Tell the parole board that the released domestic terrorists of the 1970s and 1980s are already meeting with younger extremists in 'prison liberation' conferences, and that releasing Acoli may add to their number.
Handwritten letters are often more effective than typewritten ones, but please, no matter how much you write, send a letter today. Remember, you need to include his serial number and true name as well as his alias - he's Clark Squire, #39794-066.
2) Tell others. Tell the people in your church, tell people in your workplace, tell people in your local fraternal and community organizations. Ask them to write letters urging the New Jersey parole board to deny Sundiata Acoli parole. Contact your local elected officials - at the municipal, state, and federal level.
3) Consider a small donation to our publicity campaign. It will help cover the costs of webhosting and getting the word out to others, and any surplus goes towards organizing similar campaigns in the future.
4) If you can't find the time to do anything else, not even write a letter, not even pass this site on to a friend, we'd be happy if you'd simply do one thing - remember Werner Foerster. He died doing a dangerous job, working to keep you and I safe; yet today, his killers are remembered more than he is. Just do a simple Google search: at this writing, "Werner Foerster" gets less than five hundred hits, many not about the brave trooper. "Sundiata Acoli" gets over two thousand. "Assata Shakur," Foerster's other murderer, gets almost seven thousand. This simply isn't right; the totalitarian, communist society these domestic terrorists wanted died in the bud, while the free America Foerster fought to defend lives on. He deserves remembrance, as much as any soldier who died fighting the war on terror, as much as the police and firefighters who died helping others in the horror of 9/11. May justice continue to be served, and Foerster's killer never go free.
who supports sundiata?
The
Sundiata Acoli Freedom Page is actually located at a sub-page of
Mumia.org, a website run by the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia Abu-Jamal, of course, is the unrepentant murderer of police officer
Daniel Faulker; the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal wish to see this killer released back on the streets.
Many of these supporters of Sundiata are his former comrades. The
Jericho Movement, an organization that seeks 'amnesty and freedom for all political prisoners in U.S. prisons,' is chock full of felons from domestic terrorist groups who served their sentences, were paroled, or were foolishly pardoned. Until her recent death, the Jericho Movement was co-chaired by Black Liberation Army member Safiya Bukhari, who was captured in a shootout with Virginia police. Despite a two-month long prison break, Bukhari was paroled after serving only
nine years of her forty year sentence. The Jericho Movement was formed by the New Afrikan Liberation Front, which contains the New Afrikan Peoples' Organization. All of these black nationalist organizations support the revolutionary overthrow of the United States.
Many American communist organizations support Sundiata Acoli; after all, given the beliefs of the Black Liberation Army, they can legitimately consider him one of their own. The communist Workers World Party has published
many articles supporting Acoli and other cop-killers; as
one particularly offensive article states,
Out of the depths of prison despair many revolutionaries have arisen, from George Jackson to Malcolm X. Their heirs include Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, the Puerto Rican prisoners of war, Sundiata Acoli, the MOVE 9, the Angola 3, the Cuban 5, Rabih Haddad, Mutulu Shakur and countless others. Their only "crime" was to openly oppose racism, capitalist oppression and exploitation.
Let's be absolutely clear: Sundiata Acoli's crime was the murder of NJ State Trooper Werner Foerster, not his political beliefs. If Acoli and his fellow murderer Assata Shakur hadn't shot Foerster dead, Acoli would most likely have already completed his time for the other crimes he committed as a member of the Black Liberation Army, and be a free man today. His presence in prison is his own fault, and his own choice.
Sundiata's supporters have even set up a way to funnel money to his defense - and have the contributors claim it as a deduction on their taxes! As unbelievable as this sounds, it is now possible for individuals to reduce their obligation to the IRS by giving cash to a cop-killer. This is made possible through the organization of the Castro-worshipping
Rev. Lucius Walker, the
Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO). Walker, who once said he "would be honored to have a person like Fidel [Castro] as the president of my own country," now accepts donations to his registered charity on behalf of Sundiata, and passes on the proceeds.
Sundiata's supporters have been organizing for years. They have researched the members of the New Jersey Parole Board, and will have instructed Sundiata how to play to the sympathies of the particular parole board members present at his hearing. They have commissioned letters of support from every elected official they could find; in the past, they even won the support of members of Congress, when
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) personally asked the departing President Clinton to pardon Sundiata. (Clinton pardoned other domestic terrorists instead - over a dozen felons from the Puerto Rican FALN and Weather Underground terrorists Susan Rosenberg and Linda Sue Evans.) They organized a letter-writing campaign the last time Sundiata came up for parole; this failed because writers kept referring to Sundiata as a 'political prisoner' - as if he was jailed for his beliefs rather than the murder of a police officer. This time around, they have carefully instructed their members and supporters to avoid referring to Sundiata as a 'political prisoner' or a 'prisoner of war' - even though, as one stated, 'we know it's so.' One
call for letters of support states that
You will notice the letter has been very carefully worded. There is no mention of the Black Panther Party, the BLA, Assata Shakur or Sundiata being a political prisoner. Should you decide to add or change anything or submit a personal letter please keep this in mind and share with others. The tone of the letters must stay away from any indictments of the "system"...
Acoli's supporters know that, when all the facts are on the table, he cannot possibly be paroled. They're hoping the parole board is somehow willing to overlook these facts. It's time to put them front and center. Sundiata Acoli is a murderer. He was a member of a domestic terrorist organization called the Black Liberation Army. He believed and continues to believe that he was at war with the United States rather than a common criminal. He continues to believe that his mythical status as 'political prisoner' should entitled him to special treatment. All of these beliefs combined point to a murderer who remains unrehabilitated and unrepentant. Until Acoli severs himself from his radical comrades and denounces their actions and beliefs, he cannot possibly be considered for parole.
why we need to act
Two words:
Kathy Boudin. A member of the Weather Underground and the May 19th Communist Organization, Boudin participated in an infamous 1981 armored car robbery in Nyack, New York, which ended with two police officers and one security guard dead. No one expected that Boudin would ever be freed from prison - not after her role in the murders of Edward O'Grady, Waverly Brown, and Peter Paige. However, while we were complacent, Boudin's supporters were organizing. By misconstruing her terrorist acts as a campaign for civil rights gone awry, by glossing over key details of her crime and her political beliefs, and by persuading the parole board that the public truly wanted her freed, Boudin and her lawyers persuaded two members of New York's parole board to release her. The public backlash and protest was fierce, but it was too late - the damage was done. (For further background on the Boudin case, see
here.)
Sundiata Acoli's supporters are up to the same tricks. In their own self-serving account of Sundiata and his crimes, they state that
"some of the human rights struggles that Sundiata was engaged in are not unlike those waged by more well known leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Attorney Nelson Mandela." But don't let this crude and inaccurate description distract you from the basic difference between Aloci, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela - Sundiata Acoli's the one that shot and killed a cop.
Don't be fooled. Sundiata Acoli is still quite obviously a political radical who believes his organization's 'war on America' justified Werner Foerster's murder. In other words, he hasn't been rehabilitated at all. There is plenty of evidence to show his continued association with extremists:
According to a
1998 article in the Revolutionary Worker, the newspaper of a small group of American Maoists called the Revolutionary Communist Party, Acoli remains an 'unbroken revolutionary.' He describes himself as 'a fighter for the New Afrikan Independence Movement.' The goal of these 1960s and 1970s-era 'independence movements,' however, was to carve a communist republic out of the American south. That Acoli still used this vocabulary twenty-five years into his sentence indicates he hasn't changed, and isn't about to.
During the early 1990s, Acoli wrote a
series of articles on the 'New Afrikan Prison Struggle' on behalf of the New Afrikan Peoples' Organization, a radical black separatist organization. In late 2000 / early 2001, Sundiata Acoli
expanded and updated this work.
Sundiata Acoli helped
provide a list of 'political prisoners' to the Anarchist Black Cross Federation, who used this information to send these felons money. In return, the Anarchist Black Cross supports him, and has sent him 'emergency fund' money for his own personal use on at least one occasion. Sundiata Acoli continues to identify himself as a 'political prisoner' - in fact, he wrote a 1996 article for the Southern University Law Review entitled 'Unique Problems Associated With the Defense of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War'.
After decades to reflect, Sundiata Acoli's only
real criticism of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army's campaign of terror was their inability to separate and their illegal terror cells from the group's public wing, which made it easier for the police to capture and disrupt them.
Finally, Sundiata Acoli is still supported by his partner in crime, Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Chesimard). Shakur, who was freed from prison by her comrades and spirited away to communist Cuba, habitually writes Acoli messages of support and
birthday well-wishes. As she wrote,
"I want him to know how much he is appreciated by revolutionaries all over the world." Being appreciated by killers like Shakur hardly makes him a good prospect for parole.
Supporters of Acoli will attempt to convince you that since he is a senior citizen, and unlikely to commit further crimes, he is no longer a threat to society and should be released. This line of argument is false. Other domestic terrorists, when released, have begun organizing speaking tours and attending conferences with younger extremists. For instance, convicted and released domestic terrorists Ed Mead and Rita 'Bo' Brown (members of the George Jackson Brigade), Laura Whitehorn (a member of the May 19th Communist Organization), and 'Splitting the Sky' (aka John Hill, who murdered a prison guard during the 1971 Attica riots) all addressed the 'Break the Chains' conference in Portland, Oregon this August. While at this conference, sponsored by the 'Northwest Anarchist Prisoners Support Network,' they mingled with the potential domestic terrorists of tomorrow, and had plenty of opportunity to pass down their murderous tactics and techniques. Perhaps they found an eager protégé in Craig Rosebraugh, former spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front and co-founder of a group named 'Arissa.' Rosebraugh spoke at the conference on 'the logic of political violence;' his group openly calls for political revolution in the United States, begun by 'any means necessary'. (For more info. on Rosebraugh and 'Break the Chains,' see
here.)
Sundiata Acoli is still a radical - at least as radical as any of the domestic terrorists present at the 'Break the Chains' conference. By releasing him to the subversive speakers' circuit, we put ourselves at great risk. Acoli cannot be allowed further opportunity to inspire the domestic terrorists of the future; if he works to instruct others on his release, he poses as great a threat to our society as if he chose to reoffend personally. In the wake of 9/11, can America afford to be so cavalier about terrorism?
how you can keep helping
Sundiata Alico wasn't the first domestic terrorist in America to kill a cop in the name of an evil cause. He wasn't the last, either. And while his own murderous organization faded away in the 1980s, other groups have risen and will rise to take his place. Today, radical environmentalist groups tilt closer and closer to outright murder, their crimes against property growing more severe and more careless as their threats towards humans grow ever more extreme. Some groups, like former Earth Liberation Front spokesman Craig Rosebraugh's Arissa, openly advocate politically-motivated violence - in other words, terrorism. In addition, the rise and fall of an ineffective anti-war movement in 2002 and 2003 mirrors the conditions that led to domestic terrorism at the end of the Vietnam War.
An organization needs to be formed to educate the public about domestic extremist movements; movements like Sundiata Alico's Black Liberation Army, movements like Kathy Boudin's May 19th Communist Organization, movements like Craig Rosebraugh's Arissa. Such an organization is in the beginning stages of forming, but we need funding to get off the ground. Once established, we will solicit tax-deductible donations from philathropists and charitable foundations, but just getting that initial IRS authorization and getting established as a non-profit costs money. We wish we could offer you a tax-deduction on anything you contribute now, but we can't. But any donation now through PayPal, no matter how small, will help us on our way. Don't give anything you can't afford; don't give a large amount. When enough people give just a few dollars each, a lot of good can happen. And even if you can't give, please - send that letter to the parole board today.
Should you want to talk to us more about contributing to our project, please, e-mail us at
info@stopsundiata.com.
who we are
This web site is primarily the work of two people, Greg Yardley and Jim Versluys.
"Canada's most famous ex-Leftist, Greg Yardley is in a class all his own. As a former working-class revolutionary, Mr. Yardley was an industrial worker during the day and communist apparatchik at night.
Today, Greg is a regular contributor to FrontPage magazine, a widely-printed conservative essayist, and a specialist on the communist roots of the modern radical Left. The originator of the critically acclaimed
Commiewatch, Greg's analyses are hated far and wide among 'progressive' circles for their accuracy and insight into the nature of the Left. "
"James Versluys is that rarest of birds, an ex-communist philosopher from Texas. A guest on radio programs and essayist on all matters political, Mr. Versluys was also the senior editor of the Houston Review magazine. He is currently the editor of the Texas Mercury. He is slated to appear on Erik Kirk radio show in January."