WESPAC hosted an important meeting yesterday in White Plains with the family members of the Newburgh Four. We heard very emotional and heart wrenching testimony about the impact that this entrapment has had on their personal lives, their careers, homes, relationships with the community and more.
Members of Project Salam drove down from Albany to attend http://www.ProjectSALAM.org as well as family members of the Fort Dix 5 from New Jersey, including an Albanian family as well as a Palestinian family whose sons are serving a life sentence plus 30 years. A carload of activists from Philadelphia also drove up to show support to the family members of the Newburgh Four.
Mauri Saalakhan, a member of the Peace and Justice Foundation from Washington, DC also drove up in the rain last night to hear the family members and to announce a July 3rd Mobilization in Washington, DC to address:
1. the targetting of Muslim organizations
2. the use of provocateurs to entrap Arabs, African Americans and other Muslims
3. the use of "Preemptive Prosecution" to prosecute people before a crime has been committed
4. to protest the "War on Terror" being implemented both at home and abroad
5. To protest ongoing crimes against the Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
Families of the Newburgh Four would like to attend this national mobilization but will need help with transportation. They also need help with the legal defense of their four sons.
The family members of the Newburgh Four are willing to come and speak to your place of worship or your community center to get the word out about what has happened to their sons and spouses. We are happy to put you in touch with them.
WESPAC will be sending a community view piece soon to the Journal Newspaper and would be happy to have individuals send in letters to the editor about the issue of FBI entrapment and "Preemptive Prosecution" that target lower income communities of color. Hundreds of families have been affected by these policies and suffer the loss of their loved ones every day with serious consequences for the negative mass media publicity.
Also, Attorney Lynne Stewart will be coming back to Westchester to speak about the Newburgh Four case specifically as well as the systemic FBI entrapment policy in general and what we can do about it.
A while ago, WESPAC issued a statement regarding our position on FBI entrapment. Four institutions signed on, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Free Mumia Coaliton, the Taino Survivalists and Hudson Valley Action. We are now asking for more institutions to sign on, whether they be community institutions, anti-war groups, anti-racist groups, houses of worship etc. We will tweak the statement and send it out again shortly.
