Author Archives: Family and Friends

For Yuri Kochiyama

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yuri

From: Nobuko Miyamoto

Dear friends of Yuri and Mutulu,

I visited Yuri mid-April with my friend Patty Hirota. We didn’t expect much because the last couple visits she had been drifting in great discomfort. We were filling time browsing the wall of photos above her bed, cozied with her stuffed animals. She stirred a bit and seemed willing to eat.  While feeding her I said, “Mutulu is coming up for parole in August.” She somehow sprung to life. “Where is he? What is happening?” Patty and I looked at each as Yuri went on, “We have to get everyone together…we have to help Mutulu,“ she repeated over and over. Then she lifted her frail hand in my direction and said, “you have to get everyone together.” 

I shared this with Mutulu when Tatsuo and visited last weekend. Mutulu, as always, shared his deep concern for her. On the morning of June 1, dear sister Yuri finally left her body.

With loving respect for her wishes…”We have to get everyone together.”

-Nobuko

From Mutulu:  

Nobuko,

From your last discussion concerning your visit to Yuri, I yearned for her to be free– something that we do not like to say to each other. But most of my life Yuri’s spirit has been a comforting factor in all matters to our lives in struggle. A true ally and sister, friend and comforter. The last stages of her mental capacity must have been a task for her to comprehend. But knowing her and the many agendas she entertained, no thought, no statement, no directive did not have a precise objective. She was a person with a driving thirst to accomplish, and in her next life we better get on our p’s and q’s.  She will be guiding our lazy spirits that yearn for rest. We must answer Yuri’s call and her example of a thriving spirit in all stages of existence.
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Upcoming Parole Hearing: August 2014

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Family and Friends of Dr. Mutulu Shakur are preparing for the next parole hearing which is scheduled for August 2014.  Dr. Shakur will have spent almost 30 years incarcerated at that point.  There is no doubt in our minds that he is ready to return to life outside of prison and be a productive member of society.  Stay tuned for updates.

Preparation for the parole hearing involves considerable legal expenses.  Please consider making a donation to help with the costs.

Fight the Good Fight – Brooklyn NYC & Toronto – November 10th & 17th, 2013

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PrintStay tuned to the Facebook page for the November 2014 annual event info in NYC and Toronto. Get in touch if you would like to join the list of cities that host this event in coming years.

2013 Event information:

NYC ->

Sunday, November 10th
11am – 7pm
Brooklyn Open Acupuncture (88 S. Portland Ave.)

Book an appointment for acupuncture or herbal medicine for yourself or as a gift for someone who deserves it.  Your $15 – $50 sliding scale donation is tax-deductible & supports Dr. Shakur’s legal defense, commissary essentials, and projects promoting justice for the Black community.

-> Schedule an Appointment


The Family & Friends of Dr. Mutulu Shakur, in collaboration with colleagues and comrades, dedicate this day to fighting the new norm of rampant chronic disease.  We do so in the spirit of Dr. Shakur and all of those who fight for holistically healthy lives: mind, body and spirit.

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TORONTO ->

NOVEMBER 17, 2013

Fight The Good Fight: Treat Yourself to Traditional Health Care to Benefit Dr. Mutulu Shakur

Please join us on Sunday Nov. 17th from 11am-7pm in a day of traditional health care, education and empowerment.  Six Degrees Community Acupuncture alongside Drop The Needle Acupuncture Advocacy will be hosting the first fundraiser of its kind honouring the revolutionary Dr. Mutulu Shakur (Doctor of Acupuncture) and all the Healer Activists who continue to struggle to keep traditional medicine alive.

Heal & Honour – We will be offering Acupuncture (community & private sessions), Shiatsu, Reiki/Energy Work, Yoga, Tai Chi and other classes all at PWYC (Pay What You Can) and Sliding Scale rates.

Educate & Empower – Keeping aligned with the Health Activist movements from the 60s & 70s in America, we will also host an informative panel on self-care, running an “ask the practitioner” area and closing the day with a screening of BET’s American Gangster episode on Dr. Mutulu Shakur and more.

 

SCHEDULE:

HEAL & HONOUR

CLASS SCHEDULE || FRONT ROOM (PWYC, suggested donation $10)

11:30AM-12:30PM – MARTIAL ARTS FOR KIDS with Adisa of Courage Warriors
12:45PM-1:45PM – TAI CHI with Dondrub Wangchuk
2:00PM-3:00PM – BROWN BEINGS YOGA with nisha ahuja of Brown Girls Yoga

TREATMENT SCHEDULE || COMMUNITY SPACE (Sliding Scale $15-$50)

11:30AM-3:00PM – COMMUNITY ACUPUNCTURE with Kandiss Fernando and Amrit Singh of Drop The Needle Acupuncture Advocacy

TREATMENT SCHEDULE || PRIVATE SESSIONS (Sliding Scale $20-$60)

11:30AM-3:00PM – Book any treatments from:
Ayurvedic Head Massage and/or Ayurvedic Consultations with
Sairupa Krishnamurti
Naturopathic Doctor Consultations and/or Bowen Treatments with
Jiselle Griffith (www.jisellegriffith.ca)
Traditional Chinese Medicine Consultations with
Amrit Singh (www.droptheneedle.ca)
Shiatsu with Rian Opeifa
Acupuncture and/or Shiatsu with Lamia Gibson (www.pokeme.ca/)
Reiki Energy Work with nisha ahuja (www.nishaahuja.com)

EDUCATE & EMPOWER

4:00PM-5.15PM – PANEL: How To Own Your Own Health – A discussion on self-care, how to empower yourself in the western medical system, learn about traditional health care options for yourself and how food security is affecting our communities.

5:30PM-6:30PM – SCREENING: BET’s AMERICAN GANGSTER: MUTULU SHAKUR – A short video biography on Dr. Mutulu Shakur discussing his life with the Black Liberation Army, Republic of New Afrika, being Tupac’s Father and how he used Acupuncture to heal and empower thousands of local, poor & people of colour communities.

Please visit www.facebook.com/fightthegoodfightfundraiser event for more information.
Bookings and inquiries can be made at [email protected] or by calling 416.662.0564

Funds raised will be going The Family and Friends of Dr. Mutulu Shakur organization in NYC to support his legal defense, commissary, and publishing projects promoting justice for the Black community. In addition, we will also be offering a share of proceeds to Anishnawbe Health Centre, to honour our Indigenous comrades whose land we practice on.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a safe space for all beings.

Mutulu Shakur Calls for U.S. Truth & Reconciliation Commission

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On May 31, NAACP President Ben Jealous appeared on Democracy Now! and called for a US Truth and Reconciliation Commission which Dr. Mutulu Shakur has been calling for for over 5 years. Watch the video of the interview embedded above, read Mutulu’s comments below, and sign the petition.

“There is a need for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the U.S. to resolve the history of slavery, oppression, racism, segregation, lynching and the issues of political prisoners of the Civil Rights Black Liberation Struggle who fought against these gross human rights abuses.”

We seek restorative justice and the immediate release of all of those who put their lives on the line for freedom and justice and thus have been anguishing in prisons across America due to their political activities, associations and views…

A process that is developed on a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and/or the tribunals, has been the model used around the world. It allows for open discussion on the issue of resistance versus the state; it allows for a definition of terrorism that does not criminalize legitimate forms of resistance against oppression. It equally provides an avenue for healing and rebuilding, or at the very least, it provides a starting point post-conflict…

It’s important to acknowledge and understand that activists in our movement, who have made an effort to build support for political prisoners and prisoners of war in the U.S., have utilized and exhausted all available avenues that were open to them to gain relief for our freedom fighters…”

– Dr. Mutulu Shakur


“All of the political prisoner cases from the ’60s are a concern. Closing the unsolved lynchings is something that we’re still working on. It makes you wonder if the country isn’t coming to a place where we need some sort of Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help us deal with what are very painful moments.” – Ben Jealous, NAACP President (2013)

Please read:
Towards a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for New African/Black Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War and Freedom Fighters by: Dr. Mutulu Shakur May 2010

Truth & Reconciliation Commission Follow-up by: Dr. Mutulu Shakur January 2011

To the Mothers on Mother’s Day

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In life, all women are mothers.

I’d like to take this time in my life to recognize all of the magnificent, intricate, inspiring women that have molded my existence. The courage I have gained from their love for me has taught me to believe, depend on, and trust that love. I truly could not have emerged into the person I am today without the special critiques, direction, ideas and love from you all for which I am so thankful.

As life’s true importance settles my path for a better tomorrow, I keep in my heart that advice. I continue to speak the words of all of the uniqueness you all represent. Every infinite aspect means so much as I travel this path. We males, so many times, have missed the happiness that comes from the source of listening to you. We are surely lost without you, for you shape and form our spirit. Please do not give up on us; and I promise you, we will teach each other to try harder to earn your love and respect. For whatever I mean to you, I am thankful and proud, and I wear the confident smile.

Stiff Resistance,
Mutulu Shakur

A Message to the Montefiore-Einstein Medical Center Doctors of Family & Community Medicine

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montefiore-einstein-signIn extending great enthusiasm and support for the objectives of the Montefiore Medical Center Community Doctors (MMCCD), I have kept in mind that 45 years ago an army of committed and concerned have-nots did take a realistic look at the state of the under-served health population in the City of New York, and; From all angles in the streets, community centers, hospitals and mobile experimental units tried to apply a predictable skill, and alternative modalities in which to give some predictability and healing for our community.

That (MMCCD) has decided to resuscitate/professionalize and to apply the same theory in these days and times could not have come at a more crucial stage in the role health care is playing or not playing in the political theater of the United States political paradigm. The awareness of the masses to the motives of the state must ultimately be revealed, by an astute politically conscious and medically deprived population. The revealing stage of the objectives of the American Medical Association and the pharmaceutical companies of 45 years ago was revealed when the collaboration of the state, city and national political apparatus made an attempt to convince the population that the war on drugs could be won and controlled by the introduction of a deadly chemical methadone.

I salute you, the medical cadres of the Black Panther Party, The Young Lords Party, Peoples Free Health Centers, Lincoln Detox, May 19th, John Brown Anti-Klan and; The Republic of New Africa salutes them as well for utilizing all the powers at their disposal to force the victims of the drug plague to submit to extraordinary doses of medication just so they would not be a part of the so called criminal class. We called it then as it was, chemical warfare, and chemical Genocide.

Today we have tons of research and great practitioners such as doctors, nurses, acupuncturists, midwives and activists that are trying to make up for the lack of consistent consciousness of the masses as to the effectiveness of alternative medicine. The task will be hard, and the opposition by the pharmaceutical companies and the media, will be severe.

I look forward to see the day that the work of our past comrades will be carried on by the work of MMCCD and others; Because so many of those comrades are underground, in prison, martyred or in exile. They suffered tremendous damages and casualties because of their effort to provide health care to the masses. If there are those who doubt this, then they should join me in calling for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on how the FBI’s illegal Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) conducted low intensity warfare waged against alternative health care in the 60′, 70′s, and 80′s.

Thank you all who provide the opportunity for resurrecting the work of community-based medicine and; I am very proud that the municipal hospitals in the city of New York make available the alternative acupuncture treatment that we started at Lincoln Detox and carried on in BAAANA for the victims of the Drug Plague, Post-Traumatic Stress, and secondary conditions.

I congratulate Montefiore-Einstein for this innovation.

Aim High and Go All Out,
Long live the spirit of Lincoln Detox and BAAANA,
Stiff resistance,

Dr. Mutulu Shakur

Fight the Good Fight: A Holistic Healthcare Fundraiser- Brooklyn, NYC – November 11, 2012

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For everyone fighting the good fight: Treat yourself to holistic health care to benefit Dr. Mutulu Shakur!

Choose from acupuncture, herbal and flower essence consultations, massage, private yoga lessons, & reiki, or book a treatment as a gift for someone who deserves it.

When: Sunday, November 11th from 12-7 pm

Where: Brooklyn Open Acupuncture

$15 – $60 sliding scale*

Walk in or Schedule Your Appointment: http://bit.ly/R3NVnF

*Donations are tax-deductible go to support Dr. Shakur’s legal defense, commissary essentials, and projects promoting justice for the Black community.

The Brooklyn Open Acupuncture Clinic where this event will be held is located near the following subways and buses:

—

More information on Dr. Shakur:

In 1970 Dr. Shakur was employed by the Lincoln Detox Community Program for addiction treatment as a political education instructor. His role evolved to include counseling and treatment of withdrawal symptoms with acupuncture. Eventually, he became the Program’s Assistant Director and remained associated with the program until 1978.

From 1978 to 1982, Dr. Shakur was the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Black Acupuncture Advisory Association of North America (BAAANA) and the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture. Where, at Lincoln, Dr. Shakur had managed a detox program recognized as the largest and most effective of its kind, at BAAANA he continued his remarkable work and also treated thousands of poor and elderly patients who would otherwise have no access to treatment of this type.  By the late 1970′s Dr. Shakur’s work in acupuncture and drug detoxification was both nationally and internationally known.

In 1986, Dr. Shakur was charged under the “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization” or ‘RICO’ laws for 8 counts of conspiracy to aid bank expropriation and aiding in the prison escape of Assata Shakur. The U.S. government alleged that Mutulu’s political associates constituted a racketeering enterprise. He was convicted on all counts and sentenced to 60 years imprisonment with a recommendation of no parole.  While all appeals have been denied, he does have an application for sentence reduction that is pending and is preparing a presidential pardon application.  Dr. Shakur has now been incarcerated for over 20 years!  This event will support the next phase of work for Mutulu’s freedom.

“WITHOUT STRUGGLE SURE WE CAN’T EXPECT TO HAVE VICTORY … SO I THANK YOU ALL WHO HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO HELP ME IN THIS FIGHT FOR MY FREEDOM.

WE WILL NOT LOSE FAITH IN OUR ABILITY TO OVERCOME INJUSTICES.

AIM HIGH AND GO ALL OUT!
STIFF RESISTANCE!

THANK YOU ALL”
-MUTULU SHAKUR

Dr. Mutulu Shakur’s 2012 Legal Update

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On Thursday the 26th of July, I had the parole board hearing at 8 am. Both attorneys were there: James Simmons and Nana Gyamfe from LA.

We were able to expand the record as to the new disclosure that disproved the commissions finding on many issues. This hearing was a statutory interim hearing and the objective was to demonstrate new information or law that was not on the prior records. I believe that I accomplished said goals, but the examiner was not willing to make a recommendation to reopen the case.

All issues as to my status must be ruled on in Washington by the national parole board, so a final decision is forthcoming. They have not ruled in my favor in the past, but we have put forth a sustainable record for them to review.

We are still in the 2nd circuit waiting for a decision from the second circuit judge a rule 35A to correct the sentences. We are also in the process of preparing a pardon application to President Obama.

So as you can see there are still possibilities to get some relief, for without struggle surely we can’t expect to have victory … so I thank you all who have done anything to help me in this fight for my freedom. We will not lose faith in our ability to overcome injustices.

Aim high and go all out!
Stiff resistance!

Thank you all,
Mutulu Shakur

Culture is a Weapon – March 16 & 17, 2012

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The Tupac Shakur & Gil Scott Heron Legacy Continues….

A (2) Day – All Day “True Skool Revolutionary Conscious Minded Spoken Word & Hip Hop Benefit” For U.S. Government Held Political Prisoners Of War; Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Sekou Odinga & Sundiata Acoli

. .

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center Auditorium
310 W. 43rd Street (bet. 8th & 9th Aves.)
New York, NY 10036

DAY 1: SPOKEN WORD-POETRY SLAM & TRIBUTE TO BROTHER GIL SCOTT HERON

Friday, March 16, 2012
2:00PM – 10:00PM

Confirmed Revolutionary Conscious Performing Artists
The Last Poets
Autumn Ashanti
George Edward Tait
Tony Mitchelson
“Q”
Louis Reyes Rivera
The Verbal Artisan
Alkamal
Lora Rene’ Tucker “The Therapeutic Poet”
Aidge of the “Aesthetics Crew”

DAY 2: TRUE SKOOL HIP HOP CONCERT & TRIBUTE TO BLACK PANTHER CUB TUPAC SHAKUR

Saturday, March 17, 2012
2:00PM-10:00PM

Confirmed Revolutionary Conscious Performing Artists
M-1 of Dead Prez
IMPACT
Maroon Society
MeccaGodZilla
Final Outlaw
Hassan Salaam
Rebel Diaz
Unseen Reality
Mc GLO
The Sargonites
Immortal Technique
Yatta Kill

**FOR TICKET SALES ………..YOU MUST RSVP!

RSVP & Info. Contact: Bro. Shep
(212) 650-5008 or [email protected]

Organized By: The Safiya Bukhari-Albert Nuh Washington Foundation, The Universal Zulu Nation & The Grassroots Artists Movement