Press Release: A Letter to Barack Obama (change.org)

The Feminist Wire supports the petition below. To add your name, please visit change.org.  For more on Assata Shakur from us, please see forthcoming articles celebrating her birthday in July.

Friday, May 10, 2013

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President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

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Dear President Obama:

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We write to urge you to overrule the FBI’s decision to put Assata Shakur, aka Joanne Chesimard, on the “Most Wanted Terrorists List, with $1 Million FBI Reward Offered for Information Leading to Her Capture and Return,” as phrased by the FBI’s May 2, 2013 announcement.  This $1 million combines with the $1 million bounty already offered by New Jersey. We know of no support for the claims by the FBI in making that announcement that Ms. Shakur has used her asylum in Cuba to “promote” “terrorist ideology” and espouse “terrorism.” We ask that the FBI be directed to publicly produce documentation to support these claims, and that until and unless this is done, its officials be directed to withdraw these assertions. The FBI’s accompanying actions should also be immediately withdrawn for the following additional reasons.

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President Obama, commenting on the Boston Marathon bombings last month, you declared “Anytime bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror.” This is consistent with the generally accepted view of terrorism as “the calculated use of violence or threat of violence against civilians for the purpose of intimidation or coercion or changing government policy.” There is no evidence that Ms. Shakur has taken part in any violence or threats of violence against civilians to intimidate or coerce changes in government policies. Going back 40 years, the May 1973 incident, which led to her only criminal convictions, was initiated by the New Jersey State Police.  They pulled the vehicle she was in off the highway based on an allegedly defective tail light. This type of police action was consistent with tactics used to harass Black people generally, particularly Black males; and, sometimes provoke incidents particularly against members of Black militant organizations during that period. The loss of life on both sides ensuing from that stop was clearly regrettable; and, we do not intend to retry here her controversial trial and conviction before an all white jury. We know that there were serious questions of fairness sufficient to draw international attention and for Ms. Shakur to be granted political asylum in Cuba nearly 35 years ago, although Cuba has returned some others wanted by U.S authorities.

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We believe putting Ms. Shakur’s name on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorist List,” and increasing the $1 million bounty to a total of $2 million, 40 years after the fact, only makes sense in light of recent press reports regarding your administration’s consideration to take Cuba off the U.S. list of nations that allegedly sponsor terrorism – a designation which is so unfounded that it has become an embarrassment to our country.  Opponents of steps towards normalization with Cuba have seized on this aged and disputed case in what we view as a transparent attempt to recast this history into today’s fears, using Assata Shakur as a pawn in their political maneuvering.

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The FBI’s participation in this political maneuvering by joining with New Jersey to offer a $2 million bounty is a dangerous act, encouraging someone to try to kidnap her, breaking Cuban law as well as being a violation of International Law. Should the offer be taken seriously by someone, the foreseeable result would be bloodshed, if not also a major international incident.

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The FBI’s stated rationale for these actions is also regrettable and dangerous because it equates radical beliefs favoring fundamental social and economic change, with “terrorism.” These serve to intimidate and chill others who dare to speak out against United States’ domestic and international policies.  In this regard, these actions directly undermine the protections given all citizens under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

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Finally, this decision continues to racialize the United States criminal punishment system, a system that since the enslavement of African peoples has targeted Africans and African Americans for harsher punishments than those given particularly to similarly situated whites.  The accusation of terrorism has fallen prey to this continuing travesty of making the color of “crime,” now the color of “terrorism,” black.  One needs only recall the early reports of who was suspected of the Boston Marathon bombing to support this conclusion: the first reports were of a darker-skinned male, possibly African American.  This message scrolled continuously on CNN for a number of hours and then “African American male” was deleted, leaving darker skinned male.  But the alleged perpetrators were far from “darker skinned.”

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In conclusion, we ask that you stand behind the statements made by Attorney General Holder when he became the Attorney General in 2009 in addressing assistant United States attorneys and make these statements applicable to the FBI:  “Your job is in every case, every decision you make, to do the right thing.  Anybody who asks you to do something other than that is to be ignored.”  The FBI’s recent actions are far from the “right thing” for this country and we urge you to reverse them.

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Please reply to:

Law Office of Arthur Heitzer

633 W. Wisconsin Ave., Suite 1410

Milwaukee, WI 53203 USA

414-273-1040, ex. 12; fax 414-273-4859

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Sincerely,

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Rabab Abdulhadi

Vanessa Agard-Jones

Adjoa A. Aiyetoro

Cathy Albisa

Abdul Alkalimat

Adisa A. Alkebulan

Bettina Aptheker

Iván Arenas

Anjali Arondekar

Brooke Elise Axtell

Sara Atlas

William Ayers

Paola Bacchetta

Ajamu Baraka

Fr. Luis Barrios

Ellen Barry

Susannah Bartlow

Crista Bell

Dan Berger

Alisa Bierria

Martha Biondi

Carl Bloice

Lisa Brock

Prudence Brown

Margaret Burnham

Lucy Burns

Judith Butler

Linda Carty

Monica J. Casper

Frank Chapman

Piya Chatterjee

Patricia A. Clark

Cathy J. Cohen

Marjorie Cohn

Brittney C. Cooper

Dara Cooper

Gary L. Cozette

Kimberlé Crenshaw

Lisa Crooms-Robinson

Otis Cunningham

Rev. Dan Dale

Angela Y. Davis

Nicole Melanie Davis

Michael Dawson

Gina Dent

Cindy Domingo

Barbara Engel

Evalyn Tennant

Mireille Fanon-Mendes

Kenyon Farrow

Roderick Ferguson

Bill Fletcher

Rhone Fraser

H. Bruce Franklin

Jane Franklin

Regina Freer

Rosa Linda Fregoso

David Gespass

Angela Gilliam

Stephanie Gilmore

Pat Gleason

Danny Glover

Van Gosse

Jaime Grant

Herman Gray

Kai Green

Farah Griffin

Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Beverly Guy-Sheftall

Jeff Haas

Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler

Sarah Haley

Rev. Dr. Lora. F. Hargrove

Cheryl Harris

Mark Harrison

Arthur Heitzer

Linda J. Holmes

Cheri Honkala

Byron Hurt

Rev. Dr. Nozomi Ikuta

Nicole Nicolette Ivy

Lynnette A. Jackson

Ricardo Jimenez

Joseph F. Jordan

Adam Juranishi

Mariame Kaba

Robin D. G. Kelley

Alice Kim

Saul Landau

Andrea Lawlor

Rev. Phil Lawson

Lisa Yun Lee

Heidi R. Lewis

R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy

Tamura A. Lomax

Ana Lopez

José E. López

Toussaint Losier

Wahneema Lubiano

Saba Mahmood

Graciano Matos, Sr

Tracye A. Matthews

Erica Meiners

Jodi Melamed

Bernadine Mellis

William Minter

Roberta Meek

Chandra Mohanty

Alejandro Luis Molina

S. Mandisa Moore

Michelle Morales

Premilla Nadasen

Mark Anthony Neal

Alondra Nelson

Prexy Nesbitt

Bruce D. Nestor

Camille Odeh

Cheryl Johnson-Odim

Cara Page

Iris Dawn Parker

Tianna S. Paschel

MaryLouise Patterson

Charles Payne

Ted Pearson

Imani Perry

Rev. Chris Pierson

Erin Polley

Gordon Quinn

Ahmad Rahman

Carlos Ivan Ramos

Inez Ramos

Barbara Ransby

Raka Ray

Shana L. Redmond

Ronald Reosti

Beth E. Richie

Omar Ricks

Lynn Roberts

Jamala Roders

Michael Rodriguez

Charo Mina Rojas

Jada Russell

Luis Sanabria

Melissa Santana

Ora Schub

Raquelle Seda

Azadeh N. Shahshahani

Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons

Montague Simmons

Che Rhymefest Smith

Michael Steven Smith

Karen Sotiropoulos

Robyn C. Spencer

Pamela Sporn

Jill Stein

Neferti Tadiar

Heather Laine Talley

Salamishah Tillet

Leti Volpp

Alice Walker

Dan S. Wang

Eligan G. Ward

Sali Vickie Casanova-Willis

Standish Willis

Dr. Jeremiah Wright

Charles Wynder, Jr.

Rebecca Zorach

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Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression

International Association of Democratic Lawyers

National Boricua Human Rights Network

National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL)

National Lawyers Guild

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cc: Mr. Eric H. Holder