jericho movement - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-29T08:11:53Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/jericho+movementNew photo of Mumia Abu Jamal and report on visit from Johanna Fernandezhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/new-photo-of-mumia-abu-jamal-and-report-on-visit-from-johanna2012-02-05T22:27:25.000Z2012-02-05T22:27:25.000ZTheBlackListhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackList<div><div class="ecxgmail_quote">Check this out! From Mumia's second day of contact visits (the first day he visited his wife), and is the first photo of Mumia since the mid-1990s when PA prisons made it illegal any visitors, including journalists, to bring cameras into visits. Below the photo is a writeup about the visit, by Johanna Fernandez (on the left in the photo).<br /><br />The FOP, Philly DA, and the rest of the FRY MUMIA lynch mob did everything they could to prevent this from happening, and they FAILED because of the endurance and strength of Mumia and his supporters around the world. <br /><br />Wow! Very inspiring! <br />Next step, Mumia's release!<br /><br /><a href="http://prisonradio.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/muster.jpg" target="_blank">http://prisonradio.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/muster.jpg</a><br /><br /><br /><img alt="http://prisonradio.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/muster.jpg" src="http://prisonradio.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/muster.jpg" width="876" height="582" /><br /><br /><br /><div>Comrades, Brothers and Sisters:</div>
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<div>Heidi Boghosian and I just returned from a very moving visit with Mumia. We visited yesterday, Thursday, February 2. This was Mumia's second contact visit in over 30 years, since his transfer to General Population last Friday, Jan 27. His first contact visit was with his wife, Wadiya, on Monday, January 30.</div>
<div>Unlike our previous visits to Death Row at SCI Greene and to solitary confinement at SCI Mahanoy, our visit yesterday took place in a large visitor's area, amidst numerous circles of families and spouses who were visiting other inmates. Compared to the intense and focused conversations we had had with Mumia in a small, isolated visiting cell on Death Row, behind sterile plexiglass, this exchange was more relaxed and informal and more unpredictably interactive with the people around us...it was more human. There were so many scenes of affection around us, of children jumping on top of and pulling at their fathers, of entire families talking intimately around small tables, of couples sitting and quietly holding each other, and of girlfriends and wives stealing a forbidden kiss from the men they were there to visit (kisses are only allowed at the start and at the end of visits). These scenes were touching and beautiful, and markedly different from the images of prisoners presented to us by those in power. Our collective work could benefit greatly from these humane, intimate images.</div>
<div>When we entered, we immediately saw Mumia standing across the room. We walked toward each other and he hugged both of us simultaneously. We were both stunned that he would embrace us so warmly and share his personal space so generously after so many years in isolation. </div>
<div>He looked young, and we told him as much. He responded, "Black don't crack!" We laughed.</div>
<div>He talked to us about the newness of every step he has taken since his release to general population a week ago. So much of what we take for granted daily is new to him, from the microwave in the visiting room to the tremor he felt when, for the first time in 30 years, he kissed his wife. As he said in his own words, "the only thing more drastically different than what I'm experiencing now would be freedom." He also noted that everyone in the room was watching him.</div>
<div>The experience of breaking bread with our friend and comrade was emotional. It was wonderful to be able to talk and share grilled cheese sandwiches, apple danishes, cookies and hot chocolate from the visiting room vending machines.</div>
<div>One of the highlights of the visit came with the opportunity to take a photo. This was one of the first such opportunities for Mumia in decades, and we had a ball! Primping the hair, making sure that we didn't have food in our teeth, and nervously getting ready for the big photo moment was such a laugh! And Mumia was openly tickled by every second of it. </div>
<div>When the time came to leave, we all hugged and were promptly instructed to line up against the wall and walk out with the other visitors. As we were exiting the prison, one sister pulled us aside and told us that she couldn't stop singing Kelly Clarkson's line "some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this." She shared that she and her parents had followed Mumia's case since 1981 and that she was overjoyed that Mumia was alive and in general population despite Pennsylvania's bloodthirsty pursuit of his execution. We told her that on April 24 we were going to launch the fight that would win Mumia's release: that on that day we were going to Occupy the Justice Department in Washington DC. She told us that because she recently survived cancer she now believed in possibility, and that since Mumia was now in general population she could see how we could win. She sent us off with the line from Laverne and Shirley's theme song - "never heard the word impossible!"- gave us her number, and asked us to sign her up for the fight. </div>
<div>We're still taking it all in. The journey has been humbling and humanizing, and we are re-energized and re-inspired!!</div>
<div>In the words of City Lights editor, Greg Ruggiero:"</div>
<div><font size="3" face="Helvetica">"Long Term Goal: End Mass Incarceration. </font></div>
<div><span>Short Term Goal: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!"</span></div>
<div>--Johanna Fernandez</div>
<div>Facebook Link to Photo</div>
<div><a title="http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Lawyers-Guild/338038119888" href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Lawyers-Guild/338038119888" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Lawyers-Guild/338038119888</a></div>
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<p><br /><br clear="all" /><br />-- <br /><font size="4"><a href="http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/jerichocointelpro" target="_blank"><span>SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!</span></a><br /><br /><span>Free All Political Prisoners!</span><br /><a href="mailto:nycjericho@gmail.com">nycjericho@gmail.com</a> <span>•</span> <a href="http://www.jerichony.org/" target="_blank">www.jerichony.org</a><br /></font></p></div>Sundiata Acoli: Why You Should Support Black Political Prisoners/POWs and Howhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/sundiata-acoli-why-you-should2011-04-17T16:40:31.000Z2011-04-17T16:40:31.000ZTheBlackListhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackList<div><p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;"><font size="4">My name is Sundiata Acoli (Soon-dee-AH’-tah Ah-COH’-lee). I’m a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army (BPP/BLA) who was captured on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973 and am now a Black Political Prisoner and Prisoner of War (PP/POW) who’s been held by the government for the last 37 years.</font></p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;"><font size="4"> So why should you care about any of this or particularly, why should you support Black PP/POWs? Well, maybe you shouldn’t. If you’re happy with the way the US, and the world is going ~ and if you want to see the US, and the West continue to dominate and oppress the rest of the world ~ then you shouldn’t support Black PP/POWs. If you want to see one country, or one race or the capitalist system continue to dominate other countries, other races and the world, then you shouldn’t support Black PP/POWs. And if you, yourself, are about trying to dominate, manipulate or exploit other peoples, and organizations for personal benefit then you definitely shouldn’t support black PP/POWs, or any other revolutionary PP/POWs, because we’re about ending racism in all its forms and wherever it exists, plus we’re about ending capitalism, sexism and all unjust oppressions of people and life in general on earth and throughout the universe.</font></p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;"><font size="4"> Now if you can relate to that ~ and are about freedom, equality, human rights and self-determination for all people; creating a non-exploitative, non-oppressive society and economic system; making the world a better place and living in harmony with other people, the environment and the universe ~ then you should support Black PP/POWs cause that’s what we're about and have been about for generations, centuries and millenniums. But mostly you should support Black PP/POWs, and all revolutionary PP/POWs, because it’s the right thing to do.</font></p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;"><font size="4"> And last, how should you support them? Well, you should support Black and all PP/POWs by supporting organizations that support them and by contacting PP/POWs individually to ask how you can best support them.</font></p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;"><br />~End~</p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">How you can support Sundiata Acoli</p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">Contact the Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:TheSAFC@gmail.com" target="_blank">TheSAFC@gmail.com</a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.sundiataacoli.org/" target="_blank">http://www.sundiataacoli.org/</a></p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">Contact Sundiata:<br />Acoli, Sundiata #39794-066<br />FCI Otisville, P.O. Box 1000, Otisville, NY 10963<br />Birthday: January 14, 1937</p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">Sundiata is also receiving support from the Jericho Amnesty Movement <<a href="http://thejerichomovement.com/" target="_blank">thejerichomovement.com</a>> <<a href="http://prisonactivist.org/jericho_sfbay" target="_blank">prisonactivist.org/jericho_sfbay</a>> and from the Anarchist Black Cross Federation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.abcf.net/" target="_blank">www.abcf.net</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and Malcolm X Commemoration Committee -<a href="http://malcolmxcommemorationcommittee.com/" target="_blank">http://malcolmxcommemorationcommittee.com/</a> also the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://mxgm.org/" target="_blank">http://mxgm.org/</a></p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;"> </p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">source:<br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>nycjericho@gmail.com</p>
<p style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;"> </p></div>