A Political Prisoner’s Journey in the U.S. Prison System By A. Jalil Bottom, (2005) After the illegal NYC Newkill conviction of killing two police officers in 1975, I was transferred back to San Quentin prison in California to complete the sentence for which I was originally captured on August 28, …
What follows is a sample letter that you can use as a model when writing to New York Governor David Patterson in support of Jalil’s application for clemency/commutation of sentence to time served.The letter can also be opened as a Word document here. _______, 2009 Â Honorable David Paterson The …
Exiled in Havana Brett Sokol Miami New Times September 7, 2000 With the FBI in pursuit, black activist Nehanda Abiodun a decade ago fled to Cuba, where she still dreams of fomenting a socialist revolution in the United States Even a casual observer in Havana would notice the striking disconnect …
“The Prison Industrial Complex” September 25th 1998 Greetings Sisters, Brothers, Comrades,  Never in our history has critical resistance to the status quo been more important. The growth of the Prison Industrial complex has been appallingly rapid and the escalating repression that has accompanied it is totally alarming. What of …
Kuwasi. Now he’s gone. And its like his last loving joke on me, his last gentle bursting of my egotistic bubble. Because i was all ready for a long, lingering heroic battle against disease and death. Ultimately lost, but great tragic courage and sharing. And he did it his way. …
THERE ARE CATS, AND THERE ARE CATS… THERE IS KUWASI BALAGOON In the name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful… Kuwasi Balagoon is dead. “Surely we are Allah’ and to Him we surely return.” The Quran tells us each soul shall have a taste of death and all too often …
Abu Ghraib and the Logic of Conquest by David Gilbert, 16-7-04 The lies to justify the war on Iraq couldn’t be more threadbare:Â there are no weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein did not collaborate with al-Quaeda on the 9/11 attacks (in fact, there was considerable hostility because of Osama …
In Memory of Kuwasi Balagoon David Gilbert, December 15th 1986 available from leftwingbooks.net When i think of Kuwasi i think of the word “heart”. No, i got that backwards. When the term “heart” comes up i think of Kuwasi because he epitomized it so beautifully – but of course he …
(a letter published in ONWARD vol. 3 #1) Dear Dan, Well, you did it once again: another lovely ONWARD. I can’t even keep my superlatives flowing at the pace you do issue after issue. Can’t give you the detailed response the issue merits, but here are some off-the-cuff thoughts. Great …
DEMAND NO MORE DEATH PENALTY TRIALS FOR ZOLO AGONA AZANIA The death penalty is arbitrary, racist and political. A prime example of this is the case of ZOLO AGONA AZANIA. Over 22 years after Zolo and two other men were convicted of killing a Gary Police Officer, while fleeing from …