by C. Earl Campbell DA 3rd
President Obama has pardoned more Thanksgiving Turkeys than Political Prisons, who were victims of the US Government’s Counter Intelligence Programs (CoIntelPro), started under FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Even Russian President Putin had the courage to correct one of his own mistakes last month by releasing a political prisoner. Some argue that during the 1960s Blacks were disproportionately targeted and victimized by the FBI’s CoIntelPro initiative. President Obama needs to demonstrate the moral courage to address this historic injustice. To speak of Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for nearly thirty years and turn a blind eye to those who are suffering a similar fate here in the United States is the epitome of US Hypocrisy. Where is the compassion for fellow human beings such as Marshall Eddie Conway and Chip Fitzgerald, who have languished in jail for more than 30 years for demanding justice, fairness and equality in a nation that is viewed by many as a beacon of Democracy?
President Obama Should Issue an Executive Order requiring Attorney General Eric Holder to establish a National Political Prisoner Review Process that grants Presidential Pardons and releases anyone convicted based on evidence garnered by illegal wire-tapping, mail fraud and manufactured criminal charges. The criteria should include prisoners who are 60 years of age or older old and have served 20 years in prison because of their political activities. Failure to take action would demonstrate a lack of compassion for the suffering of human beings such as Nelson Mandela and a gross dereliction of duty as this nation’s first so-called African American President.
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/12/23/part_2_calls_grow_to_release