I came up for parole
they kept denying me parole for the sam
e reason. I protested the stipula-tion that I could not associate w
ith my fam
ily, including MO
VE
peoplew
ho had never been arrested, who had no charges on them
, that I cannotassociate w
ith them or the kids. T
hey came back and said that I could not
associate with M
OV
E m
embers w
ith felonies or had been charged, arrest-ed, jailed before, no m
atter what the charges w
ere. People from all over
the world, all over this country, protested this stipulation because they said
it’s almost im
possible for poor people and especially those that live inghettoes to be paroled around fam
ily mem
bers or even their mothers,
fathers, brothers, and sisters that at one time or another have not been
arrested by this system. People in the poor com
munity have a higher per-
centage of arrests, of incarceration, than rich people. It was a lot of pris-
oners in there: Hispanics, B
lacks, and poor whites that w
ere being paroledto houses w
here they had family m
embers that had m
isdemeanors or
changed that up. Eventually, because of the w
orldwide pressure they had
on them, and they could not get around the stipulation, I w
as paroled inD
ec. 9, 1993. I was the first M
OV
E m
ember to be paroled unconditional-
ly. One m
onth later Consuella w
as paroled after 16 years. The parole
stipulation wasn’t m
inor. It was a serious situation that they use on us, on
our family m
embers, and personally m
ade us max out in prison unjustly.
We w
ere never supposed to be in prison from the beginning.
347
De
c 0
6D
ec
06
on the move
on the move
Interview w
ith Carlos A
fricaI
was in the M
OV
E headquarters from
May 20, 1977 to M
ay 19, 1978. Itw
as a year long stand-off, confrontation, MO
VE
against the system. T
hecops had literally surrounded our hom
e where M
OV
E people w
ere notallow
ed to come out or they w
ould be arrested. We had to stay in our head-
quarters 24 hours a day, every day, for that whole year. T
he things we w
entthrough that w
hole year crystallized the wisdom
and the power of
JOH
NA
FR
ICA
. Ithought on M
ay 20, 1978that they were going to kill us.
The w
ay they came out and surrounded the house and had helicopteres fly-
ing over the house, guns aiming at us. T
here were m
en, wom
en, children, andanim
als at our house. May 1977 to M
ay 1978 we w
ere constantly putting outinform
ation about MO
VE
belief, the teachings of JOH
NA
FR
ICA
, why w
etook the stand that w
e did. We told the system
that we w
ere not going to letthem
attack, beat, and kill our babies, our pregnant wom
en, and our men any-
more behind closed doors that this tim
e if they did it the whole w
orld would
see them for w
ho they are and they would have to do it in front of the w
holew
orld. That w
hole year them cops all they did w
hen supporters and peoplew
ere not around the house was m
ake all kinds of threats. They called our
wom
en “black nigger bitches,” “nasty black whores.” T
hey called our kidsall kind of nasty, foul nam
es. They said w
e were “filthy.” T
hey even threat-ened to rape our w
omen. T
hey said they couldn’t wait for R
izzo to orderthem
to go in the house and kill us, our babies, and our animals. T
hey talkedabout cutting our kid’s heads off.
My m
other would com
e and bring us food every week, her and m
y father.E
very time m
y mother cam
e when she’d be talking to m
e on the platform the
cops used to point at her and give sexual signs like they were going to rape
her. And w
hen she would leave they w
ould hollar to me in the w
indow, that
they would rape m
y mother the next tim
e she came to headquarters. T
heydidn’t w
ant anybody bringing us food whatsoever. A
lot of times people
would bring us food and they w
ould threaten or harass them or stop them
ablock up the street and try to jail them
so they wouldn’t com
e back and showtheir support. T
his was the kind of abuse w
e faced every day.
Alberta A
frica was first to com
e up for parole. The parole board agreed to
grant her parole with the stipulation that she could not associate w
ith anyM
OV
Eperson w
hatsoever. We said that w
e were in prison illegally. M
OV
Ehad never com
mitted any crim
e against the system. W
e simply defended
ourselves from this system
. You got the right to freedom
of speech, freedomof religion, freedom
of expression. Every tim
e we spoke out against the
wrongs
of this
system
MO
VE
people w
ere intim
idated by
these cops,
attacked, beat up, put in jail, teh list goes on and on. MO
VE
people sufferedall kinds of brutalities at the hands of this system
. They told our brother
Alfonso, M
o Africa, that he could not associate w
ith MO
VE
mem
bers with
felonies or had been charged, arrested, jailed before, no matter w
hat the
This is one of the m
any police taken photosof the vicious beating of D
elbert Africa that
Bykofsky sheds “no tears for.”
The cops
shown w
ere honored for their “bravery andvalor” by the city of Philadelphia.
HE
RE
’SY
OU
RA
NSW
ER
By D
elbert Africa
In September '06 there w
as a ceremony to "honor"
nine Philadelphia policemen for their roles in the
attack on MO
VE
back on August 8, 1978. T
he ninecops are, Jam
es Ram
p, Law
rence D'U
lisse, Thom
asH
esson, Charles Stew
art, Joseph Zagam
e, Harry
Mackel, Jam
es Farry, Albert C
rane, and Lt. W
illiamK
rause. Stu Bykofsky, a gossip-m
onger for thePhiladelphia D
aily New
s, when w
riting about thecerem
ony wrote, "T
he Big Q
uestion was w
hy it too28 years to recognize the N
ine." And in his next
sentence goes on to say, "The B
ig Answ
er was not forthcom
ing."
And for dam
n good reason, as far as the city officials of Philadelphia are concerned. They
have kept quiet about the raid of August 8, 1978 for these tw
enty-eight years because of theguilty
knowledge that the m
urdered cop and wounded cops and firem
en were felled by
police bullets! And the only reason these nine cops are being so-called honored now
isbecause it's believed, by city officials, that enough tim
e has passed where, once again, gov-
ernment can re-w
rite history, and pull anotherlie over the heads of people! It's not even a
coincidence that the police chose to "honor" ninecops. T
his ploy is an attempt to draw
attention away from
the MO
VE
9! See, the government know
s full well that there are a
great many people w
orld-wide
that already know the events of 8/8/78 do not square w
ith thetales put out by Philadelphia authorities. So now
that the innocentMO
VE
9are up for
parole in two years the city governm
ent is already beginning its publicity campaign to fur-
ther oppress us by assuring that we are denied parole.
Looking at the nine cops that Police C
omm
issioner Johnson chose to honor, it's easily seenthat this w
asn't nothing but a propaganda tactic on the part of the city. If D'U
lisse andZ
agame are to be considered so dam
n heroic, then why w
eren't their partners in beating andstom
ping me also chosen for recognition? C
harles Geist and Terrence M
ulvihill were as
equally heroic as Zagam
e and D'U
lisse in that all four of them cow
ardslied about beating,
stomping, kicking and punching m
e! If they so damn heroic w
hy didn't they stand up fromthe "git-go" and take responsibility for their brutality against m
e? D'U
lisse was the only one
of the four never indicted for the crime, but if he w
as so proud of doing the right thing thatday he w
ould have come forw
ard, leastwise , a real "hero" w
ould have. But w
hen the dis-trict attorney (now
governor) Ed R
endell said he (D'U
lisse) couldn't be identified (despitethe m
an's picture being seen all over the world, sw
inging his shotgun), you damn sure didn't
see D'U
lisse rushing forward claim
ing credit for his deeds! And C
harles Geist had so m
uchon his m
ind about 8/8/78 he started into beating his wife (w
ho was also a cop) and his
mother-in-law
on a almost daily basis! A
nd you knowit w
asn't from no guilt about jum
pingup and dow
n on my head! H
e was so tw
isted that his wife, C
arolyn, ended up shootinghim
in the head to protect herself and her mother from
his murderous rages. H
e went into a
coma and died 8 m
onths later (somebody pulled the plug!?!). Terrence M
ulvihill had som
uch on his mind about 8/8/78 he ended up eating his gun (killing him
self) in 1989! Linn
833
De
c 0
6D
ec
06
on the move
on the move
How
ever, I'll work w
ith anyone supporting a fair trial. By dem
anding a new trial, w
e can work
with those w
ho know the trial w
as rotten but are unsure of Mum
ia's innocence.”
Philly supporters are organizing for Dec. 9—
the 25th anniversary of Abu-Jam
al's incarcera-tion. A
frica is urging supporters to come to Philly or
otherwise organize an event in their hom
etown. “M
umia's
case represents all that is wrong w
ith this system. W
e must
take action now before it is too late!”
Hans B
ennett is a Philadelphia-based photojournalist who
has been documenting the m
ovement to free M
umia and all
political prisoners for more than 5 years. H
e has written for
many publications including Z
Magazine, A
sheville Global
Report, SF B
ayview, A
lternative Press Review
, IN
SUB
OR
DIN
AT
ION
, and AW
OL
magazine. H
e can be contact ed via em
ail at: hbjournalist [at] gmail.com
Please check out his new w
ebsite: http://w
ww
.insubordination.blogspot.com
For more inform
ation on Mum
ia, go to http://ww
w.
mum
ia.org or http://ww
w.freem
umia.com
http://w
ww
.insubordination.blogspot.com
Washington, a Philadelphia reporter that
has been on the scene for a long time has
stated in a filmed interview
that a cophas told him
that he (the cop) knew w
hatcop killed Jam
es Ram
p!! Now
adays,L
inn Washington got so m
uch pressureon him
, he 's scared to even reveal thecops nam
e that told him that. H
e's scaredof not only losing his career, but his life!A
lphonso Deal, a form
er Philly cop haddeath threats from
other cops made
against him w
hen he not only stated thatm
y beating was w
rong, but also, "MO
VE
might not have even been the cause of
Ptl. Ram
ps death." Yeah, its reasons w
hythe city has w
aited twenty-eight years to
honor these cops!
Stu Bykofsky is trying to seem
all naïveabout w
hy there was a tw
enty-eight yearw
ait to so-called honor these cops. But
he knows full w
ell that from the very
first night after the raid, it was a very
strong possibility that Ram
p had beenkilled and the other cops and firem
enshot, by so-called friendly fire! T
herehave alw
aysbeen w
hispers about thatbeing the case. A
nd in part explains why
the city broke every law or precedent
they could in order to railroad theM
OV
E 9
for the shooting of those copsand firem
en!
Take a look at just a fewof the inconsis-
tencies in the so-called evidence againstM
OV
E and anybody
will be able to see
why the city w
aited 28 yearsbefore dar-
ing to bring our case back into the publiceye. Take the case of each of the firem
enw
e were charged w
ith assaulting. All
four of them claim
ed to have been hitw
ith shotgun pellets, yet not one of themever had any pellets taken from
theirbodies and presented as evidence at trial!A
nother point about all these supposedlyshot up firem
en; the shotguns (2)allegedly taken from
our basement w
ere(by the evidence technicians ow
naccount) loaded w
ith 00buckshot. Yet
these firemen w
ere all treated andreleased! 00 buckshot is as big as a .30caliber bullet, yet none of these m
en hadto be hospitalized, and som
e of 'emreported m
ultiple"pellet" w
ounds. One,
Dennis O
'Neil, w
as interviewed at
Hahnem
ann hospital at 11:15 am on
8/8/78, (before leaving) and when asked
by the detective how he got shot, replied,
"I was on the deluge gun at 33rd and
Pearl Sts., then I heard shooting andeverybody w
as ducking. I felt a sting onm
y 2nd finger, right hand. The doctor
(Webber) said there w
ere 3 shotgun pel-lets in m
y finger." C'm
on, three 00 pel-lets w
ould have taken his damn finger
off! But this is the kind of lie the city
put nine innocent MO
VE
mem
bers inprison for the last 28 years! It don't stopthere. Firem
an John Welsh w
as inter-view
ed at Hahnem
ann Hospital at
2:05pm. H
e stated, "I was aim
ing thegun (a deluge gun) in a basem
ent win-
dow of the "M
OV
E" com
pound.A
pproximately 5 m
inutes went by; the
gunfire started. I don't know from
where
(my em
phasis added). That's w
hen I feltm
y backand m
y arm and I realized I had
been hit." I emphasized, "back" because
here was a m
an (once again) facing ourhouse that w
as hit in the back! The offi-
cial injury report of Welsh reads,
"Shotgun pellets to neck under chin.L
ower right arm
above wrist. C
enterright chest. T
reated at Hahnem
annH
ospital by Dr. T
illey. Adm
itted in satis-factory condition." H
ere we go again
people! How
in the world these dudes
got all these multiple w
ounds and theyjust sitting around---W
elsh still sitting inthe E
R, hours after the shooting!
The “honored” cops
beatingD
elbert in 1978.
Tw
enty Eight Y
earsby D
ebbie Africa
Oct. 13, 2006
. . . I was 8 m
onths pregnant with m
y son and my 23-m
onth-old baby girl inm
y arms w
hen I was arrested A
ugust 8, 1978.
Irem
ember the day the cops snatched m
y baby daughter from m
y arms. It
felt like somebody ripped an organ from
my body, and never replaced it. I
had my son in a prison cell. I
gave my son his first and last bath at 2 days
old. We live as m
other and children through telephone calls, letters, and fewvisits for the tim
e we’ve been separated. T
he system not only took m
y free-dom
, my husband’s freedom
, they stole my children’s freedom
.
People who have never experienced the pain of separation betw
een a childand it’s m
other have no idea what it’s like to never see your child except for
a few hours on visit once every 1-3 years under m
icroscopic, suspicious cam-
eras and eyes. People don’t know how
much pain you go through w
henyou’ve on the phone just getting into a talk w
ith your daughter and your 15m
inutes are up, before you finish your talk, or before you can tell your sonyou love him
, the phone clicks off-- or trying to get every word out in the 1
minute you have left, som
etimes not getting to say goodbye. Y
ou just endurethis gut-w
renching feeling of anxiety.
The pain never goes aw
ay, but thanks to the wisdom
of JOH
NA
FR
ICA
we
convert those feelings into energy to keep doing our work to fight against
injustice! On the M
OV
E!
LO
NG
LIV
EJO
HN
AF
RIC
A!
Debbie A
frica
932
Of course, the m
ost blatant example of a
lie from the city is in the case of Jam
esR
amp. E
verybodythat w
as around on8/8/78 know
s the initial reports on Ram
p'sdeath reported him
shot by a downw
ardcoursing
bullet!
Police C
omm
issionerO
'Neil, at the official pronouncem
ent ofR
amp's death reported him
shot in theback w
ith the bullet traveling downw
ardthrough his heart! A
fter these initial state-m
ents and reports it was seen that they
better get that changed, so the story ofR
amp's
injuries began
to change.
Entrance w
ounds became exit w
ounds andthe path of the bullet changed. B
ut, asJO
HN
AF
RIC
Ateach
"TH
E
POW
ER
OF T
RU
TH
IS FINA
L!" For, despite all
their attempts at a cover-up and fram
e ofthe M
OV
E 9, the truth
still prevails. Dr.
Robert C
atherman, deputy m
edical exam-
iner, said in his official autopsy report andtestim
ony that, "…the path of the bullet
was horizontal from
left to right with no
deviation of angle." So even though thecity tried to cover up their w
rong doing,the truth still cam
e out that MO
VE
could-n't
have shot James R
amp from
our base-m
ent! There is no w
ay a bullet is going tocom
e from a basem
ent up to the street andthen level off to travel horizontally! A
llthese are just som
eof the lies this system
has tried to cover up for the last twenty-
eightyears! T
hese callous misfits have
kept innocent MO
VE
people in prison allthis tim
e knowing
we didn't shoot any
cops or firemen!
On A
ugust 10, 1978 there was a com
mand
staff m
eeting of
police at
The
Police
Adm
inistration Building (PA
B). B
esidesthe com
mand staff, the various com
mand-
ers of the special units present on 8/8/78w
ere there. The notes of that m
eetingclearly show
that the copsknew
they had
messed
up on
8/8/78.
Captain
Taylorspoke about, "…
the number of firem
enw
ho were in the line of fire." O
n page 3of the notes, a C
aptain Small is "…
of theopinion
that there
was
an excessive
amount of unnecessary firing on the part
of police personnel when there w
ere notarget
per se
to shoot
at."
Deputy
Com
missioner Solom
on (later to become
Com
missioner)
said in
his point
5,"…
There w
ere too many police personnel
present at the focal point of the action who
had no authority or business to be there.H
e could not state emphatically enough
the serious breakdown and lack of disci-
pline."
Here you got com
manders and com
mand
staff of the police admitting that there w
asa serious lack of discipline and indiscrim
-inate firing from
the police on 8/8/78.A
lso, that there were unauthorized police
there (this applies to James R
amp, w
how
as actually off duty!!). So, is it any won-
der that police and firemen w
ere gettingshot up by their ow
n! This
is why the city
has waited 28 years to dare to open up
what is going to becom
e a Pandora's boxfor them
. They have thought to out-w
aitthe truth, let a generation go by and thenspin
whatever
lie they
wanted.
B
utM
OV
E
welcom
es this
opportunity to
bring out all the lies, and speak on all thathas been unsaid. Just like on A
ugust 8,1978, ain't nothing these dem
ons plan isgoing to go right for them
! They w
ill beexposed for the m
urderers, liars, cowards
and racist crooks they are!D
elbert Africa, M
inister of Defense
The M
OV
E O
rganizationO
N
TH
E
MO
VE
!
TH
E
POW
ER
O
FT
RU
TH
IS FINA
L!
LO
NG
LIV
E JO
HN
AFR
ICA
FOR
EV
ER
!
In 1986 the Pennsylvania Supreme C
ourt ruled against McG
ill in another case(C
omm
onwealth v. B
aker) on the same grounds. W
hen Abu-Jam
al addressed this same
issue in his 1989 appeal with the State Suprem
e Court, the court reversed its decision
on the legality of such a statement—
ruling against the claim for a m
istrial.
Incredibly, just one year later, in the very next case involving this issue(C
omm
onwealth v. B
easley), the State Supreme C
ourt flip-flopped and restored theprecedent. H
owever, this w
ould not affect the ruling against Mum
ia, because the courtruled that this precedent w
ould only apply in “future trials.” This suggests that the rul-
ings were designed to specifically exclude M
umia's case from
its precedent.
#4. The fairness of M
umia's 1995-97 PC
RA
hearings when the retired, 74-year-old
Judge Sabo was called back specifically for the hearing. B
esides the obvious unfairnessof recalling the exact sam
e judge to rule on his fairness in the original 1982 trial, hisactual PC
RA
bias has been extensively documented.
During the 1995 hearings, the m
ainstream Philadelphia Inquirer w
rote that the “behav-ior of the judge in the case w
as disturbing the first time around—
and in hearings lastw
eek he did not give the impression to those in the courtroom
of fair mindedness.
Instead, he gave the impression, dam
aging in the extreme, of undue haste and hostility
toward the defense's case.”
Concluding the PC
RA
hearing, Sabo rejected all evidence and every witness presented
by the defense as not being credible. Therefore, Sabo upheld all of the facts and proce-
dures of the original trial as being correct.
“I'm G
oing To Help T
hem F
ry The N
igger” In 2001 another w
itness—Terri M
auer-Carter—
challenged Sabo's integrity, but the StateSuprem
e Court ruled against the defense's right to include her affidavit in their current
federal appeal. Mauer-C
arter was w
orking as a stenographer in the Philadelphia Court
system on the eve of M
umia's 1982 trail w
hen she states that she overheard Judge Sabosay in reference to M
umia's case that he w
as going to help the prosecution “fry the nig-ger.”
Journalist Dave L
indorff recently interviewed M
auer-Carter's form
er boss, Richard
Klein, w
ho was w
ith Mauer-C
arter when she states she overheard Sabo. A
PhiladelphiaC
omm
on Pleas Court judge at the tim
e, who now
sits on PA's Superior C
ourt, Klein
told Lindorff: "I w
on't say it did happen, and I won't say it didn't. T
hat was a long tim
eago." L
indorff considers Klein's refusal to firm
ly reject Mauer-C
arter's claim to be an
affirmation of her statem
ent.
The State Suprem
e Court ruling w
as an affirmation of low
er-level Judge PatriciaD
embe's argum
ent that even if Maurer-C
arter is correct about Sabo's stated intent to usehis position as Judge to throw
the trial and help the prosecution "fry the nigger," it does-n't m
atter. According to D
embe, since it "w
as a jury trial, as long as the presidingJudge's rulings w
ere legally correct, claims as to w
hat might have m
otivated or animat-
ed those rulings are not relevant."
Organizing for
Decem
ber9
Pam A
frica (coordinator of Mum
ia's support network) explains that “w
hen we defend
Rue M
umia, w
e call attention to Mum
ia's current battle in the courts. We know
theSuprem
e Court w
on't hear his case, so this current phase truly is the last chance for anew
trial.”
“I believe Mum
ia is innocent and am personally calling for his im
mediate release.
on the move
Dec 06
Dec 06
on the move
1031
In your article you question why it took 28
years to honor the cops who participated in
the attack against the MO
VE
Organization
August 8, 1978. Saying that if there had
been allegations of police misconduct that
day it wouldn't have taken 28 years to put
the cops on trial.
There w
ere and still are not only allega-tions of police m
isconduct that day, butalso direct proof of Philadelphia officialsm
urderous intent toward M
OV
E as w
ell astheir collusion w
ith police, the DA
, andjudges to carry it out.
It is
evident from
the
people that
yousought those answ
ers from that you w
erenot really trying to find the truth behindthat 28 year w
ait of those fake awards, but
only interested in corroborating your own
long held bias views. For if you w
ere real-ly interested in the truth, or in any sem
-blance
of objectivity
in your
quest for
answers, you w
ould not exclude the facts.
Linn
Washington,
an aw
ard-winning
columnist for the Philadelphia D
aily New
sand the Philadelphia T
ribune, was an eye
witness to the entire attack against M
OV
E,
August 8, 1978. H
e has stated publicly, inprint, on film
, and during live interviews
that he knows for a factthat M
OV
E did not
shoot James R
amp. H
e says this not onlyas an eye w
itness, but because he saysanother cop on the scene told him
that notonly had a fellow
cop shot Ram
p, but thathe also told him
the identityof that cop.
During m
y sister Ram
ona Africa's civil suit
against Philadelphia city officials for theirm
urderous attack
on M
OV
E
May
13,1985,
Wilson
Goode
testified in
opencourt, saying that due to inform
ation ehreceived as m
anaging director and later asm
ayor, he concluded that the MO
VE
9w
ere innocent . He also asked Suprem
eC
ourt Justice Robert N
ix to head an inde-pendent
legal inquiry
into our
case.Instead of asking this m
aniacal murderer
of MO
VE
people what inform
ation he hadobtained that led him
to that conclusion,
the D
aily N
ews
featured a
cartoon of
Goode w
earing dreadlocks and called him"W
ilson Africa."
In your emails to M
OV
E you w
ere fervidw
hen claiming M
OV
E failed to adhere to
court orders, but hypocritically view that
same court's order as a non-issue w
hen it ispointed out that the police violated courtorders in attacking M
OV
E A
ugust 8, 1978.
In the OJ Sim
pson trial, proving that theprosecution tam
pered with just one single
drop of blood was enough to show
prose-cutorial m
isconduct. In the MO
VE
9 case,w
ithin hours of the assault the city haddeliberately dem
olished the entire crime
scene, despite a court ordernot to do so.
And despite of the fact that it is com
mon
procedure that no murder scene be dis-
turbed anyway.
They uprooted and destroyed the huge tree
that stood in front of MO
VE
Headquarters,
where they say the first shots from
MO
VE
were fired into.
They destroyed the w
indow and w
indowfram
e they
confiscated from
the
houseacross from
MO
VE
that contained the sin-gle bullet hole they say fir the sam
e trajec-tory of the bullet that killed the cop.
They destroyed the bullet
that came out of
the dead cop.
The D
Achanged the m
edical examiner's
report, in open court, and in full view of
the presiding judge, indicating the locationof the fatal w
ound.
They claim
ed to have a dozen guns confis-cated from
MO
VE
Headquarters, and a
dozen cops testified to seeing MO
VE
men
with those guns. Y
et not oneof those guns,
includingthe one they said w
as used tom
urder Ram
p, had anyM
OV
E fingerprints
on them.
They
denied brutalizing
MO
VE
as
we
were arrested, until channel 10 aired the
Response to Stu B
ykofsky’s 28 year wait to honor cops’valor
By M
ike Africa
Dec 06
on the move
on the move
Dec 06
On O
ctober 23, attorney Robert R
. Bryan (attorney for death-row
prisoner Mum
ia Abu-
Jamal) filed the 4th Step R
eply Brief w
ith the U.S. C
ourt of Appeals for the T
hird Circuit,
Philadelphia. Because this should be the last round of reply briefs, B
ryan estimates that
the public hearing of arguments should begin w
ithin three months. A
fter the hearing, thepanel of judges w
ill then decide whether to grant A
bu-Jamal a new
trial.
The courts are now
considering the following four issues:
#1. Whether the penalty phase of M
umia's trial violated the legal precedent set by the U
SSuprem
e Court's 1988 M
ills v. Maryland ruling. T
his issue was Y
ohn's grounds for over-turning the death sentence and is now
being appealed by the DA
.
#2. “Certified for appeal” by Y
ohn in 2001, the Batson claim
, addresses the prosecution'suse of perem
ptory challenges to exclude Blacks from
Mum
ia's jury. In 1986, the US
Supreme C
ourt ruled in Batson v. K
entucky that a defendant deserves a new trial if it can
be proved that jurors were excluded on the grounds of race.
At M
umia's trial, Prosecutor M
cGill used 11 of his 15 perem
ptory challenges to remove
black jurors that were otherw
ise acceptable. While Philadelphia is 44%
black, Abu-
Jamal's jury w
as composed of ten w
hites and only two blacks. From
1977-1986 when
current Pennsylvania governor Ed R
endell was Philadelphia's D
istrict Attorney, the evi-
dence of racism is striking: from
1977-86, the Philadelphia DA
struck 58% of black
jurors, but only 22% of w
hite jurors.
#3. The legality of M
cGill's statem
ent to the jury minim
izing the seriousness of a verdictof guilt: “if you find the D
efendant guilty of course there would be appeal after appeal
and perhaps there could be a reversal of the case, or whatever, so that m
ay not be final.”
SUPPORTMOVE
and educate yourself!
*F
ree
Th
e M
OV
E9
Bu
tton
*25 Y
ears on th
e Move B
ook- S
how your support everyday - 50 cen
ts$5
an excellent history of MO
VE
“Welcom
e to Ph
iladelp
hia” T
-Sh
irt - $10- depicts the bom
b being dropped on MO
VE
that killed six adults, five children, burned
over 60 homes to the ground and left 250 people hom
eless
*Th
e MO
VE
Con
frontation
Vid
eo - $10- includes original black and w
hite documentary on the 1978 confrontation and a short
piece on the 1985 bombing
*N
ew D
ocum
entary - “M
OV
E” -
- Th
is amazin
g n
ew d
ocu
men
tary h
as recieved
intern
ation
al acclaim. T
he film
docum
ents MO
VE
’s history as well as present day battles. It is shocking w
ith a fastpaced soundtrack and narration by H
oward Z
inn.
**
To
pu
rch
as
e s
en
d c
he
ck
or m
on
ey
ord
er to
the
ad
dre
ss
be
low
**
on the move
11D
ec 06D
ec 06on the m
ove30
beatings captured on their video.
They
denied having
the sam
e type
ofw
eapons as they claimed w
as used to killthe cop, until the video show
ed them carry-
ing them.
And w
hen we cam
e up for appeal, the DA
claimed that they no longer had any of the
photos, videotape, or even most transcripts
of our trial. No evidence of the trial they
say w
as the
longest and
costliest in
Philadelphia history.
And
when
anyonequestions the D
Aabout it, it becom
es crys-tal clear w
hy they destroyed every piece ofevidence. B
ecause it all points to them.
How
they killed and shot up their own, and
the photos and videos they took to prove ourguilt, clearly show
s their own.
When the cops assault and m
urder MO
VE
children, wom
en, men, and anim
als, youlabel it an "over-reaction" that w
arrants noaction or crim
inal charges at all. If, as youclaim
, the cops simply "over-reacted" w
hennearly beating D
elbert Africa to death fol-
lowing the attack on M
OV
E, w
hat then doyou think M
OV
E's response should have
been after the Philadelphia police stomped
and murdered Janine and Phil A
frica's threew
eek old infant on March 28, 1976, after
the DA
's office failed to even investigate it,and even after your paper did a cover storyon it, w
here the press and mem
bers of citycouncil view
ed the murdered child. Y
eah,that's w
hat I thought. This is w
hat led to theconfrontation of 1978.
You said you asked relatives and friends of
James R
amp for a com
ment on w
hy theyfelt it took so long to honor those 9 cops.W
hy don't you ask Consuella A
frica, who
wrongfully spent 16 ½
years in prison for acrim
e those same city officials you talked to
that day knows she w
as innocent of, while
some of those sam
e cops you gave medals
to hid on rooftops behind Osage A
venueM
ay 13, 1985 and cold bloodedly shot andm
urdered her two little girls.
Why don't you ask Sue A
frica why she
thinks it has taken so long to honor thosecops, som
e of who participated in the m
ur-der of her pre-teenage son w
ho they shot as
he tried to escape the flames of M
ay 13,1985, w
hile they had her in prison for 12 ½years for nothing.
Ask Janine and Phil A
frica, with yet anoth -
erson m
urdered by those same honorees
that day, while trying to encourage people to
forgethow
they murdered their children
May 13, 1985.
Ask Janet and D
elbert how they feel about
their two daughters m
urdered by this city'saw
ard winning cops, as they serve a sen-
tence of 100 years for one cop they didn'tkill, w
hile those who adm
ittedm
urderingtheir babies w
eren't even charged.
It does not matter one bit to the M
OV
EO
rganization that you view us as esoteric.
Our security com
es in ourunderstanding
and acknowledgm
ent of LIFE
, the principlew
e adhere to. While you claim
to believe inand claim
is understood by most, has caused
and continue to cause the most m
ayhem,
death and destruction the world has ever
known.
So you can continue to be an agent ofrepression for that m
urderous gang calledthe Philadelphia police, and give all thephony accolades y'all w
ant. They
know the
truth, which is w
hythey hid behind those 28
years. But the days for honoring yourselves
will end because m
ore and more people are
recognizing the truth, recognizing peoplelike them
andyou for w
hat you really are.A
nd are
fast realizing
that it
ain't just
MO
VE
people that y'all treat this way.
When
the city
officials attacked
MO
VE
there were seven Pennsylvania state pris-
ons. Today there are 28w
ith another two
under construction! All filled to capacity
with poor folk's children. T
his country isim
prisoning black children at a rate that is 4tim
esthat
of S
outh A
frica during
theapartheid era! A
re you trying to convincethe public that that is the result of housingcode violations too?
Somebody like you w
ouldlook at the events
of 1978 and blindly conclude that that oneevent in the history of this racist city is w
hatcaused racial tension. Fifteen m
onths of a
at City H
all. How
ever, the Supreme C
ourt ultimately rejected the petition on
grounds that it was not done on the official form
created by the courts.
Arguably the w
orld's most fam
ous political prisoner, Mum
ia's international sup-porters include the Japanese D
iet, the European Parliam
ent, and mem
bers of boththe B
ritish & G
erman Parliam
ents.
In 1982 he was convicted of killing w
hite Philadelphia police officer Daniel
Faulkner in a trial that Am
nesty International has declared a "violation of mini-
mum
international standards that govern fair trial procedures and the use of thedeath penalty,"
Calling for a new
trial, supporters around the world feel that the original one w
astainted by racism
, prosecutorial & judicial m
isconduct, coerced witnesses, sup-
pressed evidence, and a denial of Mum
ia's constitutional right to represent him-
self.
His case has attracted activists around the w
orld organizing against racism, pover-
ty, corporate media censorship, m
ass incarceration, political repression, and thedeath penalty.
Activist N
oam C
homsky argues that “M
umia's case is sym
bolic of something
much broader...T
he US prison system
is simply class and race w
ar...Mum
ia andother prisoners are the kind of people that get assassinated by w
hat's called 'socialcleansing' in U
S client states like Colom
bia.”
Still on Death R
ow
In Decem
ber, 2001 Federal District C
ourt Judge William
Yohn affirm
ed Abu-
Jamal's guilt but overturned the death sentence. C
iting the 1988 Mills v. M
arylandprecedent, Y
ohn ruled that sentencing forms used by jurors and Judge Sabo's
instructions to the jury were confusing. Subsequently, jurors m
istakenly believedthat they had to unanim
ously agree on any mitigating circum
stances in order to beconsidered as w
eighing against a death sentence.
Mum
ia's case is now in the federal T
hird Circuit C
ourt of Appeals. D
ALynne
Abraham
is appealing the death penalty ruling while M
umia is appealing the
guilty verdict.
If the penalty ruling is overturned, a new execution date w
ill be set for Mum
ia. Ifhis ruling is upheld, the D
Acan still im
panel a new jury to rehear the penalty
phase, which could then sentence M
umia to death—
regardless of the 3rd Circuit
ruling.
Because the D
Aappealed Y
ohn's death penalty decision, Mum
ia has never leftdeath row
, and is still unable to have such “privileges” as full-contact visits with
his family.
The L
egal Update
In Decem
ber, 2005, the 3rd Circuit announced the beginning of deliberations and
shocked many by agreeing to consider tw
o claims not “certified for appeal” by
Yohn in 2001.
Mum
ia's attorney Robert R
. Bryan declared it to be “the m
ost important decision
affecting my client since his 1981 arrest, for it w
as the first time there w
as a rul-ing that could lead to a new
trial and his freedom.”
Dec 06
12on the m
oveD
ec 0629
on the move
defiant MO
VE
Organization standing up to
racist officials, versus a lifetime
of oppressionand brutality m
eted out to the poor comm
uni-ty
by avow
ed racists
named
Rizzo,
Tate,O
'Neal, Fencl, A
braham, Sam
bore, Malm
ed,Sabo, R
endell, the Daily N
ews, the Inquirer,
the Bulletin, as w
ell as all the rest that towed,
enforced, and supported that red line.
In the end you are going to see that those 28years w
asn't long enough . Conscious people
will never forget this city's heinous treatm
entof M
OV
E. A
nd, only those who are com
-pletely devoid of life w
ould even want to.
Ona M
OV
E!
Michael A
frica
LO
NG
LIV
E JO
HN
AF
RIC
A!
TA
KE
AC
TI
ON
NO
W!
1) Educate
- Contact the International C
oncerned Family and Friends of M
umia A
bu-Jam
al and recieve copies of flyers and information books to distribute
2) Stay Updated
by checking the website or calling our info num
ber regularly. Em
ail IC
FFMA
and get added to our email list. B
e ready to come to Philadelphia
or set up demonstrations in your area at a m
oments notice.
3) Encourage your local bookstores to order
and stock Mum
ia’s books. Organize
book readings or have Mum
ia’s regular comm
entariesread or published. To hear
comm
entaries go to ww
w.prisonradio.org
4) Go to open m
ic’s, poetry readings, political events and speak out about Mum
ia, thedeath penalty and political prisoners.
5) Donate
funds to the movem
ent! Send funds to: The N
ational Black U
nited Fund, 40C
linton St., New
ark, NJ 07102 - C
hecks must be earm
arked “Mum
ia Organizing.”
6) Start yourow
n local coalitionfor justice for M
umia and let us know
.
Intern
atio
na
l Co
ncern
ed F
am
ily a
nd
Fr
ien
ds o
fM
um
ia A
bu
-Ja
ma
lw
ww
.Mu
mia.org 215-476-8812 IC
FF
MA
MO
VE
Wom
en respond toB
ykofsky
Here w
e are still in prison after 28years, due to com
e up for parole in2008 to be released, and the city ofPhiladelphia, along w
ith the news
media, in particular Stu B
ykofsky, ain'tsatisfied. T
hey're still sniping atM
OV
E through his article in the D
ailynew
spaper, and via email, to try and
rally public opinion against us to tryand keep us in prison. T
he truth is StuB
ykofsky never interviewed, or talked
to any of the MO
VE
9, to determine
that MO
VE
is guilty, like unbiasedreporters are supposed to do.B
ykofsky don't know the truth about
MO
VE
, or what happened A
ugust 8,1978, and don't have the right to con-dem
n us as guilty.
Bykofsky said w
e should have obeyedthe order, fight in court like norm
alcitizens. . . Five M
OV
E babies w
erem
urdered at the hands of Philadelphiacops before 1978. M
OV
E m
ade hun-
dreds of court appearances before1978 to fight for our so-called rights,to expose the unjust beatings, andbaby killings M
OV
E suffered at the
hands of Philadelphia cops and sher-iffs, before 1978. M
OV
E w
ent tocourt, filed charges against cops w
how
ere on the scene when M
OV
E babies
were throw
n from porches, kicked
from the w
ombs of M
OV
E w
omen,
trampled to death, before 1978, only to
be ignored, and dismissed. T
here was
never justice in the courts for MO
VE
.T
hat was the w
hole point of the May
1977 demonstration against the city. If
Bykofsky really w
anted to be fair-m
inded, if he had done his homew
ork,like reporters are supposed to do hew
ould have understood why w
e didn'ttrust the courts.
Despite that though, M
OV
E still gave
the city the opportunity to resolve thisissue of police brutality, and abusefrom
the cops against MO
VE
in
October 20, 2006
Rue M
umia A
bu-Jamal
At the R
ue Mum
ia inauguration ceremony in St. D
enis this past April, M
ayor Didier
Paillard declared: “Mum
ia's struggle is a symbol for justice, the abolition of the death
penalty, human rights, and resistance against a system
which has the arrogance to reign
over the world in the nam
e of those same hum
an rights that it tramples w
ith complete
impunity on its ow
n soil.”
In response to the street-naming, resolutions condem
ning St. Denis w
ere introduced inthe U
S Congress, the Pennsylvania State Senate, and the Philadelphia C
ity Council.
In September, a delegation visited from
France to defend Rue M
umia. T
hey attempted to
meet w
ith Philadelphia Mayor John Street, but after several hoursof being ignored, they
left his office to speak at the town m
eeting nearby organized by Mum
ia's local support-ers.
At the tow
n meeting, the visitors proclaim
ed: “As long as the city of St. D
enis exists, we
will have R
ue Mum
ia Abu-Jam
al.”
Mum
ia's supporters later presented their own resolution defending R
ue Mum
ia at theC
ity Council.
Supporters in New
York C
ity have started an online petition calling for a street inH
arlem to be nam
ed after Abu-Jam
al. http://ww
w.gopetition.com
/online/9723.html
AH
istory of International Support Support from
France has been extensive. In Novem
ber, 2002 a delegation of more than
40 French supporters of Abu-Jam
al traveled to Philadelphia to hand-deliver a 250,000signature petition (dem
anding a new trial) to the Suprem
e Court of Pennsylvania office
peace-but pridew
ould not letthe city resolve this peacefully.
It was the city of Philadelphia that
sent the cops to our house claiming to
be arresting MO
VE
for not appearingin court on a housing violation.U
nderstandw
hat I am saying, all this
happened because Judge G. Fred
DiB
ona, with the city's backing,
ordered those cops to come to our
house with a bulldozer, crane, fire
hoses, and all types of weaponry for
not appearing in court on a housingviolation-not m
urder, rape, drug traf-ficking, or child abuse, but becausew
e did not appear in court to speak toa civil issue. D
oes this sound like thecity, the cops just w
anted to bring usto court alive? D
oes Bykofsky under-
stand English? M
OV
E did not sign
an order for those cops to come to our
house. We did not go out to their
houses that day. Let m
e make it
clear, MO
VE
did not kill anybody, soif Stu B
ykofsky wants to blam
esom
ebody for the family that w
asdestroyed, blam
e the city.
Nine of us have been in prison for 28
years, because we w
ere afam
ily, we lived
there. Yet not one
cop has ever been arrested or indictedfor all the babies' lives that w
eredestroyed by the cops before, or after1978. N
obody from the city, police
department, or m
edia seems to ever
want to talk about or show
remorse
for all the lives that were taken from
MO
VE
though. Why? C
an anybodyansw
er that? People like Bykofsky
who so dangerously m
isjudge people,like M
OV
E, poor folks, and assum
ethey are guilty, crim
inal, just becausethey don't w
ear a certain kind of uni-form
, or protest against injustice,w
ould not be so quick to take theposition he claim
s MO
VE
shouldhave taken if he and his fam
ilyreceived one eighth of the injusticeM
OV
E w
as dealt from the city of
Philadelphia and the cops. Nobody
needs to try and convey to us the painof the lose of loved ones, w
e know.
LO
NG
LIV
E JO
HN
AF
RIC
AT
he Power of T
ruth is Final!M
OV
E W
omen, C
ambridge Springs,
PA
MO
VE
youth and supporters running in support of the MO
VE
9.
Is Honoring M
umia a C
rime? B
y Hans B
ennett
Is it a crime to publicly honor black death-row
prisoner and journalist Mum
ia Abu-Jam
al(convicted of killing w
hite Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in a 1982 trial that
Am
nesty International has declared a "violation of minim
um international standards that
govern fair trial procedures and the use of the death penalty")? Future Philadelphia may-
oral candidate Peter J. Wirs thinks so.
Acting as the C
hairman of Philadelphia's 59th R
epublican Ward E
xecutive Com
mittee,
Wirs has filed crim
inal charges against the French cities of Paris and St. Denis. T
heircrim
e?
In 2003 Abu-Jam
al was declared an honorary citizen of Paris—
the first time since Pablo
Picasso was sim
ilarly honored in the 1970s. This A
pril, the French city of St. Denis (a
Paris suburb) named a m
ajor street after him. L
ocated in the Cristino G
arcia District of
the city (named after an anti-Franco Spanish R
epublican), Rue M
umia A
bu-Jamal leads
directly to the largest sports arena in Europe: “N
elson Mandela Stadium
.”
Wirs and the G
OP
ward com
mittee allege that these public honors violate French Penal
Code, A
rticle 24 § 2 (L. 29 juillet 1881), prohibiting “the glorified perpetration of a
crime [w
hose elements include] the voluntary trespass to another person's life or physical
integrity ...”
The com
mittee's press release explains that:
“The 59th R
epublican Ward E
xecutive Com
mittee’s French counsel, M
artin Bozm
arov,E
sq. filed a plainte, (criminal com
plaint) with the Procureur de la R
epublique, akin to aD
istrict Attorney, in tw
o separate départements (France’s prim
ary political subdivision)w
ho represents the government before the trial courts, the T
ribunal de Grande Instance
de Paris for the capital city and Tribunal de G
rande Instance de Bobigny that has juris-
diction over Saint Denis. O
nce each Procureur determines the charges founded, a instruc-
tion judiciaire (judicial investigation) is requested of the Cham
bre de l'Instruction, a sep-arate body of judges, w
ho appoints the Juge d'Instruction, a special investigating judge,to conduct a full scale investigation for both exculpatory as w
ell as inculpatory evidence,including interview
ing parties and witnesses.”
“If the Juge d'Instruction estimates prosecution is w
arranted, the dossier is transferredback to the Procureur, w
hile the three-judge Cham
bre de l'Instruction, if determining
there is sufficient evidence to charge, issue the mise en exam
en, the formal indicting
instrument, and transfers the case to a trial court.” http://w
ww
.politicspa.com/pressre-
leasedetailed.asp?id=750
Calling A
bu-Jamal a “punk,” C
hairman W
irs proclaims that “A
bu-Jamal’s gratuitous
exploitation of genuine international opposition to the death penalty should be exposedfor the 'snake-oil’scam
that it is.”
Wirs w
ill be among the num
erous Philadelphia city officials traveling to France onN
ovember 27 to lobby against R
ue Mum
ia and his honorary citizenship in Paris. In anadvance letter requesting a m
eeting with the Paris C
ity Council, this delegation w
rites:
“To give to honours of the city to a cop killer is both an imm
oral and irresponsiblechoice. It is all the m
ore choking to see the name of a m
urderer next to that of PabloPicasso in the gallery of the “Parisian H
onours”. But the m
essage that the decision ofyour assem
bly is making is m
uch more disturbing as the French policem
en are everydayexposed to an increasing num
ber of assaults and violent urban acts.” http://ww
w.freem
u-m
ia.com/Philly_C
ity_Council_D
elegation_Letter(2).doc
28D
ec 06D
ec 06on the m
oveon the m
ove13
Policies of E
nslavement
By Janet A
frica
society is indifferent and unresponsive to the disturbing things thatgo on in prison because they feel like it don’t affect them
.U
nderstand that prisons are controlled by politicians the same w
aythe streets are controlled by politicians, so w
hat affects prisonersaffects you too. N
obody is imm
une to these conditions! While
inmates are being pressured, forced into doing w
hat this government
tell them to do, politicians are slow
ly creating these conditions andenforcing the sam
e policies on society. MO
VE
constantly complain
and fight hard against these oppressive policies. When w
e were sent
to prison 28 years ago, female inm
ates were com
pletely isolatedfrom
male officers, as years passed, policies w
ere put in placeallow
ing male guards to w
ork on female units as long as a fem
aleofficer w
as present. Now
, there are mostly m
en working in the
units, walking the halls, strolling in our cells at night w
hile we
sleep. In 2002, a policy went into effect sanctioning m
ale officersand m
aintenance men supervisors to run their hands across the
wom
en’s shoulders, down the arm
s, down the entire back, betw
eenand under the breast, dow
n the sides of the torso, around the waist,
down the buttocks, dow
n the inside and outside of the thighs andlegs starting at the crotch (a routine pat search). People should havebeen outraged about this, strange m
en putting their hands on wom
enin this m
anner. This is a fem
ale institution with fem
ale officershere, this is totally uncalled for and unnecessary. T
he apathy andlack of concern from
those outside the prison has allowed this to
spill right on society. These days w
hen female citizens board
planes, to into subways, or look (w
hat cops call) suspicious walking
down the street, they are just as likely to be pat searched by a m
alecop, or security guard. T
hese past few years of the governm
ent hasbeen w
orking to put into effect a ex-ray machine that enables
screeners to see if explosives or weapons are being concealed in
body cavities. This blatant disrespect and disregards for people is
highly offensive and wrong. If people keep sitting back letting this
go on, the next thing you know m
ale guards will be strip searching
inmates, police and security guards w
ill be strip searching wom
enout on the street. It sounds outrageous but don’t forget, in 1978m
ale pat searches were unheard of and sounded ridiculous too.
Inmates w
ere threatened and sent to solitary confinement for refus-
ing to give blood samples for a crim
inal state DN
Adatabase thought
up by some politicians. In the beginning, this policy w
as deemed
unconstitutional by their own Federal Judges because it violated
people’s fourth Am
endment R
ight. Politicians got around that bygetting legislators to m
ake it law and this invasive policy has found-
ed it’s way deep into society too. Y
ou can’t get a certain job, go to aparticular school or obtain different licenses w
ithout giving your
The physical and m
ental abuse, theexploitative conditions and invasive policiesinflicted on inm
ates are designed to restrainand control people in prison. M
ost of
4. Write to V
eronza! Uplift him
with
your words and stay updated. T
he increased mail w
ill also show prison officials that
Veronza B
owers has global support and give his legal team
leverage!
Veronza B
owers #35316-136, FC
C M
edium C
-1, P.O. B
ox 1032, Colem
an FL33521-1032
Fliers: Distribute W
idely!Press R
elease ww
w.veronza.org/U
-PressRelease.htm
l C
ase Background w
ww
.veronza.org/G-Sum
mary.htm
l L
etters of Support ww
w.veronza.org/B
-TO
C-L
etter.html
(Including Prison Officials and State A
ttorneys)
For more inform
ation, visit: ww
w.veronza.org
Support Robert Seth H
ayes parole denialappeal
Novem
ber 12, 2006
Seth called this morning and w
anted to pass on some im
portantinform
ation about his parole appeal and some harassm
ent thathe has been facing lately. T
he interview w
ith Seth on theseissues is onthe Internet, and you can listen to w
hat he has to sayat w
ww
.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=20492
July 28, 2006 G
reetings, I am
writing to thank you for your support, love and concern in
my bid for release at m
y fifth parole board appearance. Sadly,release w
asn't granted. Instead I've received once again, an
additional two-year hit for the fifth tim
e, "due to the seriousness of the crime, release at
this time w
ould undermine respect for the law
." T
his is a standard, pat answer based upon political view
s (the governor continually insiststhat violent felony offenders should not receive parole) rather then the application of thelaw
. We are going to appeal.
Naturally that brings up the need for your continued support. Y
ou have been strong form
e over this difficult period and I ask you for that support and comm
itment aw
hilelonger. I have already subm
itted my appeal papers. I now
await the transcripts from
theparole board hearing. It is from
those transcripts and our strategy that I hope to securerelease via the courts. A
s things develop, I will update everyone through m
ail and the web page w
ww
.seth-hayes.org. It is hoped that the court w
ill agree that there is unreasonableness by theparole com
missioner's decision and opt for another hearing that follow
s the guidelines ofparole law
rather than the implicit political stance of the governor. A
gain thank you foryour continued show
of love and support. I look forward to seeing your efforts in the
vanguard of the future. We are correct, and w
e will w
in. In struggle, R
obert Seth Hayes, B
PP/BL
APP/PO
W2006, Please
address all correspondence to: R
obert Seth Hayes #74A
2280, Wende C
orrectional Facility, P.O
. Box 1187, 3622 W
ende Road, A
lden, N
ew Y
ork 14004-1187 USA
Dec 06
Dec 06
on the move
on the move
1427
DN
A. T
his controlling government intends to put every hum
an being in thiscountry on record by D
NA
testing. That includes taking D
NA
blood samples
from new
born babies. People saw nothing w
rong with random
drug testing inprisons but w
hen this same policy w
as enforced in their work places, out there,
people were furious and felt their rights w
ere being infringed on and beingforced to do som
ething they felt was w
rong, and didn’t want to do. In prison,
they say for security reasons inmates are under surveillance every place w
e go,our phone calls are lim
ited, monitored, and taped, our m
ail is opened and cen-sored, visits are m
onitored and limited. T
hings have gotten worse at a slow
rate in these prisons and gotten worse on the streets. W
ithout your permission,
whether you like it or not, this governm
ent can tap your phone, read your mail,
raid your house, and your place of business, they can retrieve your computer
hard drive, snoop into your financial business, put you under surveillance,investigate your fam
ily, friends and associates. This governm
ent has gone asfar as to force libraries to notify them
if people check out certain kinds ofbooks and reading m
aterial. This policy is called the Patriot A
ct and theyclaim
it’s done for national security. Tim
es is hard and things ain’t right. This
is nothing to take casually. As long as this kind of conduct is accepted and
allowed to go on in the prisons, or on the street, this governm
ent will slow
lycontinue taking your rights. H
itler didn’t persecute Jews across E
uropeovernight, it w
as slowly infiltrated through rules and policies. T
he Spaniardsslow
ly annihilated almost a w
hole race of Indians and through their policiesm
ade them prisoners on their ow
n land. The sam
e was done to the A
merican
Indians. It’s never done drastically-- it’s always done gradually, so it doesn’t
cause panic and alarm. A
merica is rapidly approaching a police state. T
hiscountry condem
ns other nations for violating their citizen’s human rights, but
the U.S. is doing the sam
e thing and just calling it something different.
The M
OV
E 9 are com
ing up for parole soon (2008). We have been in prison
for 28 years for a crime w
e didn’t comm
it. This governm
ent wants to stop us
from getting parole, they have started an active cam
paign to keep MO
VE
inprison by trying to vilify us, label us as violent but our fam
ily on the streetain’t sitting quietly w
atching this vicious plot unfold without exposing it for
what it is. A
nytime these politicians, officials com
e with these offensive tac-
tics our family com
es right back at them and exposes them
in our defense.T
his is what all fam
ily mem
bers should be doing for their family m
embers
when this governm
ent tells you that your family m
embers can’t com
e home
and have to do another 12, 18, 24 months in Iraq or A
fghanistan after alreadyserving their required patriotic duty. T
he dictating mentality of these govern-
ment officials is the sam
e, only the circumstances are different. T
his govern-m
ent is building a platform to invade other countries, very soon this govern-
ment w
ill put the draft policy into effect making you, your fam
ily, and lovedones forced to fight w
ars in Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and N
orth Korea. A
nybodythat accept this system
’s double standard and don’t fight to eliminate it com
-prom
ise themselves and give up their right to com
plain when they becom
e acrystallized victim
of this system’s double standard. W
e will never stop fight-
ing this system, w
e refuse to comprom
ise with politicians and their enslaving
policies.
AN
AC
TO
FT
ER
RO
R
Veronza B
owers H
eld Hostage by the F
ederal Prison System
!
Support Veronza B
owers, Jr. w
ho remains in prison 18 m
onths past the expiration ofa 30-year sentence he has already com
pleted. Scheduled for m
andatory parole on April 7, 2004, V
eronza Bow
ers, Jr. was a m
odelprisoner w
hom prison officials show
ered with praise in the past. M
andatory parole isa requirem
ent by statute after a prisoner has com
pleted his full sentence if there is a record of positive institutional behavior and ifone cannot consider the inm
ate a "threat to society" upon release. Four differentParole E
xaminers, as w
ell as the U.S. Parole C
omm
ission (USPC
) itself, the most
powerful parole authority in the nation, agreed that M
r. Bow
ers has complied w
iththese prerequisites. In spite of this, just m
inutes before his April 7th release, the
USPC
rescinded his parole at the request of a law enforcem
ent lobby group known as
the Fraternal Order of Police (FO
P), which claim
ed to have evidence that Bow
ers hadviolated prison rules. A
t a subsequent hearing, the court dismissed FO
Pclaim
s as unsubstantiated and anew
parole date was set. B
ut, the FOP
then lobbied U.S. A
ttorney General A
lbertoG
onzales to intervene and, as a result, Mr. B
owers has languished in prison over 18
months past his
scheduled release date. M
r. Bow
ers' conviction occurred during the FBI's infam
ous CO
INT
EL
PRO
http://thetalkingdrum.com
/cointelpro.html operations, w
hich used covert and illegalactions to eradicate civil rights, political and peace organizations. O
n October 6th,
2005 the five mem
bers of the U.S. Parole C
omm
ission met at the request of the U
.S.A
ttorney General. T
hey upheld the U.S. A
ttorney General's request to deny V
eronzaB
owers parole and to keep him
indefinitely in prison. T
his system prefers to do its dirt under cover of darkness. L
ike in countless other sit-uations, it has been the voices and actions of righteous people that freed those incar-cerated unjustly by shining light on their dirty w
ork. T
OG
ET
HE
R, w
e can help force the U.S. Parole C
omm
ission and the federal prisonsystem
honor its obligation to let Veronza B
owers go free.
For information offline, please contact:
Rhonda Jones (480-460-9232) or
Maynard G
arfield (828-462-0249). W
hat You Should D
o Now
:1. E
ven with som
e of the attorneys working pro bono, there are m
any legal and courtcosts. In order to continue the struggle for B
ro. Bow
ers' freedom, please find it in
your heart and pocketbook to help in any way that you financially can. D
onationsshould be sent to: V
eronza Bow
ers, Jr. Legal D
efense Fund, PMB
201, 2614 N.
Tamiam
i Trail, N
aples, FL34103-4409
2. Veronza's im
mediate concern is staying out of the prison m
ess hall. There are too
many fights and problem
s there. He buys food (sardines, crackers, etc.) from
thecom
missary and takes it back to his cell and is hurting for phone and food m
oney.Please send w
hatever you can (check or m.o.) to help our B
ro. survive this gulag: Federal B
ureau of Prisons, Veronza B
owers, Jr. #35316-136, P.O
. Box 474701, D
esM
oines, Iowa 50947-0001
3. Write letters to the U
.S. Parole Com
mission, the A
ttorney General and the N
ationalA
ppeals Board. It is very im
portant to make your voice heard in this m
atter.E
mphasize V
eronza's excellent record in prison and unquestionable legal entitlement
to parole. U
.S. Parole Com
mission, 5550 Friendship B
oulevard, Suite 420, Chevy C
hase,M
D20815-7286 T
EL
.: (301) 492-5990 FAX
: (301) 492-6694 A
lberto Gonzales, U
.S. Attorney G
eneral, U.S. D
epartment of Justice, 950
Pennsylvania Ave. N
W, W
ashington, DC
20530-0001 TE
L.: (202) 353-1555 E
-M
AIL
: AskD
OJ@
usdoj.gov
Dec 06
Dec 06
on the move
on the move
2615
Statem
ent o
n P
arole
ON
AM
OV
E! In the very near future, the
MO
VE
9 will begin preparing for parole. T
heirm
inimum
sentence date is August 8, 2008, but
the paperwork begins m
uch earlier than that.In fact, prison officials are already approachingthem
about the paperwork for their parole hear-
ing. Prison officials have not usually been aproblem
when it com
es to parole for MO
VE
people, it's these politicians and cops that influ-ence the parole board against paroling M
OV
Epeople and m
any other political prisoners. There is absolutely no valid reason
for MO
VE
people to be denied parole and these officials know it. T
his is why
they are already beginning their campaign against parole for the M
OV
E 9,
they're doing it through the news m
edia. They're trying to convince the people
that MO
VE
is vicious, violent, and should not be allowed back out on the
streets. We are confident that people know
better but it's not enough to justknow
it. People have to get into action, get on the move and let the parole
board and these sneaky, deceptive officials know that you're aw
are of what's
going on here and that you're watching. L
et them know
that you're well aw
arethat the issue is people w
ho should never have been put into prison in the firstplace. T
here are several very clear issues that we expect officials to try to use
against the MO
VE
9. The first is the issue of accountability and rem
orse.Parole boards generally require inm
ates to take responsibility for the crimes
they're convicted of and express remorse. O
bviously this is not going to hap-pen w
ith MO
VE
because MO
VE
is innocent and has nothing to be remorseful
about. This procedure of the parole board is blatantly in violation of their ow
nlaw
s because, first of all, they are not allowed to force som
ebody to incrimi-
nate themselves, w
hich is what you're doing if you're coerced into saying
you're guilty. MO
VE
is innocent and is not gonna lie and say we're guilty of
something w
e didn't do. What are these officials gonna lie and say w
e'reguilty of som
ething we didn't do? W
hat are these officials saying? If you sayyou're a m
urderer you will be released but if you m
aintain your innocence youstay in prison? W
hat kind of sense does that make? Secondly, the parole
board has deviously overstepped its authority by denying inmates parole under
the guise of "serious nature of offense" even when the inm
ate has a clear con-duct record in prison and has com
pleted all the programs that they w
ereassigned to. T
he parole board has no right to do that. The judge took into
consideration the "serious nature of the offense" when the judge gave the
Robert D
ennison, NY
S Division of Parole, 97 C
entral Avenue ,
Albany, N
ew Y
ork 12206, and demand that a FU
LL
BO
AR
DR
EV
IEW
be conducted of Anthony "Jalil" B
ottom's A
ugust 1, 2006parole denial. W
e need as many letters as possible to be sent protest-
ing the parole denial and Governor Pataki's unw
ritten parole policy. T
hank you for your support. A
nthony Jalil Bottom
Sign the online petition forSekou K
ambui
New
Afrikan political prisoner Sekou
Kam
bui had a parole hearing sched-uled for this past June. T
he hearingdate has passed, but the hearing stillhas not taken place. W
e spoke with
Sekou, and he has advised that thehearing w
ill now probably be held in
Decem
ber. We are asking supporters
To quote JOH
N A
FR
ICA
,T
HE
CO
OR
DIN
AT
OR
, quote, "WH
EN
YO
U E
ND
OR
SE T
HE
SYST
EM
TH
AT
CA
USE
YO
UR
BR
OT
HE
R T
O C
OM
PLA
IN Y
OU
LO
SE T
HE
RIT
ET
O C
OM
PLA
IN W
HE
N W
HA
TIS D
EV
ASTA
TIN
YO
UR
BR
OT
HE
R B
EG
INC
RY
STAL
LIZ
IN T
O Y
OU
…" end quote, JO
HN
AF
RIC
AL
ON
GL
IVE
JOH
N A
FR
ICA
!O
na MO
VE
!Janet
to sign the web petition below
. Thank you for your continued support.
Write to Sekou:
Sekou Kam
bui (William
Turk) #113058
Box 56, SC
C (B
1-21) E
lmore, A
L36025-0056
To: Board of Pardons and Paroles, State of A
labama
We, the undersigned, call upon the A
labama B
oard of Pardons andParoles to release Sekou C
inque T.M. K
ambui (W
illiam J. T
urk), #113058 from
prison. Although he is due for a parole hearing in June
2006, he has already spent more than 28 years in prison for crim
es hedid not com
mit.
After years of activism
in the Civil R
ights movem
ent, Sekou was false-
ly accused of murdering tw
o white m
en in Alabam
a in 1975. He is rec-
ognized as a political prisoner by several international organizations. Sekou is a w
ell-respected comm
unity leader and has consistentlydem
onstrated an ability to lead a responsible and productive life. He is
a paralegal professional and has been an active jailhouse lawyer and
prisoners' rights activist for more than 25 years.
We dem
and an inquiry into this case and the timely release of Sekou
Kam
bui! Sincerely, T
he Undersigned
ww
w.petitiononline.com
/sekou/petition.htm
l
Dec 06
Dec 06
on the move
on the move
1625
sentence. When the judge gave the m
inimum
sentence, the judge determined
when that inm
ate should be released, barring any problems w
ithin the prison dur-ing the sentence. T
he parole has no authority to go beyond that and virtuallyresentence people, adjust their m
inimum
sentence. These are very clear issues
that people can deal with sim
ply and effectively when dealing w
ith these officials.D
on't let these official idiots fast-talk you, they cannot justify their position at all.Y
ou have all the leverage you need because your position is right and true. The
people should be focused on the parole board itself but also District A
ttorneyLynn A
braham w
ho has been involved in the conspiracy against MO
VE
, particu-larly the M
OV
E 9, since 1977, w
hen she was a judge signing illegal w
arrants thatultim
ately lead to the August 8, 1978 police attack. T
he other person is Governor
Edw
ard Rendell, w
ho was the D
istrict Attorney in 1977 and 1978 and fully and
knowingly participated in the conspiracy to send innocent M
OV
E people to
prison. These tw
o officials are still in positions where they can be and m
ust beheld accountable for their role in this atrocity, especially since they are in officialpositions w
here they can actually do something about it. From
now until 2008,
we expect the official cam
paign against parole for the MO
VE
9 to escalate, so beprepared. A
rrange whatever inform
ational forums you can to allow
us to keeppeople inform
ed of the situation, even radio programs w
here we can arrange for
the MO
VE
9 themselves to call in. B
elow you w
ill find the information for the
Pennsylvania Parole Board, Lynn A
braham, and E
d Rendell. C
ontact them and
let them know
that you're watching this situation and that the M
OV
E 9 m
ust beparoled, nothing else is acceptable.
PAB
oard of Probation and Parole/C
entral Office
Riverfront O
ffice Center
1101 South Front StreetH
arrisburg, PA17104
717 787 5699
Philadelphia District Parole O
fficeState O
ffice Building, 14th Floor
1400 Spring Garden Street
Philadelphia, PA19130
215 560 2452
Board M
embers:
Catharine C
. McV
ey/C
hairperson; Michael L
. G
reen; Jeffrey R.
Imboden; M
atthew T.
Mangino; B
enjamin A
. M
artinez; Gerard N
. M
assaro; Michael M
. W
ebster; Lloyd A
. W
hite
District A
ttorney Lynn Abraham
Three South Penn Square
Philadelphia, PA19107-3499
215 686 8700Fax 215 563 0047D
a_webm
Governor E
dward R
endell225 M
ain Capital B
uildingH
arrisburg, PA17120
717 787 2500Fax 717 772 8284
Governor_sites.state.pa.us/PA
_Exec/G
overnor/govmail.htm
l
Cops beating M
OV
E.
Republicans appointed to their positions by R
epublican Governor
George Pataki. G
overnor Pataki has in place an unwritten policy that
all those convicted of violent crimes be denied parole. A
fter Kathy
Boudin w
as paroled at her third appearance, Governor Pataki publicly
stated he would not have paroled her. H
e then summ
arily demoted the
Chairm
an of the Div. of Parole, and replaced him
with one of his
Republican appointees, M
r. Robert D
ennison. In the July 20, 2006 N
ew Y
ork Law
Journal, it was reported that prior
to Robert D
ennison's appointment as C
hairman, he functioned as a
parole comm
issioner. Chairm
an Robert D
ennison is presently beingsued for acting outside of his authority w
hile he was a com
missioner.
The law
suit alleges that Robert D
ennison, disapproving of two other
comm
issioners granting parole to a prisoner on a panel he was serving,
soon after met the fam
ily mem
ber of the victim. H
e suggested to thevictim
's family m
ember that the prisoner "should die in prison," per-
suading that family m
ember to m
ake a statement opposing the prison-
er's release on parole. Then C
omm
issioner Dennison conducted a new
parole hearing after ensuring the first was rescinded, and denied the
prisoner's release on parole. The prisoner is now
suing Robert
Dennison, but for this act G
overnor Pataki awarded D
ennison theC
hairman position of the D
ivision of Parole. In 2004, M
r. Waverly Jones, Jr., the son of one of the police officers
killed in my case, m
et with then C
hairman D
ennison, providing a vic-tim
impact statem
ent. Mr. Jones inform
ed Chairm
an Dennison that he
felt that I and my co-defendant had done enough tim
e in prison, that heand his fam
ily had forgiven us for the crime, if in fact w
e were guilty
of it, and questioned the policy of continuously hitting us at the paroleboard every 2 years. Subsequently, that victim
impact statem
ent was
not provided to the parole comm
issioners conducting my 2004 parole
hearing. I was sum
marily denied parole in 2004, for the very sam
e rea-sons I w
as denied in 2002. A
t the 2006 parole hearing, none of the three parole comm
issionersm
entioned the victim im
pact statement or the m
any other accomplish-
ments provided them
as part of my institutional record. In fact, the
comm
issioners were not aw
are that I had obtained both a BS in
Psychology and a BA
in Sociology from SU
NY
New
Paltz in 1994, orthat I received tw
o comm
endations for preventing prison gang riots, oraccom
plished other vocational training. How
ever, when I raised m
yconcerns about the July 20, 2006 N
ew Y
ork Law
Journal report of thesuit against C
hairman D
ennison and his failure to provide the favor-able 2004 victim
impact statem
ent advocating my release on parole to
the parole comm
issioners, the only comm
ent was by C
omm
issioner A.
Croce, w
ho asked how I got a copy of the transcript of the victim
impact statem
ent. T
hese parole denials are in direct violation of the legislative mandate
in Executive L
aw §259i, that establishes the standard that parole com
-m
issioners are to consider for parole releases. It is obvious that theN
YS parole system
has become a political tool of nepotism
by theG
overnor, where 16 com
missioners are R
epublicans. I am
preparing my appeal of the parole denial. In this regards, I am
asking for your support. Please write a protest letter to C
hairman
Dec 06
Dec 06
on the move
on the move
1724
Statem
ent fro
m N
ew Yo
rk City F
riend
s of M
OV
E
As I sit here today w
atching the leaves on the trees change colors and evenw
atch some of them
fall as we are now
entering another fall season. Sitting inthe park w
hile the cold air hits me leaves m
e with a feeling of such com
fort andoneness w
ith mam
a nature. At the sam
e time though a bitter feeling is left in m
enot because of the w
armth of m
ama but know
ing that another fall season hasarrived and there are still innocent freedom
fighters in prison. It has now been 28
years that the move 9 have been incarcerated in Pennsylvania state prisons. A
llsurvivors of the 8/8/78 shoot in w
here police tried to kill MO
VE
men, w
omen,
and children. their only crime w
as surviving . They w
ere tried, convicted, andsentenced for nothing m
ore than being MO
VE
mem
bers.
As 2008 is fastly approaching T
he Fraternal Order O
f Police who have long
campaigned for the execution of M
umia A
bu Jamal have now
lobbied a cam-
paign along with journalists M
onica Yant K
inney and Stu Bykofski to dehum
an-ize the M
ove Organization in the eyes of the people to m
ake move appear as
violent people in hopes of the Move 9 not receiving parole in 2008. T
he policegoing as far as to have Philadelphia police com
missioner Sylvester B
ell honor-ing cops that w
ere involved in 8/8/78 confrontation with aw
ards for heroism and
bravery. The sam
e cops who fired thousands of rounds at scream
ing wom
en andchildren. C
ops who snatched babies out of there m
others arms, cops w
ho damn
near beat Delbert A
frica to death were honored for heroism
and bravery.
How
many tim
es have we seen this tactic used by the police and m
edia to crimi-
nalize political prisoners in the eyes of the public through the media. w
e haveseen this cam
paigned lobbied in the state of new jersey w
ith Sundiata Acoli. In
new Y
ork with K
athy Boudin all in hopes of keeping people w
ho dared to standup against this system
in prison. The state parole board of Pennsylvania has now
required that any inmate w
ho goes before the parole board must sign a confes-
sion confessing to the crime they w
ere convicted of. Move people are innocent.
Prison officials knows, T
he state parole board knows this, T
he district attorneyof Philadelphia and T
he governor of Pennsylvania knows this. W
e cannot allowthe parole board in Pennsylvania or any state (as this stipulation is now
spread-ing to other states) to stop us in our fight to bring our loved ones hom
e. This let-
ter is being written as an appeal for justice and for people to take a stand and
help in the fight to free the Move 9. H
ow m
any people who are reading this have
ever met m
ove people and have experienced the warm
th, love, sensitivity, andthe revolutionary fire that M
OV
E people dem
onstrate.
People can call or write G
overnor Ed R
endell 225 m
ain capitol bldg Harrisburg penna 17120 (717)787-2500
District attorney Lynn A
braham three south Penn square Philadelphia pa 19107
(215)686-8000
Also people can call C
hairman K
atherine McV
eigh of the Pennsylvania StateParole B
oard and demand that this stipulation be dropped im
mediately.
In support of the MO
VE
9 Tibby B
rooks, Anne L
amb, and O
rie Ross of T
heN
ew Y
ork City Friends of M
ove
to25 years to life for the killing of tw
o New
York C
ity police. T
his was their second trial, the first ending in a hung jury w
ith them
ajority of jurors voting to acquit. The parole board panel m
ade note ofH
erman's im
pressive prison record and parole packet, which included
over 120 letters of support as well as letters from
one of the slain offi-cer's fam
ily mem
bers urging Herm
an's release. H
owever, the N
YState parole com
mission denied his release due to "the
nature of his offense." A
s the reason for his conviction will never change, H
erman, like m
anyother political prisoners, is essentially being re-sentenced at every so-called parole hearing. H
erman B
ell maintains his innocence and points to
a tainted legal process that reveals the over-zealous and illegal actions ofthe C
ointelpro program w
hich targeted the Black M
ovement 30 years
ago and continues today. It is not coincidence that testim
ony obtained through torture was central
to his conviction and has recently re-emerged as the basis for jailing 5
other Black activists in San Francisco for resisting a grand jury w
itchhunt.C
ointelpro and torture continue to be at the center of the state's arsenalagainst activists—
the torture methods used against H
erman B
ell andother m
embers of the B
lack Panther Party in 1973 are similar to those
used today in Guantánam
o and Abu G
hraib. "T
he authorities would love to see you abandon us, because it w
ould dis-credit our m
ovement and underm
ine the legitimacy and m
oral characterof our struggle. T
hey would love to dism
iss us as misguided lunatic
fringe idealists who deserve everything that happens to them
.A
s I've already said: Yes, I know
the authorities were looking for m
e(and I say this not out of arrogant pretensions or braggadocio) but I didnot run. Som
eone said: ‘It is better to die on your feet than to live onyour knees.’I felt that w
ay then, I feel this way now
. And as you all
know w
e've consistently maintained that w
e had no involvement in the
act we've been convicted of."
—H
erman B
ell For m
ore information:
ww
w.prisonactivist.org/pps+
pows/ny3_update.
html O
ne of Herm
an Bells's codefendants,
Jalil Muntaqim
, will go before the N
YState
parole comm
ission this July and the other, N
uh Washington, died due to m
edical neglect in the hands of the N
Yprison system
in 2000.
Support Jericho Co-Founder Jalil M
untaqim's A
ppeal ofParole D
enial!
August 2, 2006
Dear Friends and Supporters:
On A
ugust 1, 2006 , for the third time I had a parole board hearing at
Auburn C
orrectional Facility. The parole hearing w
as conducted byC
omm
issioners K. L
udlow, L
. Lazzari and A
. Croce, all of w
hom are
Dec 06
Dec 06
on the move
on the move
1823
Parole and P
olitical Prisoners
By Janine A
frica with O
rie Ross
On the M
ove
August 2008 the M
OV
E 9 w
ill be eligible for parole, but we don’t w
antpeople to relax and assum
e we’re com
ing home. I say this because the
parole board is notorious for denying inmates parole for not adm
ittingguilt or show
ing remorse for the crim
e they were convicted of. A
ninm
ate can have an exemplary prison record, have good recom
menda-
tions from the prison adm
inistration and the parole board still deniesthem
parole for these reasons.
It’s unfair because there are people, like the MO
VE
9, who are truly
innocent. Why should a person be forced to show
remorse for, adm
itguilt for som
ething they didn’t do in order to make parole?! T
he threatof staying in prison is intim
idating people into confessing to crimes they
didn’t comm
it. Because of this intim
idation people are crying, apolo-gizing, saying w
hateverthey think the parole board w
ant to hear so theycan go hom
e. The parole board know
this which show
s they aren’tinterested in people’s sincerity, the truth. T
he parole board is doing thisto m
ake their records look good, to make the court system
look fair,just, and m
ake society think judges don’t send innocent people toprison, m
ake it look like everybody who say they’re innocent are liars,
they’re just trying to get out of going to prison.
When a person is denied parole som
etimes the parole board stipulates
that the person can’t be reviewed for parole again for another 1, 2, 3
years. And every tim
e that person comes before the parole board they
are denied for another 1, 2, 3 years. The parole board has m
ade people,som
e of them innocent, do their m
aximum
prison sentences just becausethey w
ouldn’t admit guilt or show
remorse. W
e’ve seen wom
en do 10,15, 20 years in prison because of this. People in prison have alreadybeen tried, convicted, and sentenced, w
e shouldn’t have to go throughthat again w
ith the parole board. We shouldn’t be punished for telling
the truth about being innocent.
This is w
hy we don’t w
ant people to relax and think we’re com
inghom
e in 2008. Because the parole board is denying people parole
whose convictions aren’t politically m
otivated. We know
what they do
to people who dare to confront this corrupt governm
ent. Even though
these officials forefathers were considered revolutionaries w
ho went
against their government. T
his country hatesrevolutionaries and do all
they can to try and stop us. Like in the case of:
Sundiata Acoli-- a form
er Black Panther w
ho has been in prison 33years. H
e went before the parole board tw
ice, once in 1993 and 2003.
One of the requirem
ents for parole is comm
unitysupport upon release. Forty letters from
teach-ers, professors, hum
an rights advocates, socialw
orkers, friends, family, and even the Public
Defender, Jeff A
dachi, offering Hugo San
Francisco's new reentry program
upon parole,w
ere discounted and scorned by theC
omm
issioners.
Another point the B
oard used against Hugo w
ashis unw
illingness to "program." Insistence on
programm
ing in reality is about domination and
submission, since the extrem
ely limited "pro-
grams" they provide do not produce truly m
ar-ketable skills. SH
U prisoners don't even have
access to the programs available to m
ainlineprisoners. T
hey can only take certain correspon-dence courses or read self-help books to dem
on-strate their com
pliance.
Hugo's lack of subm
ission to the system's pro-
gramm
ing has to do with his ow
n program of
survival under conditions designed to produceinsanity. T
he supermax SH
U is itself a hum
anrights violation. T
he United N
ations andA
mnesty International assert that the conditions
of the SHU
are inhumane and in violation of the
international conventions on the treatment of
prisoners. Psychiatrists in the field of prisonm
ental health have documented through dozens
of studies since the 1970s that SHU
conditions -- 23-24 hours a day in sm
all cells with no natu-
ral light, no window
s, no view outside their
cells, no contact visits, prolonged isolation -- arealw
ays harmful. O
ne such expert, Dr. Terry
Kupers, author of "Prison M
adness: The M
entalH
ealth Crisis B
ehind Bars and W
hat We M
ustD
o About It," evaluated H
ugo's mental health in
2004, and concluded that he is nothing short ofam
azing. Hugo has been able to m
aintain hissanity through a strict regim
en of vegetariandiet, exercise, prolific w
riting to relatives andfriends, and other form
s of self care. This is a
full time effort to be sure, and the result is that
Hugo rem
ains compassionate, m
entally andphysically healthy and alive against all odds.It's even m
ore remarkable considering that in
2005, a record 44 prisoners killed themselves in
California prisons; 70%
of the suicides were in
segregated units. In a national study of 401 sui-cides in one year, 1986, tw
o out of every three
people who killed them
selves were in control
units. (Hayes and R
owan 1988).
In summ
ary, this Parole Board H
earing was any-
thing but fair and impartial. W
e sit in a room in
the SHU
with the C
omm
issioners facing Hugo
and I (his attorney), three guards behind us andH
ugo chained hands to waist, feet to w
aist.O
penly hostile, the comm
issioners recounted thehistory of 115s, alleged attacks on guards over35 years ago, w
ith SHU
guards looking at us,looking at them
. It's unfair because the comm
it-m
ent offenses cannot change; only the prisonercan change.
Despite their unfairness, despite their violation
of his rights, despite their refusal to displayhum
aneness or comm
on sense, and despite theirutter rudeness and obvious contem
pt for Hugo, I
must say m
y client remained strong and upbeat.
I felt proud of him.
We w
ere all but sure that they wouldn't grant
him parole before going into the hearing, but w
eknew
that we had to m
ake a good record so thatw
e could move into the second stage of the
strategy to get Hugo Pinell out of SH
U, out of
prison.
We intend to file a Petition for W
rit of Habeas
Corpus w
ith an outside court to appeal theB
oard's denial. We are announcing our search
and need for a law firm
with the resources to
represent Hugo. If you know
any law offices or
friends in firms please ask them
if they would be
willing to take the
case and to call or w
rite me, his
attorney, Gordon
Kaupp, 115 1/2
Bartlett Street, San
Francisco, Ca.
94110,
(415) 285 8091.
For more
information go to
ww
w.hugopinell.org.
Herm
an Bell’s P
arole Request
DE
NI
ED
!O
n Feb. 15th, U.S. political prisoner and form
er Black Panther H
erman B
ell was
denied parole for the second time. H
erman, Jalil M
untaqim/ A
nthony Bottom
andN
uh Washington—
known as the N
ew Y
ork Three—
were sentenced in M
ay 1975
Dec 06
Dec 06
on the move
on the move
2219
Both tim
es he was denied parole. T
he second time he w
as denied parole theparole board said he w
ouldn’t be eligible to see the parole board for another10 years. T
he New
Jersey state troopers lobbied a campaign to stop his
parole.
Herm
an Bell-- a form
er Black Panther m
ember w
ho has been in prison since1973. H
e went before the parole board in 2004 and 2006 and w
as deniedparole. T
he Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police cam
paigned to stop hisparole.
Veronza B
owers
-- another Black Panther m
ember w
ho has been in prisonsince 1973 w
as granted parole in 2003. The day he w
as to be released onparole, prison authorities said he w
asn’tbeing released because he was con-
sidered a threat to homeland security. A
fter two successful appeals of this
decision, Veronza still has not been released. T
his government, the U
.S.A
ttorney General refuse to let him
go, citing concern of homeland security
based on several letters from the FO
P.
We’re letting people know
this because the parole board could try this same
thing with the M
OV
E 9. T
he Philadelphia FOP, this governm
ent don’t want
MO
VE
out of prison. They have already started their cam
paign against us byhonoring 9 of the cops w
ho were involved in the A
ugust 8, 1978 attack onM
OV
E. It’s nothing but a publicity stunt by Philadelphia officials to m
akepeople see the cops as heroic victim
s and the MO
VE
9 as violent killers.Philadelphia officials deliberately chose only 9 of the 600 cops to honor, 28years later, because people around the w
orld call us the MO
VE
9. They are
trying to make som
e kind of sick comparison, 9 cops -- M
OV
E 9. A
nd theyw
aited 28 yearsto do this because w
e’re coming up for parole in tw
o years.T
hat’s the onlyreason those cops got honored, officials are once again trying
to hurt MO
VE
. Philadelphia officials don’t care about those cops, they’re justm
isusing them for politicalreasons.
You can see from
this that Philadelphia police and officials will do anything
to keep us in prison. People can counteract this devious tactic against MO
VE
by contacting the parole board and letting them know
you wantthe M
OV
E 9
back in the comm
unity. The public is supposed
to have just as much influ-
ence on the parole board’s decision as the police and district attorney. We
know from
all the letters we get that there are a lot of people w
ho want us
released but don’t know w
hat to do. This is som
ething y’all can do that will
be a big help to our family w
ho are working hard for our freedom
. Let the
parole board know you w
ant the MO
VE
9 home so they don’t think the public
will accept them
keeping us in these prisons.
The Pow
er of Truth is Final!
On the M
OV
E! Janine A
frica with collaboration from
Orie R
oss
HU
GO
PIN
EL
LD
EN
IED
PAR
OL
E
By G
ordon Kaupp, E
sq. with K
iilu Nyasha
The C
alifornia Departm
ent of Corrections and
Rehabilitation's B
oard of Parole Hearing, for
the 8th time, denied H
ugo L,A
. Pinell parole ata hearing held T
uesday, Novem
ber 14, atsuperm
ax Pelican Bay State Prison, C
rescentC
ity.
Apparently, 42 years in C
alifornia prisons, thelast 36 in solitary confinem
ent, including 16 inthe w
indowless, hi-tech SH
U (Security
Housing U
nit) with sensory deprivation in the
extreme, w
as not enough retribution againstH
ugo Pinell, nicknamed Y
ogi Bear. T
hey gavehim
two m
ore.
Since Hugo has had a clean record, no 115s,
(rule infractions) for 24 years and his lastcrim
e was com
mitted 35 years ago, it w
as aalm
ost purely a political decision.
Hugo w
as part of the Black M
ovement form
edin resistance to the deplorable conditions andunspeakable brutality that w
as exacted on pris-oners, especially B
lacks, in the 1960s and 70s.B
orn in Nicaragua, H
ugo also resisted theM
exican/Latino segregation of B
lacks. i.e., hebroke ranks, identifying as B
lack instead of"L
atino." That m
ade him even m
ore of a tar-get and a bilingual threat.
It is indisputable that it was the prisoners'
Movem
ent led by George Jackson and W
. L.
Nolen, w
hich brought attention to the appallingconditions and eventually C
ongressional over-sight and overhaul of the C
alifornia prison sys-tem
. (See The M
elancholy History of Soledad
Prison, by Min S. Y
ee.)
The m
andated changes that grew out of that
struggle serve as an open and undeniableacknow
ledgment of just how
bad it was and
how necessary the resistance. A
lthough it'sdifficult to im
agine worse conditions than
those in today's 5000 prisons and jails acrossthe country, m
ost grossly overcrowded -- yes-
terday's filthy dungeons, literal "holes," viru-lent hatred from
racist guards and prisonersalike, officially sanctioned brutality, torture,and m
urder comprised m
ore horrific conditions40 years ago.
The stance H
ugo Pinell took resulted in pro-longed torture and isolation, plus a long recordof 115s. E
.g., Hugo often intervened physically
when another prisoner w
as being beaten, get-ting beat up him
self and thrown in the hole.
Alm
ost any Black person w
ho has sufferedguard or police assault know
s that when the
brutality stops, it's the victim w
ho gets thecharges or w
rite-ups for assault, not the official
aggressor.
At one point in the turbulent 60s, the
Movem
ent organized a hunger strike which
lasted eight days. Hugo's file reflects eight
115s, one for each day and that was used
against him at the hearing!
During the hearing, the C
omm
issioners virtual-ly ignored his 24 years of clean tim
e, and tal-lied his 115s, counting w
ell over 100.A
lthough Hugo has not gotten a violation since
1982, the Board found a w
ay to hold thatagainst him
too. Com
missioner Shelton said
something like, "w
hen I see a man as violent
as you and I see that you have not had a 115for 24 years it m
akes me w
onder, and itrem
inds me of a story I once heard. A
t aparole board hearing of an inm
ate who had
received many 115s early on but hadn't
received any in a long time, a com
missioner
asked him how
he was able to stay out of trou-
ble. The inm
ate told the Board, 'It's because
I'm the shot caller on the yard and I can get
anyone to take the fall for me.'" T
hat story isincredible for several reasons: that a prisonerw
ould even say such a thing; the fact thatH
ugo is never on the yard; and SHU
prisonersare com
pletely isolated, no phone calls, cen-sored m
ail, restricted, monitored, no-contact
visits.
What's m
ore, the Board violated H
ugo's rightnot to discuss or adm
it to the crimes for w
hichhe w
as convicted. An in-depth look at H
ugo'sconvictions reveals serious questions of relia-bility of evidence and basic fairness in the tri-als. E
xcept for the original case that landedhim
in prison, all of Hugo's subsequent convic-
tions were for acts against prison guards,
reflecting the historic struggle referred toabove. N
evertheless, one Com
missioner did
hold his denial against him and berated him
forit, saying, "and you continue to show
norem
orse and you even deny doing thosethings." W
hat good is the right not to admit to
something, if your lack of rem
orse (for some-
thing you didn't do) can be used against you?
I'm rem
inded of the case of Geronim
o ji Jaga(Pratt) w
ho spent 27 years in California prisons
convicted of a murder for w
hich he was ulti-
mately exonerated. H
e faced the same reason
for being repeatedly denied parole -- hisrefusal to show
remorse for a crim
e he didn'tcom
mit. Sim
ilarly, Hugo's denial of guilt and
lack of remorse w
as used against him, a clear
violation of his rights under Cal. Penal C
odeSec. 5011.
Dec 06
Dec 06
on the move
on the move
2021
