Support Jericho Movement's Call for COINTELPRO Hearings

From left to right: Kathleen Cleaver, Panama Alba, Soffiyah Elijah & Iyaluua Ferguson at March 2 forum. Photo: Roberto Mercado www.workers.org

For more than a decade, some of us have been calling on the United States Congress to re-open and renew its investigations and hearings into COINTELPRO. Such hearings are necessary not only to further expose the FBI's crimes against the Black, Puerto Rican, Native American liberation movements and other struggles but to remedy these crimes. Second, to the wanton assassinations of Brother Malcolm, Dr. King and Fred Hampton, as well as many others known and unknown, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies greatest crimes were the criminalization of these movements by incarcerating and driving into exile some of the most militant and committed activists and leaders in these movements. Sisters and Brothers such as Assata Shakur, Sundiata Acoli, Jalil Abdul Muntaquin and Mumia Abu Jamal. That COINTELPRO continues is evident from the recent arrest of eight alleged members of the Black Liberation Army, among them Jalil Abdul Muntaquin and Herman Bell, who have been incarcerated since the early seventies in New York State, on charges related to the August 1971 shooting of a San Francisco police officer.

In January 2007, United States Representative John Conyers, a noted champion of civil rights and civil liberties, became the chair of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. The House Committee on the Judiciary jurisdiction includes the following areas: (1) the judiciary and judicial proceedings, civil and criminal; (2) civil liberties. (3) claims against the United States; (4) national penitentiaries and (5 ) revision and codification of the Statutes of the United States. In the wake of Representative Conyers ascendancy to the chair of the Judiciary Committee we have renewed our campaign.

On December 7, 2006, Herman Ferguson, the co-founder of the Jericho Movement wrote a letter to Congressman Conyers requesting that he schedule hearings on "COINTELPRO: Its Impact and Legacy." Herman has yet to receive a positive response from Congress Conyers. We have therefore launched a national/international campaign to demand that these hearings be held.

Following are Ten Things You Can Do To Support The Jericho's Movement Call for Congressional hearings on "COINTELPRO and Its Legacy"

TEN THINGS YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT JERICHO'S CALL

1. Write a letter to Representative John Conyers urging that he immediately schedule hearings on "COINTELPRO: Its Impact and Continuing Legacy" Representative Conyers. Congressman's Conyers address is as follows:
The Honorable John Conyers
Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

2. Write letters to the other members of the Congressional Black Caucus urging that they support Jericho's call for Congressional hearings on "COINTELPRO: Its Impact and Continuing Legacy." In instances where your representative is a member of the CBC, let him or her know that whether or not they support Jericho's call will be a factor in your considering who to vote for in the next election.

3. Circulate the petition to Representative Conyers urging them to hold Congressional Hearings "COINTELPRO: Its Impact and Continuing Legacy." A copy of the petition is below.

4. Host an event on "COINTELPRO" in your home, community, church, school and or at your labor union. The Jericho Movement can provide your with a speaker, a list of films and literature for distribution at your event. Information about the political prisoners and prisoners war can be found at the Jericho website at www.thejerichomovement.com.

5. Get your City Council or local government, union, church, organization to pass a resolution in support of The Jericho’s Movement Call.

6. Organize a march, rally or picket in your community to educate, mobilize and galvanize support for the hearings.

7. Write to your elected officials (local, state, federal), religious, spiritual leader, co-workers, family members, neighbors urging that they support the call for hearings on "COINTELPRO: Its Impact and Continuing Legacy" by writing a letter to Congressman Conyers. .

8. Join the Jericho Movement in your area or if there is not, one organize one. For more information about Jericho see, thejerichomovement.com

9. Write and contribute to the commissary of the political prisoners and prisoners of war. The addresses of the political prisoners can be found on the Jericho website.

10. Write a letter to your local newspaper or call your local radio station in support of the Jericho call.

BE CREATIVE. THINK OF OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO!!.

To: The Honorable John Conyers, Chair
US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
Re: H.R. 1056 and Jericho Movement's Request for Hearings On
"COINTELPRO: Its Legacy and Continuing Impact."

On September 20, 2006, former representative Cynthia McKinney of Georgia introduced a bill in the 109th Congress, H. R. 1056, calling for thr "re-opening the investigative hearings that were conducted by the United States Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities in 1975-1976, into the FBI Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies and programs, and an expansion of those hearings to include activities renewing the practices and abuses previously curtailed on the basis of those hearings, and other activities sanctioned by the USA PATRIOT ACT."

On December 7, 2006, The Jericho Movement, by Herman Ferguson, wrote you a letter requesting that you schedule hearings on "COINTELPRO: Its Legacy and Continuing Impact."

We, the undersigned, states support H.R. 1056 and the Jericho Movement's request for hearings on call for "COINTELPRO: Its Legacy and Continuing Impact."

Name Address Telephone and/or Email

1._______________________________________________________________

2._______________________________________________________________

3._______________________________________________________________

4._______________________________________________________________

5._______________________________________________________________

6._______________________________________________________________

7._______________________________________________________________

8._______________________________________________________________

9._______________________________________________________________

10.______________________________________________________________

PLEASE RETURN ALL PETITIONS TO THE Jericho Movement, P.O. Box 340084,
Jamaica, New York 11434-3104. Tele: 718. 949-5153