BK/NY – Tuesday, March 19th – International Women’s Day Political Prisoner Card Writing Dinner
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, March 19th, 2019
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
With International Women’s Day having just passed, it is important to acknowledge the often forgotten radical history of the day itself, steeped in the political action and uprisings from anticapitalist women in the early 1900’s. The histories of the day itself, the participation of women in all revolutionary and radical struggles, and how the State incarcerates women are constantly being whitewashed. With fighting that tendency in mind, NYC ABC will be writing cards to six political prisoners at this Tuesday’s letter writing dinner.
Please join us to hear about and write to Janet Africa (MOVE), Janine Africa (MOVE), Red Fawn Fallis (Standing Rock water protector), Nina Droz Franco (Puerto Rico liberationist), Chelsea Manning (Grand Jury resister), Rev. Joy Powell (anti-police violence organizer), and Reality Winner (whistleblower).
If for whatever reason you cannot join us, we hope you will still write to them:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Janet Holloway Africa #OO6308
SCI Cambridge Springs
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Janine Phillips Africa #OO6309
SCI Cambridge Springs
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733
Red Fawn Fallis #16358-059
FMC Carswell
Post Office Box 27137
Fort Worth, Texas 76127
Nina Droz Franco #50427-069
FCI Tallahassee
501 Capital Circle, NE
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning #AO181426
William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center
2001 Mill Road
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Reverend Joy Powell #07-G-0632
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 1000
Bedford Hills, New York 10507-2499
Reality Winner #22056-021
FMC Carswell
Post Office Box 27137
Fort Worth, Texas 76127
BK/NY – Tuesday, March 5th – Letter-Writing Dinner For Eric Hancock
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, March 5th, 2019
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
Hey, is anyone worried that things in the world might be going TOO GOOD? You know, like maybe humanity isn’t on the brink of simultaneous global economic and ecological collapse? No? Just us? Okay, we’ll just brew another pot of valerian root tea, tamp down the unwavering existential dread, and get on with what we do–support political prisoners and prisoners of war. This week NYC ABC is focusing our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinner on an anti-racist named Eric Hancock, recently railroaded into a non-cooperating plea agreement after defending himself from knife-wielding white supremacists. In 2018. Where’d that valerian go, again?
In late April 2019, Eric Hancock accepted a sentence of one year imprisonment on a single charge of unlawful wounding, a class 6 felony in Virginia, in a non-cooperating plea agreement. The decision to accept this plea came after a year awaiting trial. Initially charged with both malicious wounding and aggravated malicious wounding, Eric faced a mandatory 25 years in a state that does not offer parole.
The charges stemmed from an incident that occurred on January 19th, 2018, which began with a fascist-affiliated band—The Sentinels, playing a show in downtown Richmond. This show eventually lead to a confrontation in which several white supremacists pulled out knives. Eric was stabbed outright and defended himself, which led to his being charged with the injuries sustained by two of his attackers. Between medical and legal expenses resulting form this attack, Eric is facing not only imprisonment, but also debt.
Eric’s support team is working to cover a bevy of medical and legal costs, and have set a goal of $15,000. Eric turned himself into custody February 28th with the full support and appreciation of comrades in Richmond and across Virginia. He has endured injury, injustice, and self-sacrifice with integrity, and his friends, family and supporters appreciate his commitment and bravery. For now, the best means of donating to Eric’s support is via Venmo: @SupportEric
If for some unforeseeable reason you are unable to make it Tuesday, please take the time to write to Eric on your own time:
Eric Hancock #161270
Richmond City Justice Center
1701 Fairfield Way
Richmond, Virginia 23223
Illustrated Guide Version 14.1 Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners.
BK/NY – Tuesday, February 19th – Letter-Writing Dinner For Chip Fitzgerald, Cinque Magee, and Andrew Mickel
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, February 19th, 2019
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
As usual, you can find NYC ABC on our bi-weekly vibe, serving up some delicious vegan food and writing letters to three long standing political prisoners. Come join us as we send these folks some love and support.
Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, born and raised in Compton, California, joined the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party in early 1969 as a teenager who had just been released from the California Youth Authority. In September of that year, as a dedicated member of the Party, Chip was arrested in connection with a police shoot-out and tried for assault on police and related charges, including the murder of a security guard. He was sentenced to death. More information here.
Commonly regarded as the longest held political prisoner in the U.S., Ruchell “Cinque” Magee has been imprisoned since 1963. He was politicized in prison and participated in the August 7, 1970 Marin County Courthouse Rebellion— the attempted liberation of political prisoner George Jackson and the Soledad Brothers by Jackson’s younger brother Jonathan. Magee was seriously injured in the incident and subsequently pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping. He was sentenced in 1975 to life in prison and has been denied parole numerous times. More information here.
On November 19, 2002 Andrew Mickel shot and killed a cop named David Mobilio of the Red Bluff, California Police Department. There were no witnesses to the killing, and the crime would have gone unsolved had there not been Internet postings about the crime six days later. The postings read, “Hello Everyone, my name’s Andy. I killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, California in a motion to bring attention to, and halt, the police-state tactics that have come to be used throughout our country.” In April 2005, Mickel was convicted of one count of first-degree murder. He was subsequently sentenced to death, and is being held on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison.
If for some unforeseeable reason you are unable to make it Tuesday, please take the time to write to these folx on your own time:
Chip Fitzgerald* #B27527
California State Prison – LAC
Post Office Box 4490
B-4-150
Lancaster, California 93539
*Address envelope to Romaine Fitzgerald
Cinque Magee* #A92051
B3-138
California Mens Colony
Post Office Box 8103
San Luis Obispo, California 93409
*Address envelope to Ruchell Magee
Andrew Mickel V77400
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, California 94974
BK/NY – Tuesday, February 5th – Revolutionary Love For an Early Valentine’s Day
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, February 5th, 2019
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
This time last year, we were watching the state’s case against the J20 defendants begin to unravel. This year, we see comrades from Portugal to Iraq to Germany continuing to attack the state and capital. There’s a palpable tension between the authorities who keep cracking skulls and those rebels who continue to fight back. And for those rebels–still in the streets, or locked in a prison cell, NYC ABC holds revolutionary love. With that love burning in our hearts, we host another of our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinners.
This week we’re having a Valentine’s Day card writing party for PPs and POWs in the region. But rather than looking to a holiday based on Christian martyrs from millennia ago and kept alive through consumerism and romantic coupling, we’re celebrating revolutionary love and solidarity. We love our imprisoned comrades and use this week’s card-writing night to manifest that love.
BK/NY – Tuesday, January 22 – Letter Writing Dinner for Joe-Joe Bowen
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019
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
Since we know that prisons, and more specifically prison officials, create a culture of fear and retaliation, this week NYC ABC will be focusing our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinner on Joe-Joe Bowen, who is no stranger to rebelling against captors as a path towards collective liberation. Joe-Joe was recently transferred and put into solitary confinement and in addition to letters, NEEDS YOUR HELP.
A native of Philadelphia, Joe-Joe was a young member of the “30th and Norris” street gang before his incarceration politicized him. Released in 1971, his outside activism was cut short a week following his release when Joe-Joe was confronted by an officer of the notoriously brutal Philadelphia police department. The police officer was killed in the confrontation, and Bowen fled. After his capture and incarceration, Bowen became a Black Liberation Army combatant, defiant to authorities at every turn. In 1973, Joe-Joe assassinated Holmesberg prison’s warden and deputy warden as well as wounded the guard commander in retaliation for intense repression against Muslim prisoners in the facility. In 1981, Bowen led a six-day standoff with authorities when he and six other captives took 39 hostages at Graterford Prison as a freedom attempt and protest of the prison conditions.
If you will not be able to join us this upcoming Tuesday, you can still write to Joe-Joe:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Joseph Bowen AM4272
Post Office Box 33028
Saint Petersburg, Florida 33733
*Address cards/letters to Joe-Joe.
Illustrated Guide Version 14 Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners.
