•
••
he return
of arnona
It was a return marked more by
triumph than tragedy. MOVE
political pri oner, Ramona Africa,
borne away (rom the bucolic Central
Penn ylvania pri on grounds of
Muncy Women's Prison in white
limousine, turned out in the early
hours of May 13th, 1992, seven years
to the day when City of Philadelphia,
joined by state and fe de ral cops,
unleashed a deadly bomb on MOVE
headquarters leaving raging flames
and enormous destruction.
From the first moments of
"freedom," the tiny, committed
MOVE minister, spoke out against
the continued imprisonment of a
number of MOVE political
prisoners, several ofwbom languish
in prison solely for refusing to
violate their faith, the Teachings of
John Africa by agreeing to an
unprecendented state requirement
that they not associate with any
MOVE .peopte (family) as a
precondition for parole.
Her return to Philadelphia
parked enormous press response,
with banner headlines in the city's
papers, live studio interviews with
popular talk shows, both in
Philadelphia and nationally.
Her message?
FREEDOM FOR ALL MOVE
political prisoners. Period.
. She refused repeated press.
requests for comments on the May
. 13th, 1985 holocaust, and turned all
answers to the issue at hand: the
unjust imprisonment and 30 to 100
year sentence against MOVE
political prisoners, veterans of the
Aug. 8th, 1978 police raid and
shoot-in at the West Philadelphia
MOVE HQs, where police crossfire
left one cop dead, the pretext for the
subsequent MOVE convictions.
Ballistics and trajectories of
gunfire from that fateful day became
impo ible by nightfall when police
ordered the bullet-riddled structure
demolished.
By trial's end, the trial judge,
Edwin MaImed, told a locally
broadcast radio audience that he
hadn't "the faintest idea" who killed
FROM
DEATH
ROW
MUMIA
ABU-JAMAL
the cop, adding, "I tried them as a
family; I sentenced them as a
family." One is reminded of the old
saying, attributed to Judge O.W.
Holmes, "1 don't give a damn about
'justice'; I'm just trying the easel"
For political expediency, MOVE
political prisoners were sentenced to
over 900 years in prison: Chuck,
Debbie, Mike Jannie, Phil, Delbert,
Merle, Janet and Eddie Africa; sent
to the gulag for 30 to 100 years each,
for being "members of a family."
CONSUEWELLA AFRICA,
sentenced to 24 years; Sue Africa, to
12 years; Carlos Africa, to 15
years-al.l could be free today-if
they signed a stipulation with state
parole officials that they renounce
MOVE, and disassociate themselves
from MOVE homes, gatherin� or
activities.
To their credit, no MOVE
member has ever accepted the vile
stipulation-so they languish in
man-made hells, for long, bitter
years.
How must they feel when
poli ticians boast of the great
"freedoms" - the "Bill of Rights"
-the "Constitution"? Those legal
fictions cost Ramona Africa 7 years
of ber life, and indeed, cost many
MOVE people their very lives.
If' your organization wishes to
contact ber, write to:
Ramona Africa, Minister of
Communications
MOV.E Organization
1630 S. 56th St.
Philadelphia, P A 19143
VIEVV� OPINIONS
A OTHER HISTO ICAL
fact not taught in our public choo
concerns the King of the Mali
Empire in Africa during the early
Fourteenth Century.
His name was Abubakari the
Second, and "he was the master of
the largest empire in the
world-larger, said the Arabs, than
P ly t ou
hundred peop co d you it .
recorded hi tory th t Columb
e bout the oy 0 other
peopl ,or that he
old hi from of
. fi t co' to circul in
Europe lnce Roman tim
mined from his old.-
In 1310, King Abubatari d
often Ii tened to his grio (oral
hi tori ), and sc.bol (from the
universiti of Thnbuktu) ve him
repo of a great land to the t.
This land could be reached by sailing
upon huge tream or current which
flowed through the Atlantic Ocean
which bathed the tem shores of
his ingdom. Abubakari
commissioned the building of 400
hips of diffeIent designs to ensure
the chance 0 UCOCSS.
Thus, Abubak ri ' first
expedition left for the lands now
known as the Americas. And, hen
one boat Ietumed and reported to
him that hip had entered the great
current, Abubakari commissioned a
econd group of ships in 1311 and
led hi expedition to the We t
himself. Yet, although thi is almost
200 years before Columbus made his
- -Specific content that provid
balance of information about the
history, culture, and contributions of
Ix identified geo-cultural groups,
which are: African-American,
Asian-Americ n ,
European-Amer�can,
His pan i c - A mer I c a. � ,
Indian-American, and Pacific
Island-AItlerican.
- A structured process designed
to foster undeIStanding, acceptance,
and constructive relations among
people of different cultural and
ethnic backgrounds.
Stop the explOitation of Mexican
American women in the U.S.A.
The exploitation of women in the
United States of America is not a
new phenomena. We believe,
however, that in particular for
women of color the exploitation and
abuse is on the increase without a
national alarm being sounded by
government officials at the state nor
a t the federal levels.
It is in the interests of all people
of color and all who believe in
freedom and human digni ty to speak
out against any and all forms of
discrimination and exploitation of
women in our society or anywhere in
the world where this cruel
oppression exits.
Our focus is concern for the
thousands of Mexican American
women who are increaslngly
becoming "slaves" and victims of
abject cruelty at the hands of a
ociety gone mad with greed,
exploitation and manipulation to
gratify the sins of racism and sexism
in the United States.
To ee hundreds of Mexican
women on both ides of the border
between the United I States and
Mexico, especially along the border
regions of California and Texas and
to hear some of their stories about
- A perspective (a philosophy
and educational ttitude) that guid
one in the election and infusion of
infonnation and challenges one to
deliver education th t i
multicultural or other school related
services in a manner that promotes
acces and equity.
With a wider use of educational
programs like the -Portland Project,"
just maybe we can develop people
with tronger and more balanced
minds and identities. Then, racism,
crime, and injustice just might
become a bit more manageable.
(Sources: "1M Africtlll presence
in Ancien: America: TM Came
Before Columbus," by Ivan Van
Sertima; and "African-American
Baseline Essays. ")
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their abuse after coming into or
leaving the United States, makes one
want to cry out m-anger knowing the
exploitation of these women has
nearly become an acceptable norm
for many who are blind and deaf to
the plight of these women who are
oppressed.
MANY OF THE immigrant or
undocumented workers who come to
, the United States wind up as
migra tory farm workers or as
domestic worker in urban or
subwban middle-class homes. We
have reported before about the abuse
of Mexican American fannworkers,
many of whom f.I'C women, not only
from harsh labor conditions and
exploitative labor policies, but also
the exposure of these workers 10
Ufe-threatening pesticides and other
agricultural poisons.
Because the immune systems of
mothers and tlieir babies are very
vulnerable to the dangers of
pesticide, one would think that the
Federal Food and Drug Agency
would make a special effort to stop
the widely used practice of the
"over-kill" use of pesticides a cost
saving mea ure by many
agribusiness corporations to
muimiu profits without regard to
the negative health impact on
farmworkers. .
The dramatic rise in cancer and
other fatal diseases among Mexican
American women who are
farmworkers is directly related to
pesticide abuse that the government
is in full knowledge of and hu not
take sufficient steps to top this from
continuing. Also the increasing
birth defect rate for Mexican
. American babies is directly related
to the unfair and inhuman treatment
for Mexican American women
workers.
We have also received reports of
Mexican women being lured to
place in low , California,
Washington, Florida, Texas and
other state with the promise of
-good jobs" and "good wages" and
-good opportunities- only to be
economically entrapped domestic
workers in a ituation imilar to
indentured servitude. If these
women complain to local
authorities, very often they are
physically abused aDd later deported
or held inside of -holding fadlity"
by immigration oflidall.
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. BENJAMIN
CHAVIS
CML
RIGHTS
JOURNAL
The exploitation of Mexican
American women is not dissimilar to
the historic exploitation of African
American and other women of color I
in the United States. The Civil
Rights Movement of the 1990's must
focus on the conditions of all women
of color in the struggle for justice and
freedom.
A SOCIETY that tolerates or
condones the domination and
oppression of women is, society that
neces itates transformation. Vice
President Dan Quayle, and his own
brand of "cultural eliti m" only seeks
to justify the oppression of people of
color communities e pecially
women.
All Latino Amen can, African
American, Native American, and
Asian American women deserve and
need the upport of all who are
committed to human liberation.