POINT NUMBER ONE:
PEACE JUSTICE AND REPARATIONS
We seek and desire peace in our African-American and other
oppressed communities. We firmly support community efforts
to promote unity among the many African-American, and other
organizations of oppressed peoples; we particularly support
and encourage the advocacy and organization of a formal “truce”
among grass-roots neighborhood youth gangs, including the numerous
factions of the Crips and Bloods, and other OG’s. We believe
that is imperative that these youth groups/gangs come together
for our common survival.
Justice is a prime condition for peace.
We believe, and also recognize, that in order to achieve “peace”
in our neighborhoods that there must be real justice, particularly
in the economic aspect: massive resources will be necessary
before “peace” can actually be achieved. We firmly believe
that “peace, “justice” and “reparations” are attainable goals,
but only if we consciously and consistently act to achieve them.
We demand Black reparations for hundreds of years
of enslavement, genocide, and oppression against African peoples;
we also demand economic justice for all peoples: 1) a fair distribution
of the wealth, 2) equal access to finance capital and community-control
of modern technology, 3) an end to usurious lending practices
of financial institutions and 4) full and fair employment
and compensation for all working people.
We believe that the economic empowerment of our
communities can be achieved immediately through “community economic
development” (CED) and its focus on establishing independent,
community-based economic, social, cultural, and political institutions
that serve the collective needs of our communities.
POINT NUMBER TWO:
FOOD, HOUSING, MEDICAL CARE AND QUALITY EDUCATION
We support the human right to food, decent and
affordable housing, quality medical care and education.
We believe housing and medical care must be a part of the public
domain and exempt from the competitive forces of the market
place.
We demand education for our people that exposes
the true history of this racist and inhumane treatment of people
of color in American society, and the true nature of the System
of Capitalism. We want education that teaches our people
knowledge of our true history and role in this present day society.
We believe that the educational process begins
at birth and continues throughout life. Childcare and development
institutions must be fully integrated into a comprehensive educational
system based in and controlled by our communities. The
present educational system is unacceptable because it has demonstrated
that it cannot prepare the majority of our youth to assume meaningful
and productive roles in this society.
POINT NUMBER THREE:
REFORM OF THE U.S. CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Who can deny that the jails and prisons of America
are filled disproportionately with African-Americans and other
poor people of color, who have been historically denied equal
access to justice and economic opportunities, victimized by
an uncaring economic system dominated by multi-national corporations
and clearly controlled by a small minority of the white majority
population. Poor people of color have been, and continue to
be, subjected to selective and discriminatory prosecutorial
practices and policies that originate from a legislative process
inherently hostile to the interests and needs of poor people
of color.
Although we condemn the abusive use of narcotics,
harsh narcotics sentencing laws, in particular, violate the
spirit if not the letter of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition
against cruel and unusual punishment. Those addicted to
narcotic use, and those in possession of small amounts of narcotics,
are routinely convicted and locked away in prisons across the
country, while the large suppliers and those who make enormous
profits literally go free.
POINT NUMBER FOUR:
FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
We demand freedom for all political prisoners
held unjustly in state and federal prisons, including but not
limited to those individuals imprisoned from the following organizations:
the Black Panther Party movement and/or the Black Liberation
Movement, the Black Guerilla Army, the American Indian Movement,
the New Afrikan Peoples organizations, and the Puerto Rican
Independence organizations. We know that, in reality, there
are literally hundreds of thousands of political prisoners in
the United States, victimized and criminalized by the existing
American economic, social, and political systems; the “freedom”
of many of these comrades imprisoned will come only after the
full power of the people has been organized to make that a reality.
POINT NUMBER FIVE:
AN END TO POLICE BRUTALITY, TERROR AND ABUSES OF POWER
The Police Institution is a key component of the
overall Criminal Justice System; it is at this level that our
people have the most lasting impressions of the so-called criminal
justice system. We demand and seek an immediate end to
all forms of police brutality, murder, and abuses of their power.
We believe that it is unreasonable and impractical to expect
the Police Institution, as it presently exists, to police itself,
and that history and bitter experience has shown this to be
so.
We believe the entire criminal justice system
as well as, the police institution itself, must be drastically
and fundamentally transformed so that it is properly based in,
and controlled by, the neighborhoods and communities which it
should serve.
POINT NUMBER SIX:
SENTENCING REVIEW AND REDUCTIONS
We believe that monies required to imprison youth
can be more effectively used to educate, train, and rehabilitate
those who are, in reality, victims of a racist and insensitive
economic and political system.
We propose that African-Americans and other people
of color, particularly those imprisoned for “victimless” narcotic
use or possession, have their sentences reviewed and reduced
so that they may be released with real opportunities for educational
advancement and/or job training.
POINT NUMBER SEVEN:
SOLVING THE DRUG PROBLEM
We want to eliminate, within the community, the
destruction and human devastation caused by this so-called illegal
trade in drugs. We believe that community-based program
of decriminalization and removal of the profit motive from the
sale of so-called illegal drugs would eliminate the main cause
of the violence and crime that are a direct product of the narcotic
trade.
We believe that the Central Intelligence Agency,
the Drug Enforcement, and internationally organized criminal
organizations, have been largely Responsible, directly and indirectly,
for the massive infusion of “drugs” into our communities.
In order to concretely resolve this international “drug trade”
the CIA, and the DEA, and these “criminal organizations,” must
be dissolved.
Ultimately, the abusive use of drugs, is also
a medical problem; it is also, in large part, a social and political
problem including alcohol, reflecting the reality of widespread
despair and hopelessness among the broad masses of people, particularly
among the youth. We believe that “drug use” has been a
part of human culture since time immemorial; however, drug “abuse”
can only be eliminated when all people have equal access to
humane drug treatment, decent educational opportunities, and
meaningful employment.
POINT NUMBER EIGHT:
AN END TO MILITARY AGGRESSION
We recognize that African-Americans have been
disproportionately represented in the rank and file of the United
States Military, primarily because of the racist employment
practices and the lack of educational opportunities in the American
society. We believe, therefore, that African-Americans
have a particularly special interest in ensuring that the U.S.
military is not used as a “tool of repression” or “economic
domination” for the private benefit of Multi-national corporations
and their financial interests.
We seek an end to unilateral American military
aggression against, and intervention into, the domestic affairs
of sovereign nations. We see the end of the so-called Cold War
as an opportunity to drastically reduce the size of the U.S.
Military budget so that tax dollars can be used to fund economic
development programs in our communities. We support the
demand for “jobs with peace” and the total conversion of the
U.S. economy to “peace-time” production.
POINT NUMBER NINE:
RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND SEPARATION OF STATE AND RELIGION
We believe that African people come from a rich
and diverse spiritual tradition. Although not without
criticism, we support and appreciate the role of religious teachings
in our communities. We advocate religious tolerance based on
a mutual respect and regard for truth, justice and human compassion.
We recognize that the institutions of the church,
masjids and temples have traditionally played a leading role
in our struggle for peace, freedom and justice. From the spiritual
teachings of Nat Turner, to Malcolm X, and Dr. King, our communities
rose and struggled under the bold leadership of these activist
ministers. Our current religious leaders must follow the leadership
of these activists, unite, and cooperate in order to stop the
collective decline of our communities.
We believe that religious faith and belief is
not enough, they must be tied to action in the inspiring tradition
of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (Peace be unto them). The spirituality
of African-Americans embraces our long quest for freedom and
justice; it is our very spiritual beings which dictate that
we organize for collective survival and future progress. We
must instruct our youth, by example, as to the true meaning
of individual ethics and social responsibility. We believe that
history has taught well the lesson that the “state” and the
“church” must be strictly separated in order to achieve religious
freedom. We believe it is wrong for the United States government
to endorse or repress any genuine religious practice or institution.
POINT NUMBER TEN:
FREEDOM IS ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
We want FREEDOM for all people and are organizing
for ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE struggling to determine the destiny
of our African and oppressed communities throughout the world.
Back to Get Involved
