BK/NY – Tuesday, February 23rd – Letter Writing To Chip Fitzgerald
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
Humans are such an amazingly adaptable species. We can collectively adjust and even grow accustomed to almost unimaginably challenging and calamitous circumstances, even as our comrades, friends, families and ourselves are adversely affected. As the pandemic rages throughout overfull prisons, jails and detention centers nationwide, and the increasing disasters of climate change disproportionately affect communities intentionally ‘disadvantaged’ by state capitalism, perhaps it’s time to adapt less and resist more. Resistance can come in many forms, including mutual aid and tangible acts of solidarity. One simple such act is to write a letter to a political prisoner.
So please join us and Page One Collective this week in writing to Black liberation political prisoner Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, the longest confined former member of the Black Panther Party, who has spent 51 years behind bars. Though Chip has been eligible for parole for decades, and was declared “a low risk of committing offenses” by the BOP’s own psychologists, he remains locked up in a California prison. There is a petition campaign for his release, and more information available at:
https://www.freedom4chip.org/
Please take the time to write a letter to Chip (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Chip can be written to at this address:
Chip Fitzgerald* #B-27527
California State Prison – LAC
Post Office Box 4490B-4-150
Lancaster, California 93539
*Address envelope to Romaine Fitzgerald.
BK/NY – Tuesday, February 9th – Letter Writing To Kings Bay Plowshares 7
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, February 9th, 2021
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
It’s winter here on the stolen land we call New York City. Winter is billed as a time to slow down and recharge, but for most of us under capitalism that is a fallacy. And while the work of the state doesn’t slow down for a snowstorm, neither does our obligation to fight against it. For NYC ABC and Page One Collective, that means continuing to support political prisoners. Please join us this week in writing the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 (KBP7), many of whom have started their sentences in the last couple of months.
The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 are seven Catholic plowshares activists who entered Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia on April 4th, 2018. They went to make real the prophet Isaiah’s command to “beat swords into plowshares.”
The seven chose to act on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who devoted his life to addressing what he called the “triple evils of militarism, racism, and materialism.” Carrying hammers and baby bottles of their own blood, the seven attempted to convert weapons of mass destruction. In October 2019, the seven were convicted of all four charges. More information at kingsbayplowshares7.org.
Below are the addresses that we currently have for the folx who have started their sentences and have confirmed that they want correspondence. Father Stephen Kelly is currently in transit and Clare Grady will start on February 10, shortly after this post is published. Be sure to check back next month for the updated issue of the Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War, which will have updated addresses.
Please take the time to write a letter to KBP7 (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Clare Grady #01264-052
FPC Alderson
Glen Ray Road, Box A
Alderson, West Virginia 24910
Martha Hennessy #22560-021
FCI Danbury
Route 37
Danbury, Connecticut 06811
Patrick O’Neill #14924-018
FCI Elkton
Post Office Box 10
Lisbon, Ohio 44432
Carmen Trotta #22561-021
FCI Otisville
Satellite Camp
Post Office Box 1000
Otisville, New York 10963
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. Unfortunately, we are adding prisoners to the guide this month–Plowshares activists Patrick O’Neill and Carmen Trotta. We are thankful to remove Rattler (halfway house!) and Joseph Dibee (pre-trial house arrest).
BK/NY – Tuesday, January 26th – Letter Writing To Muhammad Burton
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, January 26th, 2021
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
…And the work continues. We have no illusions that regardless of who is sitting atop the pyramid, those seeking to meaningfully confront the white supremacist power structures that the “usa” is predicated on will continue to be in the cross hairs of the police state and its carceral corollary. The fact that movement elders who did so in previous generations are still being held decades later, many in old age and deteriorating health, shows the spite the system harbors against them.
There are still over a dozen political prisoners held in the United States for their associations with Black Liberation movements. Muhammad Burton is one of them.
Muhammad Burton was accused in 1970 and convicted in 1972 on highly dubious charges, one of the “Philadelphia 5” accused of plotting to kill Philadelphia police officers. Muhammad has been behind bars for 50 years, including 11 years in solitary confinement. He has continued to maintain his innocence throughout the decades.
Please join NYC ABC and Page One Collective in writing to him. Pennsylvania prisons outsource their mail system through a Florida based corporation, Smart Communications. Letters should be addressed to Fred Burton.
Please take the time to write a letter to Muhammad Burton (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Muhammad Burton AF 3896*
SCI Somerset
Post Office Box 33028
St. Petersburg, Florida 33733
United States
*Address envelope to Fred Burton
BK/NY – Tuesday, January 12th – Letter Writing To David Gilbert
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, January 12th, 2021
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
It’s our first every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing event of 2021 and we are starting off by writing to David Gilbert–someone close to us, both physically and in spirit. For this first event of the year, NYC ABC and Page One Collective are asking you to continue to write to from home, staying safe, while also keeping our imprisoned comrades front and center.
David Gilbert, a longtime anti-racist and anti-imperialist, first became active in the Civil Rights movement in 1961. In 1965, he started the Vietnam Committee at Columbia University; in 1967 he co-authored the first Students for a Democratic Society pamphlet naming the system “imperialism;” and he was active in the Columbia strike of 1968. He went on to spend a total of 10 years underground, building a clandestine resistance.
David has been imprisoned in New York State since late 1981, when a unit of the Black Liberation Army along with allied white revolutionaries tried to get funds for the struggle by robbing a Brinks truck. This resulted in a shoot-out in which a Brinks guard and two cops were killed. David is serving a sentence of 75 years to life under New York State’s “felony murder” law, whereby all participants in a robbery, even if they are unarmed and non-shooters, are equally responsible for all deaths that occur. While in prison, David has been a pioneer for peer education on AIDS and has continued to write and advocate against oppression. He’s been involved with the annual Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar since 2001 and has written two books– No Surrender and Love and Struggle. More information: bit.do/DavidGilbert
Please take the time to write a letter to David Gilbert (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
David Gilbert #83-A-6158
Shawangunk Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 700
Wallkill, New York 12589
BK/NY – Tuesday, December 29th – Letter Writing To Mumia Abu-Jamal
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, December 29th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
It’s our final every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing event of 2020 and we can’t believe it. Our last public event was on March 10th and when we decided to temporarily suspend in-person events we couldn’t envision it lasting the entire calendar year let alone the foreseeable future. Yet, here we are continuing to raise awareness and asking folx to write letters in the comfort and safety of their own homes so that we can keep the tradition alive as we collectively move through this dystopian reality. For this final event of the year, NYC ABC and Page One Collective are asking folx to write to one of the most well-known u.s.-held political prisoners–Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an African-American writer and journalist, author of six books and hundreds of columns and articles, who has spent the last 30 years on Pennsylvania’s death row and now general population. Mumia was wrongfully convicted and sentenced for the murder of a Philadelphia cop. The demand for a new trial and freedom is supported by heads of state, Nobel laureates, distinguished human rights organizations, scholars, religious leaders, artists, scientists and, as important, millions of folks like you and us. For more information, be sure to visit bringmumiahome.com.
Please take the time to write a letter to Mumia Abu-Jamal (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM8335
SCI Mahanoy
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733
NYC/NYE – Noise Demo Against the Prison Industrial Complex, In Solidarity with PPs and POWs
WHAT: Noise Demo Against the PIC, for the Liberation of PPs + POWs
WHEN: 9:00pm, Thursday, December 31st
WHERE: Metropolitan Correction Center (MCC, the federal prison in downtown Manhattan); Pearl Street, between Cardinal Hayes Place and Park Row (J to Chambers Street or 4/5/6/ to City Hall; NOTE: we are not encouraging folks to take public transit or other risks. Please recognize your comfort level with attending this event)
BRING: Noisemakers, air horns, drums, anything that is loud, but does not require mask removal!
On the noisiest night of the year in New York City, come help us remind folks locked up that they are not alone. NYC Anarchist Black Cross, in response to an international call for noise demonstrations outside of prisons, is asking folks to join us outside of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan. Come, not to appeal to authority, speak truth to power, or any other contrivance, but rather to stand with comrades, at a safe distance, and show direct solidarity to those on the other side of the wall.
The state, writ large, is targeting anarchists all across the United States and abroad. This will be both protest and celebration.
BK/NY – Tuesday, December 15th – Letter Writing To Eric King
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, December 15th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
It is the last month of what some may say has been the longest year of their life. COVID 19 continues to rage on both sides of the walls, partially due to the ever insidious ‘individual american exceptionalism.’ All we can do is continue to support folx who are forced to weather the pandemic under the rule of the carceral state while we try to stay healthy and safe out here.
Dedicated followers of our bi-weekly letter writing night may remember that we encouraged folx to write to Eric King in May of this year. Shortly after that week, Eric was placed on a mail restriction and could only correspond with his wife and mother. As of the end of November it was lifted, although it is unclear for how long. Not only that, but Eric tested positive for COVID 19 on November 27th. Because of that we are encouraging people to flood the prison with mail for Eric! Do not talk about his case or the mail ban in your letter.
Eric King was indicted in May 2019 by a grand jury in the District Court of Colorado for a new federal felony charge of Assaulting a Federal Official. This charge is based on what the government says happened during the interview in the Florence storage room with a Lieutenant. Eric now faces up to 20 additional years in federal prison and is fighting this charge while still in the custody of his accusers. Eric is pre-trial, do not mention his current charges.
Please take the time to write a letter to Eric King (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Eric King #27090-045
FCI Englewood
9595 West Quincy Avenue
Littleton, Colorado 80123
International Call For New Year’s Eve Noise Demonstrations
This is a call for a night of strong solidarity with those imprisoned by the state. Historically, New Year’s Eve is one of the noisiest nights of the year. This year, most of which has been consumed by a global pandemic, we encourage folks to take whatever measures are necessary to insure individual and community well-being, in response to both the virus and the state, understanding the balance each of us must strike for ourselves. Given our current reality, on New Year’s Eve gather your crew, collective, community, organization, or just yourself to raise a racket and remind those on the inside that they are not alone.
Internationally, noise demonstrations outside of prisons are a way to remember those who are held captive by the state and a way to show solidarity with imprisoned comrades and loved ones. We come together to break the loneliness and isolation.
We know that prison is beyond reform and must be completely abolished. It is a mechanism of repression used by the state to maintain a social order rooted in white supremacy, patriarchy, and heteronormativity. To come together outside of the sites of repression is to also stand in defiance of what they represent.
The logic of the state and capital—of punishment and imprisonment, must be replaced by a rejection of oppression and exploitation. This call is one step in that direction.
Wherever you are, meet on New Year’s Eve at the prisons, jails, and detention centers, be loud in solidarity with those imprisoned and to push forward the idea of a world free from domination.
We send this call in solidarity with those defying state repression of large scale dissent: from the George Floyd uprisings to ongoing defiance in Greece by those facing repression as anarchists, and all of those in the spaces between.
We want a world without walls and borders.
We will fight together until everyone is free!
BK/NY – Tuesday, December 1st – Letter Writing To Kojo Sababu
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, December 1st, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
With rumors of war and populist coups in the air, ongoing organized state violence and femicide wreaking havoc in communities around the world, we’re gearing up for what we do best: political prisoner support. NYC ABC and Page One Collective are back for our every-other-week Political Prisoner Letter Writing night, this week featuring New Afrikan Prisoner of War Kojo Bomani Sababu. These days, we find it helpful to be able to call on our elders for their wisdom through practicing reciprocal solidarity. As Kojo himself said:
“…I have no solutions but I will say this: There are some great political minds contained in America’s prisons, which are growing old as their era of life departs, this resource needs to be tapped before it expires. Do not abandon the political prisoners and POWs, they are still insightful with their knowledge and experience.”
Kojo Bomani Sababu is currently serving a 55 year sentence for actions with the Black Liberation Army and attempted prison escape with Puerto Rican Independista Oscar López Rivera. Kojo was captured on December 19, 1975 along with anarchist Ojore Lutalo during a bank expropriation. He was also charged with the murder of a drug dealer in his neighborhood. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1981 and sentenced to 55 years in prison. In 1988, Kojo was convicted of conspiracy to escape along with Jaime Delgado (a veteran independence leader), Dora Garcia (a prominent community activist), and Oscar López Rivera (Puerto Rican Independista) from the federal prison at Leavenworth, where he was held.
Please take the time to write a letter to Kojo Sababu (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Kojo Sababu* #39384-066
USP Canaan
Smart Communications
Post Office Box 30
Pinellas Park, Florida 33781
*Address envelope to Grailing Brown
