Day 11 of the 28 Days of Black Liberation 2024 series
The Jericho Movement aims to recognize and amplify the existence of political prisoners, prisoners of war, and politicized prisoners within the United States. A political prisoner is someone who is imprisoned for their political beliefs that go against the dominant belief of society in this case the dominant belief is capitalism of the U.S. government. A prisoner of war is a type of political prisoner who took up arms against the U.S. Government. A politicized prisoner is someone whose consciousness was raised within the prison and became a threat to the state for their political beliefs. Jericho addresses four main issues for all three categories of political prisoners:
- Building Freedom and Amnesty Campaigns
Locating political prisoners, compiling informational documents on them and building a case for amnesty to free them. - Continuing the Educational Campaign
Educating the masses on the existence of political prisoners within the United States because they are our freedom fighters. - The Jericho Legal Defense Fund
Providing supportive expenses for lawyers, law students, etc to provide legal defense for political prisoners. - The Jericho Medical Project
Fighting for sufficient and quality medical care for political prisoners.
The Jericho Movement originated with the Republic of New Afrika-Provisional Government marching in front of the White House in the late 80s. By 1994 these marches stopped, by ’96 Jalil Muntaqim called for a renewal of these marches, but it was collectively agreed that it was too soon. In ’98, under the leadership of Safiya Bukhari, Herman Ferguson, and Jalil Muntaqim it was decided to organize the official Jericho Movement March on the White House. It was sponsored by the New Afrikan Liberation Front and RNA-PG and led to Jericho organizing committees domestically and internationally.