Hands Off Assata Shakur! Jail Killer Cops!

12/15/2006--Anger towards the police is growing following the deaths by police bullets of 23-year-old Sean Bell in New York and 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in Atlanta. Thousands rallied at New York Police Department headquarters on Dec. 6 in a militant and defiant rally that ended in a non-permitted march, and thousands more are expected to rally on December 16 and 21.

The NYPD has tried several tactics to silence the outrage over yet another killing of an unarmed Black man by police. First, they claimed that they thought that one of the men at the scene had a gun. Then, a week later, the cops changed their story and said that there was a fourth man, and that he had a gun. This was followed with a dragnet that rounded up Black men throughout southeast Queens. But no "fourth man" was found.

Their latest tactic has been to try to divert attention away from themselves. On December 12, the front page of the New York Daily News and several local television news broadcasts carried stories attacking the Community Center at CCNY named after named in honor after Guillermo Morales and Assata Shakur. The Daily News called Assata a "terrorist" and "cop-killer". Not only did this story fill the entire front page, but also a full page article inside as well as the News' editorial.

The Community Center was named after Guillermo Morales and Assata Shakur in 1989 - 17 years ago. Why is it just now becoming a front page story? Where is the breaking news justifying a front page story? The only new development in the story is that now, while the NYPD is facing world-wide condemnation for the killing of Sean Bell, New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch has launched this attack on CCNY students in order to take some of the attention off of killings committed by members of the NYPD. Lynch cannot justify the actions of his killer cops, so he is trying to change the subject.

Who is Assata Shakur?

Assata Shakur was a member of the Black Panther Party who, like many other Black activists in the 60s and 70s, became a target of COINTELPRO. As part of the FBI's campaign against the Black Panther Party, Assata was falsely accused of bank robberies and other crimes up and down the East Coast in the early 1970s. Her real "crime" was fighting for the liberation of Black people and other oppressed peoples from racist oppression.

After she was acquitted six different times on May 2, 1973, Assata, Sundiata Acoli and Zayd Malik Shakur were ambushed by state police on the New Jersey turnpike. A state trooper shot Assata in the arm and back as she had her hands in the air. Another trooper was killed. Zayd Malik Shakur was killed. Sundiata escaped and was later captured after a massive police manhunt.

After her arrest, Assata was shackled and chained to her hospital bed as the police guarding her shouted racist slogans, beat her with shotgun butts and threatened to kill her.

One of the state troopers admitted that he shot and killed Zayd Malik Shakur. But Assata was charged with the killing of Zayd--who she described as her "closest friend and comrade"--as well as with the death of the trooper. Sundiata Acoli was also charged with both deaths. No evidence linked either of them to the shooting of the state trooper. Defense testimony from several expert witnesses made it clear that Assata was not involved in the shooting. Nevertheless, in 1977 an all-white jury convicted Assata and sentenced her to life plus 33 years in prison. Sundiata was sentenced to life plus 30 years. He remains a political prisoner today.

Assata Shakur escaped from prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba, where she lives today in political exile. The United States government has offered a $1 million bounty for her capture.

Writing about the newly-increased bounty, political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal wrote, "For centuries, nothing has so stirred up American fury like the escape of a slave. That ain't just distant history. For daring to slip her bonds and escape from brutal and unjust bondage, the Empire now labels her a terrorist. That's because to them, nothing is more terrifying than resistance to their imperial will. As for terrorists, if they really wanna find some, it shouldn't be too hard to find them. Just check the White House."

A statement from CCNY students in response to this PBA-initiated controversy said, in part, "We know that many Black people that fought for better conditions in the 70's were framed. We consider Assata Shakur to be one of the people who were wrongfully and purposefully framed for her activities. And we consider her a hero and role model for standing up for our people and putting her life on the line."

Guillermo Morales, a Puerto Rican freedom fighter, was a member of the FALN who also now lives in Cuba.

In the past 17 years, the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Community and Student Center has provided many valuable services for the community, including lower-cost textbooks, mentoring, printing facilities, and soup kitchens.

Now, Patrick Lynch, the PBA, and the NYPD have launched a public attack on the center, demanding the name be changed. Under attack for their killings, they are stirring up a racist hysteria against Assata Shakur to distract attention from their terrorist actions.

The International Action Center stands in solidarity with the student activists--members of Students for Educational Rights, the Student Liberation Action Movement and Dominicans 2000--who share the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Community and Student Center. We denounce the racist campaign to demonize Assata Shakur and Guillermo Morales.

We encourage all progressive and anti-racist activists to join two upcoming marches in New York:

December 16 - "Shopping for Justice." Participants will gather on 59th Street and Fifth Avenue at noon and march down Fifth Ave. The rally is being organized by Al Sharpton's National Action Network, Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, and a number of Black and Latin@ elected officials, church and labor leaders. For more information, call 212-603-3704.

December 21 - Day of Outrage - Shut Down Wall Street. The march will assemble at noon at Liberty Street and Nassau Street (One Chase Manhattan Plaza). Organized by the Black Men's Movement and the December 12th Movement. For more information, call 718-398-1766.

 

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