Thought you playas might want to hear how our own Common is
appreciated in the political scene for his beautiful song for Assata:

PRESS RELEASE
>
COMMON GETS PROPS FROM HOA ( HANDS OFF ASSATA)
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Everybody gotta rap
Everybody gotta beat
Everybody gotta rhyme
>
But nobody but Common got Assata In the lyrical mix that combines rap
beat and rhyme!
>
SO WHATCHA SAY? WHO IS THAT? AND WHY DOES THAT MAKE
COMMON'S RHYME SO PHAT?
>
Common, in his newest and hottest CD, Like Water for Chocolate, knows
you not only got to keep it real, but you got to speak to the reality that
got us locked up, profiled, lined up and sidelined. He has been to school
and knows that the best way to get props is to give them. And so in
Common's new CD he has sampled and given props to Assata Shakur, a
legendary sista who stood up against the system in the 60s and 70s--
someone who refused to bow down to the idea that Black and poor people
had to accept the beat down. Then, like Malcolm, because she said NO,
she became an enemy of the state. Like other members of the Black
Panther Party, she came into the sights of Big Brother-the FBI's
Counterintelligence Program-- and was tapped, watched, harassed and
finally framed. Assata was no criminal but they wanted to make her one so
that no one today would know or care who she is or what she fought for,
but It did not work. You cannot stop the Spirit. And this is the spirit that
Common has called on in his rhyme that is in with the circle of time.
>
Today Assata is alive and well and living in Cuba, where she fled in fear of
her life after escaping from prison more than 20 years ago. She received
political asylum because another country accepted her claim that she
could not be treated fairly here in the US. Since then she has gone to
college, published an autobiography, written poetry and essays, and had a
movie made about her. She has kept contact with her daughter and
grandchild when they have been able to come and see her. She has not
tried to come into the United States for fear of inprisonment and death.
>
SO WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE YOU ASK? It is because Assata
did not die or sell out, it is because she is a symbol that you cannot kill
the spirit -- that to this day there are illegal efforts to try to force her
return, including putting a bounty on her head-like was done with runaway
slaves.
>
We at the HANDS OFF ASSATA campaign want to give all due respect to
Common for making the music the message. This is our song, our rhyme,
our beat: We are not going to let not one other of our sistas or brothers
who fought so hard for us, to be harassed, persecuted or kidnapped. The
law says Assata is a political exile entitled to remain where she is. So we
say to Governor Christine Whitman of New Jersey, call off your $100,000
bounty! Maybe you should use that money to see what the troopers are
doing to brothers and sistas on the turnpike today. We say to those
members of Congress that supported a call to Cuba to expel Assata , don't
be no fool--take it back. We say if you really want to know the truth
about what happened with Assata, and many of the too strong crew, call
for public hearings on the FBI's Counter intelligence program. Ask why she
was targeted, why her phone was tapped. Ask why in five cases brought
against Assata after she was arrested in 1973 , the charges were
dismissed for lack of evidence or she was acquitted in trials before largely
white juries. Ask about the facts behind her arrest in 1973 when she and
her companions were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike. Ask why there
was a shootout in which one policeman and one of her companions were
killed and she was shot in the back. Ask why she was chained to her bed,
and not given adequate medical attention. Ask why even though the
evidence showed she had not fired any weapon she was convicted and
given a life sentence plus 33 years. Ask why this case was put on her. We
all want to know. We know that what the FBI carried out has not seen the
light of day because if it did, a lot of cases besides Assata's would show
up shaky.
>
We at HANDS OFF ASSATA want to raise our hands in the air and wave
them like we DO care. We care about what Common cares about which is
what Assata cares about - we care about what happens to our youth, our
fathers, our mothers, our sistas, our brothers. We believe that by
struggling for ASSATA we struggle for the best in ourselves.
>
Come check us out at www.afrocuba.web; email main@afrocuba.web. or
send requests for info to HOA/Global Exchange, P/O/ Box 438731, Chicago,
Ill 60643.
>
HOA Campaign
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love and respect,
El Rey

love and respect,
El Rey


"We live the now for the promise of the infinite." - Mos Def

http://www.mumia2000.org
http://www.mumia.org
http://www.mumia911.org

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