Hands Off Assata Campaign

To:  The Chicago City Council

On May 2, 2005, the US Department of Justice authorized the State of New Jersey to issue a $1million dollar bounty for Assata Shakur and placed her on the terrorist watch list. Ms. Shakur is a grandmother, artist, environmentalist and law-abiding resident of Cuba. In the heady days of the 1960s and 70s, she was an activist in the Black Power Movement and was persecuted for her political beliefs by the FBI’s illegal Counter Intelligence Program. Like Martin Luther King, Mumia Abul Jamal, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, the FBI attempted to silence her in any way they could. Hounded, wrongly prosecuted, shot and tortured, Ms Shakur faced 6 trials during the mid 1970s. In all but one, she was acquitted. In the final one, she was convicted in the death of a New Jersey State trooper and her companion Zayd Shakur, even though prosecutors suppressed evidence which would have proven her innocence. She was sentenced to life + 33 years in 1979, but managed to escape in fear of her life. She fled to Cuba where she was granted political exile according to international law, and has lived there quietly since the 1980s. Calling her “120 pounds of money” and encouraging bounty hunters to kidnap her smacks of the tracking down of runaway slaves (like Harriet Tubman) and the Jim Crow fostering of vigilante violence (as in the case of Emmett Till). This is clearly immoral, unethical and anti-human.

Therefore, we call on the City of Chicago to RESOLVE that:

Assata Shakur is a bona fide political exile, according to international law.
The Department of Justice & the State of New Jersey withdraw the $1million bounty/reward.
Ms. Shakur be taken off the terrorist watch list. She is not a terrorist by any international standard.
$1million dollars would be better spent on education, health care and affordable housing.
Hunting down individuals for their beliefs and associations undermines the real fight against terrorism.
A $1million bounty on a law-abiding resident of Cuba violates that country’s national sovereignty
The city of Chicago does not condone prosecutorial misconduct in order to force convictions

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Hands Off Assata Campaign Petition to The Chicago City Council was created by and written by D'Sheadra Benford (dbenford99@hotmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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