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A
Draft Call
(Please call us to add your name or suggest
improvements (ASAP)
New
York
212.633.6646
Email:
iacenter@iacenter.org
West
Coast:
San
Francisco 415.821.6545
e-mail:
iac@actionsf.org
Los
Angeles 213.487.2368
e-mail:
npcla@earthlink.net
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FOR EMERGENCY DAYS OF RESISTANCE
From June 16th through June 19th
"Juneteenth"
TO END THE DEATH PENALTY
and
STOP THE EXECUTION
OF SHAKA SANKOFA
(Gary Graham)
We
call on all anti-death penalty activist and organizations, including
all those working for a moratorium on the death penalty, the international
movement for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and all progressive
people, organizations and movements to organize demonstrations,
marches, rallies, and other forms of resistance from June 16th
through June 19th "Juneteenth".
"Juneteenth"
is the anniversary of the date that slaves in Texas learned of
the Emancipation Proclamation. It is fitting that we turn the
days leading up to this historic anniversary associated with the
abolition of slavery into an occasion to demand the abolition
of the death penalty.
The
purpose of these days of protest which will begin with a march
in Washington D.C. on June 8th, is to dramatize the growing opposition
to the death penalty and to stop the execution of Shaka Sankofa,
once known as Gary Graham.
Shaka
Sankofa is scheduled to be executed in the death chamber at Huntsville
Texas on Thursday June 22. Many people believe and with good reason
that Shaka Sankofa like Mumia Abu-Jamal and so many other people
on death row in the U.S. was wrongfully convicted and sentenced
to death.
Shaka,
only 17 years old at the time of his arrest, was convicted on
the basis of the police coaxed testimony of a single witness during
a quick trial in 1981. Shaka's trial was tainted by racism, police
and prosecutorial misconduct, suppression of evidence, and an
incompetent, unenthusiastic defense by Shaka's court appointed
lawyer. Like Mumia, Shaka's fight for a new trial has attracted
the interest and support of people all over the world.
Shaka's
case also focuses attention on the infamous Texas death machine
and the Governor would be President George W. Bush Jr., who has
presided over 127 executions since taking office in 1995. On Governor
Bush's watch, Texas has executed almost 200% more people than
Virginia, the state with the second highest rate of executions
in the U.S. over the same period of time.
Shaka
is one of 20 people Texas is set to kill over the next four months.
What we do now to stop the execution of Shaka Sankofa will have
tremendous bearing on Mumia's case, as well as the fates of the
more than 3600 people on death row in the U.S.
STOP
THE EXECUTION OF SHAKA SANKOFA!
STOP
THE RACIST DEATH PENALTY!
STOP
THE INCARCERATION OF A GENERATION!
STOP
POLICE BRUTALITY!
Lets
make sure that Bush and all the other politicians, judges, and
candidates both Republican and Democratic, from the White House
and the Congress on down know that they will not be allowed to
realize their political ambitions on a record of executions, repression,
racism and injustice.
This
draft call is issued by
- The
Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement
- The
Shaka Sankofa Defense Committee
- Concerned
Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal
- The
New York Coalition To Free Mumia
- Millions
For Mumia/ The International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Suite 206
NY NY 10011
To
join the emergency mobilization contact us at
Million for Mumia/InternationalAction Center:
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