171-mile trek supports Jalil Muntaqim
Walk for Freedom for political prisoner
By Jack A. Smith
Albany, N.Y.
Four young supporters of freedom for African American
political prisoner Jalil Muntaqim (Anthony Bottoms) walked 171
miles in eight days from the state prison in Auburn, N.Y., to
the "correctional" facility in the New York state capital of
Albany. The purpose of the July 18-26 Justice for Jalil Walk
for Freedom was to draw public attention to Muntaqim's parole
hearing July 30 after 31 years in prison.
The four walkers--Lex Bhagat, Dylan Boyce, Jason Jette and
Neil Brideaux--participated in a rally outside the state parole
office July 26. Then they led 40 chanting supporters on a march
to the State Capitol past lunch-hour crowds. The Albany Jericho
Committee organized the event.
Muntaqim, a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army
member, and co-defendants Albert Washington and Herman Bell,
collectively known as the New York 3, were convicted in 1971 of
killing two New York City police officers. Defenders of the
three maintain they were innocent victims of a government
Cointelpro campaign to destroy the Black Panther Party.
Speakers at the rally included Safiya Bukhari of the Jericho
Movement, New York City Councilmember Charles Barron, Alice
Green of the Center for Law and Justice, and Muntaqim's
daughter, Antonette Bottoms, who was accompanied by her own
12-year-old daughter.
Bukhari charged that the prosecution lied to convict
Muntaqim. She told the crowd that "our presence here in front
of the parole office is to make the state aware that we are not
going away until all political prisoners are freed." Barron
said the crime of such political prisoners was that they fought
back against oppression.
Bottoms, who was born a few months after her father was
incarcerated, has only seen him behind bars. "My father is not
a murderer, and he should be released along with all our
political prisoners," she said with feeling. "He is a good man,
and I am proud of him."
Reprinted from the Aug. 8, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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