These days one hears little about the ing in today’s youth. cotics addiction and eventually became Director Black Liberation Struggle... At age 15, he met the Black revolutionary of the Lincoln Detox Acupuncture Research educator, Herman Ferguson- a Junior High Unit. “Its message seems like a whisper amidst the School principal- who was to have a major After losing a legal battle with the New York noisy rhetoric of the current debate between lib- influence on New York City Black youth. City Health and Hospitals Corporation over the eral and conservatives. In contemporary poli- As a teenager, Mutulu had already concluded control of the Lincoln Hospital Detoxification tics, there seems to be little difference between that the number one priority for Black people in Program, Dr. Shakur and several other acupunc- both political parties in regards to issues con- America was the struggle for self-determina- turists were transferred out of the program. As cerning Blacks in America. On one hand, there tion- total control over every aspect of their is true with many programs and ideas devel- exists the pro-rich, anti-poor, veiled white- lives. He believed Blacks were owed land and oped by young revolutionaries, the treatment of supremacist Republican Party; while on the reparations for 250 years of slavery and another addiction with acupuncture continues at several other hand, there exists a party willing to con- 100 years under a white supremacist social and public hospital sites in New York City but the cede to the right wing on every issue that’s cru- political system. He joined the Republic of New names of the pioneers are not mentioned in the cial to Black folks’ survival. Our Struggle is Africa and later worked with the New African official history. falsely defined in terms of affirmative action People’s Organization to pursue the goals of Shakur and several comrades later founded and welfare reform. Slavery is now referred to establishing an independent Black nation in the the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture where as the “criminal justice” system. southern United States. community residents received holistic health Veterans of the Black Liberation Movement, care and students were trained in acupuncture which was at its height in the 1960s and 70s, and other healing arts and sciences. know now, as they knew then, that the struggle Advocate of Alternative Health of Black people in America is for self-determi- In 1970, Shakur was asked to teach political nation, economic justice, and decent living con- education to clients of the Lincoln Hospital A Multi-Faceted Revolutionary ditions. Our task is to bring to an end the cur- Detoxification Program. This program was Dr. Shakur’s contributions were not limited to rent unjust social and economy order which is founded by Black and Latino revolutionary health care. In the spirit of a true community run in the interest of a wealthy 1% of the popu- youth in the South Bronx, NY. Shortly after activist, he supported tenant housing, fought lation.” - Mutulu Shakur starting there, two of his children were badly alongside parent organizations for control of injured in an auto accident. Looking for an their children’s educational destiny and partici- alternative treatment, he approached activists of pated in every significant struggle in the Black A Foot Soldier in His Youth the I Wor Kuen, a revolutionary Chinese organ- community. Since the mid-1960s the Black Liberation ization, that ran a health service for the older In response to the revolutionary practice of Movement has confronted the establishment on Chinese community. An Asian woman, who Shakur and thousands like him, the US govern- many levels and with varying degrees of inten- was an acupuncturist, cured his children using ment implemented the Counterintelligence sity. Shakur was one among thousands of young traditional Chinese Medicine. Program (COINTELPRO) to destroy the Black Black people who stepped forward to confront Discussions with the Chinese and sessions Liberation Movement. As a result of this the system. As a student at Shimer Junior High with addicts at Lincoln Detox showed Shakur vicious war against the Black Liberation School in Jamaica, Queens, New York, Shakur similarities between the struggles of China Movement, prominent Black Leaders like worked with Sekou Odinga (aka Nathaniel against opium addiction, which had been Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were Burns), former Black Panther and now a brought there by the British colonizers and the targeted and assassinated and many lesser Prisoner of War) to form a student organization struggles in the Black community against the known activists were slain or imprisoned. Many and demanded that Black history be included in genocidal drug traffic recently revealed to have remain in prison today. the curriculum. At the time, young brothers and been orchestrated by the US Central Mutulu Shakur- a freedom fighter who had sisters on the block were the leaders and foot Intelligence Agency (CIA). been targeted by COINTELPRO- was captured soldiers of the struggle and had a high degree Shakur attended the Quebec Acupuncture by the Joint Terrorist Task Force in February, of political consciousness and commitment to Association where he obtained a Doctorate in 1986 and was placed on trial. The government their people. That same commitment is emerg- Acupuncture. He used his skills to treat nar- claimed Shakur was part of an armed under- ground unit that conspired to free BLA solidier from prison. He was also charged with conspiring to carry out several Free Mutulu Shakur armored car and bank “robberies” (or revolu- tionary expropriations), the proceeds of which, the governments alleged, were used to support political activities. He was convicted under questionable circumstances and was sentenced Mutulu Shakur to 60 years in federal prison. His revolutionary You can write to him at: nationalist spirit remains strong despite continu- ing efforts by prison officiasl to crush him. Dr. Mutulu Shakur Dr. Shakur is the father of six children. His son, , known to many because of #83205-012 his music, was assassinated in 1996. Tupac P.O. Box 8500 Shakur’s mother was also a target of COIN- Florence, CO 81226 TELPRO and stood trial in the infamous Black Panther 21 case. The Federal Bureau of Prisons For additional information about with law enforcement made every effort to keep Dr. Shakur separated from his son, Tupac. Mutulu:

Family and Friends of Dr. Mutulu Shakur P.O. Box 3171, Manhattanville Station, Harlem, NY 10027

Anarchist Black Cross Federation PO Box 11223 Whittier, CA 90603 E-mail: [email protected] For additional information on the web: and www.mutulushakur.com www.abcf.net People’s Warrior “The struggle to free Black political www.thejerichomovement.com prisoners is an integral part of the Black struggle. Victory for our peo- ple and our struggle will not be complete unless they are set free” -Mutulu Shakur