Join us at Firestorm on Sunday, February 4th (5:00-7:30PM) for an evening of solidarity with long term political prisoners: people who are locked up for their activism and resistance to systems of domination and oppression.
This week we also need help addressing copies of Prison Action News to incarcerated subscribers.
Richard Mafundi Lake
Long Time Held Political Prisoner Mafundi Lake transitioned January 21, 2018. Mafundi was found on the floor of his cell on that day. His wife Carolyn says that Mafundi suffered from various health conditions and had suffered three strokes in the past.
Richard Mafundi Lake, Family Hour was on Saturday, January 27, 2018. Survivors are his loving wife, Carolyn Lake; children, Dr. Vanessa Anderson, Richard (Janice) Harris, Sonya (Patrick) Lloyd, Clinton (Vanessa) Hagler, Assata Lake, and Maia Lake; sisters, Veronica Lumpkin and Theda Craig; and brother, Stephen Lake.
You can leave a condolence message for Mafundi’s family:
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/richard-lake-obituary?pid=1000000187972518&view=guestbook
Mafundi’s decades of schooling the youth in Alabama prisons makes him the progenitor of the Free Alabama Movement and the current, burgeoning prison abolition movement across the country.
Mafundi was one of our longest held political prisoners – 38 Years!
Mafundi served as the National Organizer for the African National Prison Organization in the late seventies and early eighties. He was also a main organizer of the Atmore-Holman Brothers inside the Alabama prison system. He was originally set up on a false robbery charge and convicted of a felony crime. He was a high school senior at the time. He turned his resistance into activism during that first prison term by organizing prisoners against attacking one another at the behest of the guards, establishing basic education and law classes for Black and white prisoners, and putting together a group called Inmates for Action. He remained an activist upon his release; he organized a defense committee for prisoners, support for their families, documentation of police brutalization of the community, corruption, graft – and presented the findings to the City Council and in public forums.
Mafundi was locked up again in September 19, 2001 for allegedly creating a security hazard by writing anti-American propaganda on the black board during an Islamic service. Mafundi stated that he was leading a discussion regarding reparations for Black people for enslavement and centuries of injustices. He was re-imprisoned as a consequence of anti-islamic hysteria after 9/11.
In a recent letter from Bennu Hannibal Ra-Sun, formerly known as Melvin Ray, of the Free Alabama Movement:
“Our Elder Richard “Mafundi” Lake used to always express to us the importance of studying our history in our struggle. Baba Mafundi used to say, “Black people can find the answers to all of our problems by studying Black History.” Then he would say, “See, you got to organize the people.” That precept, ORGANIZE, is one of the pillars of civilization that our Ancestors left to us. They organized! every facet of their life. Indeed, the process of life itself, and all things in the universe, is organized. And if we are to achieve our goal within this movement, then we, too, must organize – because the opposition is already organized.”
Erik King
Eric suddenly and tragically lost his brother recently. Grieving the loss of a loved one is tough as it is, but for almost two weeks now Eric has been trying to figure out the best way to mourn the loss of his brother in an already dark place. While EK is not in the head space right now to be able to respond to the letters and cards he has been receiving he’d like everyone to know all the love and support he has received reminds him that he is not alone in this fight. He wanted to apologize for taking a longer time to respond to folks who are reaching than he’d like. Receiving the news was clearly devastating for EK and moving forward has certainly been a struggle, so please keep him in your thoughts while he navigates through this difficult time. We encourage you to keep the cards and letters coming because it’s those incoming communications full of light that can really help to keep his spirits up. Here is Eric’s address once again:
Eric King # 27090045
FCI FLORENCE
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
PO BOX 6000
FLORENCE, CO 81226
Thank you so much for your continued support.
-EK Support Crew
February Birthdays
Veronza Bowers, Jr.
Birthday: February 4
Veronza Bowers, Jr. 35316-136
FMC Butner
Post Office Box 1600
Butner, North Carolina 27509
Veronza was a member of the Black Panther Party, convicted in the murder of a U.S. Park Ranger on the word of two government informants, both of whom received reduced sentences for other crimes by Federal prosecutors. There were no eye-witnesses and no evidence independent of the informants to link him to the crime. At trial, Veronza offered alibi testimony, not credited by the jury. Nor was testimony of two relatives of the informants who insisted that they were lying. The informants had all charges against them in this case dropped and one was given $10,000 by the government according to the prosecutor’s post-sentencing report. Veronza has consistently proclaimed his innocence of the crime he never committed, even at the expense of having his appeals for parole denied for which an admission of guilt and contrition is virtually required.
Norman Edgar Lowry Jr.
Birthday: February 4
Norman Edgar Lowry Jr. KN 9758
SCI Dallas
1000 Follies Road
Dallas, Pennsylvania 18612
Norman was sentenced to 1-7 years in May 2012 for his third trespass at a military recruiting office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Kamau Sadiki
Birthday: February 19
Freddie Hilton #0001150688
Augusta State Medical Prison
3001 Gordon Highway
Grovetown, Georgia 30813
Kamau Sadiki is a former member of the Black Panther Party and was convicted of a 30-year old murder case of a Fulton County Police Officer found shot to death in his car outside a service station.
Oso Blanco
Birthday: February 26
Byron Chubbuck #07909-051
USP Victorville
Post Office Box 3900
Adelanto, California 92301
Indigenous rights activist serving 80 years for bank robbery, aggravated assault on the FBI, escape and firearms charges. A confidential informant reported that Oso was robbing banks in order to acquire funds to support the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico throughout 1998-99.
This will be a benefit to help with local activists legal fees. Suggested $5-$20 donation. If you’d like to donate but can’t make it please contact us via our contact page!
On Friday, 2/23 at Firestorm, #BlueRidgeABC continues it’s tradition of showing the newest episode of TROUBLE immediately upon it’s release from the video gulags deep in the tundra of Klanada by the hard-working proles at sub.media. Join us at 7:30pm the last Friday of the month to watch and discuss the film. Here’s a 