Running Down The Walls

Brothers and Sisters:

I encourage Running Down the Walls, September 12th, nationwide.

The crimes against native people have gone 100% unpunished for over 500 years– since 1492. Yet we who fight by any means for justice have been shot, dog mauled, beat, gassed, tortured, held in solitary for years. We have had our mail stolen 1000s and 1000s of times. We have been held in these cement coffins separate from our children, wives, native nations, husbands, partners, and elders. We can only rise in higher thought or higher education, or we can fall into a deep and dark self-pity.

I look at RDTWs and I gain strength. Some good people are still out there who really believe in political prisoners’ freedom. So our actions will have lasting power to change the wrongs of colonialism and its work of genocide to rob more land from native nations. RDTW gives me hope and power. Since you all never give up, I’ll never give up!

Love,
Oso Blanco

Solidarity to and with my 2021 Running Down the Walls Comrades!

Salutations and Felicitations Comrades!

Yet another Running Down the Walls gathering is upon us. We come together to run, walk, roll, stair climb, chair step, and otherwise put in work in opposition to the prison-industrial complex. We unite out diverse voices, however we raise them, in opposition to the exploitation and oppression we, the people, endure in and by the dark concrete corners of the world-wide gulag archipelago. We braid the many strands of our struggles into a powerful line of opposition to mass incarceration and its victimization of poor and particularly oppressed communities. Thus, we convert the physical steps and movements we take together to figurative steps in building the movements that will do our work, accomplish our aims, set us free! So let our combined consciousness move our commonalty down the road the road to revolution.

A special shout out to Comrade Leonard Peltier, elder hero of AIM, the Lakota People, the struggle for freedom, and soldier of approaching 50 years of combat against greed’s iron houses.

Bill Dunne
FCC Victorville FCI-I
August 23, 2021

Hey, all my Running Down The Walls folks.  This is Jaan Laaman, calling for all of us, coast to coast and on both sides of prison walls, to get this 2021 RDTW run going!

I’ve been RDTWs for 20 years, but this will be my first run, NOT on a prison yard! We must all remember the many political prisoner sisters and brothers, running and walking (some in seg cells), with us on Sept. 12. And let’s not forget the many conscious minded social prisoners who also join RDTW.

Let me send a revolutionary salute to all ABC collectives and people, for organizing RDTW for over 20 years – and also to all the other activist and revolutionary groups and people, who join and support RDTW.

Alright, all you young and not so young runners, running in prison yards and city streets, let’s get to running – RUNNING DOWN THE WALLS – 2021!

My name is Capo. I’m speaking on behalf of myself & my brothers of the Vaughn 17 who are participating in Running Down the Walls today.

First & foremost, I wanted to thank you all for your solidarity. If you’re listening to this, then you’re at least open to the idea of bringing much needed change. That’s definitely the first step. But I’m not here to speak on the early steps of this struggle. My focus is on what’s necessary to bring REAL change. That comes from physically forcing this machine to release those that are enslaved.

50 years ago marks the death of the dozens of martyred warriors of Attica. Their death highlights an issue that still plagues the people of this country: Modern day slavery. It also gave us, the prisoners, the insight into the realization that WE have the power. All we have to do is take it.

For a long time, the administrators of these modern-day plantations have used one primary thing to control us: Hope. Hope that one day they would grant us parole, commute our sentences, or that one day we’ll be able to get our case back into court. That one word is what keeps a lifer from annihilating the overseer that oppresses him on a daily basis. By waving this empty promise in their face, it makes the difference between an overseer going home at night or not.

It’s time for us to shift our priorities. We need to start to hope for something more than a chance to get our physical freedom. We need to hope for a better future for the next generation. The cycle of oppression & incarceration that has plagued our people since the 13th amendment shifted the slave trade to the department of injustice will continue as long as we let it. Once we put aside our selfish hope, we then can prepare ourselves to make the action that can turn the tides of this war.

But that will never happen as long as we continue to hypothesize & talk about what needs to be done. Only action will give our children the future that they deserve, my action & yours. For too long people have been shouting for prison reform as if that would be the end all to the issues. All that would do is perpetuate the same issues that have been happening for generations. 50 years after Attica, we’re STILL asking for the same concessions that those brothers were. All that talking is going to do is bring us 50 more years of oppression & slavery. The policy reforms & less oppressive laws don’t change the fact that there are more enslaved people in this country then the next 3 countries with the largest prison populations COMBINED!

Our freedom doesn’t come retroactively with these meaningless reforms that either don’t apply to the majority or are impossible to get applied to your case. It’s nothing but window dressing. We need to focus on what’s necessary to bring real change. We must TAKE our freedom back, we must destroy the system. That comes from physically forcing them to release those who are enslaved, while simultaneously destroying the system itself.

As prisoners, we can riot & take control of the prison at any time, but that won’t relieve us of this living death. We need our comrades in the world to take the fight out of the corrupt halls of legislation & to the prison walls themselves. Only then can we actually end this war. An assault on both fronts would make the difference between us banging on the walls & us breaking them down. When the world sees this, it will show that the facade of invincibility that the system has cultivated over generations of slavery is just that: an illusion.

Once we illuminate that, we can see the truth. That the machine has only ruled this long because we allowed it. We power the system, the people ARE the power! Once we refocus the power against the system, it will fail, it’s inevitable.

Every step towards the abolishment of prisons should be attributed to the spirit of the Warriors of Attica. Their energy embodies every imprisoned warrior that is willing to physically rebel for the greater good. The radiance of their spirit is what shines our way through the darkness of these cells. Their blood helped loosen the foundation of the prison industrial complex. It’s our duty to finish the job, so their sacrifice wasn’t without purpose. We now live in a time when we have the chance to live without the threat of slavery. When will we take it???

Well I must say things are more crazy. More dangerous. More Sad. More lockdown than ever. In my 20 straight years for my radical actions to get funds for supplies to send SE Mexico – 2020 is the worse yet.

But I am the SACRED PIPE holder here for all the Natives. So, I can’t fail or get sick. I have a lot of prayer requests. As you all know why. My people are highly affected by Covid 19. So, Run Down These Walls. It must be done. I love you all and I truly mean that. You are powerful. So, don’t give up! And Black Lives Matter!

So, Let’s all Rock This!

Run the Walls Down…

Yona Unega Oso Blanco

Salutations ABCF Running Down the Walls Comrades!

We gather under trying times. But we gather! We gather without proximity, sacrificing hugs and shared physical space to protect our community so we can emerge from the Covid-19 era stronger. But we gather! And we gather not only in resistance to repression but in sad memory of comrades fallen along the road to revolution – Comrade Sekou Kambui, for one, whose entry into this vale of all things we mark today. But we gather!

We gather to fan the embers of revolution that still burn in all our hearts. We gather to celebrate the life of Sekou Kambui and each of the comrades born in other days who’ve laid down their teaching for us to carry into the future we engineer. We gather to build that seismic wave that will rattle the foundation of every prison with our footfalls from myriad disparate points. We gather because the future we will create by gathering together tells us we must.

So, let us sally forth from whatever kind of lockdown afflicts our bodies, plug into that radical record that gathers us all, lace up our shoes or grease our wheels, and Run Down the Walls! I’ll be with you, stepping up (& down!) on my plastic chair, a reasonable approximation of running in the Covid-19 lockdown here at Victorville FCI-I.

Bill Dunne

Running Down the Walls 2020

A loud revolutionary shout-out, to all the runners, joggers, walkers, and others coming together this September 6th, for Running Down the Walls 2020. In the midst of this deadly COVD pandemic and the even more deadly centuries-long racist pandemic, we need to come together across the country and on both sides of the walls, this year more than ever.

I believe this is the 21st Running Down the Walls. In 1999, we had a real good solidarity run in Leavenworth and lots of political prisoners and prisoners overall, have been running down the walls in prison yards, control units, and other seg cells ever since.

Here in USP McCreary and throughout the federal BOP prisons, we have been on a pandemic lockdown since March. Hard to say if yards will be open by September. If they are, I along with other conscious-minded convicts will be joining everyone else- outside and in, on September 6th. If I am still locked down, I will join you all in my cell, throwing hard, high and fast kicks for 45 minutes straight! Well, haha, probably with a few breaths in between, but I will be with you all, in strong spirit and focused activity.

OK, let’s kick it off- get to running. Let me finish by telling you about this button I used to always wear when I was a student in 1968- “Less talk, More action, SMASH RACISM”.

BLM, Jaan Laaman Ohio 7 political prisoner

In the Spirit of George Floyd – 8/11/20

My warm embrace goes out to the bright spirit and good politics of running down the wall… in these most dire and yet promising of times. I know you are building support for a new generation of political prisoners. A key reason for political prisoner support is to show the continuity of the struggles for social justice. That understanding is acutely important today. The alternative to police who act with disdain and violence toward the people is community control, which is based on developing strong, caring, cohesive communities. Groups like the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords and AIM were working on that until they came under withering attack by the police and FBI. Some are still in prison today… today when we now have a new, better opportunity to move toward self-determination and a priority on meeting human needs in the oppressed communities.

One Love

David

Much respect to the organizers of this annual run, and the participants. I have been a runner since 1970, but now as I am turning 66, and the only place I have access to run is around a concrete basketball court, my running is limited, in an effort to preserve my knees.

I would run much more if I could run on a dirt surface, but for now, I do “Jumping Jacks”, “Burpees”, and work the “Universal Machine.” However, on September 4th and 11th, I will run for a half hour on each of those days, because running is a very spiritual act. So on those days, I will run with you in the spirit of Geronimo, Nat Turner, and Joe Hill in fervent resistance!

Regardless of who goes into the White House, Hillary or Donald, 2017 promises to be a year where the downtrodden masses will have to circle the wagons in order to withstand the walls of oppression. So let us all have a strong run, with resistance to oppression on our minds!

STRONG RUN! Hanif S. Bey

Salutations and Felicitation to All My Running Down the Walls Comrades,

We share today activity to build solidarity and community between the diverse parts of our body politic. We sweat and strain to develop and demonstrate our commonality. We carry for our vision of the most equitable social reality. We include our present and potential comrades in this work, this effort, this labor of love and struggle – and especially include those who circumstances let only their spirits run with us. We all run toward the same goal: the social revolution in which all of us will have the greatest possible freedom to develop our full human potential. We else would we go?

The Future Holds Promise
Bill Dunne

Hello, this is Jaan Laaman and I want to send a positive, powerful revolutionary salute to all you freedom runners, runners for justice, for human rights, for dignity, for political prisoners and all prisoners, held in cages across the United States.

Here in 2016, America remains the biggest prison house in the world, over 2 ¼ million men, women and children are locked up in state, federal, local and private prisons from see to shining sea.

But being in prison, does not mean that we cannot and should not continue to struggle for human rights, justice and freedom. Running Down the Walls is one good way for all of us, in prison yards, segregation rec pens, in city parks and streets, to call for justice and freedom for America’s political prisoners and all prisoners.

Yes, here in the federal pen in Tucson, a multinational group of young and old runners will be joining with all of you across the country in Running Down the Walls. We will be running on September 4th and we will be joining you in spirit, will all of you September 11th runners too.

So, enough talking, let’s get to running, running down these walls.

Jaan Laaman

As salaam aliakum! Alhamdulillah!
In the true spirit of internationalism and solidarity with all resistance movements of the oppressed against global capitalism and imperialism worldwide, especially amongst the domestic internal colonies enslaved by yankee colonialism and imperialism in the occupied territories of the U.S. southwest. I salute all of you with a firm revolutionary embrace and a clenched fist in the air from within the belly of the beast, and thank you for the many years of persistent support, financial and otherwise that the ABCF Warchest has given me. From the bottom of my heart, I say GRACIAS! Thank you! Much success in the upcoming Running Down The Walls event for 2016!

The forces of fascism, outside and inside the prison walls, are on the rise, fanned and fueled by the cycle of “presidential electoral politics,” where the established elitist parties fight over who is to be slave-master extraordinaire who holds the capitalist cat-o-nine-tails whip over the working class. They intensify their traditional racist, reactionary, fear and hate mongering, their xenophobia, Islamophobia, misogyny, sexism, classism, the stereotyping of immigrants as “criminals,” the militarization of police in communities of color, the police terror of unarmed, innocent civilians, their nurturing of a culture of “government snitches,” to create mistrust and dived the people, as their war against the poor, immigrants, people of color and the working class. There is no way out of these capitalist conditions and tyranny but through class struggle. Workers must unite internationally, seize control of their own communities, seize political power, take control of their own destiny and dismantle the current capitalist system and be a truly free people. The Republican and Democrat political parties are one and the same animal that feeds from the same pig trough. They do not respect the interests of the workers, but are parties of the rich and elite one percent in perversion of their “capitalist democracy” and their lavish corporations and their extravagant lifestyle and their insane “values” they represent as masters and rulers of society and the world. Which includes their system of genocidal mass incarceration of people of color as “surplus accumulation” for their prison industrial corporations sustain by brute prisoner slave labor. Only a political economic system in the total control of workers’ collectives, of the ownership and distribution of the means of production and distribution to meet social and human needs, not make the rich richer, can we all be free of these capitalist barbarians!!!

Keep pounding the ground! We are in here for you!! YOU MUST continue to be out there for us freedom fighters!!!

Hasta la Victoria, siempre! Venceremos! All power to the people!

August 1st 2016 – in memory of all Black August Martyrs!!!

In solidarity, Xinachtli

Comrades:

Although I’m, unable to contribute with the funding due to my immursement, my words of encouragement should fill the void.

Your energy, synergistic as it is, ensures that our struggle has a human face, one that exhibits concern regardless of the condition.

Everyone feels the upliftment you provide.
Kojo Bomani Sababu POW

Salutations and felicitations to all the comrades participating in Running Down the Walls 2009! This year, September 12th is a particularly meaningful day to let the peoples’ feet shake the apparatus of oppression. It is Leonard Peltier’s birthday; he is a strong comrade in the struggle for the most equitable social reality in which all people will have the greatest possible freedom to attain their full human potential. He has never wavered despite being among the longest held political prisoners in the U.S. gulag archipelago and this year he was attacked by the federal parole commission, that agency of repression inflicted yet another 15 year hit on Leonard for no other reason than that he is such a strong comrade, a powerful symbol. So let us vote with our feet! Vote for freedom for Leonard! Vote for freedom for all political prisoners! Vote against oppression! My vote may be cast in relative isolation but I will feel the walls trembling to the cadence of our collective foot falls.

I want to send a big shout out to everyone Running Down the Walls today – Saturday, September 12th, 2009. This is Jaan Laaman and I’m speaking to you from inside the u.s. penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona. Yes, I myself and a multinational group of solid prisoners will be Running Down the Walls, behind these walls in the Sonoran desert with all of you this Saturday morning.

I’m very pleased to hear we have 12 outside runs, taking place from Los Angeles to Boston and places in between, and we have some runs in other countries too. I also know we have a lot of runs going on inside prisons from coast to coast as well.

I want to send out a salute to all my ABC Federation folks and all the people running with them. And I want to send a salute out to all my Jericho people and all the runners rolling with them. I want to salute every person and all the groups who are running today. While long miles and high walls separate us, today we run as one large collective, growing in numbers, understanding and solidarity in support of political prisoners and ALL prisoners in our struggles for justice and survival.

We are young and old, women and men, many nationalities, running in prison yards and city parks and streets. All of us should take added strength and commitment from this solidarity as we sweat out one more lap and one more mile in our run today. I’m sure we all are looking forward to hearing reports on how the various runs went.

Today also happens to be our long held Native political prisoner brother, Leonard Peltier’s birthday. Leonard has been in prison for 33 years and he just got a 15 year hit from the parole board —You are in our thoughts bro – we are running for you and for ALL of us. So enough talk, lets get to sweating and running down these walls—

Running for Justice –
Running for Human Dignity and Rights –

Brothers and Sisters,

Yes, run down the walls! Everyday I pray for revolution and freedom. But this is no small matter. The Animals-Earth Mother-Natives and all peoples need a break to cleanse from this destructive civilization. So for eight years I’ve been praying for the economy to crash. Let he who can survive in nature survive. Let he who knows only the artificial world return to the spirit.

No occupation of Aztlan! No prisons – No research labs!
No Reservations – No zoos! Free Leonard Peltier!
Free Tom Manning! Free Veronza Bowers!

We wish everyone a good run on the 12th and we will be running a little bit before you…time difference…may our run and spirit beat down the path that you follow…peace out.

My revolutionary best to all at ABCF and all those involved in the work of true revolution! Much respect to all those active in the serious work needed to gain the release of all PP/POWs! I truly hope all are strong and on THE MOVE in the work needed to completely eliminate this rotten reform world system that imposes its destructive ways on ALL LIFE.

As always I’m sure that RDTW will again be the great success it has been in the past. I speak for THE MOVE ORGANIZATION in saying that we are in solidarity with this event and all those who support it. Just heard the news of this system’s continued attack on Leonard Peltier. Everyone should be up in arms about the vulgarity of the 15-year hit given Leonard by the parole board! Like with the SF8, this system’s hatred for those with the courage to stand against it in defense of what’s right, is historical.

Run-a-way slaves were hunted down for daring to be in the free as GOD MAMMA NATURE intends ALL LIFE to be. The Native Peoples were slaughtered for daring to hold to their right to live and the land MOTHER NATURE made them caretakers of!

31 years later THE MOVE 9 are still being held hostage by this system for daring to survive this system’s attempt to murder us on August 8, 1978 and the list goes on and on. For those of you running for justice for all, I truly hope that your footsteps are heard around the world and shakes the brittle bones of all oppressors! Let each foot step, each voice heard, be a strong statement to this system, that no one it has and is still doing an injustice to, will ever be forgotten! Let each foot step be a demand to this system to release Chip Fitzgerald, Herman Bell, Sundiata Acoli, Mumia Abu Jamal, Hugo Pinell, Robert Seth Hayes, David Gilbert, Marilyn Buck, The MOVE 9, Veronza Bowers, the Cuban 5, and the unending list of others, too many to name at this time, but are not forgotten just because their names were not mentioned.

Those who have been unjustly denied their release from these hell holes for way far too long, Let the run ring loud to this system, that these folk of strong committed reflections of justice and freedom are not and will never be forgotten and that their release is being demanded!

Let every foot step remind this system that all of those who have given their lives to this struggle are forever loved by us all! That they are, as all good soldiers of this revolution, missed but never forgotten! Let everyone feel their strong dedicated spirits flow through your hearts and souls with every step and fill you with the strength and motivation to carry on this struggle until the battle for justice and freedom for ALL is won and a reality for ALL! To quote JOHN AFRICA “SOLIDARITY IS UNITY. WITHOUT UNITY YOU CAN’T HAVE REVOLUTION.” LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA! Let us always find that common ground to work in harmony, work in solidarity in and in unity help build that better world for all.

Again my love and solidarity to ALL! Take care, stay strong and keep ON THE MOVE.
FREE THE MOVE 9!
FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
FREE ALL SOCIAL AND CLASS WAR PRISONERS!
NEVER FORGET MAY13TH, 1985!
LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA’S REVOLUTION AND DOWN WITH THIS ROTTEN REFORM WORLD SYSTEM!

I love yall’s Running Down The Walls event! It’s a good way to bring people together and focus on the cause. I know it will make Leonard Peltier feel good, and it will make all of us political prisoners feel good to see the support and care y’all have for us, THANK YOU!

We are still strong, we’re still committed to this revolution and we’re still innocent! This is why it’s so important for people to show their support in any way they can, no matter how small it may seem because there is no justice in this system. They got one set of laws for the rich and another for the rest of us. The power is in the people though, people just need to realize this.

Thanks again for y’all’s dedication to the fight for justice! ON THE MOVE!

Dear friends, comrades in struggle:

As a political prisoner held hostage for over forty years now by the slave manufacturing state of Alabama. Your sacrifice and diligent efforts in solidarity and support of political prisoners and prisoners of war is deeply appreciated. Keep up the good work!

Your missive advising us in the Social Consciousness Development Group (SCDG) about Running Down the Walls event that you have organized arrived safely. All concerned are in solidarity with you and though incarcerated we will be Running Down the Walls with you here at station C.F. under the organization of SCDG Chairman Sekou Kambui.

We feel that to run with you, even removed as we are from the forerunners outside, we are demonstrating our solidarity and support of the principles by which you were guided and motivated to organize RDTW on behalf of PP/POWs.

September 6th is the birthday of Sekou Kambui, the chairman of SCDG, and so he is proud to be able to give a celebration in dedication to his fellow PP and Virgo Leonard Peltier whose birth month he shares. We, in SCDG are also fighters for social justice and a part of the “International Prisoner’s Human Rights Liberation Struggle” movement.

Stay strong! Keep the struggle alive and the faith in the righteousness of the cause you have embraced in the forefront of your endeavors.