What Is The Hands Off Assata Shakur Campaign?

[XXPANTHAXX]

The Hands Off Assata Campaign is a coming together of organizations and individuals who are outraged by the heightened attempts by the federal government, congress of the united states and the state of new jersey to illegally force thru kidnapping a return of Assata Shakur from Cuba to the plantation United States.

We know that Assata Shakur is a bona fide political exile living in the island nation of Cuba. She was persecuted for her political beliefs and tortured while in prison. We support the international human rights and Geneva conventions, which enabled her to seek and secure political asylum in Cuba, and we support the right of the Cuban people to grant it to her. We are shocked by the actions of new jersey and the department of justice, who has issued a $1 million dollar bounty on head of Assata Shakur. Doing such a thing is tantamount to a call to "soldiers of fortune" to kidnap and kill Ms. Shakur and for them to engage in international espionage against the sovereign nation of Cuba. We are shocked by the activities of the United States House of Representatives, which in September 1998 passed House Resolution 254, calling on the Cuban Government to extradite Assata Shakur. Given that there is no binding extradition treaty between Cuba and the United States, such a request is outside the context of international law. In addition, we call on the Congress of the United States to hold public hearings on the past and current impact of FBI's Counter Intelligence Program known as COINTELPRO. Given that Assata Shakur was not the only one politically persecuted for her political beliefs, we demand that a full airing take place on that program. And finally are calling on the United States end its hostility towards the tiny nation of Cuba by normalizing relations with the Island and ending the US economic blockade

Assata Shakur: Sister, Woman, Exile, Mother, Grand mother

ASSATA SHAKUR is an African woman. She is a social justice activist, a poet, a mother and a grandmother. She has lived in Cuba since the early 1980s. During the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s, she found herself a victim of both racial profiling and political targeting. After being spotted on the New Jersey turnpike on May 2, 1973, (DWB) driving while Black, it was discovered that she and her two companions were known members of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X, Leonard Peltier and many members of the Civil Rights and American Indian Movements, Assata and her companions had been watched, their phones tapped, their families monitored, their organizations infiltrated, and widespread disinformation campaigns waged against them. They were like many activists of the day targets of the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). In fact, Assata was wanted, not for anything she had actually done, but for a variety of crimes that government and state officials were trying to pin on her. This was common in the 1970s: discredit the voice of activists by painting them as criminals, trumping up indictments, tying them up in courts and if possible jailing them. In the mid 1970s, The Church Committee of the Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations and the Domestic Intelligence Subcommittee, headed by Senator Walter Mondale, provided incontrovertible documentation of a government sponsored conspiracy against the civil and human rights of all sorts of political activists.

THUS ON THAT DAY IN MAY, Assata was a marked woman. And after police stopped them, a shoot out occurred. When the smoke cleared one police officer, and one of Assata's companions, Zayd Shakur lay dead. Assata, shot in the back and dragged from the car, lay wounded. Only belatedly taken to the hospital, Assata was then chained to her bed, tortured and questioned while injured. In fact, she never received adequate medical attention even though she had a broken clavicle and a paralyzed arm. Nonetheless, she was quickly jailed, prosecuted and incarcerated over the next few years for the series of trumped up cases. Interestingly, in five separate trials, and with majority white juries, charges were dismissed because of lack of evidence or she was acquitted of all charges ranging from bank robbery to murder. As the manager of one bank said at trial - she is just not the one who robbed my bank. Only in the final trial in 1977, where she was charged with the Turnpike killings, was she found guilty. This even though forensic evidence taken that day showed that she had not fired a weapon. She was sentenced to life + 33 years in prison. In 1979, and after nearly six years behind bars, she escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey and some time later emerged in Cuba where she applied for and received political asylum. Since being in Cuba, she has continued her college education, published an autobiography, and writes on global issues facing women, youth, and people of color.

DURING THE 1990S, rightist politicians and police bodies - this time in conjunction with conservative members of the Cuban-American community - reinvigorated their attempts to pursue Assata Shakur. They did this even though Assata has not tried to re-enter the United States and is, according to international law, a political exile who should be left alone. Linking "fear of crime" rhetoric with anti-Cuban sentiment, New Jersey governor Christine Todd-Whitman issued a bounty which was $100,000, on the head of Assata Shakur. She even went as far as to announce her bounty on Radio Marti, the US government radio station which beams anti-Castro propaganda into the Caribbean. To do such a thing put Assata in danger because it is tantamount to encouraging any opportunists to kidnap and/or kill her for pay. In addition, in 1998, Congressmen Franks and Menendez from New Jersey and Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart of Florida introduced and got passed - House Resolution 254 - which calls for the Cuban government to extradite Assata Shakur as a condition to normalizing US-Cuba relations. Interestingly, while Assata and Cuba are portrayed as "criminal", a terrorist bombing campaign - thought to be sponsored by ultra-rightist forces in the United States - has been launched against Cuba, killing and injuring Cuban citizens and foreign tourists alike.

Elder Steering Committee (in formation):
Warrior Steering Committee (in formation)

Endorsers (in formation): Black Radical Congress, Global Exchange, Jericho, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, National Conference of Black Lawyers, IfCO/Pastors for Peace, Venceremos Brigade, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Prisoners Of Conscience Committee, New Black Pather Party, The Talking Drum Collective, FTP Movement, The Uhuru Movement, African People's Socialist Party, Black August Organizing Committee, SF Bay View Newspaper, Native Youth Movement, Departure Magazine

What can you do?

1. Add your organization's name to our list of endorsers/Take petitions. [We will have them up online very shortly.]
   
2. Contact your Congressperson. Demand that he/she rescind House Resolution #254 and ask them to support congressional hearings on COINTELPRO. You can use a Congressional email service to look up yuour rep's email: http://www.house.gov/writerep
   
3. Download and print the soon to be released "Hands Off Assata Shakur" Flyer
   
4. Plan a showing of the film Eyes of the Rainbow (1997). This film portrays the life and current struggles of Assata Shakur. Contact HOA for this: hoa@afrocubaweb.com
   
5. Visit www.assatashakur.org for current HOA-Campaign Info.
   
6. Organize around The Hands Off Assata Shakur Campaign Rally and teach In June 4, 2005 hosted by you in your respective cities and towns
   
7. Send contributions: FTP Movement, P.O. Box 1720, Stone Mountain, Ga. 30086
   
8. Any questions, contact us at www.assatashakur.org using the contact us form.
9. Link to this site, using an HOA website banner.
10. Get an Hands off Assata Action Alert RSS Feed

This Campaign is a on going process, be patient with us as we Agitate, Educate, Organize And Mobilize.. more information coming...

Special thanks to www.afrocubaweb.com for cutting this path for us to continue.

[IfasehunReincarnated]

There has been a slight delay on spanish speaking material. But its ON the WAY. Two days tops.

Please continue to educate our sisters and brothers in the Caribbean and Cuban. If they refuse to be tempted by blood money, then trying to kidnap our mother Assata is nearly impossible. Black nationalists, politicians, underworld figures - do not, we repeat do not be tempted by the lure of blood money. Do not be swayed by a false promise of improved relations between Cuba and the U.S. Do not be intimidated.

Assata's freedom is representative of your own.

Go Here for Information & Flyer

SAMPLE OF FLIER (VERSION 2, Updated Thursday, May 5, 2005)

[Keemah Deen]

As We All Are Outraged With Our Enemies (as Usual) For Once Again Seeking To Destroy Our Rebel Queen Assata Shakur. Black People Listen And Listen Well. The Time Is Now!!!! These Crackers Are Not Stupid. They Are Fully Aware That Their Days Are Numbered. They See What Is Going On Around Them. We Are Uniting All Over The Planet For The Liberation Of Our People Right Now! Of Course The U.s. Government Will Place Assata Under A Possible Terrorist Threat....they Are Well Aware That Nations Of Asia Has It In For Them, But They Also Know That Nothing Could Be More Devastating Then "some Niggas" Becoming Educated On The Realization Of Centuries Worth Of Their Lies And Deception. If We Unite To Become
Liberated, We Will Also Learn The Truth About Them. This Will Hinder Their Plan. However They Will Not Hesitate To Start Another African Holocaust On The Shores Of North Amerikkka Either! So Lets Use Our Godminds And Remain Mindful Of This.

Listen Up Beloved Brothers And Sisters, Do Not Sit Down On The Freedom Of Our Queen Mother Assata! Noone Who Says They Support The Liberation Of Our People Is Exempt From The Fight! How Do You Fight? As Warrior Xxpanthaxx Informed Us, You Can Do One Of The Following Suggestions To Support Our Sister. Get Up With Your Congress Person In The State That You Live In If You Can. Lets Get Involved.

Peace And Strength To Queen Mother Assata Shakur!!!!!!

My African People Stand Up!!!!!!!!!!!!

Queen Keemah Deen

[N.A.T.]

EXACTLY

This is the energy I am talking about organise an international response, I think at this stage we can put this website and our supporting comrades to the test, from the spiritualist to the revolutionaries to get involved and let the state know they are not sliding away with this.

A.D.A.P.T. is already in the process of organising this up here in London on the 4th of June outside the US embassy there will be a picket, anyother London organisation that wants to get involved with this contact N.A.T. on contactnana@hotmail.com immediately. We only have a months to accomplish this. If you live within the UK and want to see this Picket be a successful one contact me on the same address. I prefer to use the fone but unfortunately my fone is giving me some problems and I hardly at home, so this is the best way to get to me. Lets not embarras our children but give them the confidence to show when YOU BECOME A FIGHTER FOR YOUR PEOPLE YOUR PEOPLE BECOME A FIGHTER FOR YOU!!

UHURU means FREEDOM...UHURU Sassa

[N.A.T.]

PANTHA, We have to remain solid on this international call out day, because Im taking it to the meeting tomorrow, then hopefully it will go through with the whole movement from there. Im not FrenchConnectionUKng with this one right here.

I'd rather die for UHURU than to live on my boney knees.

[XXPANTHAXX]

N.A.T. comrade everything is in full effect on this end.. Uhuru!

[Akyeame Kwame]

consider 75 more Afrikans officially more informed...

AK

[XXPANTHAXX]

[Akyeame Kwame]

wow...that's MOST BLACKNIFICENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AK

[Asafo37]

One of the suggestions for the Hands Off Assata Campaign has been to contact congresspersons in Our respective areas and Demand that they rescind House Resolution #254 and support congressional hearings on COINTELPRO. So, i’ve attached contact info for senator Barack Obama, and congresspersons: Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Danny Davis of the 1st, 2nd and 7th congressional districts of the state of Illinois. All these men know of Assata. All of them are in office because of the Black folk who put them there. i don’t vote. And, i see this as an opportunity to hold these men accountable (esp. Bobby Rush former Black Panther) and more importantly heighten the contradictions. i suppose this strategy will be most useful if WE contact them again and again and flood they faxes, phones and email. If you outside of Illinois or if the congressperson for your district is not listed you can look up the representative for your area at: http://www.house.gov/writerep

Hands Off Assata,
Kwadwo Fodwo Gyase

Senator Barack Obama

Contact: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/


Washington D.C. Office
713 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-2854
(202) 228-4260 fax
Toll free: (866) 445-2520
(for IL residents only)
Email our office

Chicago Office
John C. Kluczynski Federal Office Building
230 South Dearborn St.
Suite 3900 (39th floor)
Chicago, Illinois 60604
(312) 886-3506
(312) 886-3514 fax


Congressman Danny Davis

Representing the Seventh Congressional District of Illinois

Contact: http://www.house.gov/davis/zipauth.htm


District Offices
3333 West Arthington Street
Chicago, IL 60624
Phone: (773) 533-7520
Fax: (773) 533-7530

Washington, D.C. Office
1222 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5006
Fax: (202) 225-5641




Congressman Bobby Rush
Representing the 1st District of Illinois

Contact: http://www.house.gov/rush/zipauth.html


Washington DC Office
2416 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
phone: 202-225-4372
fax: 202-226-0333
District Offices
700-706 E. 79th. St.
Chicago, IL 60619
phone: 773-224-6500
fax: 773-224-9624

Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.
2nd Congressional District of Illinois

Contact: http://www.jessejacksonjr.org/

CAPITOL HILL OFFICE

2419 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-0773
fax (202) 225-0899

SCHEDULING REQUESTS
Attn: DeBorah Posey
fax to (202) 225-0899 DISTRICT OFFICES

17926 South Halsted
Homewood, IL 60430
(708) 798-6000
fax (708) 798-6160

2120 East 71st Street
Chicago, IL 60649
(773) 241-6500
fax (773) 241-6503

[Kweku_Omowale]

uhuru pantha,jacuma,nat,akeyame, on amove,i needa copy of the letter or petition to pass it over here and iam gonna inform afrikans over here as well,please keep me informed people,i need the copy to agitate here about
assatas situations we cant let united snakkes of amerikkka lynch her

[nattyreb]

HANDS OFF ASSATA CAMPAIGN

OFFICIAL STATEMENT IN RESPONSE
TO MAY 2, 2005 ANNOUNCEMENT OF
$1 MILLION BOUNTY OFFER
FOR THE RETURN OF ASSATA SHAKUR
AND LISTING HER AS A DOMESTIC TERRORIST

On May 2nd the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
New Jersey Troopers publicly announced a $1 million bounty
for the capture of Assata Shakur. May 2nd also marked the
32nd anniversary of the fatal shootout on the New Jersey
Turnpike that resulted in the deaths Trooper Werner
Foerster and Zayd Shakur, and left Assata Shakur and
Sundiata Acoli wounded.

For years the New Jersey Troopers have held an annual
commemoration ceremony for Trooper Werner Foerster in
early May. Each year the local New Jersey papers print
several stories about the events of May 2, 1973 that
took place on the New Jersey Turnpike. Periodically
various New Jersey officials have issued different
statements sometimes
accusing Assata and at other times accusing her
co-defendant, Sundiata Acoli, of killing Foerster.
Sundiata at age 68 continues to languish in prison 32 years
later, having been denied parole repeatedly.

Assata Shakur is a mother and grandmother, author and
artist. She is politically astute and intellectually
sharp. She is warm, humble and spiritual. Years ago, the FBI
labeled Assata "the heart and soul of the Black
Liberation Army". They issued all sorts of defamatory statements
about her. As a result she was hunted like an animal by law
enforcement agencies all over the country, as were
many other Black Panther Party and BLA members. She has
been used by the FBI as a symbol in various ways to further
their political objectives.

Convicted of murder for the death of a New Jersey
State Trooper in 1977, Assata has been living in exile in
Cuba. She is not convicted for any other incident or crime.
In 1998 the New Jersey Troopers petitioned Pope John Paul
II as he prepared for his historic visit to Cuba and
meeting with President Fidel Castro. They wanted him to
pressure President Castro to return Assata to the United
States. The Pope flatly turned down their request but did advise
then President Clinton that the United States needed to end
the senseless and inhumane blockade against Cuba.

Former New Jersey Governor, Christie Todd Whitman,
curried political favor with the state's police when
she announced a bounty of $25,000 for Assata and later
doubled it to $50,000. She was duly rewarded by
President Bush who appointed her in 2001 to be the head of the
Environmental Protection Agency. The bounty was quietly increased by
the FBI to a million dollars as it crept around the
country looking for relatives, friends and associates to
enlist in its scheme to kidnap Assata and return her to the
United States. Time and time again, the FBI offered them a
million dollars for their services. To some, they stated that
there was no limit to how much they would pay for Assata's
return.

The obsession shared by the New Jersey State Troopers
and the FBI for Assata is highly unusual unless you
examine the larger political picture and international affairs.
Since the victorious Cuban Revolution in 1959, the United
States has engaged in an ongoing campaign to assassinate
President Castro and overthrow the Cuban government.
No fewer than 23 assassination attempts have been
documented. Then in 1961 the failed Bay of Pigs
attempt by President John F. Kennedy to invade and
overthrow President Castro brought international
embarrassment to the United States. The Bay of Pigs
debacle was one of many government attempts to bow to
the wishes of the powerful Miami based Cuban exile
community. This is the same power base that Florida
Governor Jeb Bush answers to and his brother, George
W., is beholden to for the 2000 and 2004 "election"
results.

Since the rise to power of Venezuelan President, Hugo
Chavez in 1998, the United States has greedily watched
as political links developed between Cuba and Venezuela.
What does Venezuela have that the United States wants?
Oil! What does Cuba have that the United States
wants? It occupies a strategic geographic location
that would enable the United States to militarily
control the Caribbean. Of course Cuba also has the
tenacity to show the people of the world that there is
another way to exist. It is possible for education and
health care to be guaranteed to every citizen.

It is possible for every citizen to have a home and
most importantly, hope for the future. It is a sovereign
nation with the right to grant asylum whenever it sees fit.
Equally important is that the majority of the Cuban
population is of African descent. The significance of
this fact is not lost on the other Third World nations
around the globe.

The United States' CIA has boldly intervened in
Venezuelan affairs and aided in the failed coup there in 2002.
Bitter to admit defeat, the United States continued to look
for ways to provoke a confrontation with President Chavez.
They found it in Luis Posada Carriles. In fact, Posada
provides Bush with a two for one shot at Chavez and Castro. For
many years Posada has been a CIA operative. He is wanted in
Venezuela for his role in the 1976 shoot down of a
Cuban airliner that killed 73 civilians including the
national fencing team. He escaped from prison there. In 1998 he
claimed responsibility for planning attacks on various
Cuban establishments including the 1997 bombing of a
tourist hotel that resulted in the death of an Italian
tourist and the wounding of 11 others. In 2000 Posada
was arrested in Panama for plotting to murder President
Castro during the Ibero-American summit being held in that
country. He was convicted and sentenced to eight
years. In November 2004, the outgoing Panamanian President,
Mireya Moscoso, pardoned Posada allegedly in exchange
for $4 million paid by a Cuban American. Money talked
and Posada walked, disappearing from public view for
several months.

In March 2005, he surfaced in Miami. His lawyer,
Eduardo Soto, admitted a few weeks later that Posada was in
Miami as he filed his petition for political asylum. House
of Representative William Delahunt (D-Mass) stated
recently, "I can't imagine how one could defend a terrorist
where there exists overwhelming evidence that he was
responsible or a co-conspirator in blowing up a civilian
airliner." To many the revelation that Posada is in the country is
shocking. But they were apparently unaware that his
co-conspirator, Orlando Bosch, has been living
comfortably in Miami for at least the past two years. The
revelation of Posada's presence in the United States set off a tidal
wave of international and domestic criticism including
accusations of political hypocrisy. President Castro
called on President Bush to return Posada to Venezuela. Many
demanded that the United States not allow Posada to
remain in the country.

But the role of Bosch and Posada as terrorists is
indisputable. They plotted, murdered, bombed innocents
and bragged about it. So what could Bush do? He tried
denying that Posada was in the country but Posada's lawyer had
already said that he was. Things went from the sublime
to the ridiculous. Roger Noriega, the top State
Department official for Western Hemisphere affairs, claimed he
didn't know if Posada was in the United States. That
revelation didn't impress many people.

Meanwhile President Castro issued a series of
statements about Posada's presence in the United States and
accused Bush of harboring of a terrorist. His comments grabbed
the attention of the local media and hit a sympathetic
nerve. It was impossible to explain Posada's presence in the
United States after the numerous public statements
Bush had made about terrorists. Perhaps the most memorable of
these is "If you harbor a terrorist, you are a terrorist."
Things were getting very ugly very fast for Bush.

However, the timing couldn't have been better since
the anniversary of the New Jersey Turnpike incident was
fast approaching. Here was an opportunity to "save face"
and take another stab at Castro. A miserably transparent
attempt to deflect attention from the political
embarrassment of Posada's presence developed
overnight.

In the blink of an eye, Assata was suddenly placed on
the domestic terrorist list. How very convenient. Now Bush
could aim a similar accusation at Castro, harboring a
terrorist.

Turning back to Assata and her 1973 chance encounter
with Trooper Foerster on the New Jersey Turnpike, it can
hardly be labeled a terrorist act or plot no matter how you
characterize the facts. No doubt she and her
companions did not plan on the events of May 2, 1973. They didn't
plan or provoke any encounter with the police nor did they
brag about Trooper Foerster's death.

Who defines a terrorist? What actions define a
terrorist? Is it a politically manipulated designation used to
further the agendas of the present administration? While there
is certainly no agreed upon definition of 'terrorism'
even the U.S. State Department's self-serving definition that
it involves "premeditated, politically motivated violence
perpetrated against non-combatant targets" rules out
the incident on the NJ Turnpike which was - by all
accounts -initiated by the troopers in a state notoriously
known for racial profiling on the Turnpike.

Assata stands convicted of one criminal act, the
murder of Trooper Foerster. The U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs reports that the FBI identified 785
assailants in the killing of law enforcement officers
between 1993 and 2002. Should we expect that the next
political announcement will be that those 785
individuals have also been placed on the domestic terrorism list?
Is murder of a police officer the criteria? If so, then
should we expect the list to increase by at least 785?

Perhaps, the commission of a heinous act makes one a
terrorist. That would certainly get Bosch and Posada
on the list, so it can't be that. What about the joint team
of FBI agents and Chicago police that murdered Black Panther
leaders, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, in their sleep
during in a pre-dawn raid at their apartment? Will they be
named as terrorists? When now, Reverend, then Mayor, Wilson
Goode ordered the bombing of the MOVE headquarters
located at 6221 Osage Avenue in Philadelphia in 1985
that killed 11 people including 5 children, and
resulted in the destruction of the entire neighborhood, including 62
homes, was that an act of terrorism?

Can we expect to see his name added to the list? Were
the New York City Police Officers who shot and killed the
unarmed grandmother, Eleanor Bumpers, during an
apartment eviction, terrorists? They murdered her.
Maybe the members of New York's finest that fired 41
bullets at unarmed immigrant Amadou Diallo will have their names added to
the list of domestic terrorists. Will the names of the
convicted abortion clinic bombers be added to the
list? Were the officers who beat, assaulted and sodomized
young Abner Louima terrorists? What about the soldiers who
shot unarmed detainees in Guantanamo?

In this political era we find the terrorism label
abused and manipulated. It is an outrage that this government
would offend the sensitivities of the American public
by labeling Assata as a terrorist.

In 1976 the Senate Select Subcommittee headed by
Senator Frank Church of Utah issued its report on the
activities of the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO).
That Program was aimed at destroying any political dissent
in the country. Among its targets were Rev. Martin Luther
King, Kwame Ture' (f.k.a. Stokely Carmichael) Malcolm
X, the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army,
the New Left, the Weather Underground, the American Indian
Movement, the Puerto Rican independence movement and
the Communist Party. Led by J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI
left no stone unturned and no dirty trick untried. Part of
this campaign was to criminalize legitimate political
movements and individuals. The FBI maimed, murdered and
imprisoned hundreds of political activists. The Report concluded
that "Many of the techniques used would be intolerable in a
democratic society even if all the targets had been
involved in violent activity, but COINTELPRO went far
beyond that." The condemnation of the FBI practices
temporarily limited its activities.

However, in 2001 the FBI was able to publicly
reinstitute all the previously condemned COINTELPRO practices
under the guise of the Patriot Act. Increased
surveillance of political organizations and individuals began.
Harassment, arrest, incarceration and intimidation of political
activists have once again been restored as
"acceptable" police practices.

This recent labeling of Assata as a terrorist is done
as part of the broader campaign to demonize and
criminalize political dissent and resistance. This agenda was
begun by the previous United States Attorney General, John
Ashcroft. All over the country FBI agents started questioning
and harassing past and present political activists. In
courtrooms and filed documents, the FBI and U.S.
Attorneys began referring to domestic political activists as
terrorists. The label has far reaching implications.
The First Amendment is in serious danger and so is anyone
who dares to exercise their rights under its protections.

The convergence of Posada's entry into the United
States and the otherwise inexplicable labeling of Assata as a
terrorist fit well into a much broader politically
motivated scheme.

Her name must immediately be removed from the list
and the bounty offer rescinded.

hoa@afrocubaweb.com
5/13/05

[Mekeda7]

This is an Excellent piece nattyreb! I thank you for this. I will be passing this along to others.

Asafo, you have provided some vital info and links. o se!





For those in Wisconsin:

Congressman Tammy Baldwin

Representing the Second Congressional District of Wisconsin

Send a Message to Tammy Baldwin
Washington DC Office
1022 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2906
Fax: (202) 225-6942

Wisconsin Office
10 East Doty Street, Suite 405
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: (608) 258-9800
Fax: (608) 258-9808

[XXPANTHAXX]

On May 2, 2005, the United States Justice Department announced it was raising its bounty of $100,000 for the capture of Sister Assata Shakur to $1,000,000. For over two decades, Sister Assata has been living as a political exile in the Republic of Cuba. This is part of a long campaign to capture or kill Sister Assata since her escape in 1979, and part of the historical assault against the Black Liberation Movement.

Who is Assata Shakur?
Assata Shakur, born Joanne Deborah Byron in July 16, 1947, in Wilmington, North Carolina, grew up in the segregated South. When she was a college student in New York she decided to participate in the freedom movement of people of African descent against racism and white supremacy. Her thirst to do something for her people led her to the Black Panther Party (BPP) in New York City. She participated in a program teaching Black youth their culture and history and other service programs of the BPP. In 1969, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director J. Edgar Hoover labeled the BPP “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.� Through its counter-intelligence program, COINTELPRO, the FBI and other police agencies waged a low-intensity war on the BPP and other Black freedom organizations. Activists were assassinated, incarcerated and forced into exile. When New York Panthers came under attack Assata went into hiding and joined the underground movement called the Black Liberation Army (BLA). She became one of the major targets of the United States government.

Her Capture, Conviction and Escape
On May 2, 1971, Assata and two other Panthers forced underground, Zayd Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were stopped by New Jersey Highway patrolmen on the New Jersey Turnpike. The patrolman stated the young Blacks were “suspicious� since their vehicle had Vermont license plates. The subsequent chain of events is not clear, but a shoot out ensued and Zayd Shakur and one of the highway patrolmen, Werner Foerster, were killed. Complying with police orders to freeze and put her hands in the air, Assata was immediately shot and paralyzed with wounds from .357 magnum gun fire from Highway patrolman James Harper. Sundiata was captured the next day in the New Jersey swamplands. Tests on Assata demonstrated she had not fired a weapon. In spite of that fact she had not fired a weapon and was paralyzed through the entire gun battle, she was convicted by an all-white jury in Middlesex County, New Jersey and sentenced to life plus sixty-five years for the death of Zayd Shakur and the highway patrolman. Sundiata was also convicted and given a sentence of life plus sixty-five years. She expereinced years of being incarcerated in male facilities or prison units with dangerous criminals and hate groups, like members of the Manson family and white supremacist gangs. On November 2, 1979, with the aid of the BLA and white friends of the Black Liberation Movement, Assata escaped from Clinton Correctional Center for Women in New Jersey. In 1984, she was given political asylum in Cuba.

Since her Escape
The recent bounty placed on her head is only a continuation of a pursuit to re-capture her for over two decades. Assata Shakur is one of the most sought after fugitives in United States history. Since her escape, twenty-six years ago, the FBI has committed an agent to her re-capture. Two Black activists Mutulu Shakur (the step-father of Tupac Shakur) and Sekou Odinga, white activist Marilyn Buck and Italian national Silvia Baraldini were all convicted for freeing Assata from prison. In 1997, New Jersey police made a request to Pope John Paul II to ask Fidel Castro to return Assata to incarceration in the United States In 1998, the United States House of Representatives called for the government of Cuba to return Assata to the custody of the state of New Jersey. Several people have been offered financial pay offs or coerced with threats of criminal charges to cooperate with government plans to re-capture Assata. In 2003, the father of Assata’s daughter Kikuya, Kamau Sadiki was convicted in Atlanta for the killing of a police officer in 1971. Approached by the FBI in 2000, Mr. Sadiki was offered money to inform and possibly participate in the re-capture of Assata. When he refused, he was told if he didn’t cooperate he would die in prison since he has Hepatitis C, Cirrhosis of the Liver and Sarcoidosis.

Particularly after the publication of her autobiography Assata: The Autobiography of a Revolutionary, Assata Shakur has been an inspiration for Black activists, the Hip Hop generation, and human rights supporters worldwide. She has become a symbol of resistance. Similar to Malcolm X, her story represents the triumph and power of the human spirit. Her image has been invoked in Hip Hop lyrics. From exile, she has continued to support the freedom of Black people and struggles against racism and the human rights abuses. Enemies of the Black freedom movement want to crush and contain this inspirational figure.

The placing of Assata on the domestic terrorist list only confirms the fears of the Black liberation movement and human rights activist concerning George Bush’s “war on terrorism.� “The war on terrorism� is a means for the right-wing in the United States to eliminate its political enemies. Through vehicles like the Patriot Act, the “war on terrorism� gives justification for abuses of a modern day COINTELPRO.

COINTELPRO and the War on the Black Freedom movement
In the 1950s, during the Cold war, the FBI started COINTEPRO. As the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum Black Activists, like Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Williams, Ella Baker, and Bayard Rustin became the primary targets of COINTELPRO. When the federal government did not respond to the demands of the nonviolent movement and also did not protect activists and Black communities from the violence of segregationist many activists moved toward Black Power and armed resistance to get human rights and freedom. Fearful of the assertive Black Power movement, the United States government used programs like COINTELPRO to destroy the Black movement.

What Assata means to us
Assata Shakur was forced underground, incarcerated, and forced into exile due to the repression of the United States government. In 1971, due to activists expropriating documents from an FBI office and leaking theses documents to the press, COINTELPRO was revealed to the American public and the world. Due to the abuses of the FBI, a congressional committee was developed under the leadership of United States Senator Frank Church of Idaho. While the Church committee did put monitoring and accountability measures on the FBI (which have been now eliminated under the Patriot Act after the events of September 11, 2001), no remedies were offered to individuals, organizations and communities who were targeted and whose human rights were violated by COINTELPRO.

Instead of seeking reconciliation of political conflict, the attempt to re-capture Assata only accelerates political and racial conflict in the United States and internationally. In other countries around the world, including South Africa, Turkey, Morocco, Ukraine, Peru, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Ghana, Belgium, governments have established a review the abuses of their police agencies on opposition movements in their countries as a gesture towards reconciliation. The United States has never sought reconciliation with the targets of COINTELPRO. The pursuit of Assata promotes more conflict in that rather than choosing an alternative dispute mechanism it chooses to continue the criminalization of the Black Liberation movement. Moreover, it encourages the mercenary invasion of a sovereign nation, the Republic of Cuba, and encourages global conflict. We oppose the sending of mercenaries and bounty hunters to apprehend Sister Assata Shakur. The United States government must acknowledge its abuses and grant amnesty to political prisoners and exiles.

As supporters of Human rights, we call for:

1) the end of the pursuit of Assata Shakur by immediately removing her name from the domestic terrorist list and repealing the bounty placed on her head.
2) the rejection of mercenary attacks on the sovereign nation of Cuba
3) the de-criminalization of the Black Liberation movement, particularly given the political nature of the conflict of the 1960s and 70s, and the abuses of COINTELPRO.
4) Congress to impanel an independent Truth Commission as a alternative dispute mechanism, to finish the mission of the Church Committee and of the cases of political prisoners and exiles, including Assata Shakur, Sundiata Acoli, Mutulu Shakur, Sekou Odinga, Kamau Sadiki and Marilyn Buck.
5) That the United States Congress implement remedies and restitution for the communities, organizations and individuals who were targeted and whose human rights were violated due to COINTELPRO.
6) The repeal of the Patriot Act.

[Akyeame Kwame]

Asante for this XXPANTHAXX, i'm back in n.c. and WE got a meeting of warriors tomorrow around the Hands Off Assata Campaign...this will be distributed amongst other materials...

AK