Our media-activist project,
Angola 3 News,
has just released this interview with Theresa Shoatz and Matt Meyer,
timed to help publicize the 30-day action campaign launched this month
by the Campaign to Free Russell Maroon Shoatz, demanding that Maroon be
immediately removed from solitary confinement, wjhere he has now been
held continuously for 23 years.
As with the Angola 3, all
evidence indicates that Maroon has been targeted for solitary because of
his political activism behind bars. Like Herman and Albert, Maroon is
also an elder (69 yrs. old), with serious health issues.
Maroon needs to be moved into general population immediately and we urge A3 supporters to assist the 30-day campaign, by
taking action here.
We
are impressed by this strategic 30-day campaign and are studying it to
learn how we can do something similar in the future for Herman Wallace
and Albert Woodfox. As our strategizing continues, we'll keep you
updated.
|
(PHOTO: Matt Meyer, LaKeisha Wolfe, Fred Ho and Theresa Shoatz at a Pittsburgh event for We Have Not Beeen Moved in Feb. 2013.) |
Why Russell 'Maroon' Shoatz Must Be Released From Solitary Confinement
--An interview with Theresa Shoatz and Matt Meyer
By Angola 3 News
This month,
a 30-day action campaign
was launched demanding the release of Russell 'Maroon' Shoatz from
solitary confinement, where he has been held for over 23 consecutive
years, and 28 of the last 30 years, in Pennsylvania prisons. On April 8,
when the campaign began,
Maroon's legal team sent a letter
to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC), demanding his
release from solitary confinement and promising litigation against the
PA DOC if he is not transferred to general population by May 8.
The
action campaign describes Maroon as "a former leader of the Black
Panthers and the Black freedom movement, born in Philadelphia in 1943
and originally imprisoned in January 1972 for actions relating to his
political involvement. With an extraordinary thirty-plus years spent in
solitary confinement...Maroon's case is one of the most shocking
examples of U.S. torture of political prisoners, and one of the most
egregious examples of human rights violations regarding prison
conditions anywhere in the world. His 'Maroon' nickname is, in part, due
to his continued resistance-which twice led him to escape confinement;
it is also based on his continued clear analysis, including recent
writings on ecology and matriarchy."
Writing
that Maroon "has not had a serious rule violation for more than two
decades," the campaign argues that he has actually been "targeted
because of his work as an educator and because of his political ideas;
his time in solitary began just after he was elected president of an
officially-sanctioned prison-based support group. This targeting is in
violation of his basic human and constitutional rights."
On March 28, just before the campaign was launched, Maroon was transferred from SCI-Greene to SCI-Mahanoy
An update released by the campaign on April 15
reported that Maroon had been told by officials at SCI-Mahanoy that he
had been transferred there with intent to move him into general
population. Responding to the news, campaign co-coordinator Matt Meyer
(also interviewed below) said: "We are encouraged by the words of the
officials at Mahanoy, but we cannot rest until those words are followed
by deeds: by the ultimate action which will end the current torture of
Maroon." Bret Grote, from the Pittsburgh Human Rights Coalition, who is
himself a longtime legal and political supporter of Shoatz, added that,
"while we are pleased that some of the concerns raised by the demand
letter have been met," including Maroon's "access to his anti-embolism
stockings and to a typewriter, we remain concerned that the timeline for
release from solitary has been left vague."
The
April 15 update also reports that "the assistants at the office of PA
DOC Secretary John Wetzel have confirmed that the Secretary personally
ordered Maroon's recent transfer from SCI Greene to SCI Mahanoy for the
purpose of placing him in the general prison population. In
conversations with some of the many people who have called in to the DOC
central office on the first week of the 30-day pressure campaign, DOC
personnel have suggested that Maroon supporters be patient as the
process to get him into general population work its course. But Maroon
and his family have been misled in the past about these issues." While
the campaign began by asking supporters to contact both Secretary Wetzel
and SCI Mahanoy Supt. John Kerestes, it is now asking supporters to
just focus on Secretary Wetzel, since he is the "ultimate
decision-maker."
This month also marked the release of the new book, entitled
Maroon the Implacable: The Collected Writings of Russell Maroon Shoatz
(PM Press), co-edited by Fred Ho and Quincy Saul, with a foreword by
Chuck D. The collected essays examine a wide range of topics that are
perhaps most striking for their honest self-criticism and for his
commitment to confronting male supremacy and misogyny in all its forms.
For example, in one essay entitled, "The Question of Violence," after
Maroon criticizes "the worldwide misogynist 'gangsta' genre of the hip
hop culture" for being "a male, macho parody of exhibitionist violence,"
Maroon writes:
"More
troubling is the fact that this male exhibitionist violence has also
permeated the minds, practices, and circles of otherwise brilliant and
well-meaning revolutionary thinkers. Such theorists as the renowned
Frantz Fanon, icons like Malcolm X and Kwane Ture (formerly Stokely
Carmichael) and others have unconsciously conflated the necessary
utilization of defensive revolutionary violence, in seeking meaningful
revolutionary socioeconomic and cultural change, with what they believed
was a need for males to use 'revolutionary violence' to also 'liberate
their minds and spirits' subservience imposed on them by the vestiges of
slavery and the colonialism /neocolonialism of their times. These
individuals failed to recognize that their 'revolutionary' worldview
would still leave in place the entire male-supremacist /patriarchal
framework, an edifice that we can term the 'father of oppression.' The
destruction of this edifice will signal the true liberation they
sought. Otherwise, the 'revolutionary violence' they formulated must
also be recognized for what it is: exhibitionist, ego-based male
violence."
Featured below is our interview with
Theresa Shoatz
and Matt Meyer. Theresa Shoatz is the daughter of Russell 'Maroon'
Shoatz. Theresa has worked for decades as a public advocate for her
father and through the
Human Rights Coalition, she fights for all prisoners in Pennsylvania and beyond. This month, Theresa has been traveling around the US as part of
a book tour promoting
Maroon the Implacable.
Matt
Meyer, a native New York City-based educator, activist, and author, is
the War Resisters International Africa Support Network Coordinator, and a
United Nations/ECOSOC representative of the International Peace
Research Association. Now the co-coordinator of the Campaign to Free
Russell Maroon Shoatz, Meyer also has a long history in solidarity with
the people of Puerto Rico. In 2009, Meyer edited
Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners (PM Press), and in 2012, co-edited another book entitled,
We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America (PM Press).
Please
look out for part two our report on the 30-day action campaign, which
will further examine the legality of Maroon's placement in solitary
confinement and take a closer look at his recently published book,
Maroon the Implacable. In the meantime, you can stay updated on the campaign for his release from solitary
here.
(PHOTO: Theresa
Shoatz at a protest for Mumia Abu-Jamal in Philadelphia on July 4,
2008, outside the Constitution Center, across the street from
Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.)
Angola 3 News: Political
prisoners are often seen as symbolic of what is wrong with the US
government, but we don't usually hear about the actual person and how
their imprisonment has affected their families. As fellow Pennsylvania
political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal has commented, "I am a man, not a
symbol." To begin our interview, can you please describe your father,
Maroon, for us, so we can better understand who he is as a person?
Theresa Shoatz:
Honestly, I can only define part of the man that Maroon is because I
only know the man from which I engage with from behind the bullet proof
glass. He is the man who pleads with me to save his life when he is not
getting proper medical attention, and to fight for him when his living
conditions are unbearable and his grievances aren't addressed.
However,
there's so much more to Maroon. He loves his people. It's what's keeps
him going. His wisdom protects our family. Even while in solitary
confinement today, he is still putting others first by denying any
support for his freedom until his comrades are freed throughout the
United States.
Maroon
is extremely concerned with issues affecting single mothers and their
children. He is drafting ways to not only put food on the table, but
also to grow and prepare meals for the community. He's the man. Even
when he's in no position to help, he connects to the outside with his
attempts to heal the Black communities.
A3N: How old were you when he was first forced underground?
TS: I was about nine years of age when my dad was forced underground.
A3N: What do you remember about Maroon from your early childhood?
TS:
My sister and I lived with him until I was five years old. I remember
that back when my sister and I were only three and four years old, there
was a black board hanging in the living room. Every morning, Daddy used
that black board to teach us political education alongside physical
education classes. Man, I love and miss those classes.
Daddy
was cultivating young minds. With anything he did, I was right behind
him. He was preparing us to be future leaders, but this preparation was
halted when at the age five we were separated, and I stopped living with
him.
A3N: What has your relationship with Maroon has been like as you've grown older?
Ever
since the age of nine, I have honored and admired my Dad. Today, he is
still my hero. Maroon is a leader, educator, and father to many young
black males behind bars. At his core, he is about peace and love for his
people.
As
Maroon approaches 70 years of age, he's a grandfather of ten. Since I
can remember, he has tried to educate his biological children from
behind bars. I can remember a prison contact visit from some thirty
years ago, when I sat on my dad's lap, comparing our physical
similarities, and him using the opportunity to update me on present-day
issues.
After
those few years of contact visits, I grew into womanhood and was forced
to visit him from behind a thick bullet-proof glass. During one of our
visits, I pointed this out, and through the thick glass while chained at
the wrist and ankles, he said: "I had to step away from my family to
protect my family and my community. I stepped away to secure a better
future for you and the youth coming behind me. I couldn't allow you to
be brutalized like those who came before and will come after you. I
stepped away from my family for the love of my people."
A3N: How did that visit influence you?
TS:
Wow! That was so powerful. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Ever since
that visit with Maroon, I've been motivated by the love of my people to
do everything in my power to help us move forward, including my work
with the
Human Rights Coalition (HRC) in Philadelphia, and the
HRC FedUp! chapter in Pittsburgh, which Maroon started from behind bars.
I
am also the Director of a free after-school program for youth with a
loved one in prison. Last year, I became a foster parent and I have
since fostered eight kids in my home, caring for two seventeen-year-old
teenagers, a thirteen-year-old, a three-month-old, a two-year-old, a
six-year-old, a four-day-old, and a pregnant teen. This is all for the
love of my people.
Some
think I'm crazy, but they're crazier than I am when they pretend not to
see how so many youth in our community are lost and headed towards the
prison system. If they pretend not to see what the system is doing to
our youth, shame on them. I love my people. I'm just like my daddy
Maroon--it's in my blood.
A3N: A
key feature of your father's being held in solitary confinement at,
until recently, SCI Greene, a supermax prison, is to not allow contact
visits with family and friends. If Maroon is transferred to general
population, he will then be able to have contact visits once again. How
long has it been since you had a contact visit with him?
TS: It's been almost thirty years since I've been able to touch my father.
A3N: How has this aspect of his imprisonment affected you personally?
TS:
It is extremely painful and mentally challenging. I am still that
little girl who craves hugs, and reassurance from her daddy.
A3N: How has the policy of no contacted visits affected the rest of your family?
TS:
The no-contact visits cause stress, leading to emotional and physical
breakdowns. The fear this creates often paralyzes family members, and
is so debilitating that it prevents some from visiting him.
A3N: What is a no-contact visit with him like?
To
reach the solitary no-contact visiting room, there's a tunnel spanning
two city blocks, and a barbed-wired fence surrounds this 'prison inside
of a prison.' The visiting room is cold and 99 percent of the time there
are no other family members visiting prisoners.
It
is mind blowing to think of this 69-year-old man with both ankles
shackled, both wrists shackled, all attached by a chained waist belt.
This contraption forces him to walk hunched over, and appear older than
his real age.
A3N: To
underscore the importance of the new campaign to have Maroon
transferred to general population, how significant will it be, if he's
transferred, to have contact visits with him after all these years?
TS:
After so many years of no-contact visits, I could really use some
contact with my daddy. It's well overdue. Contact visits would be
nourishing. My soul is constantly in an uproar and the pain runs deep,
yet I continue straight ahead, keeping my eye on freedom.
Outside
of my daddy, there's no man on this earth who could turn this pain
around. The remedy is an end to all control units, the present day
prison system, and freedom for Maroon and all my extended family: the
political prisoners who stood on the front lines for our freedom.
A3N: Thank you, Theresa, for sharing such a personal story with us.
The second part of this article now begins by interviewing longtime activist Matt Meyer. Matt, the afterword for Maroon the Implacable
that you co-wrote with Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge asserts: "We believe
that all people who believe in peace and nonviolence must work for
justice, especially in these most grievous cases of injustice and
especially at times when oppressive forces would have us distanced from
colleagues and comrades such as Maroon, who are cast as 'violent
criminals' unworthy of our support...Russell Maroon Shoatz must be freed
now. His release must become a priority for all human rights activists,
peace activists, pro-democracy advocates, environmentalists,
anti-imperialists, students, churchgoers, and even progressive
Parlimentarians."
Building
on the quote above, why is it that you are going beyond the immediate
call for Maroon's transfer to general population, and also calling for
his release from prison?
Matt Meyer:
For me, the position for peace activists working in the context of
restorative justice is clear: there can be no reconciliation without
release.
Nozizwe
and I also say in our afterword that "we must face the truth about the
uprisings of forty years ago." As you know, Nozizwe herself was a chief
negotiator in the process which ended legal apartheid in South Africa,
and the two of us respect the work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose
commitment to truth and reconciliation has always been coupled with a
commitment to 'heal' by working for people's power and the rights of the
most oppressed.
Here
in the US, we must face the truth that the legacy of the 1960s and
1970s remain an open wound so long as key leaders such as Maroon are
invisible to the majority of us, tortured in dungeons for decades upon
decades.
Even
one day of the type of treatment Maroon has faced would be wrong in any
human rights framework that is not centered on simplistic revenge,
hatred, and a cycle of murder and violence. The US criminal justice
system, filled with the injustices of centuries passed--based as it is
on land theft, slavery, and greed--cannot be understood as 'democratic'
in any sense of that word so long as Maroon remains behind bars.
Aside
from many questions which could be raised about the political context
of the initial charges and court case against him, the length and nature
of his sentence and the way it has been carried out signal grave
injustices which make a mockery of any attempt to characterize US
jurisprudence as fair or color-blind.
A3N: What
is the significance of Maroon's identification of himself as a
'prisoner of war' (POW)? How is this different than simply identifying
as a political prisoner?
MM:
The United Nations outlines the specific legal definition of the
prisoner of war position, definitions which are generally accepted by
most participating nation-states, including the US. This definition is
rooted in history which goes back as far as 1660, when international
military protocol accepted that anyone who is held in
custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict,
whether combatant or non-combatant, should be classified as a POW.
After World War Two, with the Geneva Convention of 1949 to which the US
is a signatory, conditions were clearly outlined which require that POWs
be treated humanely.
For
those who lived through the tremendous upsurge of the Black liberation
movement of the late 1960s, the position underscores a clear analysis of
the relationship between "the Black nation" and the US empire. That
relationship, simply put, is one AT WAR. Though the battles may appear
to many as covert, and the military powers deeply imbalanced, the
position of extreme conflict is nonetheless expressed. This includes the
position taken by some people of African descent (i.e., "Black folk,
New Afrikans, African-Americans, etc.) that the political status of US
citizenship was never chosen by them, but rather, was imposed.
In
any case, by using the international legal term 'prisoner of war,' the
question of humane treatment and appropriate jurisdiction in a case of
extreme conflict must be squarely faced.
MM:
We must connect the dots between the military-industrial-complex and
the prison- industrial-complex. We must begin with the fact that, on the
one hand, the military has for too many become the job of choice in an
era of vast economic depression and crisis. On the other hand, the
ever-increasing rates of incarceration--where now there are more men of
African descent behind bars than there were enslaved in the years
leading up to the Civil War--suggest that cheap labor is being replaced
by forced free labor as authorized by
the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, except for prisoners.
We
must do more than understand that an empire in decline requires
ever-cheaper means of producing whatever it can still produce and an
ever-stretched military to police its dwindling holdings.
We
must act, in ways faithful to the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., who called for a "true revolution" in the American practices of
racism, militarism, and materialism. We must be moved to go beyond the
false dichotomies of race, and the false splits of tactical difference
which seek to make Martin and Malcolm into irreconcilable opposites.
We
must build coalitions and united fronts against empire, ones which
understand that the many US political prisoners represent not only acts
of repression from past generations but reminders to current and future
movements that we must never stray beyond the confines of polite
protest, OR ELSE.
Freeing
all US political prisoners is both a just and basic human rights
demand, but it is also a necessary step in building future movements
which can act with militancy, creativity, soul, and a free spirit which
we need to envision the 'beloved communities' which will build just and
peaceful tomorrows.
A3N: How
does Maroon's case fit into this? What is the broader political
significance of Maroon's imprisonment and his contributions to radical
political movements since?
MM:
One should not be reading this interview for the answer to that
question. Maroon's broader political significance, and his contributions
to current movements, is well revealed through a careful reading of the
essential new essay collection Maroon the Implacable.
His
writings on his own reflections on the Black Panthers, on the nature of
sexism and matriarchy, on the environment and the need for
eco-socialism, on the Occupy movement and how to build effective new
movements, go far beyond the current discourse which we find in blogs
and what passes for the left press. It is a challenging course in
building for lasting social change.
--Angola
3 News is a project of the International Coalition to Free the Angola
3. Our website is www.angola3news.com where we provide the latest news
about the Angola 3. We are also creating our own media projects, which
spotlight the issues central to the story of the Angola 3, like racism,
repression, prisons, human rights, solitary confinement as torture, and
more.
No comments:
Post a Comment