"Resistance Arrested?" Prison Reform Activists to Address OC This Weekend

A panel of prison reform activists and historians will gather to discuss the history of African American political prisoners in the United States on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in King 106. The forum, entitled "Resistance Arrested?," is sponsored by the Oberlin Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (OJMC), Oberlin Action Against Prisons (OAAP), Oberlin College Departments of History and Politics, the Hewlett Foundation and the Multicultural Resource Center. The panelists will address the experiences of several individuals targeted by the U.S. government for their political beliefs, and will extend the discussion to encompass issues within the criminal justice system. Topics scheduled for discussion include whether one's political beliefs can influence the sentencing process, the issue of racial profiling and the effect race may have on the severity of punishment for criminal defendants.

The speakers include African American Studies Professor James Millette, ex-political prisoner Ahmad Rahman, American Friends Service Committee member Khalil Osiris and Jericho movement coordinator Abdul Qahhar. Millette is currently the acting chair of Oberlin's African American Studies department, and will address the history of African Americans in the penal system, focusing on the postbellum South. Rahman is currently writing his dissertation at University of Michigan on the ideological history of Pan-Africanism in the 20 century. He will discuss the effect of the FBI COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) in the demise of several black nationalist in the 1960s and 1970s. He will also discuss the police targeting of African Americans for incarceration and racial profiling. Osiris is a former inmate in the Ohio Department of Corrections. He participated as a panelist on the Ex-Prisoner's Speak-Out in Oberlin's Ohio Prison Activist Conference held last November. Qahhar resides in Cleveland and acts as the regional coordinator for the Jericho movement, an organization seeking amnesty for all US political prisoners. Qahhar is also a former member of the Black Panther Party and was a member of Louisville 7, a group of Panther members wrongly arrested and convicted in Kentucky in the 1970's.

OJMC was formed in the fall of 1998 to heighten Oberlin's awareness about the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and to extend awareness of why his case is significant in a larger context of injustices in the United States, such as police brutality, capital punishment, targeting of radicals, flaws in the justice system, and the prison industrial complex. Last April, OJMC sent a delegation of almost 90 Oberlin students and community members to a demonstration for Abu-Jamal in Philadelphia. The coalition also held an art show and poetry reading at the Black River Cafe this past fall to raise awareness about his case.

OJMC member Peter Olson said, "This forum will be a chance to discuss the myths and realities of free speech and political freedom in the United States. We will be drawing on the experiences of activists who themselves have been persecuted by the state for daring to believe that revolutionary change is possible in the U.S., for daring to organize their communities and mobilize grassroots resistance. Their determination to keep organizing in the face of systematic repression should be an inspiration to anyone interested in fighting for social justice."

OAAP's activism is based on organizing around the penal system, the prison complex, and concerns facing individual prisoners. OAAP members feel political prisoners' experiences while incarcerated are relevant issues facing all prisoners. "We are very excited to be working with the Coalition on this event. We are especially looking forward to the presentation by Ahmad Rahman because he has such a unique history and experience," said OAAP member Nick Thompson.

Rahman joined the Black Panther Party in Chicago in 1968. Initially, he worked on the Free Breakfast for Children program, and became involved in community organizing work with Fred Hampton, the leader of the Chicago Panthers. Alongside Hampton, he initiated a program to educate inner-city gang members about the destructive, foolhardy, and fratricidal nature of their gang violence. After Hampton was murdered in 1969, Rahman moved to Detroit and began working with the Black Panther Party to initiate programs to increase community control of the police, to improve the educational system, and to improve businesses and housing developments in the black community. In the spring of 1971, Rahman was arrested for a murder he did not commit. He was tried, convicted and was sent to prison at the age of 19 with a life sentence. For years, a massive campaign kept his case before the public eye in Michigan which eventually lead to a public hearing in 1992. After the hearing, the governor of Michigan commuted his sentence to 37 years, making him eligible for parole in 1992. Rahman was released after he had spent 21 of his 41 years in jail.

Reflecting on his time with the Panthers, Rahman said, "Increasingly, we faced the repression of the government, especially the FBI, [which] had declared the party to be the 'number one threat to the internal security of the United States.'" The government has since released files detailing the plans of the FBI COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program). According to American Indian Movement activist and scholar Ward Churchill, the FBI's goals were to "destabilize, disrupt, and otherwise destroy the Black Panther Party as well as much of the Civil Rights movement."

During his 21 years in prison, Rahman received a Bachelors degree from Wayne State University. He was the first ex-prisoner admitted to the University of Michigan to obtain a graduate degree, where upon his release from prison he completed his Masters degree in history. He has been a staff member of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, and worked as a researcher for the University of Michigan's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. Most recently, he worked as a program coordinator for Michigan's Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives. He is currently writing his dissertation for a Ph.D. in History at the University of Michigan, on "The Ideological History of Pan Africanism in the 20th Century: The Evolution of Politics in the Triangular Diaspora." Rahman said he is very excited about speaking at Oberlin. "The topic of this forum is especially important for black people, as more and more of us end up having a close friend or family entangled in the criminal justice system," he said. "I would like to address, specifically, the ties between racial profiling or 'Driving while Black' with the phenomenon of black political prisoners."