[Ppnews] Over 40 birthdays in prison!

[PPnews at freedomarchives.org]

I hope the following piece will inspire you to take action, if only to send 
a birthday card (a little love) to our brother warriors (411 included).

OVER 40 BIRTHDAYS IN PRISON!
by Kiilu Nyasha
(March 7, 2005)

Hugo L. Pinell, affectionately known as Yogi Bear, will be 60 years old on 
March 10.

Ruchell Cinque Magee celebrates his 66th on March 17.

Yogi entered the prison system in 1964 when he was about 19 years 
old.  Against good advice from a sistah-mama, he turned himself in for 
having assaulted a young woman while drunk, feeling great remorse.  He's 
been there ever since.

Ruchell had only been released from "The Farm," the notorious 
slave-plantation turned prison in Louisiana known as Angola, about six 
months.  He had been captured for relating to a white girl as a teenager in 
the 1950's in KKK territory -- definitely a no-no.  He was incarcerated in 
an adult prison for eight years and then banished from the State, allowing 
the latter to confiscate property owned by his mother who passed while he 
was jailed.
In 1963, he was hanging out with his cousin and friends and got into an 
argument over a $10 bag of marijuana.  His antagonist called the police who 
found Magee in the parked car, beat him badly enough to require his 
hospitalization for three days and jailed him.

At this point, the details hardly matter.  Neither of these cases would 
have garnered the average joe more than a year or two.  But these two 
brothers have refused all these years to sacrifice their dignity, and both 
have always had the temerity to stand up in self-defense and the defense of 
their fellow prisoners.  Ruchell as a jailhouse lawyer, Yogi as a martial 
artist -- i.e., freedom fighters.

Trophies for Black August:

On August 7, 1970, after seven years, two trials and countless petitions 
filed against his illegal incarceration, Magee joined the other guerrillas 
in the Marin Courthouse, when Jonathan Jackson stormed the court armed to 
the teeth and liberated William Christmas, James McClain (on trial for 
assaulting a guard), and Magee (testifying for McClain).  They took the 
judge, prosecutor and three jurors hostage thinking they would be 
insurance, and planned to drive to a radio station to announce the 
murderous/racist prison conditions and demand the release of The Soledad 
Brothers (John Clutchette, Fleeta Drumgo, and George Jackson).  They never 
got out of the parking lot.  The San Quentin guards got there in time to 
shoot up the van killing all three guerillas and the judge, seriously 
wounding the prosecutor and Magee, and slightly injuring one of the jurors. 
Angela Davis was hunted down and captured for having legally purchased the 
guns (Jonathan Jackson had been her body guard in her defense activities 
for the Soledad Brothers in a dangerous climate.).  Ruchell was charged 
with everything they could think of, although they had to drop the murder 
charge since he lay unconscious at the scene of the incident.

Magee remains in prison to date.  His own jailhouse lawyering got him 
released from the Pelican Bay SHU back in the early 1990s and he is 
currently on the Corcoran Prison mainline.  As brother Willie Sundiata Tate 
has often stated, "Ruchell never hurt anyone."

August 21, 1971, was the day Soledad Brother, George Lester Jackson, was 
murdered on the yard of San Quentin State Prison, in addition to three 
prison guards and two inmate trustees.  Six prisoners were singled out and 
charged with various counts of murder and assault:  Fleeta Drumgo,Willie 
Sundiata Tate, David Johnson, Luis Talamantez, Johnny Spain, and Hugo 
Pinell. Johnny Spain was the only one convicted of murder, and has been out 
of prison since 1988.  Yogi was convicted of assault and has spent the last 
30+ years in solitary confinement (no contact, no phone calls). He has been 
in Pelican Bay's torture chamber since 1990.
For more details on these Black August events, you can go to 
www.hugopinell.com, or google "Black August" + "Kiilu Nyasha."

For those of you who are not aware of the level of torture the Pelican Bay 
SHU metes out, here are a few details.  Pelican Bay is located in the 
Northwest corner of California on the Oregon border in pristine, redwood 
territory.  The prison is solid gray concrete and the SHU (Security Housing 
Unit) is completely windowless with only doors for entrance.  It looks like 
a large tomb.  It's hi-tech with automatic doors and gates, only artificial 
light, and even the so-called yard is nothing more than a "dog run" or 
outdoor  closet with 20' high walls covered on top by Plexiglas.  SHU 
prisoners are locked down 24/7 except for a possible hour on the dog run 
where they can exercise alone with no equipment whatsoever, not even a 
ball.  They are not permitted any arts, crafts, and only a very 
limited  number of books and property.  They are chained hand and foot 
whenever they leave their cells escorted by two prison guards.  Visits are 
limited to weekends and holidays and no more than two hours.  As mentioned 
earlier, their visits are conducted in a "phone booth" and they cannot make 
calls to the outside.  In short, Yogi's mother, who has been visiting him 
for all these years, has not been able to hug her son in at least 30.

The State claims it has no political prisoners, yet these two brothers have 
done the equivalent of double-life sentences.  It doesn't seem to matter 
how much clean time they have; whenever they go to board, the answer is 
always the same: come back in 2-5 years.

WHAT KIND OF SOCIETY HAVE WE BECOME?

Collectively speaking, we seem to have lost our humanity altogether. How 
else would we tolerate the caging of human beings under tortuous conditions 
for scores of years?

When will we speak out vociferously for an end to this horrible system of 
torture and enslavement?

Please take a minute to at least send these brothers a birthday greeting 
and give them a lift.
They can be reached as follows:  Hugo L. Pinell, A88401, D3-221, Box 7500, 
Crescent City, Ca. 95531-7500.  Ruchell Cinque Magee, A92051, 3C-127, Box 
3471, Corcoran, Ca. 93212.

I've been in communication with these righteous soldiers (more or less) 
since 1971 -- consistently for the past 15+ years.  I love them both and 
know in my heart that they would be an asset to our community were they to 
be released.  Enough is enough and too much is too damned much.   Write 
letters, sign petitions, do whatever you can to demand their immediate 
release.  Don't let them spend another birthday behind prison walls.



The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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