PP+ Jericho Updates!

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VERONZA BOWERS UPDATE (www.veronza.org.)

Dear Friends,

I just received a phone call from Veronza as he emerged from today's hearing to consider his plea for Mandatory Parole. The hearing took this morning and lasted about 2 1/2 hours during which time our lead attorney Alan Chaset presented the case for having Veronza released after more than 30 years of incarceration.

Strong letters of support from Veronza's case manager Ms. Vickie Oakes and former unit manager Jeff Bryant as well as psychologist Hans Solveg's very positive risk assessment report helped to establish his credentials as a successful candidate for parole. At the conclusion, hearing examiner Rob Haworth recommended that Veronza be released from prison on Februrary 21, 2005. Mr. Haworth took the liberty of commenting that he considered Veronza to be one of the best candidates for parole he has ever encountered.

While this is certainly wonderful news, the time for celebration is not as yet at hand. In fact, we have been here before, only to be disappointed by the National Parole Commission who, in the past, overturned a parole examiner's recommendation for release. The decision to grant Veronza Mandatory Parole on Februray 21st must be approved by the USPC, a three-person board staffed by presidential appointees. Only then will Veronza's long journey come to an end. A decision by the Commission is expected to handed down in the next few weeks. Alan Chaset has vowed to personally visit the USPC headquarters in Chevy Chase, MD to expedite the process and push for early release. In the meanwhile, we - Veronza's family, friends and supporters around the world - wait with the same patience, equanimity and clear-minded determination that Veronza has exhibited these many years.

Veronza sends his love and appreciation to all of you for your prayers and support.

All the best,
Monty
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CAN WE DO LESS?
from the National Co-Chair, Jericho Movement

2004 has been a year of much drama and subdued expectations. Several political prisoners were coming before the federal and state parole boards and there was a feeling, shared by many, that surely some would be released. On the average, those eligible for parole had served in excess of thirty years and certainly deserved some consideration. Two or three stepped off, but none of the Black or Native american inmates were among that fortunate group.

Those of us who have been in the struggle around prison issues understand the racism that permeates this society, and prisons across the country reflect that fact of life. We must live with the ugly fact that the u.s. government has literally resentenced our freedom fighters to death behind the walls.

Proof of this dreadful reality can be seen in the recent cases of Veronza Bowers, Sundiata Acoli, Jalil Muntaqim, and Marshall Eddie Conway. All had accumulated exemplary records as they approached their almost mandatory release dates. Those dates came and went and not one of them has stepped beyond the shadow of his prison wall. They are being held on some obscure legal technicality that has no basis in law or common sense. In effect they are being held “hostages” by the prison system. .

Much of the blame rests on our shoulders for this sorry state of affairs. Unfortunately, we have yet to mount a community-based support network that is committed to bringing our pps home. Other than Mumia Abu Jamal none of these brothers is well known outside of a small circle of family members and in some cases a support group that is too small to bring the type of pressure against the government that is necessary to solve this problem.

In a statement written for presentation at the Safiya Bukhari Human Rights Weekend Political Prisoner Jalil Muntaqim speaks to this need for unified action. “It is very important that al political activist working in behalf of u.s. political prisoners understand the strength of our movement depends on unity of purpose. Although, it appears that our struggle is too diverse because of the many different representatives of u.s. political prisoners, we must come to terms that in unity there is strength”. It can be done. The Puerto Ricans got their pps out. Assata is free in Cuba. It doesn’t require the brains of rocket scientists to realize we have got to really begin to think outside the box.

In the meantime the pps are not sitting on their butts waiting for us to get our act together and bring them home. Many brothers are beginning to take matters in their own hands. Abdul Majid has followed up MXCC’s April visit to Albany, N.Y. to demand that state legislators introduce legislation that will make New York’s archaic parole laws more friendly to pps and other inmates who are at the mercy of the capricious parole board.

Baba George Eng, a lifer who has specialized in fighting through the courts to win some easing of the legal restrictions on the way inmates are arbitrarily treated by prison authorities, has crafted legislation opening up the opportunity for fair play to inmates who come before the parole board.

Marshall Eddie Conway has pushed to get a resolution before the Baltimore, Md, City Council that calls for”a Congressional hearing into the covert operations of COINTELPRO; the impact of COINTELPRO on the organizations and individuals who were victimized over 30 years ago through the obstruction of their human and civil rights; the impact of the more recently enacted usa Patriot Act on organizations and individuals who have come under similar scrutiny and legal redress for victims of both of these intrusive operations.” He is struggling to have his resolution adopted as a model for other city councils and state lawmaking bodies.

These are just a few of the brothers behind the wall who are using every legal means available to them to force a change in their situations behind the walls. The extraordinary discipline this requires is almost unimaginable. Hours spent in the law library pouring over musty legal books; poor reproduction equipment with which to turn their long months of research into well framed legal documents numbs the mind. The crafting of these resolutions and laws that are designed to help the full prison population is superimposed on their more immediate work of writing appeals and motions for their own personal cases – a task that would challenge the physical and mental capacity of the most experienced legal mind, Yet this work goes on – unheralded; oftentimes sent outside the wall with no assurance it will be read or acted upon; sustained by the ever present hope that something will come of their exertions, a spark will be lit; someone else will be motivated to pick up the torch.

Can we do less than these brothers? The numbing monotony of prison life, the abnormality and unnaturalness of their daily existence is almost beyond comprehension. Yet they soldier on – refusing to bend or bow to the will of their captors. CAN WE DO ANY LESS?

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(JPPAAP)THE JERICHO’S POLITICAL PRISONERS ARTS AUCTION PROJECT (JPPAAP)

The JPPAAP is being launched as a fundraiser for the “u.s. Political Prisoners’ Education Support Campaign for AIDS Orphans in Afrika “. We are asking for all pp/pows to submit any arts/crafts, essays, poetry, books, etc. so that The Jericho Amnesty Movement can auction them off on the internet. in addition to helping to raise funds & global awareness about the pandemic spread of HIV/AIDS and the Orphans that are left behind, we can also highlight the individual pp/pows case by adding links and facts about their specific case to the descriptive comments on each auction.

Life-long Organizer, Freedom Fighter and Health Activist, Dr. Mutulu Shakur has donated a beautifully spirited, autographed poem (with sketches) called "August Win" to help kick off the start of the JPPAAP. To submit creations for auction, please contact Sis. Hira Al-Amin, 210 West Jolly Road, Lansing, MI 48010 (email: tea-tree@comcast.net).

(Support for AIDS Orphans School Supply Project)

The Jericho AIDS Orphans School Supply Project is receiving broad support. In addition to the enthusiastic collective approval of political prisoners/prisoners of war/exiles, faith communities, womens auxiliaries, and student groups have embraced The Project.

IFCO's Lucius Walker has provided technical/logistic consultation. Sala Nolan, United Church of Christ's Criminal Justice Ministry Director and human rights activist, serves as inter-faith laison and is soliciting support from faith communities. Students at Cornell, Georgia State University, and Atlanta University Complex have made commitments to raise a ton of supplies and an unspecified amount of money for imprinted pencils. Sorority members and Baptist and United Methodist women's auxiliary leaders have began seeking individual and organizational commitments.

Teachers, public and Sunday school students are urged to join this growing campaign. It is an opportunity to teach the lesson of the importance of being a part of a cause greater than ourselves, remember the humane tradition our captured warriors preserved, and prove ourselves worthy of the legacy of struggle we've inherited. Today is the day, now is the time to strike this tiny, no risk blow for the dignity of our people, freedom for our advocates, and health of the future of people of Afrikan descent at home and abroad.

www.thejerichomovement.com
DON'T JUST TALK ABOUT IT, BE ABOUT IT!