Remembering the promise of freedom
By: Kwasi Anokye
Issue date: 3/17/09 Section: Opinion
Political prisoners are women and men who are incarcerated for risking life and limb to defend human dignity.
The United States government recently called on the Myanmar government to free all its political prisoners. The Myanmar government had just released 24 political prisoners.
Successive U.S. governments consistently demand the freeing of political prisoners in China, Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe, but nothing is said about political prisoners being held inside the U.S. Some U.S. political prisoners are American Indian; some are Atzlan/Hispanic; some are Caucasian; and most of them are "Black" - particularly former Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army members, who addressed imperialism and racism.
President George W. Bush obliquely paid homage to the liberation movement when, according to Condoleezza Rice, he said, "it was those stolen sons and daughters of Africa that … helped the United States to reach the fulfillment of the great words that all men and women are created equal."
Today, some may have the luxury of debating whether or not the time is ripe for drastic social transformation, but "the objective conditions," to borrow from the legendary political prisoner George Jackson, have always been "right in the black community." Who else are the most impoverished, imprisoned and terrorized group of people in the land?
To help remedy these deleterious conditions, the BPP was established in 1966. BPP survival programs included free breakfast for children, free health checks, free legal counsel and armed protection for the unprotected community against unremitting police terror.
Police killings of blacks in Oakland, which averaged one a week and went unpunished, were significantly minimized. BPP branches opened nationwide. Behind bars, where prisoner abuse, particularly against blacks, was taken for granted, the Prison Movement was formed to defend inmates' rights.
FBI Director Hoover characterized the BPP as "the greatest threat" to US "internal security." Panthers were killed, forced into exile, incarcerated and denied political prisoner status.
The United States government recently called on the Myanmar government to free all its political prisoners. The Myanmar government had just released 24 political prisoners.
Successive U.S. governments consistently demand the freeing of political prisoners in China, Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe, but nothing is said about political prisoners being held inside the U.S. Some U.S. political prisoners are American Indian; some are Atzlan/Hispanic; some are Caucasian; and most of them are "Black" - particularly former Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army members, who addressed imperialism and racism.
President George W. Bush obliquely paid homage to the liberation movement when, according to Condoleezza Rice, he said, "it was those stolen sons and daughters of Africa that … helped the United States to reach the fulfillment of the great words that all men and women are created equal."
Today, some may have the luxury of debating whether or not the time is ripe for drastic social transformation, but "the objective conditions," to borrow from the legendary political prisoner George Jackson, have always been "right in the black community." Who else are the most impoverished, imprisoned and terrorized group of people in the land?
To help remedy these deleterious conditions, the BPP was established in 1966. BPP survival programs included free breakfast for children, free health checks, free legal counsel and armed protection for the unprotected community against unremitting police terror.
Police killings of blacks in Oakland, which averaged one a week and went unpunished, were significantly minimized. BPP branches opened nationwide. Behind bars, where prisoner abuse, particularly against blacks, was taken for granted, the Prison Movement was formed to defend inmates' rights.
FBI Director Hoover characterized the BPP as "the greatest threat" to US "internal security." Panthers were killed, forced into exile, incarcerated and denied political prisoner status.