From: Mumia Mumia@aol.com 
Date sent: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 00:46:00 EST

MERLE AFRICA: A LIFE OF RESISTANCE

by  Mumia Abu-Jamal


MERLE AFRICA: A LIFE OF RESISTANCE
Column Written 3/18/98
© 1998 Mumia Abu-Jamal
All Rights Reserved

"There are only a few officials who will acknowledge the righteousness of our
demand for the release of innocent MOVE people but then they try to justify
their casualness about the situation by saying that we are "too aggressive,"
"too uncompromisin’ in our position, yet how can any action be "too
aggressive" when talkin’ about your innocent sisters and brothers, husbands
and wives rottin’ in prison for one hundred years?" --Ramona Africa (former
political prisoner)

In the early hours of Friday, March 13, 1998, renowned MOVE political
prisoner, Merle Austin Africa died under what MOVE has said are "very
suspicious circumstances." MOVE Communication Minister, Ramona Africa, issued
a press release setting out the following facts:

After a short bout with a stomach virus from which she was almost fully
recovered (family visited with Merle last Thursday 3/5/98) she fainted in the
cell last night going to the bathroom. The prison authorities removed Debbie
Sims Africa and stayed in the cell with Merle for 45 minutes and finally
called in ambulance and took her to an outside hospital. We were not allowed
any information and only after Merle’s mother insisted was she told that Merle
had died. Information is sketchy, but on Thursday the 5th Merle was looking
good and feeling back to her old self and gave strong hugs to family who came
to visit. Merle was a young woman in her mid 40s, of good health and strong
spirit.

One week later she is dead! We need to have answers! Meanwhile, Ramona
notes, another emergency has arisen; "Debbie Sims Africa is being forced to
go back to the cell she shared with Merle and is not being allowed to be with
her other two sisters Janet and Janine." She asks that you make your feelings
known to state and prison administrators on this matter, and that you also
inquire vigorously into the death of Merle, to:

Gov. Tom Ridge
225 Main Capitol Bldg.   
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Tel: (717) 787-2500


Martin F. Horn, Secretary
PA. Dept. of Corrections
2520 Lisburn Rd.
Camp Hill, PA. 17001-0598
Tel: (717) 975-4859

William Wolf, Supt.
451 Fullerton Ave.
Cambridge Springs, PA 16403-1238
Tel: (814)398-5400

For many that read this, the name Merle Austin Africa is little more than a
name. They may recognize the name, but a name, even a recognizable one, is
not a being.

How many saw her radiant smile? How many heard her give a speech that was
more like a sermon? I once saw her come into a courtroom and speak of MOVE’s
history of repression and resistance with such passion and power that everyone
within earshot was stunned. For over 20 years this brave, beautiful,
committed woman stood strong in defense of her belief, the Teachings of JOHN
AFRICA, against tremendous odds. On August 8th, 1978, the city of
Philadelphia sent a phalanx of armed troops to Merle’s house, in a
paramilitary attempt to wipe out MOVE. She was arrested because she was a
MOVE member; convicted for being a MOVE member, and sentenced to a century in
hell for being a MOVE member.

After over two decades in Pennsylvania dungeons, there remains 8 MOVE men and
women who we should work hard for in defense of their freedom. We should move
Heaven and earth to insure that these principled revolutionaries die in their
own beds, over 100 years old, after having lived most of their lives in
freedom. Free the MOVE 8 now! Honor the Revolutionary spirit of Merle
Africa!

©MAJ

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