Gary, Indiana has long been a leader in American steel production

The world over, prisoners and prisons seem to be at the core of controversy.

In the West, where the prisoners are often said to be individuals who “made their own bed hard,” it is difficult for many outside the walls of courts and warehoused women, children and men to disagree.

In the US of A. nightly and daily television, radio, internet, newspapers, magazines, novels, nonfiction and speakers, from politicians, public figures, religious officials, police, court clerks, attorneys, judges, professors, security firms, weapon manufacturers, guards, wardens and social workers help the corporate and government firmament convince the public of this idea.

Zolo Agona Azania, who has been opposed to the state putting him to death for the last 25 years recently wrote:

“”..on May 10th 2007 the Indiana Supreme Court granted the state prosecutor’s interlocutory Appeal and overturned the trial judge’s order dismissing the death penalty count! So as it stands now, I’ll probably be going to another jury trial. They ruled that the State may continue to seek the death penalty. My defense team and I will be back to where we’d left off before the trial court judge dismissed the death penalty count against me on fast and speedy trial violation. We were in the process of forcing the Allen County jury managers to show how they allegedly fixed the flawed jury pool selection system, as they claimed they’ve done. The State, with their superior resources, was given a third chance to exterminate me!

The court’s ruling is linked directly to the oppressor State’s attack on members of pro-democracy movements in the U. S. of A. The court’s reactionary posture is against the attitudes of those who dare question their unchecked power. My struggle is linked with the resisters to the war on Iraq, fascism and ecological destruction.

I want the world to know what has happened to me! For too long, prison struggle and prisoner related issues have been relegated to the back burner within the larger context of the movement for social and politico-economic change in this country. To those sitting on the fence, it is your human right as a social human being to be involved in the political process. The judiciary is the third branch of representation government. Get involved and make it your business to
find out what they’re doing.

Two hand guns, a .38 and .44 were planted by police and presented to the all white jury as incriminating evidence, which misled and and influenced the decision of the decision making body to which it was addressed. Prosecutors claimed the .44 was the murder weapon. Donald McDuffie Sr., a well known loan-shark, testified he sold me a .44 pistol. The .38 was traced back to the Gary Police Department of the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms) agents. A State witness name James Charles McGrew recanted his testimony. He said that the police had threatened his life and forced him to lie on me.

My case does not involve DNA testing. I am a target of State sanctioned repression and vindictive prosecution. The police coverup was in the making sure to keep its skullduggery concealed so that the department’s interest in this matter will be fully protected. I have, from day one, presented on all levels of State procedure both the operative facts and the legal principles that control each claim of error to the State judiciary.” (From letter “Dear Sisters and Brothers” 4 July 2007)

Zolo Agona Azania (b. 1954) writes from a prison built 150 years ago in Indiana, a state in the midwest of the USA the size of Switzerland. The state has slightly more than 6 million residents. Known for its steel, corn and pharmaceuticals processing, it has a densely populated northwest corner where over 1 million people reside. Social and economic conditions are as stark as anywhere else in urban America’s post industrial cities. Many African “Americans” in this area which is within the huge ring of Chicago, Illinois exist in unending poverty and heavy policing by the protectors of an elite trying to hold onto a slipping business in a globalizing world.

Prisons hold tens of thousands. Numerous others, mainly Africans commonly referred to as Americans have been injected with the poison needle after years caged on Death Row. Others, like Zolo have withstood immense corruption and are successfully fighting off the state’s racist and classist rush to judgment. From all over the world, support has punctured the myths of the system.

Write directly to Zolo Agona Azania:

Zolo Agona Azania #4969
Indiana State prison
P.O. Box 41
Michigan City, Indiana 46361-0041
USA

RESOURCES:

1. http://www.zoloazania.org/
2. http://www.prairiefire.org/Zolo/zolosart.html
3. http://www.akpress.org/2005/items/hopebreathinglifepostcardsforliberation

Provided by Bankole Irungu, a supporter since 1983.

23 September 2007
From Exile,
Bankole
www.geocities.com/exiledone2002

REFERENCES:

1. Why Are So Many Black Men In Prison? A Comprehensive Account Of How And Why The Prison Industry Has Become A Predatory Entity In The Lives Of African-American Men
2. Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row
3. Laughing in the Dark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color–A Journey From Prison to Power
4. Getting students engaged about Africa: national college tour seeks to raise awareness about economic injustices toward African countries.(American Friends … from: Black Issues in Higher Education
5. Global Lockdown: Race, Gender, and the Prison-Industrial Complex

Technorati Tags: Zolo Agona Azania | Gary, Indiana | Blacks In US Prisons | Black Political Prisoners In America | African Americans – Mass Incarceration | Jena Six | US Justice System Bias

BOOK DESCRIPTION: Sixteen postcards featuring artwork by Zolo Agona Azania, a New Afrikan political prisoner who has spent 23 years on death row, and this despite having forced the State to admit to racist improprieties in his trial and and having his sentence overturned not once but twice – despite a judge ruling in May 2005 that the State should not be allowed to pursue the death penalty a third time as this would constitute a clear violation of Azania’s rights, the prosecution is appealing, shamelessly pulling out all the stops to kill this man! As well as containing sixteen postcards by Azania, this booklet includes information about his case and current situation. Funds from the sale of this booklet are used for his support campaign.