This Black August, We Will Not Forget Our Freedom Fighters.
Join us in support of political prisoners this Black August. The reality of incarceration is horrific for our comrades, but you can help sustain them and support their fight for freedom.
Please support current and formerly incarcerated political prisoners below:
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an internationally celebrated Black writer and radio journalist, author of six books and hundreds of columns and articles, organizer and inspiration for the prison lawyers movement, former leader of the Black Panther Party, and supporter of Philadelphia’s radical MOVE organization who has spent the last 40 years in prison, the majority of it in solitary confinement on Pennsylvania’s Death Row. His case is widely regarded as an unfair trial, and his demand for a new trial and freedom is supported by leaders, activists, and public figures across the globe. Mumia is a human being, with a family and a network of friends and family who value his life. His case and struggle are important — first of all, because of the threat to the life and dignity he bears simply as a human being. He is a husband, father, and grandfather who, despite his isolation from his own family, has maintained an extraordinary sense of humane care and advocacy for them and many others. Donate here to support Mumia in his fight for freedom.
Kamau Sadiki is a father and a grandfather. As an original member of the Black Panther Party, he worked out of the Jamaica, Queens office. Kamau promoted the Ten-Point Program, worked in the Free Breakfast Program, sold the Black Panther newspaper, worked on community-education programs, organized tenants, and helped mothers in need. He was targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO efforts to stop these social programs and the popularity they earned the Black Panther Party. Kamau Sadiki is a loved and loving family man. Kamau’s two daughters and grandchildren are devastated by the absence of their loving, hard-working father, and are active in efforts to release him. Donate here to support their efforts to free him.
Imam Jamil Al Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, a Black revolutionary, civil-rights icon, and human-rights activist, has been wrongfully imprisoned for the past 22 years. Imam Jamil was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Minister of Justice for the Black Panther Party during the civil-rights movement. Imam Jamil was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for a crime he did not commit. Another man has since confessed to the crime, but this and other evidence have been left out of trials. Imam Jamil has been intentionally targeted for his powerful revolutionary work, deemed as a threat to the establishment. With a new district attorney, Imam Jamil has a new opportunity for justice and needs our urgent help for a new legal defense. Donate here to support his legal defense fund, then email key members of Congress with these easy templates to demand his transfer back to Atlanta.
Ed Poindexter is a civil-rights activist, writer, and leader within his community. In addition to working as a leader of the National Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF), Poindexter has been previously elected as a delegate to the Douglas County Democratic Party convention. He has remained in custody since his arrest in 1970 and is serving a lifetime sentence. Wrongfully charged with the death of an Omaha police officer, Poindexter had witnesses who testified that he was nowhere near the bombing where the officer died. The prosecution vilified him over conspiracy claims. Due to his political work and being in the midst of cultural wars over racism, the nearly all-white jury found him guilty. Fifty years later, Poindexter has earned several college degrees, wrote courses for and taught self-improvement and anti-violence classes to youth, and has served as a role model to his fellow prisoners. Sign this petition demanding that Ed Poindexter be released from prison immediately.
Veronza Bowers, Jr., is a former Black Panther Party member framed for the murder of a U.S. Park Ranger. He is being unjustly, and arguably, illegally held past his 30-year mandatory release date, making him one of the longest-held political prisoners in U.S. history. Despite letters of support from prominent attorneys, former high-ranking representatives of regional commissions, prison officials, and a member of the U.S. Congress, Veronza has continually been denied release due to intervention by the U.S. Parole Commission. A recent decision by the regional federal parole commission to grant his release was overturned by the National Commission. A group of family, friends, and supporters is trying to raise money to pay the legal bills necessary to get Veronza the justice he deserves. Donate to Veronza Bowers, Jr.’s Legal Defense Fund via Paypal, using the following email address: veronzalegalfund@yahoo.com.
Reverend Joy Powell is a pastor and an activist against police brutality, violence, and oppression in her community. That work made her a target for the Rochester police, leading to false charges against her. After a flagrantly corrupt trial process, Rev. Joy is facing a lifetime in prison. As she seeks an appeal to overturn this cruel sentence, donate to help sustain and support her during her incarceration.
