panem-et-circenses
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“A coalition of current and retired Black police officers is calling for the release on parole of Sundiata Acoli, a former Black Panther member who has been incarcerated for 48 years for the 1973 murder of a New Jersey state trooper.
Four Black law enforcement groups have joined forces to press the case for Acoli’s parole almost half a century after he was arrested. In an amicus brief filed with the New Jersey supreme court, they call his continued imprisonment “an affront to racial justice” and accuse the parole board of violating the law by repeatedly refusing to set the prisoner free.”
here is the crime (from the guardian):
More from the paper today: It’s time to free Black revolutionaries from US prisons
I’m a hardliner, for the most part. Killing a cop is life in prison and/or execution. But then I see other other struggles, some of which were armed, and I wonder — is my American bias showing?
What do you guys believe: can a person be forgiven after 40+ years, let out into society?
———— Update ————
He has been released.
Four Black law enforcement groups have joined forces to press the case for Acoli’s parole almost half a century after he was arrested. In an amicus brief filed with the New Jersey supreme court, they call his continued imprisonment “an affront to racial justice” and accuse the parole board of violating the law by repeatedly refusing to set the prisoner free.”
here is the crime (from the guardian):
Acoli, who was born Clark Edward Squire, was given a life sentence in 1974 for the murder of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster the previous year. Acoli had been driving along the New Jersey Turnpike together with two other members of the Black Liberation Army, Assata Shakur (born JoAnne Chesimard) and Zayd Malik Shakur (James Costan) when they were stopped by a state trooper, James Harper, over a defective taillight.
In the ensuing melee, shots were fired. Foerster was struck with four bullets and died, and Zayd Malik Shakur was also killed. Harper was wounded, and both Acoli and Assata Shakur were arrested after a police chase.
More from the paper today: It’s time to free Black revolutionaries from US prisons
It is easy for Americans to understand and support Black revolutionaries in other contexts, whether foreign or cinematic. Nelson Mandela, for example, is revered by many Americans. Yet Mandela was hardly different from his American counterparts. He co-founded uMkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), an armed group that engaged in bombing campaigns and targeted attacks across South Africa, killing dozens of police, soldiers and civilians in the process. Despite the efforts of the US government, which tried to prop up the apartheid government of South Africa for much of its history, most Americans now understand that the regime was indefensibly premised on segregation and racial violence.
How difficult is it to understand the same for the US for most if not all of the 20th century?
I’m a hardliner, for the most part. Killing a cop is life in prison and/or execution. But then I see other other struggles, some of which were armed, and I wonder — is my American bias showing?
What do you guys believe: can a person be forgiven after 40+ years, let out into society?
———— Update ————
He has been released.
“Sundiata Acoli, 85, the oldest former member of the Black Panthers still to be incarcerated for acts of violence during the 1970s Black liberation struggle, is finally to be released from prison after the New Jersey supreme court ruled that he was no longer a risk to public safety.
Acoli has been held captive for more than 49 years for the May 1973 shooting of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster. He was found guilty the following year and sentenced to life plus 24 to 35 years.
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