35 Years is Too Long! Free Eddie Conway and All Political Prisoners

On Saturday, November 6th over 100 people gathered in the University of Baltimore’s Business Center Auditorium for a rally marking the 35th year of Eddie Conway’s unjustified imprisonment. The event was sponsored by the Partnership for Social Justice, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Critical Resistance, and the National Lawyers Guild at the University of Baltimore. There was a wide diversity of speakers, poets, and singers who took the stage during the 5 hour rally. Many speakers were former members of the Black panthers who referenced the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). Through COINTELPRO the FBI targeted many radical activist groups during the 1960’s and sought to “disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize political leaders and organizations in the 1960s.” Ultimately, the FBI resorted to tactics such as imprisoning and in some cases assassinating leaders in the Black community.

Conway, a former member of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in Baltimore, was imprisoned in 1969 for the murder of a police officer. According to the Partnership for Social Justice “there was no direct physical evidence to link Conway with the shootings.” Furthermore, a majority of the prosecution’s case depended on a series of informers who received preferential treatment for their testimony in court. The Partnership also argues that Conway was represented by an unqualified defense attorney who was assigned by the court against Conway’s wishes.

One of Conway’s attorneys spoke briefly during the rally and said that the legal team representing Conway is being headed by an attorney from New York who specializes in COINTELPRO cases. The attorney is seeking to get the conviction overturned. The Partnership for Social Justice is also sponsoring a petition drive asking the Congressional Black Caucus to investigate the effects of COINTELPRO. The petition can be accessed online at petitiononline.com/psjcomm.

One of the groups co-sponsoring, the rally, Critical Resistance, used the event to advertise the recent formation of a Baltimore chapter in August. Critical Resistance is a national organization that is dedicated to abolishing the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). Critical Resistance chapters organize around the idea that the PIC, instead of deterring crime, has “led to more racism, poverty and sexism.” Since its inception Critical Resistance has held three conferences around the country, the most recent in New Orleans in 2003.

In addition to speakers from sponsoring organizations, the rally included a very emotionally powerful speech by outgoing Baltimore City Councilmember Kwame Abayomi, who compared the republican states in the recent election with the states that were pro-slavery before the civil war. Abayomi also mentioned that from 2003-2003, 21,000 people were falsely arrested in Baltimore city alone. Abayomi connected the high number of false arrests with the controlling roll that the U.S. government is taking internationally and nationally.

Another speaker of interest was Masai, a former Black Panther, who spoke about the incarceration of H. Rap Brown and other political prisoners both within and outside the United States. Masai brought up the point that for many radical activists from the 60s it is still difficult for them to travel freely about the US because of the conditions of the parole. He tied this point to Ramona Africa’s absence from the rally because he said that it can sometimes take a year for organizers to get permission to travel outside the state, and this deters former organizers from meeting. Masai also discussed the case of Assata Shakur, a former Black Panther, who is living in political exile in Cuba. Masai said that there is still a lot of organizing that is being done around her case and there is a concerted effort to allow her to return to the US.

The day ended with a very emotional presentation by Conway’s son Ronald, who was five when his father was imprisoned. Ronald, who is married and recently had a child, said that his father asked him to talk about what it was like growing up with his father in jail for almost his entire life. Ronald talked about the milestones he has achieved in his own life and how upset he was that his father was not there to share those experiences with him. The younger Conway concluded his presentation by thanking those in attendance for caring about his father and thanked them for the work that has already been done around getting his father released.

Websites of interest:

www.freeeddieconway.com
www.criticalresistance.org
www.cointel.org