BAMN Volume 5, Issue 1

BAMN

By Any Means Necessary

Mutulu is Free!

TABLE OF CONTENTS Section 1: Editorial A Year of Return, A Year of Expansion, The MXGM National Convening 2023 Report Back

Jomo Muhammad

3-4

The United States – the Colonizers and Enslavers – Are at it Again: Report on the First session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

Efia Nwangaza

6-7

The Permanent Forum of People of African Descent: An additional tool

kwame-osagyefo kalimara

8-9

Section 2: International

Black Belt Coalition for Human Rights: Criminal Justice Transformation Subcommittee report and recommendations Efia Nwangaza & kwame-osagyefo kalimara

10-14

Section 3: Political Prisoners & Prisoners of War Mutulu is Free!

Nyeusi Jami

15-19

Halima Olufemi

21-23

Angel Griot

24

Section 4: Culture First Time A Call To The Masses

Section 5: Labor: Black Workers UNITE! A Report on Our Conditions and How WE Fight Back The Architects of Violence: The Slave-Like Conditions of Incarcerated Labor

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Gus Wood

26-28

Section 1: Editorial A Year of Return, A Year of Expansion, The MXGM National Convening 2023 Report Back By Jomo Muhammad Over MLK weekend, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement gathered for our annual national convening in Atlanta, GA. Hosted by our local chapter, the national convening brought together our network of New Afrikan freedom fighters who are building chapters and leading local struggles all across the US empire. This year was also a voting year for National Officers and National Coordinating Committee (NCC) representatives.

This year was our first in-person gathering since the pandemic started. As an organization that believes community self-defense includes Our health, We developed protocols to protect our members and their families from COVID. Resources like the People’s CDC were useful in planning a safe gathering. We included a hybrid option for members not able to travel. We are also an organization that believes that Afrikans in the United States of America have the right to determine our own collective destiny. It was critical to this principle to include as many members as possible.

Give us the inspiration to fight a thousand lions.

Give us the enlightenment to unravel the mysteries of the universe Give us the sustenance to travel through the trackless swamps of disharmony.

New Afrikan Libation The convening opened up with our New African Libation. Naming Our Ancestors and thanking them for guiding us and requesting their protection. We asked the Ancestors to give us the inspiration, the enlightenment and the Will to understand the mysteries of life, track through the dismal swamps of disunity until We might find unity in our struggle for National Liberation. We named of our organizational Ancestors: Queen Mother Audley Moore, Robert and Mabel Williams, Malcolm X, Herman Ferguson, Mamadou Umoja, Chokwe and Nubia Lumumba, Nehanda Abiodun, Ahmed Obafemi, Damballah, Dara Abubakari and…. Ase. Ase. Aseooooo The conference proceedings began with the national report from the New Afrikan People's Organization and the National Coordinating Committee. Below is the summary of the report provided by NAPO Secretary.

“2022 was a pivotal year for the organization. We were able to bring in a Chicago chapter.

Despite ongoing challenges from the pandemic, things have started to open up and many chapters are doing in-person events again. Camp Pumziko happened in person with excellent attendance; many chapters held Malcolm X Day events, and We are back to having our in-person Ideological Conference with deep presentations on gender, working class struggle, mutual aid, expanding the definition of political prisoners, and abolition. We made serious advances in Our fight to free political prisoners with the organizing of our Free Mutulu Now Campaign and the

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Shakur Squads, resulting in the release of Mutulu Shakur after 36 years behind the wall. This work has garnered the organization national attention and has kept us visible and relevant in the community.

Going forward We need to focus on community outreach and being a presence in the places where We organize. Base building is a critical priority for us for the coming year.”

After the NAPO/NCC report, chapters reported and reflected on their year’s activities as well as offered an assessment of their local conditions and a preview of what they will be doing over the next year. Chapters across the empire are organizing campaigns and programs around political prisoners, people’s assemblies, emergency preparedness and survival, community self-defense, reparations, and international solidarity. Many reflected positively on participating in the political prisoner work both locally and nationally. While chapters reported increased activity, one shared area of development was building their supporters and membership base. As the New Afrikan Organizer proverb says, “Many hands make the work of national liberation light.”

Our State of the New Afrikan Independence Movement address was given by Dr. Akinyele Umoja. In his conversation with us, he discussed four points of analysis to consider as We began to plan for the work of the upcoming year. First was the growing threat of fascist state governments, particularly in the South. The second point of analysis was the shifting demographics of the Black Belt and growing number of Blacks/New Afrikans returning to the South. The state of the Black Liberation Movement, its internal contradictions and the external conditions shaping it was the third point of analysis. The final factor for analysis was the state of Our movement, the New African Independence Movement, its weaknesses, strengths, and possibilities.

This year, We had a national election and two major proposals for consideration: expanding Our 6th Principle on ending sexist oppression and expanding the number of national officers. Led by the New Afrikan Womanist Caucus, We unanimously agreed to expand our 6th Principle on End Sexist Oppression, reaffirming our militant commitment to take uncompromising stands against all forms of oppression Our people face. To meet the needs for chapter growth, We decided to expand the circle of command by creating two National officers positions on the National Coordinating Committee. Congratulations to all Our newly elected National Officers and NCC Representatives. We extend Asante Sana to our outgoing National Officers and NCC Representatives for your leadership and service!

The 2023 National Convention was a success. A LOVE Supreme to all of Our members who traveled to be together and those that joined us virtually! Asante Sana to the Atlanta chapter for their hospitality. May We continue to build The Malcolm Grassroots Movement for Self-Determination, Self-Defense, and Self-Respect!

Free The Land!

Free The Land!

Free The Land!

By Any Means Necessary!

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Section 2: International

The United States – the Colonizers and Enslavers – Are at it Again: Report on the First Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent December 5-9, 2022 Geneva, Switzerland by Efia Nwangaza The first meeting of Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) met December 5-8, 2022 in Geneva, and is the United States’ and other European countries’—former colonizers and enslavers—effort to control today's Bandung-like global reparations-centered freedom movement, as evidenced by the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA). The Forum, as presently constituted, is a mechanism designed to waylay, blunt, and bury the DDPA with hand-picked gatekeepers and the racist slur of “anti-semitism.”

In 2001, the United States, led by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, walked out of the Durban World Conference Against Racism. The U.S. and other European countries—former colonizers—worked to prevent the global consensus that was reached and having failed, continue to work to undermine and bury it.

However, in Durban, South Africa, “the world”—meaning governments and civil society—reached a consensus and issued the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA). The world declared colonialism, slavery, apartheid, and genocide crimes against humanity, without statute of limitations and with a basis for reparations!

The Forum is composed of 10 members; five nominated by states and five by the president of the Human Rights Council, “in consultation with civil society.” Here, “civil society” is not limited to people of African descent, as is the case with the members of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The United States pressured governments to vote for Justin Hanford, a legal scholar and human rights activist. Little or nothing else is known about the rest of the appointments. The PFPAD is located in Geneva, in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), instead of the more accessible New York, under the more appropriate Economic and Social Council.

The PFPAD Chair, Epsy Campbell-Barr, is a former vice president of Costa Rica, one of the world's smallest countries and containing an even smaller number of people of African descent; little more than 400,000. The vice chair is Alice Ange'le Nkom of Cameroon. She is the first woman admitted to practice law in Cameroon and is president of the Cameroonian Association for Defence of Homosexuality, co-chairperson of the Central Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, and a member of the National Democratic Institute International Working Group. The rapporteur, an independent human rights expert whose expertise is called upon by the United

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Nations to report or advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective, is Michael McEachrane, of Sweden. He calls himself a “mixed race, academic and activist.” As of 2016, there were 110,758 citizens of African nations residing in Sweden.

Justin Hansford, U.S. member/Pan-Euro representative, is director of the Howard University Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. He enjoys the good will that comes from the use of Thurgood Marshall's name. Hansford, presenting himself as a Black “liberator,” dismissed the DDPA saying he believes he can get a better deal under the ruse of “Sustainable Development Goals.”

I publicly reprimanded Hansford for trying to gaslight me and others when the chair attempted to refuse to take floor responses to McEachrane's attempt to limit DDPA relevance in his “interim” summary of the Forum's future work. “The DDPA will be applied to the extent it applies to people of African descent,” he said.

I challenged Forum participants—in-person and virtually, to read the DDPA. Admonished them to not let fancy, obscure language, lack of information, age, experience, and a short-term promise (Sustainable Development Goals [SDG]) of an immediate bowl of porridge cause us to betray our peoples. All were challenged to fully claim, affirm, and assert the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action as our human right of self-determination.

I reminded them, “The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action is the heart and soul of this Forum, without the DDPA this is nothing more than a free trip and a talk fest. The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action is our lifeline and that of generations unborn. HOLD ON TO IT—BLACK POWER! BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL! BLACK POWER! BLACK POWER to BLACK PEOPLE!!! ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!” The crowd roared and gave two standing ovations. Black Power and the call for fidelity to the DDPA rang out throughout the remaining days.

The 2nd Session of the Permanent Forum on Peoples of African Descent is scheduled for May 30-June 2, 2023, in New York. All are urged to follow The Forum's website, register, and participate—virtually or in person—prioritizing Self Determination, the DDPA!!!

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The Permanent Forum of People of African Descent: An additional tool By kwame-osagyefo kalimara All peoples shall be equal; they shall enjoy the same respect and shall have the same rights.

Nothing shall justify the domination of a people by another.

African Charter on Human Rights, Article 19.

The United Nations General Assembly created a new Permanent Forum of People of African Descent (PFPAD) in July-August 2021 to acknowledge the centuries of crimes against Afrikan descendant peoples by establishing this vehicle to improve their conditions globally. The 193-member body recognized that the legacy of enslavement, colonization, i.e. racism/white supremacy, would no longer be marginalized or silenced according to the Afrikan voices who participated and organized at Durban for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) in 2001.

The significance of WCAR is in its declaration that slavery is/was a “Crime Against Humanity,” making “Reparations” ripe for international redress for Afrikan peoples. Moreover, WCAR produced the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA), as a mechanism to challenge racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and all of its manifestations. Education, health, justice and poverty are just a few issues to be tackled by this instrument. Human Rights and the rule of law is imperative.

The Permanent Forum of People of African Descent is a 10-member advisory body that will work with the Human Rights Council which is based in Geneva. The General Assembly sees this formation as a starting mechanism to promote total respect of the rights of Afrikan descendant people. It will identify and analyze information brought before it, however, one must acknowledge that it is an advisory body.

The Permanent Forum of People of African Descent has five members nominated by Governments and subsequently elected by the U.N. General Assembly. Five additional members were appointed by the Human Rights Council. The PFPAD is designed to make recommendations to the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly’s main committees, and other entities working on issues related to racial discrimination. More importantly, it is to advance the full political, economic and social inclusion of people of Afrikan descent in the societies wherever they/We may reside.

As activists/organizers, We must always be mindful although the PFPAD articulates an affirmation of a global drive for the “the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” it is our responsibility to create solidarity with those

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formations and peoples whose collective interests align with ours (New Afrikan peoples).

International cooperation is necessary to eliminate ALL oppression and exploitation.

We must act as if we answer to, and only answer to, our Ancestors, our children, and the unborn.

Amilcar Cabral Ancestral blessings. Free the Land!!!

Resources: Permanent Forum on People of African Descent https://www.ohchr.org/en/permanent-forum-people-african-descent Declaration on the human rights of people of African descent: Permanent Forum on People of African Descent https://www.ohchr.org/en/permanent-forum-people-african-descent/declaration-human-rights-pe ople-african-descent African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights https://www.achpr.org/legalinstruments/detail?id=49 Universal Declaration of Human Rights https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights United Nations Charter https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter

Black Belt Coalition for Human Rights: Criminal Justice Transformation Subcommittee report

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and recommendations. by

Efia Nwangaza & kwame-osagyefo kalimara United States Compliance with the Comprehensive Implementation of and Follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and Goals of the International Decade for People of African Descent First Session of the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent Geneva 5 December 2022 I. TITLE: List of Issues and Recommendations Submitted by Black Belt Coalition for Human Rights: Criminal Justice Transformation Subcommittee II.

Reporting Organization and Individuals

ORGANIZATIONS: Black Alliance for Peace, Building Fearless Futures, International Peace Research Association, Malcolm X Center for Human Rights & Self Determination, National Jericho Movement, National Million Woman March/Self Determination, New Afrikan Independence Party, New Afrikan People’s Organization/Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, People's Advocacy Institute, Spirit of Mandela International Tribunal Coalition, The Universal Zulu Nation INDIVIDUALS: Empress Phile' Chionesu, Soffiyah Elijah, Atty, Omodare Jupiter, Atty, Dr. Kwame-Osagyefo Kalimara, dequi kioni-sadiki, Rukia Lumumba, Shepard McDaniel, Matt Meyer, Jalil Muntaquin, Efia Nwangaza, Atty, Khalid Raheem, Russell Maroon Shoatz III. Introduction and Issue Summary This is the first submission of the Black Belt Coalition for Human Rights: Criminal Justice Transformation Subcommittee (CJTS) to the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent and the United Nations Human Rights Remedies apparatus. The United States of America has committed crimes against the humanity of Afrikan descendant peoples. We seek redress, assistance, by the United Nations, because its founding mandate recognizes the Right of Self-Determination. The denial of this Human Right has resulted in conditions of violations of New Afrikan sovereignty and the imprisonment of those who struggle to secure the human rights for all peoples. Further, it and its subsidiaries are now engaging artificial intelligence (AI) technology to enhance these violative practices and shore up the carceral state and mass incarceration of people of Afrikan descent. Below are some of the issues requiring resolution and our recommendations of corrective action.

Federal, state and local governments collectively deploy 18,000 law enforcement agencies and disproportionately target people of African descent, many times in military fashion.

The U.S. currently spends over $100 billion a year on policing and another $80 billion a year on jails and prisons. Capitalism feeds off the state cash bond system. The federal pretrial detention without bond increases the mass incarceration of the working poor. These institutions destroy our communities, culturally oppress people of African descent, and institute a system of modernized slavery as inmates are paid nothing, or close to nothing, for their labor. At the same time they 10 By Any Means Necessary

pay premium rates for phone calls, and high-calorie-low-nutrition food. These are the same institutions that jail our most conscious activists and revolutionaries and deny them political prisoner status.

We are calling for and introducing state, local, and federal legislation that works to create systems that truly keep Black people safe. We call for public safety legislation, tailored by local communities, and advanced through legislation at the federal level as prescribed by the BREATHE Act framework, https://breatheact.org/ and https://breatheact.org/the-peoples-response-act/. Specifically: Divest Federal Resources from policing and incarceration & ending federal criminal-legal system harms, including the 1994 Crime Bill, the 1033 Program, use of AI for bail and sentencing, and reparations for the War on Drugs, Invest in new approaches to community safety utilizing funding incentives, Allocate new money to build healthy, sustainable & equitable communities for all people and, Hold officials accountable & enhance self-determination of Black communities.

Further, that the Federal government establish Truth and Reconciliation apparatus to release all presently exiled and incarcerated COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era human rights defenders and activists, provide for acceptance and review of their claims, along with those of persons and heirs previously incarcerated, and that the federal government incentivize state and local governments to do the same.

Since this country’s inception, there have been named and unnamed wars on our communities. We demand an end to state-sponsored surveillance, criminalization, incarceration, detention, deportation, and killing of our people, https://m4bl.org/policy-platforms/the-preamble IV. List of Issues ISSUE A: The United States ignores New Afrikan peoples’ right of self-determination/National Independence.

ISSUE B: The United States in its establishment of itself has violated the sovereignty of nations creating internal colonies within its boundaries.

ISSUE C: The United States of America has profited from the kidnapping, enslavement, murder and torture, i.e. Genocide, of Afrikan populations from Afrika and its diaspora.

ISSUE D: 1) The United States illegally criminalizes poverty resulting from its system of white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy.

2) The United States illegally imprisoned persons who challenge the socio, political and economic systems and ignores and delegitimizes the political issues argued.

3) The United States system of policing and incarceration was established to enslave nonwhite populations in furtherance of capitalist enterprise.

ISSUE E: 1) United States systems of incarceration does not recognize and honor the basic human rights of mental and physical health of the incarcerated.

2) The judicial system (capitalist component) of the United States values property over human life, thus creating mass incarnation which affects every segment of human society and community.

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ISSUE F: There is not an independent check/balance system that assures that compliance from the United States.

ISSUE G: Capitalism has played a major role in building the system of slavery in the United States, including maintaining the oppression and exploitation of people of Afrikan descent and their resources after the abolition of its chattel slavery.

V. U.S. Government Response to UN and Regional Human Rights Bodies While the United States government The Department of State Promotes the International Decade for People of African Descent, in the Western Hemisphere, claims to “promote” the Decade (https://2009-2017.state.gov/p/wha/rls/fs/2016/264204.htm , https://2009-2017.state.gov/p/wha/rt/social/index.htm) and facilitated Justin Hansford's appointment to the Forum (https://www.state.gov/the-election -of-justin-hansford-to-the-permanent-forum-on-people-of-african-descent/ , https://www.state.gov/justin-hansford-u-s-nominee-for-election-to-the-permanent-forum-on-peop le-of-african-descent-2022-2024/), it has not taken any meaningful action to realize its goals, institute public awareness, education, or remediation of disparities in the criminal punishment system.

Further, we are reminded that the United States, led by Secretary of State Colin Powell, walked out of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism (WCAR 2001) and discounted it as “anti-semetic” when the State of Israel was criticized for human rights violations against the Palestinian people. WCAR 2001 produced The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action on which the Decade is based.

Moreover, The United States has yet to comply with treaty review concerns under the “Campaign to Put Imprisoned/Exiled COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era Activists on the Global Human Rights Agenda,” 2010–2016, led by Efia Nwangaza, Malcolm X Center for Self Determination, the United States. During the November 2010 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United States called for the release of all imprisoned U. S. political activists; six of the historic 228 Recommendations referred to U.S. held political activists, particularly Recommendations 92-153 – 154. Accountability for violation of ICCPR Article 7, as well as The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). CAT Articles 4, 15, 16 and 1; Article 7 (protection from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and medical neglect). August 14th, 2014, UN CERD Committee Member Patricia Nozipho January-Bardill specifically asked the U.S. government if it knew of and what it was going to do about, then, "more than 20 civil rights era political activists and human rights defenders from the 1960s. The official report directed the USA to answer in its subsequent report. It has not done so.

VI. Recommended Questions to United States A. Self Determination is an internationally acknowledged human right, clearly defined and outlined, written in the Charter of the United Nations and numerous treaties and declarations. Why does the United States of America continue to violate the sovereignty of its 16 acknowledged territories and the internal colonies of New Afrika (USA Black Belt South), Aztlan, and Hawaii, while actively supporting Ukraine and Israel (illegal settler state) for example?

B. When will the United States establish a commission to study the impact of its over

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400 years of conscious and active commodification/trading, trafficking, enslavement, exploitation, terrorization of the USA enslaved Afrikans, accept survivor/descendant defined multi-factored Reparatory Justice, and soon after pay the transformative multi-factored debts owed?

C. Will the United States establish a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the human rights abuses and violations against currently and formerly imprisoned and exiled COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era political activists/defenders and facilitate their immediate, unconditional release and multi-faceted repair and compensation?

VII. Suggested Recommendations Recommendation A: Consistent with the United Nation’s Charter and its statutes/treaties recognizing a peoples’ right to self-determination, establish a commission to supervise and monitor a plebiscite for the New Afrikan/black population residing in the United States of America.

Recommendation B: Consistent with the decolonization processes and commissions established by the United Nations, create a forum to recognize independence movements (and their representative organizations, (e.g. the New Afrikan Independence Movement,, American Indian Movement, the Socialist Reunification Movement of Mexico, the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, etc.) with the objective to recognize their sovereignty over their political and socio-economic destinies.

Recommendation C: Move discussion of Afrikan peoples within the United States out of the realm of US-based human rights violations and issues and onto the world stage understanding New Afrikan/Descendants of Enslaved Afrikans peoples as still-colonized/neo-colonized subject of the United States.

Recommendation D: Establish a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the human rights abuses and violations against imprisoned and exiled COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era political activists and facilitate their immediate, unconditional release and compensation of all political prisoners, prisoners of war (representatives of the legitimate anti-colonial movements) and political exiles. Abolish the United State Penal System.

Recommendation E: Ending felony disenfranchisement, humanize prison conditions, and end mass incarceration and form a United Nation Committee to research the impact of incarceration on families.

Recommendation F: United Nations to monitor (check/balance) on United States compliance on all recommendations and directives.

Recommendation G: The United Nations to form a Committee around the impact of racial capitalism on the lives of people of Afrikan descent.

Recommendation H: The United Nations to establish a forum to fully examine the gross inequity globally, created by imperialism, colonialism, capitalism, sexism and all other oppressions and exploitations, with the intention of challenging all systems and institutions

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supporting and maintaining them.

Recommendation I: The Human Rights Council, the Committee on Decolonization, UNESCO and all relevant U.N. formations must address the numerous acts Genocide in all of its forms by the United States.

VII. APPENDIX: Contributors and Endorsers LEAD EDITORS: Efia Nwangaza, Esquire Malcolm X Center for Self Determination mxcentergvl@gmail.com 864-901-8627 Kwame-Osagyefo Kalimara, J.D. New Afrikan People's Organization/Malcolm X Grassroots Movement dr_kalimara@yahoo.com

Section 3: Political Prisoners & Prisoners of War 14 By Any Means Necessary

MUTULU IS FREE! By Nyeusi Jami

(Photo Credit: mutulushakur.com) When the New Afrikan People’s Organization (NAPO) was founded in 1984, one of its primary objectives was to gain freedom for our Prisoners of War (POWs) and Political Prisoners (PPs). Dr. Mutulu Shakur was one of the founding members of NAPO, despite being “underground” at that time, avoiding being seen in public because of the intense search for him that the government had been conducting since

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1981. On February 11, 1986, Mutulu was captured in Los Angeles, and he became another name added to the list of soldiers whose comrades in the movement fought to gain freedom for. That fight would continue for decades.

In April 2016 Mutulu Shakur appeared for a parole hearing at the federal penitentiary in Victorville, CA for what should’ve been a routine formality. Dr. Shakur was sentenced to prison in 1986 under guidelines which dictated that he receive mandatory parole after 30 years. After completing those 30 years, he had every reason to believe that he was about to go free. However, his “mandatory” parole was denied, somehow. Mutulu was 65 years old at that point, and beginning to suffer from the inevitable health consequences of 30 years in captivity, much of which was spent in solitary confinement. His medical issues included a stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and glaucoma. The ostensible reasons for denying his mandatory parole, likelihood to reoffend or having frequently violated prison rules, were laughable at best. No other federal prisoner had been denied parole because of the types of infrequent non-serious prison rule violations that Mutulu was accused of.

And so began a rejuvenated campaign by the Friends and Family of Mutulu Shakur, and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, to gain freedom for our beloved comrade. I joined NAPO’s mass organization, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), in November 2016. When I learned about this latest injustice in the Freedom For Mutulu saga, which had occurred earlier that same year, I was enraged. I was angry at the system for seemingly having the power of life-or-death over us, the power of freedom-or-enslavement. I was angry at my generation. Growing up as an avid Hip Hop fan in the 1990s meant, of course, that I was a big Tupac fan, as was pretty much everyone I knew. I couldn’t fathom how any of us who adored Pac so much could hear about the three decades long unjust incarceration of his father and not be ready to move heaven and earth to bring an end to this situation.

As Barack Obama was on his way out of office in January 2017, he had the opportunity that all CEOs of the Empire have, a chance to commute the sentence of people held in prison. Freedom loving people everywhere were thankful that Obama used that power to commute the sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera, famed freedom fighter from the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. But Obama couldn’t find it in his heart, or in his political calculus, to grant the same freedom to Leonard Peltier or Mutulu Shakur, who also had executive clemency applications on his desk. The White House received thousands of signatures from the public supporting Mutual’s clemency, as well as numerous testimonials from individuals with direct experience of his character.

There were many celebrities who showed up at the White House to party and celebrate the final weeks of the Obama presidency. Many of those celebrities were Hip Hop luminaries. I had a lot of opinions about what should’ve been happening in that moment, what should’ve been said about Mutulu

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while these cultural icons were able to literally talk into the ear of the Black president. But that moment came and went, and the campaign to Free Mutulu continued on.

In June 2017, the film All Eyez On Me was released in theaters. The eyes of the world were focused on the Shakur family with the production of that film and its surrounding promotion. The members of MXGM took that opportunity to organize, gathering signatures from people around the world in support of Dr. Shakur’s release at his upcoming 2018 parole hearing. The same work of building awareness and support occurred when in November 2017 Dr. Mutulu Shakur was recognized by the Black Power Awards in Atlanta for his work with the Lincoln Detox Center and the Black Acupuncture Association of North America (BAANA).

But, alas, in April 2018, Dr. Shakur was denied released on parole again. His legal team’s attempt to appeal that decision was also denied. The legal team then filed a federal lawsuit against the Parole Commission and the Bureau of Prisons in response to the flagrant violations of their own rules in keeping Mutulu imprisoned.

In October 2019 Dr. Shakur received a diagnosis of life threatening bone marrow cancer. For over a year he had experienced pain in his bones, but the prison authorities delayed in getting him a CT scan.

When the diagnosis was finally given, Mutulu’s legal team filed a petition for Compassionate Release, because now his very survival depended upon him being free to receive proper medical care. But in December 2019, that petition for compassionate release was denied by the Bureau of Prisons.

After that the legal team petitioned Mutual’s original judge, Judge Haight in New York, to modify his sentence so he could be released immediately based on his medical condition. At the same time, they also filed a habeas petition in federal court in California, detailing the parole commission’s abuse of discretion through their politically driven denials of parole. Meanwhile, Mutulu’s NAPO/MXGM comrades continued to organize the public to send him letters of encouragement and to make financial contributions toward his legal defense.

In October 2020, Dr. Shakur started a multi-week stem cell transplant process. As soon as that process was over, he learned that he had been denied compassionate release again. The same judge who originally sentenced Mutulu was given the power to say that Mutulu, with terminal bone cancer, wasn’t sick enough to be released. Right after receiving that notice, Mutulu caught Covid-19, at 70 years old, with a compromised immune system. But like the soldier he is, he won the battle to overcome the virus.

He fought and beat Covid three times.

2021 saw MXGM and the Free Mutulu campaign working hard to gather signatures in support of his release. The legal team continued working to secure his freedom through compassionate release, clemency, and all other administrative and legal avenues. Dr. Shakur was in constant pain from the bone marrow cancer with nothing offered him for pain except oxycodone, the same type of opioid he had

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developed acupuncture protocols to detox people from. He refused to take the dope, preferring to stay sharp and focused on his fight for freedom.

During this time period there were two pieces of work that really stood out in bringing positive attention to Mutulu Shakur, the human being. The first was the film Dope Is Death, directed by documentary filmmaker Mia Donovan. The film details the work of the Young Lords and the Black Panther Party in developing the famed Lincoln Detox Center in the early 1970s. Of course, the film shows how that work was anchored by the fearless leader and spokesperson, a young Mutulu Shakur. Another prominent piece was an article published in The Intercept, written by Natasha Lennard. Natasha did an excellent job of providing context to the campaign for Mutulu’s freedom, and the absurdity of the system that continued to hold him. We are eternally grateful to Mia and to Natasha for providing us with the opportunity to use their great work as organizing tools in our work to Free Mutulu.

In January 2022, Dr. Shakur was denied compassionate release for a third time, while recovering from his third bout with Covid, and a fight with pneumonia. He was also receiving highly dangerous chemotherapy.

There was a legal victory in February 2022. Mutulu and his lawyers had spent years litigating a habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court in California, challenging the U.S. Parole Commission’s 2016 denying him mandatory parole. In denying parole, the Parole Commission relied on a disciplinary ticket Dr. Shakur received for making a telephone call to an approved phone number, where a professor put him on speakerphone to talk to her class. The court found that Dr. Shakur’s conduct had not violated the regulation and ruled that it was a due process violation for the Parole Commission to rely on this incident in its decision to deny parole. The court ordered that he receive the “good time” lost for this incident (27 days) and ordered a new mandatory parole hearing where the Parole Commission cannot consider this incident.

With that news, the Friends and Family of Mutulu Shakur and MXGM got a second (or third or fourth or fifth) wind in our work to gain signatures supporting his release, and to gain letters of support from elected officials and celebrities.

On May 16, 2022, Dr. Shakur was denied mandatory parole by the U.S. Parole Commission. This is the ninth time he had been denied parole by the USPC, and the second time he had been denied mandatory parole. Mutulu received support for his parole from former Bureau of Prison staff, sitting Members of Congress, and religious and community leaders. Despite this extensive support for his release and his dire medical condition, the USPC determined that: “After consideration of all factors and information presented, at this time, the Commission is denying your release … the Commission finds that there is a reasonable probability that you will commit a Federal, State, or local crime if released.”

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Later that same month, Mutulu’s health took a turn for the worse. Receiving weekly chemotherapy while under prison conditions and everything else he had to deal with began to take a toll.

However, Mutulu is a fighter.

As we celebrated Mutulu’s 72nd birthday in August 2022, prison doctors had given him less than six months to live. His legal team filed a habeas petition in Kentucky to challenge his continued imprisonment in that state. Judge Haight again denied the motion for compassionate release. However, unlike his 2021 denial claiming that Mutulu was not sick enough at that time to be granted compassionate release, this time he denied the motion on procedural grounds saying that the court does not have the authority to grant his compassionate release. This contention was because Dr. Shakur was an ‘Old Law’ prisoner, and, therefore, the Bureau of Prisons would need to grant compassionate release.

And they did. On November 11, 2022, Dr. Mutulu Shakur was granted parole by the US Parole Commission. All of our decades of work to free him finally bore fruit. On the morning of December 16th, Mutulu walked out of the prison and into the loving arms of his family. The power of love is an awesome thing. It has now been over six months since the prison doctors declared that we would lose our loved one. As of right now, he shows no signs of slowing down. He is providing wise counsel to groups all over the country and conferring with his comrades about the direction of the movement that he has given his whole life to.

We thank the Creator. We thank the Ancestors. We thank the Freedom Fighters. Mutulu is Free!

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Section 4: Culture First Time By Halima Olufemi I guess my outfit said I wanted to be raped, “Let her lay in that puddle of blood, momma will clean the sheets later" Did it slide you between my legs at the expense of my feelings? My pants were pink, could you see me bleeding?

I mean you did walk me home after you finished, couldn't look me in the eye but I thank you for your chivalry.

Ain’t nothing like your first time When you don’t know it’s your first time I hurt in ways you can’t imagine...

See, I was forcibly introduced to the treachery of false prophets and righteously what I learned most is I don’t need a savior to crown my trauma.

Like Frida Khalo I’m fragile like a bomb not a flower And The pain I carry isn’t always my own, it is residue from the visceral spirit of thieves who pillaged the temple with bloody swords and vicious tongues trying to conquer or break or tame my spirit like their masters before them Demanding respect they had no intentions on giving, expecting loyalty from any woman they show their attention because we’ve been conditioned to think our lives are of little consequence absent that of a man; many think we should seek their validation We are encouraged to hold onto pieces of them rather than embrace the whole of ourselves and even though we were built to recover from pain...It is cruel and unconscionable to exploit our emotions just to make your nut more pleasurable We are shamed for our emotional tirades that were triggered by emotional tyrants wearing leather belts or baseball caps or blue suits with designer shades. Projecting their insecurities on our independence, throwing stones at shadows and bricks at shade.

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See, I have no desire to love under duress against a standard that wasn't ours to begin with making unreasonable comparisons and unreasonable requests using slavocracy as a guide-“Well, Damn, baby, you sound angry?”

No, I'm really not....

You just feel threatened because I'm a warrior too and my tongue pierces pride like a spear in the hands of a Zulu, wearing a mask to ward off cowards fighting to own me too.

I'm not soft enough for you, not modest enough for you and I'd rather be alone than to be controlled by you.

I mean really, You shouldn't want me to be your slave; What the hell is too independent anyway?

People only discredit the value of independence when it comes to Black women but embrace our power to benefit their causes. We teach girls to shrink themselves and that sexuality is different for them and that we should act beholden to men for the inalienable right to live, seek permission and cater to their whims when it is us who kept them safe inside our wombs before they knew what it meant to live.

"But you can’t do what a man do baby" I’m so sick of hearing that shit!

You don’t have the right to tell me how to exist which forces me into the role of a WOMANIST because you refuse to treat me like a human.

I’m not a pet I don't step or fetch So if I tell you to kiss my ass you attack, question my femininity and liken me to a man because I won’t jump through hoops to serve you. Cooking is a life skill not a gender roll and my appearance has nothing to do with you. So who cares if you like my hair short or long, curly or straight, natural or fake, makeup on my face- trying to uphold a European standard of beauty to placate your preference vying for attention to be emotionally mistreated.

You can’t even imagine what it feels like to be a woman until somebody calls you a one; then you damn near have a heart attack or want to fight whoever said it...especially if its a woman; you feel emasculated because there's nothing worse than being a woman, right, except being seen as a woman or called a woman, by a woman, who knows what it is to be one.....

Now, think about the gravity of that shit?

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How little you think of us and how little we've been taught to think of ourselves.

Fannie Barrier Williams said: “What our girls and women have a right to demand from our best men is that they cease to imitate the artificial standards of other people and create a race standard of their own” Who better than you should understand what it means to be forcibly taken, to be seen as less than human with a mandate to live under the rules of someone else It's like you can't see suffering if you're not the center of attention and most of the time all we need you to do is listen; stop supporting the world's efforts to misappropriate the strength of Black Women and help us to retain it for our healing.

And please understand, we are acutely aware of the hatred that exist against black men and we fight for you, All we want you to do is fight for us too.

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“a call to the masses” by àngel griot mama’s cryin’ cause their babies keep dyin’ transitionin’ prematurely.. unable to fulfill their destinies the powers that be in the land of the “free” continue to enact biochemical, psychological, spiritual, and ecological warfare against the surplus of formerly enslaved Africans and their descendants sophisticated technology is being used to abuse and subdue the rage and resistance of the masses this empire is a beast one that robs us of our freedom, dignity, imagination, and autonomy... as i struggle to destroy this parasitic (racial) capitalist machine, the possibility of a premature death haunts me be it from the machine or skinfolk who ain’t kinfolk. it is imperative to our survival and struggle that we are grounded in revolutionary ideologies instead not reactionary ideologies. we must know our enemies… i pray that we commit ourselves to wakin’ up from the spells of capitalism, white supremacy, imperialism, individualism and other -isms. we must become serious about organizing. we must challenge and unlearn internal and external contradictions. we must resolve conflict and harm in ways that restore trust within the community. we must build new, healthier, and sustainable models of leadership, communities, and camaraderie. we cannot resist change, we must encourage it and use it as a catalyst to cultivate the worlds we desire and deserve! we can no longer afford to be afraid we can no longer afford to be zombies word to fela kuti!

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Section 5: Black Workers UNITE! A Report on Our Conditions and How WE FIGHT BACK! The Architects of Violence: The Slave-Like Conditions of Incarcerated Labor By Gus Wood

Photo courtesy of Innocence Project 9.17.21 One of the greatest critical takedowns of capitalism and slave labor in television history was “A Feasibility Study” from the original 1963-1965 Outer Limits—a Marxist Humanist series that questioned the structure of oppression by showcasing the dialectic of human collectivism, resistance, and relationships. In the episode “A Feasibility Study,” a civilization of immobile, capitalist aliens kidnap an entire neighborhood of people from Earth to serve as their slave labor on the planet Luminous, offering their slaves only the capacity to love one another, worship whatever religion they want, and enjoy no dreams of freedom or escape. Imprisoned in a forcefield and suffering from deadly bacteria and unsanitary conditions, the slaves rebel against their alien captors and destroy the capacity for human enslavement on Luminous. The carceral state depicted in the episode resembled the carceral state in the U.S. in both form and function, but the focus never left the rebels’ use of collective resistance and strong relationships to build a 26 By Any Means Necessary

revolution against the state and end capitalist exploitation. In other words, the show abandoned the morality plays often found in series like “The Twilight Zone,” to depict an oppressive system devoid of morality but filled with the dialectics of subjugation and resistance, like capitalism and the carceral state.

It is no surprise that the carceral state within the United States remains one of the most diabolical, cold-blooded forms of structural violence on human beings, particularly a highly disproportionate number of African Americans. However, one characteristic of the carceral state rarely discussed is the slave-like labor system within jails and prisons. The unique political economy of the carceral state pits the prison, a public agency or nonprofit, or a private company the sole control over the incarcerated worker.

As soon as individuals are incarcerated, they lose all rights to refuse work legally. As “legally” confined individuals, the incarcerated are at the mercy of the inhumane Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing slavery to continue unchecked in jails and prisons. Close to 80 percent of all incarcerated workers reported that they faced inhumane punishments, like solitary confinement, for refusing to work. Additionally, the pathetically weak U.S. labor law does not cover incarcerated workers. The states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas pay virtually no compensation to incarcerated workers while most other states literally pay pennies per hour. The average minimum and maximum hourly wages for incarcerated workers in the United States are 13 cents and 52 cents, respectively. Cost-of-living and inflation adjustments to incarcerated worker wages are non-existent. For example, incarcerated workers in New York last received a wage increase in 1993. Workers in Virginia’s prisons have been making $0.25 an hour since 1988! Even with these slavery-level pay scales, the State literally robs incarcerated workers’ paychecks. On average across the United States, federal and state prisons deduct close to 80 percent of income from workers for court-imposed fines, taxes, restitution, room and board to have a cell, and other ridiculous fees. The theft by the State is so monstrous that in 2021, close to 60 percent of all wages earned by incarcerated workers in the U.S. was stolen by the federal government. The barebones wages left are usually not enough for working class people to buy survival needs inside like medication, warm clothing, nutritional food, and hygiene products.

Although most labor performed by incarcerated workers mainly keep the jails and prisons running, the types of jobs must be considered “dirty work,” sweated labor that is unstable, often dangerous, physically demanding, and without livable wages or benefits. The incarcerated work as cooks, dishwashers, morticians (during the height of the pandemic), janitors, groundskeepers, plumbers, electricians, road repairmen, unauthorized firefighters, natural disaster responders (sandbagging, clearing debris, reconstructing areas after earthquakes, mudslides, etc.), sharecroppers, meatpackers, carpenters, and factory linemen who build office furniture, mattresses, license plates, dentures, glasses, athletic equipment, and clothing. Between all these different labor sectors, the incarcerated typically generate more than $2 billion a year in goods and services for the world and over $9 billion a year in sustaining the U.S. carceral state.

Incarcerated workers are consistently resisting these conditions, from filing reports and lawsuits against their employers to going on labor and hunger strikes. Particularly over the hundreds of preventable injuries that happen to incarcerated workers (many lose body parts), over 24,000 incarcerated workers organized a prison strike in 2016 across 24 states and almost 40 men and women’s facilities. The strikers organized their demands via conditions specific to their facilities with many winning raises, better health care, and ending contracts with private businesses. The 2016 strike followed a long history of incarcerated workers withholding labor,

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including the 2010 Georgia Prison Strike when thousands of workers refused to work. This launched similar actions in Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington. Since then, hundreds of prisons had incarcerated workers striking against their inhumane conditions—with support and resources from radical organizations on the outside. As we build our social movements and define what our revolution looks like, we must continue to centralize the exploitation of incarcerated workers in the political economy of labor. Our incarcerated Black comrades and kin must be educated, organized, and ready to withhold their labor when necessary. We must build this movement. Their struggle is OUR STRUGGLE.

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BAMN Staff: Makungu Akinyela Noel Didla Ifetayo M. Flannery Nyeusi Jami kwame-osagyefo kalimara Jomo Muhammad Edward Onaci Alan Takeall Gus Wood Contributor: Angel Griot Efia Nwangaza Halima Olufemi Efia Nwangaza Efia Nwangaza

Designed by: The Center for Ideas, Equity, and Transformative Change

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