Open Letter to Attorney General Jerry Brown: Drop the Charges Against the SF 8!

Copy and paste or download the attached document to send tthis letter to Jerry Brown, California's Attorney General!

Attorney
General Jerry Brown

Elihu
Harris State Building

1515
Clay Street

Oakland,
CA 94607

I am
writing to join with the Nobel Peace Laureates Desmond Tutu and
Mairead Corrigan Maguire, as well as
Cynthia McKinney, Danny Glover, Cindy Sheehan and others in an
international call to drop the charges against the SF 8.

The
eight are elders and activists formerly associated with the Black
Panther Party who have devoted their lives to serving their
communities. Four are local to California. Richard Brown and
Richard O’Neal are from San Francisco and have been known and
deeply respected in social service circles for over 20 years. Hank
Jones and Ray Boudreaux are well known and loved community activists
in the Los Angeles area.

Prosecution
of the case against these men is now over 37 years old. Although this
is a California state and not a county prosecution, the cost of the
case, which is in the millions, is being borne by the City of San
Francisco at the precise moment when vital services are in jeopardy
due to lack of funds.

Previous attempts to prosecute these
men in the 1970’s were dismissed when it was revealed that
so-called “confessions” were the product of torture by
the New Orleans police department.

The SF Board of Supervisors has already gone on
record as opposing torture. I call on all officials to do so as
well, to reject prosecution based on the results of torture, and to
do everything in your power to re-establish the priority of serving
the needs of the communities of San Francisco and the State of
California.

People
in the Bay Area have a proud history of defending human rights and
social justice. I urge Attorney General Jerry Brown to drop the case
against the SF 8 now.

Sincerely,