who is sundiata acoli? - wordpress.com · 2015. 8. 28. · who is sundiata acoli? sundiata acoli, a...

Who is Sundiata Acoli?Sundiata Acoli, a New A f r i k a n

political prisoner of war, mathe-matician, and computer analyst,was born January 14, 1937, inD e c a t u r, Texas, and raised inVernon, Texas. He graduated fromPrairie View A & M College ofTexas in 1956 with a B.S. in math-ematics and for the next 13 yearsworked for various computer-ori-ented firms, mostly in the New Yo r ka r e a .

During the summer of 1964 hedid voter registration work inMississippi. In 1968 he joined theHarlem Black Panther Party anddid community work around issuesof schools, housing, jobs, childcare, drugs, and police brutality.

In 1969 he and 13 others werearrested in the Panther 21 conspir-acy case. He was held in jail with-

out bail and on trial for two yearsbefore being acquitted, along withall other defendants, by a jurydeliberating less than two hours.

Upon release, FBI intimidationof potential employers shut off allemployment possibilities in thecomputer profession and stepped-up COINTELPRO harassment, sur-veillance, and provocations soondrove him underground.

In May 1973, while driving theNew Jersey Turnpike, he and hiscomrades were ambushed by N.J.state troopers. One companion,Zayd Shakur, was killed, anothercompanion, Assata Shakur, waswounded and captured. One statetrooper was killed and anotherwounded, and Sundiata was cap-tured days later.

After a highly sensationalizedand prejudicial trial he was convict-ed of the death of the state trooperand was sentenced to Tr e n t o nState Prison (TSP) for life plus 30years consecutive.

Upon entering T S P he was sub-sequently confined to a new andspecially created ManagementControl Unit (MCU) solely becauseof his political background. Heremained in MCU almost fiveyears, … let out of the cell only tenminutes a day for showers and twohours twice a week for recreation.

In September 1979, the

International Jurist interviewedSundiata and subsequentlydeclared him a political prisoner. Afew days later prison off i c i a l ssecretly transferred him during themiddle of the night to the federalprison system and put him en routeto the infamous federal concentra-tion camp at Marion, Illinois,although he had no federalcharges or sentences. Marion isone of the highest security prisonsin the U.S., also one of the harsh-est, and there Sundiata was lockeddown 23 hours a day …. In July1987 he was transferred to the fed-eral penitentiary at Leavenworth,K a n s a s .

In the fall of 1992, Sundiatabecame eligible for parole. He wasnot permitted to attend his ownparole hearing and was onlyallowed to participate via telephone

Sundiata Acoli

from USP Leavenworth. Despite anexcellent prison work, academicand disciplinary record, despitenumerous job offers in the comput-er profession, and despite thou-sands of letters on his behalf,Sundiata was denied parole.Instead, at the conclusion of a 20minute telephone hearing, he wasgiven a 20-year hit, the longest hitin New Jersey history, which dic-tates that he must do at least 12more years before coming up forparole again.

The Parole Board’s stated rea-son for the 20-year hit wasS u n d i a t a ’s membership in theBlack Panther Party and the BlackLiberation Army prior to his arrest,the receipt of hundreds of “FreeSundiata” form letters that charac-terized him as a New A f r i k a nPrisoner of Wa r, and the feelingthat the punitive aspects of hissentence had not been satisfiedand that rehabilitation was not suf-ficiently achieved. The real reasonfor the 20-year hit is to attempt toforce Sundiata to renounce hispolitical beliefs and to proclaim tothe world that he was wrong tostruggle for the liberation of hisp e o p l e .

Write Sundiata A c o l i :

Sundiata Acoli

Black PantherPolitical Prisoner

Serving Life Sentence

Free Sundiata Acoli

Clark Squire #39794-066FCI CumberlandPost O�ce Box 1000Cumberland, Maryland 21501

Local groups supporting Sundiata:ABCF-NYCPost Office Box 110034Brooklyn, New York 11211Electronic Mail: nycabc@riseup.netWebsite: ABCF.net/NYC

National Jericho MovementPost Office Box 1272New York, New York 10013Website: thejerichomovement.com