a small bittersweet victory!-gctid35493

[kweku, afro olmec]

via: San Francisco Bay View (Great photos at the site!)
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SF 8 and supporters celebrate a bittersweet victory

Posted By blockreportradio on July 9, 2009

Statements by Kiilu Nyasha, Wanda Sabir and Scott Braley on the plea  
settlements by Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim, the dropping of charges  
against all the others except Francisco Torres and the gathering  
Tuesday evening at Ella Hill Hutch Community Center

Statement by Kiilu Nyasha

Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim are both well aware that there is no  
justice in the U.S. courts for us – there’s just us, as we used to  
say. Jalil did a great job of making sure all four co-defendants would  
have their charges dropped before making this decision that I know he  
did not want to make.

Nevertheless, I think that we can count this a small but significant  
victory, albeit bittersweet without the release of Herman and Jalil  
and with the continuation of Cisco’s (Francisco Torres’) case, which  
we expect to win or have the charges dismissed. For those who think  
this plea bargain is somehow a sell-out, this is definitely not the  
case. These brothers still have solidarity with one another and all  
recognize, as do I, that our fight cannot continue to rely on their  
system of injustice.

We are ultimately going to have to take it to the streets. In the  
process of fighting for our global liberation, we must demand the  
release of our political prisoners and POWs. This was accomplished in  
South Kmt in the 1980s–‘90s. However, while South Kmt got its  
political prisoners released, including Nelson Mandela, by letting  
that struggle become the main goal of the liberation movement, they  
lost sight of the real prize – an egalitarian, socialist society that  
would nationalize the nation’s cash cow, the gold and diamond mining  
industries, to finance universal health care, education, housing, etc.

Now the masses of South Kmtyws are living in worse poverty than ever  
with no liberation movement and no Mkonto we Sizwe (Spear of the  
Nation, or military wing). We cannot make the same mistakes over and  
over again. The very life of the planet is dependent on us. Surely  
there are enough positive and negative examples of liberation  
struggles throughout the world – at this point in history – for us to  
be able to learn from their mistakes and successes, their defeats and  
triumphs.

Power to the people. Free ‘em all.

Kiilu Nyasha, Black Panther veteran, revolutionary journalist and Bay  
View columnist, hosts the TV talk show Freedom Is a Constant Struggle  
every Friday at 7:30 p.m. on SF Live, San Francisco cable channel 76.  
She can be reached at Kiilu2@sbcglobal.net
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Statement by Wanda Sabir

The party Tuesday evening was fun. Many of the folks at the Ella Hill  
Hutch Community Center, by the time I arrived, were the same folks I’d  
seen at the courthouse yesterday. I was up all night Monday; I just  
couldn’t believe the verdict: All charges dropped for five of the six  
men who comprise the San Francisco 8, everyone except Francisco Torres.

I don’t think I’d ever been inside the building I’d admired for a long  
time. There are these great murals of community heroes and activists  
on the outside. I’m glad I arrived when I did, because I was able to  
catch Pierre Labossiere, and then not long afterwards Kiilu Nyasha  
made it by and we weren’t expecting her. She made my trek across the  
Bay totally worth it. In her sunshine-colored top, she lifted our  
spirits even higher.

As I stood speaking to an intern at Legal Services for Prisoners with  
Children, Courtney and her friend Amina, both graduate students, Amina  
at UCSF and Courtney at Brown, Richard O’Neal walked up and said, “I  
am SF 8.” I didn’t get it because I didn’t know him until he said,  
“I’m the other Richard,” and immediately I remembered his charges  
getting dropped in 2008. He was in jail nine months.

He was so bubbly. I loved his positive energy, really exuberant.

In speaking to Jalil’s attorney Daro G. Inouye, who works out of the  
San Francisco Public Defender’s Office (30 years now), this afternoon  
before heading to San Francisco, I understand better what he meant  
yesterday when he said Jalil did a noble thing when he took the plea  
for a lesser charge.

Prior to the prosecution’s offer, Inouye was set to file against the  
state for holding him on previous charges dropped for insufficient  
evidence. He was not in San Francisco when the alleged crime was  
committed and, since there was no new evidence, the state had no right  
to hold him for two more years. Inouye said Jalil was certain to have  
won the suit, but whether or not the other men charged in the SF 8  
case would have had all charges dropped was not as easily determined.

Jalil’s change of strategy and use of what Inouye called a “calculated  
gamble” to plead no contest in exchange for the release of his co-
defendants was something most of the men were not aware of, I found  
out tonight. Whether this move will jeopardize his freedom when he  
goes before the New York parole board was something Inouye could not  
answer. He said they would probably see how frivolous the case was and  
let it go. We’ll have to follow his case closely though and see.
Jalil did a noble thing when he pled no contest in exchange for the  
release of his co-defendants. His attorney, Daro Inouye, was set to  
file against the state for holding him on previous charges dropped for  
insufficient evidence. Jalil was not in San Francisco when the alleged  
crime was committed and, since there was no new evidence, the state  
had no right to hold him .

Inouye, who said when I spoke to him today that he is carrying a case  
load of 120 clients, had to decline my invitation to join us on the  
air the following day, Wednesday morning, July 8. Monday, July 6, he  
was working two courts and had to run after he savored the victory for  
a few minutes to handle another case. It’s too bad he doesn’t have a  
sister like Serena or Venus to help him keep the balls in the air and  
traveling, something the sisters did well Sunday at Wimbledon [3].

Cisco was in a great mood tonight, laughing with well-wishers and  
friends like Pierre from Haiti. Cisco is from Puerto Rico, though he  
was raised in New York. All the men are in great spirits, even those,  
like Ray, Hank and Richard Brown, who lost their positions or jobs  
when their lives were interrupted two and a half years ago. Mortgage  
payments have been late, pensions have been exhausted and retirees  
like Ray have to go back to work.

I can’t begin to imagine what’s going on with Cisco, whose ordeal is  
still not over. But optimism was the operative word here. Send support  
(money) to the SF 8 at Free the SF8 - Committee for the Defense of Human Rights [4]. The work is not over.

One supporter said the “Free SF 8” T-shirts which were on sale tonight  
will be collector’s items soon when the SF 8 are all released. We were  
chatting about milestones or victories like the one yesterday. I named  
a few recent ones like the court’s dropping the felony charges on 16-
year-old David in the Oscar Grant case stemming from his leadership  
role in the downtown Oakland action Jan. 7. Other successes or  
victories were getting disabled inmate “Chuck” moved from Solano State  
Prison to the Medical Facility so he could use a wheelchair and the  
Louisiana court’s ruling in favor of Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3  
this spring, even though a higher court overturned the ruling to  
release him on bail.

It was good seeing Maisha Quint, Javad, Donna Willmott, Linda Evans,  
Diana Block, Scott Braley and of course the men we were there to  
celebrate, the SF 8 – those absent, political prisoners Herman Bell  
and Jalil A. Muntaqim and the late John Bowman, present in our hearts.

Bay View Arts Editor Wanda Sabir can be reached at wsab1@aol.com.  
Visit her website at wandaspicks [5] for an expanded version  
of Wanda’s Picks, her blog, photos and Wanda’s Picks Radio. Her shows  
are streamed live Wednesdays at 6-7 a.m. and Fridays at 8-10 a.m. and  
archived on the Kmtyw Sistahs’ Media Network, http://www.WandasPicks.ASMNetwork.org
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Statement by Scott Braley

Big changes! Friends and supporters of the SF 8: After large and  
enthusiastic support demonstrations before court, Jalil Muntaqim and  
Herman Bell have made tactical pleas to reduced charges. Because of  
this, and because of two years of mass opposition to charges based on  
statements made under torture, Harold Taylor, Richard Brown, Ray  
Boudreaux and Hank Jones had all charges dropped. Only Francisco  
(Cisco) Torres still has charges, which he, the rest of the Brothers  
and the defense committee will continue to fight. With your support,  
we have almost defeated a case which has felt the full vindictiveness  
of the FBI, Homeland Security and the SFPD.

Scott Braley, a member of the San Francisco 8 Defense Committee and a  
photojournalist who has recorded the entire SF 8 ordeal, can be  
reached at scottb@igc.org.

on a move! free dem all! brick by brick wall by wall  we have to free mumia abul jamal!

it is not over till the fat lady sings,we have to continue to fight for the release for jalil mutaquin and herman bell