Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Malcolm X Committee Honors Black Prisoners of War in USA


THE MALCOLM X COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE
PO BOX 380-122
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11238
718-512-5008  mxcc519@verizon.net
“We have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, and a common discriminator…Once we all realize that we have a common enemy, 
then we unite, on the basis of what we have in common…"
Malcolm X—Message to the Grass Roots
November 30, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
MALCOLMITES HOST 17TH ANNUAL DINNER
TO HONOR POLITICAL PRISONERS, THEIR FAMILIES!

On Saturday, January 19th, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee and the 1199 SEIU activists will host its 17th annual dinner tribute to our political prisoners and their families!
          This highly anticipated and moving event will take place at the Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center, 1199 Union Headquarters, 310 West 43rd Street, (near 8th Avenue), in Manhattan.
          The event will be from 3-7pm with dinner served promptly at 4pm. Donations for this now time-honored event are $40 in advance and $45 at the door. Proceeds from this gathering go to the commissary of the political prisoners who are represented at the dinner by their families.
          The theme for this year’s dinner is “Transforming Solidarity: Working Together To End Political Imprisonment and Mass Incarceration.”
          “We chose this theme because it’s time to critically look at what we’re doing and how we’re doing it,” Dequi Kioni-Sadiki, co-chair of the Committee and co-chair of WBAI’s ‘Where We Live.’
          “At some point it becomes important to recognize that it is not enough to say ‘I am doing something.’ At some point, we have to figure out just what must be done to get results,” she finished emphatically.
          Special guests presenters for this year are Johanna Fernandez, producer of the critically acclaimed film ‘Justice On Trial,’ about Mumia Abu-Jamal, Malik Rhasaan of Occupy The ‘Hood and people’s hip hop artist Jasiri X!
          This year’s dinner comes on the heels of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence being tossed and on the heels of political prisoners like Jalil Muntaqim being denied parole again. Muntaqim has been in prison since 1973.
          The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee was launched in 1993 with former political prisoner Herman Ferguson serving as chairman. Ferguson, now 91, was also a founding member of the Organization of AfroAmerican Unity with Malcolm X and was with him up until that fateful day February 21, 1965, when Malcolm was tragically assassinated.
          In addition to combatting misinformation surrounding the legacy of Malcolm X and multiplying the presence of the community for the very moving annual pilgrimage to Malcolm’s gravesite on his birthday, the Committee also initiated this dinner 17 years ago to bring the community together to build greater support for Black and New Afrikan political prisoners and to instill greater appreciation for their humanity and for what their families have to endure in the face of their wrongful incarceration.
          The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee has always said that Black and New Afrikan political prisoners, who were young men who were directly inspired by Malcolm to join the Black Liberation Movement, make up “the hidden legacy” of Malcolm X. Many were viciously targeted by the government’s COINTELPRO operations of the late 60s early 70s. Those operations assassinated activists, framed activists, fostered violence between activists and the police and even fostered violence between activists themselves. To this date, there are dozens of political prisoners and prisoners of war who are still in prison from frameups dating back to the 60s in most cases!
          For more reservations and more information, please call 718-512-5008. ‘Like’ us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Malcolm X Commemoration Committee…

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