Activists Face Prison for Protesting Brutal Cops Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - jonina m abron June, 1999 Dear Friend: I am writing to urge your support of three Black activists who face up to a year in prison for protesting against police brutality in Chattanooga, Tennessee, last year. Lorenzo Komboa Ervin and Damon McGhee, organizers for Black Autonomy Copwatch, and Mikail Musa Muhammad (Ralph R. Mitchell) were arrested on May 19, 1998, after Copwatch organized a large rally against police brutality at Chattanooga City Hall. The rally was held to protest the April 28 and May 7, 1998, police killings of two Black men, Montrail Collins and Kevin McCullough. Collins was shot 17 times, sustaining several bullets while lying injured on the ground. Police allege that he fired first at an officer. Witnesses said there was no "shootout." McCullough, who was unarmed, was killed at his job where three officers went to arrest him on an alleged rape charge. Co-workers of McCullough said that police had been harassing him for weeks before he was killed. Following the killings, Copwatch monitored police activities and called for community control of the police. On May 19, the day of the regular meeting of the Chattanooga City Council, over 150 people participated in the Copwatch demonstration at City Hall. The chairman of the City Council promised that Lorenzo, who is a former member of the Black Panther Party and a veteran organizer against police brutality and racism, could address the council. However, when the scheduled time came for Lorenzo to speak, he was ignored and told, "We will not hear from you." When he took over the meeting and began to read a statement denouncing police brutality, Lorenzo was seized, beaten and arrested by police. Damon and Mikail, who defended Lorenzo against the police, were also beaten and arrested. The three were jailed on "disruption" charges. Their trial is scheduled to begin June 24. Chattanooga has a long history of police brutality, ranking No. 1 among U.S. cities with populations under 200,000 for reported acts of police brutality. There has also been considerable Ku Klux Klan violence in the city. The prosecution of the Chattanooga 3 is an attack on free speech and Black political dissent and a continuation of FBI COINTELPRO tactics used thirty years ago to destroy the Black Liberation Movement. The case also has potential national implications. "Disruption" laws similar to that of Tennessee, which impose prison sentences for political protests, exist in almost every state. If Lorenzo, Damon and Mikail are convicted, a dangerous legal precedent may be set that could be used by those states who have not yet enforced their "disruption" laws. The Committee to Defend the Chattanooga 3, a local group, needs your help to protest the political frame-ups of Lorenzo Ervin, Damon McGhee and Mikail Muhammad. Please join the international campaign to support these courageous activists. At the addresses below, write or email Hamilton County District Attorney Bill Cox and Chattanooga Mayor Jon Kinsey and demand that the charges against the Chattanooga 3 are dropped: Bill Cox, Hamilton County District Attorney, City-County Courts Building, 601 Market Street, 3rd Floor, Chattanooga, TN 37402, email Bill Cox@hcda.cps.k12.tn.us. Mayor Jon Kinsey, City of Chattanooga, 101 E. 11th Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402-1403, email mayor@mail. chattanooga.gov. Also, please send contributions for the legal defense fund to the Committee to Defend the Chattanooga 3, 2014 Citico Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37404. If you need additional information about the case, please email me at abron@wmich.edu. Make your voice heard in the continuing fight against police brutality in America. Sincerely, JoNina M. Abron Secretary Committee to Defend the Chattanooga 3 Former Editor, The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-06.13.99-03:17:37-20264