BK/NY – Tuesday, September 8th – Letter Writing To Doug Wright and Skelly (Cleveland 4)
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, September 8th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
As the fight against police brutality rages on, we witness evidence of the centuries-long commitment the state and the non-uniformed white supremacists have to each other in this country. The murders in Kenosha following the life-altering shooting of Jacob Blake to the most recent death of Michael Reinoehl in Portland are emblematic of the tragedy that ensues when lines are drawn. The fight continues, and daily we are reminded that the state regularly cooperates with and relies on the contributions of the white supremacist, racist, fascist right wing to do their dirty work (if they aren’t willing to do it themselves).
Speaking of the state and cooperators, please join NYC ABC and Page One Collective this week to write the two folks from Cleveland still finishing their sentences after being entrapped by the FBI during Occupy Cleveland. This simple and low-stakes ritual of regularly writing political prisoners is an excellent way to keep those who have fought the system and lost present in our minds, hearts and communities as these battles in the streets rage on.
Douglas Wright and Joshua Stafford (aka “Skelly”) are two Occupy Cleveland activists. They were arrested on April 30th, 2012, days before national May Day protests. They were accused of plotting a series of bombings, including that of an area bridge. However, the real story is that FBI informants and undercover agents had a heavy hand in creating the alleged plot, produced the explosives, and coerced the four into participating. For more information, be sure to visit cleveland4solidarity.org
Please take the time to write a letter to Doug and Skelly (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Skelly* #57976-060
USP McCreary
Post Office Box 3000
Pine Knot, Kentucky 42635
*Address envelope to Joshua Stafford.
Douglas Wright #57973-060
USP Victorville
Post Office Box 3900
Adelanto, California 92301
Illustrated Guide Version 13.5 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, August 25th – Black August Letter Writing
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, August 25th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
Due to the pandemic and uprisings against white supremacist policing (redundant, we know), many of us are too overwhelmed to even notice the full-blown war being waged by cops and the ruling class. It is real and it is continuing. And of course there is another war—the war against folks imprisoned for their political beliefs and actions. And here’s where we bridge the two. Nearing the end of Black August, NYC ABC and Page One Collective will be sending letters to Black revolutionary political prisoners and there’s an easy (too easy? POSSIBLY!) way for you to help, just by writing from home. Please post a photo of your addressed envelope on social media and tag us (with your return address blurred out) and we will share it. Use Page One’s recent zine, “Current Political Prisoners of Black Liberation Movements,” for up-to-date addresses.
Tuesday, August 11th – Letter-writing to Jaan Laaman
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, August 11th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
Hot on the heels of our formal announcement regarding Running Down the Walls 2020, NYC ABC is back with another letter-writing event. Again collaborating with Page One Collective, and still encouraging folks to write from home as we navigate the continued threat of the novel coronavirus, focusing on anti-imperialist political prisoner Jaan Laaman. It is impossible to think about Jaan without thinking of his United Freedom Front co-defendant Tom Manning, who died in prison at the hands of medical neglect and state tyranny. Your spirit lives with us, Tom!
Jaan Laaman is imprisoned for actions carried out by United Freedom Front (UFF). The UFF was a clandestine revolutionary organization active in the United States in the early 1980s. The group targeted government institutions and major corporations that had ties to the South African Apartheid system or right-wing paramilitaries in Central America. This included taking actions directly against the South African and United States governments. The UFF carried out targeted bombings of corporate buildings, courthouses and military facilities as well as bank robberies to fund revolutionary projects, while insuring that those buildings were empty when targeted. Prior to his role in the UFF, Jaan was deeply involved in anti-South African apartheid organizing.
Please take the time to write a letter to Jaan (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Jaan Karl Laaman #10372-016
USP McCreary
Post Office Box 3000
Pine Knot, Kentucky 42635
Running Down the Walls 2020 Announcement
Since 2008, NYC ABC has been organizing annual events in solidarity with Running Down the Walls (RDTW), started by ABCF-Los Angeles in 1999. Over the years, our RDTW events have become more than fundraisers for the ABCF Warchest and local organizations: they’ve become hubs where folks from overlapping radical and revolutionary communities—multigender, multiracial, and multigenerational—come together and socialize after an enthusiastic five kilometers of running, walking, biking, skating, and rolling. Many of the folks who anticipate each year’s event do so knowing they will see folks they might not see more than once a year. So, with all that said, we regret to announce that for 2020 we will not be organizing a physical Running Down the Wall event. The stakes are too high and we have too many close comrades who are elders or otherwise at higher risk if exposed to Covid-19.
While recognizing the importance of the local event to various communities, it is ultimately the way by which we help build the warchest and directly support out political prisoners and prisoners of war (PP/POWs). Therefore we are calling on those communities to help us reach a goal of $3,000. Unless otherwise noted by the donor, all donations to paypal.me/nycabc through September 6th will go directly to the warchest.
Just as we support those facing repression in the fallout of recent uprisings, we must also support the PP/POWs who have been imprisoned for years, even decades. Please help us spread the word and direct your friends, loved ones, and colleagues to paypal.me/nycabc
Illustrated Guide Version 13.4 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 July 28th – Letter Writing for International Antifa Prisoners
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, July 28th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
Since the last July 25th International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners, the worldwide struggle against the nightmare of fascism and the far-right has grown and intensified. The news steadily reports racist and bigoted attacks, the harassment of journalists, the increasing presence and violence of organized fascist and far-right groups, and the demonization of those who most militantly oppose them. Unidentified federal agents roam U.S. cities in response to uprisings against cops killing Black folks (and policing in general). While the bigoted, nationalist imagination reproduces itself on a global scale, it also attempts to turn us all into prisoners of the border. Meanwhile, there are still many prisoners around the world, held for their explicit rejection of fascist ideology and organizing. Therefore, NYC ABC, in collaboration with Page One Collective, is answering the call and encouraging folks to support those in prison through the simple act of writing a letter as we continue our every-other-week letter-writing events while maintaining social distance by writing from home.
Please take the time to write a letter to one or more of these anti-fascist prisoners (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online): supportantifaprisoners.wordpress.com/antifascist-prisoners
Tuesday, July 14th – Letter-writing to Xinachtli
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, July 14th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
As efforts build to coordinate support for those arrested and facing repression as a result of the uprising against cops killing Black folks (and policing in general), the state is using federal grand juries and sending agents to knock on doors in hopes of gathering evidence. Locals cops and overzealous bootlicking reactionaries have murdered protestors in an attempt to directly stop them and intimidate others. And of course the state is using this moment in history to further punish those already imprisoned—with lockdowns, transfers, neglect, and outright brutality. One way to support those in prison is through the simple act of writing a letter. This week NYC ABC, in collaboration with Page One Collective, are encouraging you to write to Chicano political prisoner Xinachtli.
Xinachtli, fka Alvaro Luna Hernández, is a Chicano-Mexicano political prisoner sentenced to 50 years in prison for aggravated assault on a cop when he disarmed a sheriff attempting to shoot him.
Deeply effected by witnessing the murder of one of his friends by a known racist cop (yes, it’s redundant), Xinachtli dedicated his life to fighting police brutality, especially as it was manifest against the Chicano community. From 1976 through 1990, Xinachtli was falsely accused of murder (and after public outcry eventually released) and severely beaten by police, all the result of his work to end police brutality in Houston, Texas.
In 1996, some corny county sheriff came to Xinachtli’s house, allegedly to arrest him for robbery (side note: the robbery charge was summarily dismissed). The cop didn’t have an arrest warrant and when Xinachtli, unarmed, questioned the cop’s abuse of power, the cop pulled his gun. Before he could shoot, Xinachtli disarmed the cop without injuring him, and fled.
Upon his capture, Xinachtli was found guilty and sentenced to an unbelievable 50 years in prison. Since his imprisonment, he has been denied access to library materials, faced increasing censorship of his mail, and had to deal with retaliation from prison staff over his filing of grievances.
Most recently, the state is subjecting Xinachtli to a campaign of harassment and repeated discriminatory cellblock assignments, although he has violated no prison rule.
Please take the time to write a letter to Xinachtli (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Xinachtli* #255735
James V Allred Unit
2101 FM 369 North
Iowa Park, Texas 76367
*Address envelopes to Alvaro Luna Hernández, cards/letters to Xinachtli.
BK/NY – Friday, July 3rd – Memorial Action for the Martyrs of the George Floyd Rebellion
WHAT: Public Memorial
WHEN: 7:00 PM, Friday, July 3rd
WHERE: Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York
COST: Free
More than 20 people have died at the hands of fascists/white supremacists, in or out of uniform, in the uprising since the murder of George Floyd, and this would be our first opportunity to memorialize them together.
This is a call to all backgrounds who seek radical change, not liberal reform, to come together to mourn those murdered by fascists/white supremacists, in or out of uniform, during the uprising following the murder of George Floyd.
A call for the abolition of police and prisons and nothing less, and reallocation of those funds to resources for Black and brown communities.
A call to free all those who have been arrested, arraigned, detained, or incarcerated by the city of New York.
A call to turn up at a time when we are told to turn down by collaborators, careerists, respectability politicians, and peace police.
Mask up, bring your crew, spread the word!
Tuesday, June 30th – Letter-writing to Russell Maroon Shoatz
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, June 30th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
Typical of the state broadly, and this city specifically, the response to an uprising against the cumulative white supremacist history of policing has been harsh repression. Folks are being held at MDC Brooklyn and are facing LIFE IN PRISON for allegedly destroying property. If we have to repeat it, we will: NO PIECE OF PROPERTY IS EQUIVALENT TO THE ONGOING RACIST MURDER OF BLACK FOLKS BY COPS! NYC ABC will provide support as needed and appropriate. If you decide to write to someone recently arrested, please remember they are pre-trial and everything you write to them will be scrutinized and could wind up in a courtroom, so take extra care.
The most consistent way we collectively support comrades held captive by the state is via letter-writing. We didn’t stop for the novel coronavirus and we won’t stop as folks continue to take to the streets to voice their rage over indiscriminate cop killings. Though we remain quarantined from our in-person communities, the work continues, again in collaboration with our comrades in Page One Collective. Therefore, we ask that folks participate in keeping prisoners from being more alienated than they already are, by writing from home. Please post a photo of your addressed envelope on social media and tag us (with your return address blurred out) and we will share it, building digital community as best as possible. This week, our every-other-week letter-writing is focused on Black liberation political prisoner, the truly implacable Russell Maroon Shoatz, himself accused of taking action against the brutality meted out by cops on Black communities.
Russell Maroon Shoatz is a dedicated community activist, founding member of the Black Unity Council, former member of the Black Panther Party and soldier in the Black Liberation Army.
In 1970, along with 5 others, Maroon was accused of attacking a police station, which resulted in a cop being killed. This attack was said to have been carried out in response to the rampant police brutality in the Black community. For 18 months Maroon functioned underground as a soldier in the Black Liberation Army. In 1972 he was captured. Twice he escaped—once in 1977 and again in 1980, but both times he was recaptured and today he is held in Pennsylvania where he is serving multiple life sentences. As with many of our imprisoned elders, Maroon faces health concerns and should immediately released.
Please take the time to write a letter to Maroon (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Russell Maroon Shoatz #AF3855
SCI Fayette
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733
