Monday, June 24, 11:30-1 Oscar Grant Plaza, 14th Broadway, Oakland NATIONWIDE EMERGENCY Press Conferences & Protests by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network – All eyes are on George Zimmerman trial – Disturbing developments...We demand real justice for Trayvon Support the Prisoner Hunger Strike -- A Crucial Announcement from Pelican Bay SHU prisoners As opening statements begin today in the George Zimmerman trial, the Stop Mass Incarceration Network notes very disturbing developments that raise serious doubts as to whether there will be any justice for Trayvon Martin: the seating of an almost all white jury, the judge’s decisions to bar expert testimony alleging that the voice heard in the 911 call crying for help is Trayvon’s, and the judge’s ruling that the prosecution can’t use the term racial profiling in the trial. These are warning signs that the system may well be setting the stage for letting Zimmerman walk free, or with a slap on the wrist. The Stop Mass Incarceration Network was part of an upwelling of powerful nationwide outrage which forced the authorities to put Zimmerman on trial. SMIN knows that it’ll take more of the same to give us a real shot at justice in this case. SMIN now calls on people to go forward from the June 10th, National Hoodie Day events in Sanford Florida at the Zimmerman trial and in more than a dozen other cities across the country where people protested in the streets declaring, “We Are All Trayvon; The Whole Damned System Is Guilty!” Carl Dix said, “A lot is still at stake-Zimmerman walking free with no outpouring of protest from across the country would be like a declaration of Open Season on Black youth. We will need to plan active at key junctures in the trial, like when jury selection ends and the opening statements and testimony in this case begins. We will need to continue our social media offensive, expressing our determination to take the bulls-eye off the backs of Black and Latino Youth. And we will need to take to the streets at the conclusion of the trial in response to whatever the verdict is. “ In Oakland, on Wednesday, June 26, there will be an evening of Justice For Trayvon Martin and Solidarity With Prison Hunger Strikers will take place featuring Cephus Johnson (the uncle of Oscar Grant who was murdered by BART police), who will give an eyewitness report on his trip to Sanford Florida at the start of jury selection last week. An update on the California Prisoners Hunger Strike will also be presented. This event takes place at 7 pm at the 1st Congregational Church in Oakland at 2501 Harrison Street. It is open to the public. Support the Upcoming Hunger Strike of California Prisoners The Stop Mass Incarceration Network is also calling on people bend all efforts to stop the torture of long-term solitary confinement being inflicted on prisoners. The situation is extremely urgent! On July 20th, Prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison in California issued a new statement announcing that their Hunger Strike will resume beginning July 8, 2013. “Our decision does not come lightly. For the past (2) years we’ve patiently kept an open dialogue with state officials, attempting to hold them to their promise to implement meaningful reforms, responsive to our demands. For the past seven months we have repeatedly pointed out CDCR’s failure to honor their word—and we have explained in detail the ways in which they’ve acted in bad faith and what they need to do to avoid the resumption of our protest action.” ...it is clear to us that we must be prepared to renew our political non-violent protest on July 8th to stop torture in the SHUs and Ad-Segs of CDCR. Thus we are presently out of alternative options for achieving the long overdue reform to this system and, specifically, an end to state-sanctioned torture, and now we have to put our lives on the line via indefinite hunger strike to force CDCR to do what’s right.” These men have issued a call for a nationwide prison hunger strike and have also issued a call for unity among people from different racial groups, inside and outside the prisons. SMIN asserts that these people who are locked down in segregation units of this society’s prisons and condemned as the “worst of the worst,” are standing up against injustice, asserting their humanity in the process. The Stop Mass Incarceration Network is a national organization of fighters building a movement to stop mass incarceration and all its consequences.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 03:20:50 +0000
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