I am writing this letter on behalf of Dr. Mutulu Shakur. In 1996, I was hosting a radio program in Atlanta and would receive numerous letters from inmates at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. I was invited to speak at a program in the prison where I met Dr. Shakur. I had no idea who Dr. Shakur was or knowledge of his history. Soon after my speaking engagement, I was asked to become a chaplain volunteer for the Rastafari community within the prison. I noticed that Dr. Shakur was very active in many programs and had a good relationship with other inmates and staff. An inmate told me that Dr. Shakur was the step-father to the famous rapper Tupac Shakur. This did not impress me because, at the time, I was not a fan of Tupac’s music. What did make me notice Dr. Shakur was the positive programs that he spearheaded while in Atlanta and Coleman, Florida as an inmate. Dr. Shakur would conduct Kwanzaa celebrations, Black history classes, Hip Hop conferences to promote positive music and conflict resolution meetings between staff and inmates.

During one my visits to Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, one of the men in my religious group had a serious conflict with another inmate who was in a gang. The conflict started on the basketball court where the inmate who was in the gang spat on the man from my group. At the time, I was very ignorant to prison life or rules but I knew violence seemed to be in the near future. I witnessed Dr. Shakur bring both men and their representatives to a group meeting in the chapel. Dr. Shakur diffused the situation where both men agreed to respect each other’s space and no violence occurred between the two groups of men. Continue reading →

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On December 18, 1997, Louis “Homicide Lou” Griffin was convicted of murdering an individual in Alabama over a drug dispute. By a vote of 10-2, the jury recommended that Griffin be sentenced to death; he was subsequently sentenced to die in Alabama’s electric chair on January 29, 1998. He appealed the conviction and after serving three years on death row, was given a retrial, and was finally acquitted on December 13, 2001.

Whether the issue, topic, or subject is of revolutionary or political prisoner status, because the government has a way of mischaracterizing such titles, I feel it is best to know a person outside of what you may have read. I, myself have had the pleasure of meeting such a person who the government would prefer to never have to acknowledge or describe as a revolutionary or a political prisoner.

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“I’m not trying to discourage you,” Damfo said. “But I must let you know the things a healer turns his back on are innumerable. These are things of the world. Not only things of the flesh, but also things touching the spirit. There’s comfort and wealth. There’s also love, the respect of close ones. Even fame, the respect of distant people. Power among men. The satisfaction of being known wherever you go. These are the things that sweeten life for men. The healer turns his back on all of them.”

“Do you think I have not understood that?” Densu asked.

“It’s hard to go away from the things everyone is going toward. It’s lonely. It’s hard to live the way a healer must necessarily live. It’s hard to live without respect in the world.”

“Does a healer have no respect?” Densu asked.

“Not in the world as it is now. But he does have respect. Only from those who know the value of his work. Those are always few.” – The Healer by Armah

I’ve been asked to share just a few words and thoughts on my teacher, ELDER and Jenga Dr. Mutulu Shakur. Jenoch as defined by Elder Sage, Dr. Wade Nobles:

“Those special people who have (1) been tested in struggles or battle, (2) demonstrated extraordinary and unusual fearlessness, (3) shown determination and courage in protecting her/his people, land, and culture, (4) shown diligence and dedication to our people, (5) produced an exceptionally high quality of work and (6) dedicated themselves to the protection, defense, nurturance and development of our young by advancing our people, place and culture.”

Dr. Mutulu Shakur has spent his entire life earning the above title and honor. He is deserving of all the love, respect, honor and attention we can draw and mobilize to assist him in his immediate release back to the communities all over this country who love him, miss him, and longing to embrace him as family.

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My name is Jessie McBurney and I am 31 years old. I have two children, ages 11 and 1, a loving husband, and a house in the country on 36 acres. Despite having my oldest child at an early age, I was still able to graduate from college with a degree in Athletic Training and am actually going on to get my Masters in Education starting next month. Throughout my 31 years of life, there have been many people who pushed me and helped me to succeed…one of which is Dr. Mutulu Shakur.

Our relationship began in 2002 when I was a sophomore in high school. Our giant end of the year research project was coming up, and that year we had to do it on an important person in history. My classmates were choosing everyone from Martha Washington to Daniel Boone to Martin Luther King Jr…I asked my teacher if I could do mine on the late Tupac Shakur, of whom I had been a fan of for as long as I could remember. At first she dismissed my idea, but after naming off just a few of the ways he positively impacted the people around him, let alone the entire country, she agreed. We had to have at least one non-print resource for our project and my father found Dr. Shakur’s address in a magazine so I decided to give it a try.

Not only did Dr. Shakur write me back (almost immediately) and give me more information and knowledge about his son that I could have ever imagined, he became an instant “pen pal.” I felt an instant connection in his words and a feeling that he genuinely cared about me as a person. Over the next several years we kept in touch and I began to discuss more and more of my life with him…I felt like he was actually becoming a part of my life. I would share with him my strifes and concerns about life, as I naively navigated through my early adulthood. He always had quick and honest advice and gave me the confidence to keep pushing. He has been “with me” through a HS graduation, 2 marriages, 1 divorce, 2 babies, 7 moves, and 2 college graduations. Our relationship is ongoing and I am sure that will never change.

I feel very lucky to have had this man in my life for the past 14 (almost 15) years and cannot imagine what he could have accomplished the past 30 years had he been a free man. It breaks my heart to know that he has missed so many birthdays and holidays with his family who he treasures and holds so dear to him. I cried when I found out that Afeni had passed away while he is sitting in a prison cell. He has suffered some major health problems and I feel that some of them might have been prevented or lessened had he not been in his current situation.

To say Dr. Mutulu Shakur is ready to reenter society is a gross understatement. He has been ready to reenter society for decades and the contributions he could have been making to not just other human beings but to this whole world is astronomical. He is an incredible man, who has definitely paid his dues, and should be released in time to live out the rest of his life with people who love and cherish him like he deserves.

As Tupac is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, may his wishes that the President free his adoptive father, Mutulu, be granted. In the song Letter to the President featuring Outlawz on the album Still I Rise, Tupac spits in the first verse:

“In case you don’t know I let my pump go
Get it ride for Mutulu like I ride for Geronimo
Down to die for everything I represent
Meant every word in my letter to the President”

As the New York Times noted in their December 6th Editorial, “Mr. Obama has taken important steps toward unwinding the decades-long imprisonment binge. With much of that progress now at risk, he has only a few weeks left to ensure a measure of justice and mercy for thousands of people.”

May Dr. Shakur be justly freed in 2017 simultaneously as his son achieves this honor.

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was all vanity; But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act of their dreams with open eyes to make them all possible. ” -T. E Lawrence

Mutulu and I first met in 1989 at MCC New York, where I was awaiting trial. I read somewhere once that, ‘some people can spot goodness at a glance while others cannot see goodness even if it is staring them in their face.’ Though Mutulu and I had never actually met, we shared several associates and friends. What started out as simply someone to chop it up with, our relationship rapidly moved from friendship to camaraderie and eventually to a brotherhood that has now spanned nearly three decades.

It was over this time period that I was afforded the opportunity to peer at what I can only describe as a loving spirit and a giving, sharing soul. The years between 1989 and 1999 that Mutulu and I spent together at various federal penitentiaries would show me, up close and in no uncertain terms, that what I thought I had glanced early on in Mutulu, was in point of fact who he truly was and how he lived his life. A man that was the poster child of what it meant to be a brother, a friend and for many a mentor, a father figure.

In the often violent, testosterone-ridden environment of United States penitentiaries, Mutulu somehow found within himself the intestinal fortitude to consistently extend a hand of friendship and brotherhood. A reconciler of beefs, that could have easily spiraled out of control and into life and deaths situations, a font of information and learning to young men, who were often unlettered, unlearned, with no agenda, Mutulu made himself available to an endless stream of young and old brothers alike, to offer whatever aid he could in the daily challenges that is attendant to life spent inside our country’s various prisons. Continue reading →

I am honored to be a student of Mutulu Shakur. He made me the man I am today, and that goes for other brothers and sisters that had no real appreciation of self-value. I met him in 1999, in a federal institution that was a breeding ground for racism and hatred. Atlanta Federal prison was a blood bath. From the moment Mutulu stepped foot in the prison, he helped initiate curriculum to release tensions that affected both blacks and whites. This had never been done before.

There was a class called Culture and Diversity. It was basically a think tank for all races and it dealt with world issues and life issues that made us think on a critical level. At the time, I was serving a 21-year sentence for attempted homicide and other charges. Mutulu saw something in me and he asked me to write projects; one of them was a book about my life. I wrote a book titled “Life,” and the book went on to sell millions of copies. Today I am CEO of Leo Sullivan Presents, one of the biggest Urban Publishers in America.

There was a time that prison officials would do malicious things to Mutulu, there was even an attempt to kill him twice and his response was always with humility and grace. I would not be the man I am today if it wasn’t for Dr. Mutulu Shakur. People need to know the real history of the struggle during the era he was a part of and not just the one-sided story that makes him out to be like a criminal. Two wrongs don’t make a right but a man can be a product of his environment, meaning anytime you respond to naked aggression it’s looked at as a crime. We need to come today and fight to get this educator and freedom fighter and our beloved brother out of prison. There is a petition to Barack Obama that everyone needs to sign please visit mutulushakur.com for more information.

FREE the land!

Osiris