BOYCOTT THE ELECTION & START THE REVOLUTION! By Kiilu Nyasha

October 27,2016

The vast majority of Americans regardless of background or ethnicity agree that this electoral campaign gives us no choice but to vote for someone we don’t like or want to govern us. The perennial “lesser evil” has become more malevolent, even ridiculous in the current presidential election.

Some folks want to “hold their noses” and vote for the “lesser” evil on the belief that one will be worse than the other. However, we’ve been doing just that for at least 50 years; that’s why we’ve come to this level of corrupt silliness with candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump dodging the issues and reducing the process to trivialities, backbiting, and nonsense.

The reality is that these races have become selections not elections.  No one who is not obscenely rich or has the backing of such can run for president, let alone win office.

Let’s boycott the election and take to the streets en masse in protest!  Those who want to do civil disobedience can picket the polls (It’s illegal less than 3 blocks away).

Haiti’s Fanmi Lavalas and the Black Panther Party­

By Kiilu Nyasha (a.k.a. Pat Gallyot)

This year of 2016 marks the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, October 1966, in Oakland, California.

In 1968, prior to joining the Party, I was employed by Community Progress, Inc. (CPI), the nation’s pilot program of President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” also euphemistically called “The Great Society.”

Freedom is a Constant Struggle - Pierre Labossiere and Cephus Johnson

September 15, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle with guests Pierre Labossiere on Haiti and Cephus Johnson, uncle of the late Oscar Grant and on the Love Not Blood Campaign.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ida McCray of Families with a Future

September 1, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle, with guest Ida McCray of Families with a Future.

Black August 21, 2016: Ruchell Cinque Magee and the August 7th Courthouse Slave Rebellion

Black August 21, 2016

I can hardly believe that 46 years have gone by since the August 7,1970, Marin Courthouse Slave Rebellion.  Ruchell is now 77 years old, same as myself.  It's a sin and a shame the fascist state has taken this brother's whole life, damn near.  And he has never seriously injured anyone.  Quite the opposite, Ruchell has been responsible (through his jailhouse lawyering) for the release of countless prisoners over the decades he's been incarcerated.  Here’s his story, written years ago, and updated to accommodate the 8-year difference:

Ruchell Cinque Magee and the August 7th Courthouse Slave Rebellion

By Kiilu Nyasha, 2008

“Slavery 400 years ago, slavery today, it’s the same but with a new name”.-- Ruchell Cinque Magee

I first met Ruchell Cinque Magee in the holding cell of the Marin County courthouse in the summer of 1971. I found him to be soft-spoken, warm and a gentleman in typically Southern tradition. We’ve been in correspondence pretty much ever since.  [I must say, regrettably, Ruchell is no longer writing me at this point, 2016.]

Black August: A Story of African Freedom Fighters by Kiilu Nyasha (August 17, 2016)

August 17, 2016

Greetings All:

This is the 37th anniversary of the origin of Black August, the 45^th commemoration of the assassination of Soledad Brother George L. Jackson on August 21, 1971, and the first anniversary of our Yogi Bear, Hugo Pinell’s assassination on August 12, 2015. 

This article was first written in 2000 and published in the S.F. Bay View newspaper. The main changes herein are updates and the transition of our comrade brother, Yogi, after 51 years in California gulags including 45+ in solitary confinement.  You can find more info at www.hugopinell.com.

Black August: A Story of African Freedom Fighters by Kiilu Nyasha (August 17, 2016)

Black August is a month of great significance for Africans throughout the diaspora, but particularly here in the U.S. where it originated. “August,” as Mumia Abu-Jamal noted, “is a month of meaning,,, of repression and radical resistance, of injustice and divine justice; of repression and righteous rebellion; of individual and collective efforts to free the slaves and break the chains that bind us.” 

On this 37th anniversary of Black August, first organized to honor our fallen freedom fighters, George and Jonathan Jackson, Khatari Gaulden, James McClain, William Christmas, and the sole survivor of the August 7, 1970 Courthouse Slave Rebellion, Ruchell Cinque Magee, it is still a time to embrace the principles of unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical fitness and/or training in martial arts, resistance, and spiritual renewal.

The concept, Black August, grew out of the need to expose to the light of day the glorious and heroic deeds of those African women and men who recognized and struggled against the injustices heaped upon people of color on a daily basis in America. 

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Jeffrey Blankfort on Black August 2016

August 4, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle with guest Jeffrey Blankfort, discussing Black August 2016.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Phavia Kujichagulia

July 21, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle with guest Phavia Kujichagulia.

Black Lives Matter Under Attack!

For former Panthers like myself, this is deja vu.  After vicious attacks and murders against Black people (Remember Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in Chicago 1969?) and standing up to defend our lives, Black Panthers became public enemy number one.  We were demonized and vilified no end.  It took decades (and the raid of FBI files) to learn all about the FBI’s COINTELPRO (counterintelligence program) that infiltrated our ranks with agent provocateurs for purposes of entrapment, division, and neutralization (imprisonment/assassination), pulling every “dirty trick” in the book to wipe us out.  Panthers who were accused and convicted of killing police offers in self defense remain in jail after an extremely punishing 40 - 50+ years.  Yet there are myriad police officers who have murdered Black folks without spending a day in jail or even losing their jobs.  Should not police officers be held to a higher standard of behavior than civilians since they’re paid to serve and protect us, not kill us in cold blood?

Ironically, the recent murders in Louisiana, Minnesota and Dallas illustrate the point Black Lives Matter is making:  How the nation has responded to the lives of the innocent Black men killed by police vs. the lives of the White police officers killed by a lone civilian (although I can’t help wondering if this “sniper” is another one of their “dirty tricks” to deliberately destroy BLM and institute new weapons of war into our communities, like bomb robots and more police.).  A luta continua.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Tim Huey and Tina Bartolome on Resisting Police Violence

July 7, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle with guests Tim Huey and Tina Bartolome discussing resistance to police violence and murder.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Jean Yvon Kernizan on Haiti

June 16, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle with Jean Yvon Kernizan discussing Haiti.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Christina Gutierrez and Sellassie Blackwell

June 2, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle with guests Christina Gutierrez and Sellassie Blackwell.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Robin Roth on Hepatitis C

May 19, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle with guest Robin Roth discussing Hepatitis C.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Hank Jones and Nathaniel Moore

May 5, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle, with guests Henry "Hank" Jones and Nathaniel Moore.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle w/ Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report

April 21, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle with guest Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report.

[this bio is from 2014] Glen Ford, a veteran of more than 40 years in broadcast, print and Internet journalism, is a former Washington Bureau Chief and White House, Capitol Hill, and State Department correspondent.  He co-founded and hosted “America’s Black Forum,” the first nationally syndicated Black news interview program on commercial television; launched and owned the radio syndications “Black World Report,” “Black Agenda Reports,” and “Rap It Up,” the first national hip hop music show. He has worked as a radio newsman in Washington, Baltimore, and Georgia, and produced over 1,000 radio and TV commercials.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Pierre Labossiere and Robert Roth on Haiti and a Month of Martyrs

April 7, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle with guests Pierre Labossiere and Robert Roth, who are the co-founders of Haiti Action Committee, HaitiSolidarity.net

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report

This is a 2014 episode with Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report, uploaded for the first time, that was rebroadcast for the March 17, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle.

[this bio is from 2014] Glen Ford, a veteran of more than 40 years in broadcast, print and Internet journalism, is a former Washington Bureau Chief and White House, Capitol Hill, and State Department correspondent.  He co-founded and hosted “America’s Black Forum,” the first nationally syndicated Black news interview program on commercial television; launched and owned the radio syndications “Black World Report,” “Black Agenda Reports,” and “Rap It Up,” the first national hip hop music show. He has worked as a radio newsman in Washington, Baltimore, and Georgia, and produced over 1,000 radio and TV commercials.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ida McCray, Keith Wattley and Terry Collins talk about Hugo Pinell

March 3, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle, with guests, Ida McCray, Keith Wattley and Terry Collins discussing the life of Hugo "Yogi Bear" Pinell.

Locked Far Too Long Behind the Walls (reprinted from 2010)

RELATED:  Kiilu Nyasha and Terry Collins remember Hugo ‘Yogi’ Pinell (August 2015)

(Artwork by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, 1859887, Clements Unit, 9601 Spur 591, Amarillo TX 79107; Featured at HugoPinell.com)



Locked Far Too Long Behind the Walls


by Kiilu Nyasha

(First published on September 26, 2010)

Trust no one in whom the desire to punish is strong. (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

I’ve been corresponding with prisoners since 1970, shortly after joining the Black Panther Party in 1969.  At that stage of the struggle, the Seventies, I was writing so many prisoners I had to keep files and carbon copies so as not to get mixed up with who said what.  There were fierce arguments being waged re individual leaders, strategies and tactics, and ideology.  I was also able to keep various political prisoners in touch with one another when they were transferred to different t gulags in separation. 

Recently, after a picture of “Pat” with Huey Newton and Charles Garry surfaced, one of the brothers I wrote and visited during the 70s saw it in another prisoner’s Bay View newspaper and sent me a kite via the SFBV.  His name is Arthur Anderson, aka, Andy or Frelimo. He was in the San Quentin AC on August 21, 1971 when George Jackson was killed.  It grieved me to learn he’s been down 47 years, and was just denied 3 more.  Here’s some of what he said:

And well for the last (30) some years I have been in war zones and I had to keep the oppressors knives out my back and to help protect some of these ndugos up in there who didn’t have the heart to protect themselves.  And so I got caught up…and when I was at Folsom and the Mex M. came to serve me… his ass got served. And that’s what I got the other 9 years to life for, they stretched me out on that one….To defend ones self when you’re being attacked and you’re given 9 years to life for assault… How do you justify keeping a human being locked up and away from society for 47 years?...And now for the past 17 years I have been involved with a program here and in another prison called convicts reaching out to people, CROP. (a mentoring program for youth)

When I told Yogi, (Hugo Pinell) that I heard from Frelimo, he said, “Of course I remember him and love him a lot…I’m so glad you’re in touch….I hope he is in good health and holding on strongly.  My best to him and his family and all other true loved ones.”

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Charlie Hinton & Freddie Johnson discuss and perform SOLITARY MAN

February 18, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle, featuring Charlie Hinton & Freddie Johnson who both discuss and perform SOLITARY MAN.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Archival Footage of Phavia Kujichagulia, Yuri Kochiyama and Hugo 'Yogi Bear' Pinell

February 4, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle, honoring Black History Month by featuring archival footage of African Griot Phavia Kujichagulia, the late great Yuri Kochiyama and our beloved martyr Hugo Pinell, also known as 'Yogi Bear.'

KPOO interview: Kiilu Nyasha and Terry Collins remember Hugo ‘Yogi’ Pinell

(Hugo 'Yogi' Pinell, artwork by Kiilu Nyasha, 2015)

(Transcription of KPOO interview from SF Bay View Newspaper)

This interview was broadcast live on Aug. 18, 2015, on Terry Collins’ show, The Spirit of Joe Rudolph. Listen to it in full here; these are highlights. Read more about Hugo Pinell here.

Terry Collins:  A lot of people around here are definitely in deep mourning for the murder of Hugo Pinell on the 12th of August, this month. From my correspondence with him over the past three or four years, I know he was a person full of love.

I loved Hugo or Yogi Bear, as he was called, and he really helped me sustain myself through some of the problems I thought I had with growing old and still trying to keep the struggle going on. I know you love Hugo also, so tell me some of the things you want to talk about.

Kiilu Nyasha:  If there was one word that could describe Yogi Bear, it would be love. His love energies are what sustained him for 45 years in solitary confinement beginning December 1970.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Pierre Labossiere from the Haiti Action Committee

January 21, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle, featuring Pierre Labossiere from the Haiti Action Committee, HaitiSolidarity.net

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Dr. James G. Kahn, UCSF Global Health Economics Consortium

January 7, 2016 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle: James G. Kahn, MD MPH, who is the Founder and Director of the UCSF Global Health Economics Consortium.