Open Letter to U.S. President Jimmy Carter From RNA President Imari Abubakari Obadele, I

Abstract

Abstract(Editor's Note: On August 18, 1971, the Republic of New Afrika (RNA) Residence in Jackson, Miss., was raided by police and FBI agents who were allegedly seeking a fugitive. The fugitive was not there but agents and police surrounded the house and opened fire in the windows 75 seconds after arriving. In the attack one officer was killed and two others wounded, resulting in the arrests of 11 RNA citizens—including President Obadele (who was not in the Residence at the time of the shooting but was arrested at the RNA office)- on charges of murder, assault with a deadly weapon and “waging war against the state of Mississippi.” In the summer of 1973 seven RNA citizens were ultimately indicted, tried, found guilty, and jailed. The FBI conducted a successful campaign to prevent companies from posting bond in an effort to “neutralize” Obadele as a leader by keeping him in jail. After several unsuccessful appeals, Imari Obadele remains imprisoned at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta (Box PMB 00807190, Atlanta, GA 30315). Under law he is eligible for parole release in a few months but prison authorities have taken two steps to prevent his release: (1) he will not receive credit for the 21 months spent in jail in Mississippi, and (2) he is among those classified as an “extremely dangerous offender” whose release would “depreciate the seriousness of the offense or promote disrespect for the law. “He has been designated a political prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. In this letter the word “We” is capitalized and “i” is lower-cased because, according to Brother Imari, “It is a principle of New Afrikan thought that the community is more important than the individual.”)