Black/New African Liberation
- Larry Hoover
- Richard Mafundi Lake
- Ruchell Cinque Magee
- Reverend Joy Powell
- Ronald Reed
- Kojo Bomani Sababu
- Gary Tyler
- Dr. Mutulu Shakur
Larry Hoover
Larry Hoover
#86063-024
Florence ADMAX
P.O. Box 8500
Florence, CO 81226
Larry Hoover is a former gang member of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation (BGDN) and street level black liberation organizer. In 1974, when Larry was 24 years old, he was sent to prison for murder. He is currently serving concurrent sentences resulting from a prison uprising in 1978. Throughout the 1970′s, sporadic internal conflicts would erupt within the BGDN organization; both in the prisons and on the outside. Some leaders were killed, others branched off to form separate groups. On July 22, 1978, an inmate riot at the Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois resulted in the death of three corrections officers. This uprising was rumored to have been ordered by Hoover. 21 inmates were indicted; ten were acquitted after an 11-week trial. Later, Hoover and the leaders of other gang organizations in Chicago came together to form the Folk Nation alliance – a pact meant to settle disputes and instill a more peaceful environment behind prison walls and on the streets. Hoover then changed the organization to GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT, with the purpose to move the organization onto a positive path. Larry is now in his 60′s.
Richard Mafundi Lake
Richard Mafundi Lake
#079972
Donaldson CF
100 Warrior Lane
Bessemer, AL 35023-7299
Richard Mafundi Lake was a long-time organizer against racist police brutality in Alabama. He was sentenced in 1983 under Alabama’s Habitual Offender Act to life in prison. Richard has been locked up since September 19, 2001, for allegedly creating a security hazard by writing anti-American propaganda on the black board during an Islamic service. However, Richard has stated that he was leading a discussion regarding reparations for Black people for enslavement and centuries of injustices. Although Richard was imprisoned for holding a piece of chalk in the drama that was the Islamic Scare epidemic, he was always first and foremost a Black community organizer and champion for social and racial justice.
Ruchell Cinque Magee
Ruchell Cinque Magee# A92051
D-5 #1
P.O. Box 4670
Lancaster, CA 93539
Ruchell Cinque Magee is the longest held political prisoner in the U.S., having been locked up since 1963. His original sentence was unjust, having arisen from a fight that occurred between Cinque and his cousin over a 10 dollar bag of pot. Somehow the incident was exaggerated into a kidnapping and robbery charge and Magee suddenly found himself being sentenced to life in prison. Politicized in prison, he later was a participant in the Marin County Courthouse Rebellion -the attempted liberation of political prisoner Johnathan Jackson by Magee and 3 other prisoners. Although critically wounded at the Rebellion scene in 1970, Magee was the sole survivor among the 4, which left him to be charged with everything the state could throw at him. He has worked tirelessly as a jailhouse lawyer, working on his own case and helping many other prisoners to win their freedom. While in prison Ruchell began learning the long and rich history of black liberation history. He adopted the middle name of Cinque, after the enslaved African who led the takeover of the slave ship Amistad, eventually freeing all the slaves on board.
Reverend Joy Powell
Reverend Joy Powell
#07G0632
Bedford Hills CF
P.O. Box 1000 
Bedford Hills, NY 10507-2499
A committed activist against police brutality, violence and oppression in her community, Rev. Joy Powell was warned by the Rochester Police department that she was a target because of her outspoken stance against corruption. On many occasions Rev. Joy had held rallies against police brutality, racial profiling and “police justifications” in the unwarranted shootings of Black people in Rochester NY. As a result, Rev. Joy was accused and convicted of 1st Degree Burglary and Assault. An all white jury convicted Joy, in a case that was politically motivated. The state provided no evidence and no eyewitnesses – apparently nonessential components in achieving a conviction in Rochester. Rev. Joy was not allowed to discuss her activism or say that she was a pastor. The person that testified for her was not allowed to tell the court that he knew Rev. Joy through there activist work and through the church. Furthermore, the judge Francis Affronti promised he was going to give her a harsh sentence because he didn’t like her. She was convicted and sentenced to 16 years, concurrent. Support site: FreeJoyPowell.org
Ronald Reed
RONALD REED
#219531
5329 Osgood Avenue North 
Stillwater, Minnesota 55082-1117
Ronald Reed is a former 60′s civil rights activist. In 1969, Reed was also among the students at St. Paul Central High School who demanded black history courses and organized actions against racist teachers. He was also instrumental in helping to integrate college campuses in Minnesota. During this period, Reed began to look toward revolutionary theory and began to engage in political street theater with other young black revolutionaries in the city of St. Paul. Reed went on to join the Black United Front. In 1970 he was convicted of shooting a St. Paul police officer. Twenty-five years after the killing, Reed was arrested and convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first degree-murder. He is serving life in prison.
Kojo Bomani Sababu
Born in 1953, Kojo Bomani Sababu is a New Afrikan Prisoner of War. Kojo was orphaned as a young teenager and was originally imprisoned when very young for a bank expropriation with anarchist Ojore Lutalo. He was also charged with the murder of a drug dealer in his neighborhood. Currently, Kojo is serving a 55 year sentence for actions with the Black Liberation Army and for an escape attempt from prison with Puerto Rican prisoner of war, Oscar Lopez Rivera. After the escape attempt, Kojo was convicted of one count of conspiracy; that prosecutorial slop bucket so beloved by the US government for disposing of anyone they view as troublesome. In Kojo’s instance, the conspiracy was alleged to have been some plan to use rockets, hand grenades and a helicopter, in an attempt to free his comrade Oscar from the Federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas. (Oscar was serving a 55-year sentence for interestingly enough… seditious conspiracy.) As layed out by the government, the two men’s nefarious escape plot would have been quite a lofty aspiration for anyone, let alone a prisoner. Although the helicopter part might be regarded as embroidery, the government’s obvious esteem for Kojo’s prowess as an ace pilot and proficiency in the field of rocket science, along with their innate confidence in his ability to freely access aircraft and munitions bunkers; all made him conspirator extraordinaire - undoubtedly a looming threat to society.
Gary Tyler
Gary Tyler, #84156 
Louisiana State Penitentiary
ASH-4
Angola, LA 70712
Gary Tyler has been in prison since he was 14. In 1974, students were sent home early due to racial chaos in the community. Gary, and some 60 other students, were riding home on the school bus when over a hundred white people stormed the bus throwing stones and bottles. A white boy was shot, allegedly by someone on the bus they were attacking. He later died. The police arrived and ordered the bus to park around the corner. All students were ordered off and male students were searched. 7 cops searched the bus for over 3 hours but no gun was found, so the bus was taken to the police station where they could find one later. Gary Tyler was put in a police car and charged with disturbing the peace (he had complained about police harassment of a fellow black student). At the police station, all the students were questioned. One cooperative little girl, Nathalie Blanks, showed the police where she had been seated, stating she had been cheek to cheek there with Gary and had seen him fire a gun into the crowd. After her statement, the police “found” a .45 cal. auto stuffed inside the seat – a most unusual weapon for a 14 year old to gain access to at the time. This discovery must have been an abracadabra moment for the police, considering the same seat had been previously searched and examined, with no type of conspicuous object such as oh, a huge gun being found. Young Gary Tyler was beaten by the cops and detained – and there he still is. Gary is president of Angola’s Prison Drama club.
Dr. Mutulu Shakur
DR. MUTULU SHAKUR, #83205-012
USP VICTORVILLE
U.S. PENITENTIARY 
P.O. BOX 5300
ADELANTO, CA 92301
Dr. Shakur is a New Afrikan man, whose primary work has been in the areas of health. He is a doctor of acupuncture and has served the community in the field of addictions as a councilor and educator. He was a co-founder and director of two institutions devoted to improving health care in the Black community. Under the “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization,” (RICO) laws, he was charged and convicted and sentenced to 60 years, for allegedly perpetrating (what else) a conspiracy against the United States government. Dr. Shakur has long been a dedicated worker and champion in the struggle against political imprisonment and political convictions of Black Activists in America. He was the founding member of the National Committee to Free Political Prisoners. He has been a leader in the struggle against the illegal U.S. and local American law enforcement programs designed to destroy the Black movement in America and has worked to expose and to stop the secret American war against its Black colony.
