Update on SF 8 Arrests

Hi friends. I know that many of you were able to come to the first showing of "Legacy of Torture", a DVD made by Freedom Archives about the history of the charges against eight men, mostly former members of the Black Panther Party.

The eight were arrested two weeks ago in SF, charged with murder and conspiracy to murder a SF policeman, Sgt. Young, a week after the assassination of prison writer George Jackson in 1971.

All of the charges come out of the torture of three Black activists in New Orleans in 1973. For several days the New Orleans police worked the men over with cattle prods, beatings, drowning, and boiling hot blankets. SF, LA, and NY police and FBI agents interrogated the three men between the attacks. The police came in with a scenario that they wanted "verified". That scenario is the basis for the charges, which have been thrown out of several courts because the statements were forced under torture.

At least three, and maybe four grand juries have "investigated" the killing of the policeman, and none have brought indictments, including the one in 2005 that put five men, Richard Brown, Ray Boudreaux, Hank Jones, Harold Taylor and John Bowman (deceased) in jail for refusing to cooperate. The SF police continued their 30 year vendetta by charging the eight men without a grand jury indictment. Harold Taylor and John Bowman were two of the men who were tortured.

I got to know these five men over the last couple of years, and they are some of the most straightforward, helpful, revolutionary people I've ever known. They and the other defendants have lived for the last 30 years with constant harassment from the police, and are still strong. Richard, Ray, Harold and Hank are being held in the SF jail with 3,000,000 or 5,000,000 dollar bail. The other four men are fighting extradition on the east coast.

Richard, Ray, Harold and Hank will be appearing for arraignment at 850 Bryant Street in SF on valentines day, February 14th. I hope you will be able to go the the hearing to support them. At the last hearing, the Chronicle made no mention of the 40-50 activists and community members in the courtroom who all stood when the four were brought in. I hope that this time there will be so many people that the Chron will have to acknowledge the support for the SF 8.

The government will attempt to paint Black militants from the 1960's as so terrible that even statements gained by torture should be allowed as evidence. We cannot let them do this.

The hearing will probably be at 9am on Valentines day. Sign up at http://www.cdhrsupport.org for email alerts, and to check on the courtroom and time for the hearing. Please pass this message on to whoever you think should get it.

Scott