NYC Anarchist Black Cross

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 9th, 2017
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free

Coming on the heels of the 5th anniversary of the Cleveland 4 being captured by the State after a coordinated effort to entrap them, we ask that you join us in sending some love their way as we write to Brandon, Connor, Skelly, and Doug.

From cleveland4solidarity.org:

On the 5th Anniversary of the arrest of the Cleveland 4

April 30, 2017. Tonight marks the fifth anniversary of the arrest of Brandon Baxter, Connor Stevens, Doug Wright, and Josh “Skelly” Stafford—the young men who came to be known as the Cleveland 4. Their arrest was the culmination of an FBI-created plot to place (fake, government-supplied) explosives under the base of a bridge and brand Occupy activists as “terrorists.” On this anniversary, we should pause. Take a moment to think about what was done to the Cleveland 4, the consequences they continue to suffer and the support they need, and how their case is a reflection of the bigger political moment in which we are living—and what that requires of us.

The plot to blow up a bridge was the result of months of coercion by a paid government informant and elaborate orchestration by the FBI. In a common pattern since 9/11, the FBI created a terrorism plot, entrapped vulnerable people in it, supplied the materials, and then supposedly heroically captured the made up “terrorists”—reassuring the public that the government would protect them…from a threat that never really existed. In addition to being used against the Cleveland 4 as anarchists in the Occupy movement in an attempt to quell it, this pattern has repeatedly been used to entrap young Muslim men and manufacture Islamophobia. And the pattern will surely continue to be used and adapted. As long as the FBI issues press releases that smear people across the media as “terrorists,” the State will continue to use the crafted narrative to justify its Orwellian surveillance and COINTELPRO tactics that tear apart individuals, communities, and movements.

We have a responsibility to see through the smoke and mirrors, to criticize and expose how the State uses so-called “terrorism” to suit its interests by stirring up fears—and recognize that this political landscape is not an accident, but a State power that our organizing must take into consideration. And we have to not let Brandon, Connor, Doug, and Skelly be lost in the smoke and mirrors; rather, our support of them should be a beautiful showing of resistance through taking care of each other. When the State tries to take our loved ones from us, we have to still hold on in all the ways that we can through the walls of prison.

Through the narrative that the States creates in terrorism prosecutions, it seeks to tell a certain story. In doing so in the case of the Cleveland 4, the government succeeded in putting Brandon, Connor, Doug, and Skelly in prison, but that does not mean that it gets to write the rest of this story. That’s for us to do—to turn a government-crafted plot into a setting that’s lighted by an unwavering commitment to making sure that every anniversary of the arrest of the Cleveland 4 marks another year of tangible acts of solidarity.

Write and send books to the Cleveland 4, donate to their support fund, and let our solidarity with each other be stronger than the forces that would tear us apart. Take care of each other and make sure that Brandon, Connor, Doug, and Skelly know that we are here to take care of them.

If for some insane reason you cannot join us on Tuesday, please write them from home:
Brandon Baxter #57972-060
FCI Pekin
Post Office Box 5000
Pekin, Illinois 61555

Skelly* #57976-060

USP Coleman II

Post Office Box 1034

Coleman, Florida 33521

*Address envelope to Joshua Stafford.

Connor Stevens #57978-060

FCI Manchester

Post Office Box 4000

Manchester, Kentucky 40962

Douglas Wright #57973-060

FCI Edgefield

Post Office Box 725

Edgefield, South Carolina 29824

Read more…

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 11th 2017
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free

No doubt we are not alone in our feelings of disdain for the state as they yet again flex their imperialistic muscles, roll up their sleeves, and unite across party lines to rain down the repression and violence overseas and here in the so called United States.

However there are plenty of anarchist news outlets bringing the realness- It’s Going Down, Unicorn Riot, Which Side Podcast, The Final Straw, sub.media… we want instead to actually mention a couple of the positive things happening in the Political Prisoner support world:

Mumia Abu Jamal finally began his medical treatment for Hepatitis C and Robert Seth Hayes was finally given an insulin pump (although the monitor is still missing, wouldn’t be the pigs if they just made it easy). Both of these have been months if not years in the making and the fighting from the inside and out.

In other positive (as positive as updating about comrades held in cages can be) news, Jalil Muntaqim was transferred out of the hellhole that is Southport Correctional Facility to Shawangunk Correctional Facility which is only a couple of hours from New York City. Eric King is settling into FCI Florence and gets off of phone, visit, and commissary restriction April 10^th!  Join us Tuesday as NYC ABC writes to these two folks.

Jalil Muntaqim is a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member who, in 1971, was arrested in California and ultimately convicted for the killing of two New York City cops. In 1974, Muntaqim was convicted and received a prison term of twenty-five years to life.  Jalil is a writer, a poet, a scholar, and an educator. He has taken the same persistence and dedication he had on the outside engaging in the Black Liberation struggle to the inside, dedicating his time there to improving the lives of those who have found themselves behind the same bars. In December of 2016 Jalil was thrown in the SHU for a lesson he taught as a part of the prison approved Black History class he was teaching. He then got sent to Southport Correctional Facility, known as the “SHU prison” where the most dangerous or most threatened prisoners are sent.  A few weeks ago he was finally transferred out and is currently being held at Shawangunk Correctional Facility.

Eric King is a 30 year old vegan anarchist prisoner who’s currently serving a 10 year sentence for an attempted firebombing of a government official’s office in Kansas City, Missouri in September 2014. Eric was being charged with throwing a hammer through a window of the building, followed by two lit Molotov cocktails. The criminal complaint states that both incendiary devices failed to ignite. Eric was identified as a suspect by local police because he had previously come under suspicion for anti-government and anti-police graffiti. On March 3, 2016, he accepted a non-cooperating plea agreement to one count of using “explosive materials to commit arson of property used in or affecting interstate commerce. Then almost three months later on June 28th, at the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Missouri. Eric King was sentenced to ten years, the statutory minimum and maximum for the charge he plead guilty to.

In January Eric was unexpectedly transferred to FCI Florence and held in SHU there awaiting a disciplinary hearing.  He is at the tail end of completing the sanctions he got as a result: loss of commissary, visits, and phone for a total of 93 days (that started before the disciplinary hearing).  He is now currently in general population at FCI Florence.

If for some insane reason you cannot join us on Tuesday, please write them from home:
Anthony J. Bottom #77-A-4283
Shawangunk Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 700
Wallkill, New York 12589-0700
*address card/letter to Jalil Muntaqim

Eric King #27090-045
FCI Florence
Federal Correctional Institution
Post Office Box 6000
Florence, Colorado 81226

Read more…