In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful! My name is Sekou Mgobozi Abdullah Odinga. I am Muslim, New Afrikan and a Prisoner of War. The name Abdullah means servant of God in Arabic. I chose the name because I try to be a servant of God. That is why I am incarcerated today, because I was fighting oppression and trying to do what I thought was right all my adult life. In 1983 I was convicted of two federal charges under the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), the charges were for the liberation of Assata Shakur and the expropriation of an armored truck. I was sentenced to 40 years and a $50,000 fine. I was also convicted of six counts of attempted murder of police in New York State. Which arose out of my capture and the murder of my comrade Mtayari S. Sundiata. I was sentenced to 25 years to life to be served consecutively to the federal sentence. As I said, I am a Muslim and a New Afrikan Freedom Fighter. Both positions leave me out of the jurisdiction of the courts, making the court proceedings illegal.
As a Muslim I am subject to the laws of the Quran which clearly tells me to fight oppression. To fight for what is right and deny the wrong. As a Freedom Fighter, fighting, for the freedom, liberation and self-determination of my people, the United Nations charter and all other legal bodies dealing with the subject of liberation of an oppressed people recognize my right to wage armed struggle against our oppressor. It is important to understand who I am and who my people are. I am the descendant of African slaves, brought to this country in chains as captives of a brutal slave war waged against the unsuspecting African people. My people have been fighting for our survival, liberation and self-determination since the first African was illegally kidnapped and enslaved for the profit and pleasure of the Europeans. We the African descendants are now called citizens of the United States, but like everything else, that too has been forced on the African slave and their descendants. We were never asked if that was what we wanted or needed. This title of citizenship that the European American enjoyed was never given in full to the ex-slave and his descendants.
I am not an American citizen. I am a victim of America. I am a citizen of the Republic of New Afrika. I do not want to be an American citizen. America today is killing and attempting to colonize and neo-colonize the Iraqi and Afghan people, lands and resources.
Black people in the US are themselves a colonized people. A colonized people are a people whose land, labor and resources are controlled and exploited by another group of people. It makes the colonized dependent on the exploiting group. Their livelihood, their laws, their protection their every way of life is basically dictated by the colonizers. A colonized people don't ask to be dependent, it is forced on them, usually by arms, as it was forced on my African forefathers. And it is with arms that their hold is usually broken by the oppressed people.
The US Declaration of Independence declares that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, which among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. But when a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing invariably the same objective occurs. In essence a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their duty to throw off such Government and to provide new guards for their future security.
On Jan. 24, 1979 the United Nations passed a specific resolution stating, The General Assembly declares that Freedom Fighters captured during the struggle for liberation must be entitled to Prisoner of War status in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Geneva Convention.
In 1950 a part of its Program of Action to end Colonialism, the U.N. General Assembly has specifically insisted that the captured of anti-colonial freedom fighters may not be prosecuted as criminals under the domestic law of the detaining colonial power. They must instead be treated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of Prisoners of War. (This is resolution #2621). So as a Prisoner of War, the international law, which article 6 of the U.S. constitution states, must supersede domestic law, should have prohibited me from being tried in a criminal court by this colonizing power, which the US government is in relationship to the descendants of Afrikan slaves.
I was born here in the US as were my parents and my children. I had eight children and so far they have had 18 children (my grandchildren). So of course my concern for our/my people(s) is the right to land and independence for all colonized New Afrikan people.
Since my capture and imprisonment in 1981, I have seen many loved ones pass away without me being able to say goodbye. Among the love ones that I have lost are my grandparents, my parents, my older sister and two of my brothers. The biggest loss of all was my dear son Yafeu A. Fula. In the rap world he was known as Yaki Kadafi of the Outlawz, back up group and collaborator with Tupac Shakur.
My mandatory release date from the federal sentence is supposed to be in July of 2009. I will then be sent to NY State to serve a 25 to life sentence. My family, friends and I are now trying to raise money to hire good lawyers to help in that effort. Anyone wanting to aid in that effort can by donating to:
The Sekou Odinga Defense Committee
PO Box 1272
New York, New York 10013
Tel: 212-234-4336
SekouOdingaDefenseCommittee@gmail.com
For more info on PP/POWs: TheJerichoMovement.com