Thank you to everyone who has faxed Dianne Feinstein. Sherman's situation
remains of critical concern, and every effort matters. While many of you
have contacted Feinstein or sent letters, we are also collecting signatures
for a version of the letter that will be made public and distributed widely.
In the coming weeks, a Free Sherman website, www.freesherman.org will be up and running.
That site will include the letter with a list of signatures, updates on Sherman’s legal situation,
links to information, and ways to get involved. In the meantime, if
you would like your name to appear on the PUBLIC letter of support, please
send a message to ahurley@stanford.edu. Group endorsements are also
welcome. Please include your title and/or how you would like to be listed.
You should also include your address and contact information in the event
that signatures need to be verified. A work address is also acceptable.
None of this information will be shared or made public. This is simply to
prevent any false signatures from appearing.
A copy with a preliminary list of signatures is pasted below. You'll notice
that the letter is introduced by a statement of support from Noam Chomsky
and that people such as Howard Zinn and Zack de la Rocha have already
signed.
Thanks!
Here it is:
“The events reported in the statement below are deeply troubling. Sherman Austin appears to be the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, and I hope that this matter is pursued quickly, fairly, and justly.”
Noam Chomsky
We, the undersigned, are united in our opposition to the selective
prosecution and imprisonment of Sherman Austin, a twenty year-old African
American webmaster and activist. Sherman¹s sentencing sets a dangerous
precedent for the future of our right to express dissent and marks a
troubling escalation in the criminalization of critical thinking and the
erosion of the very civil liberties and rights our society purports to
value.
On September 3, 2003 Sherman Austin surrendered himself to begin a one-year
term in federal prison for the contents of a website that was authored by
another boy and linked to Sherman's site, www.raisethefist.com, on a
free-hosting area Sherman provided there. The other boy's site included a
direct link to the "Reclaim Guide,² a manual that provides crude
instructions on how to build explosives. While this boy has not been
charged with any crime, Sherman, who had no part in writing or posting any
of the offending material, was prosecuted under a 1997 law sponsored by
Dianne Feinstein that makes it illegal to distribute information related to
explosives with the intent to use that information in a "federal crime of
violence."
Numerous websites feature bomb-making instructions, and while such
information is easily accessed via the internet and online bookstores such
as amazon.com, Sherman, who has no history of violence and who did not write
the "Reclaim Guide,² is the first person to be charged under this law. The
key element in the case against Sherman hinged on the question of "intent."
Because Sherman's site is critical of U.S. government policy, police
brutality, globalization, and racism, the prosecution and judge maintained
that his politics provided grounds for proving intent.
Senator Feinstein, in a press release issued the day Sherman entered prison,
expressed ³dismay² that prosecutors had not pursued the ³bombmaking² law
³aggressively² enough as a ³tool in fighting terrorism.² We ask, why is it
that a nonviolent twenty year-old, someone whom the California Department of
Corrections Senior Staff Psychologist determined ³does not represent a risk
to society whatsoever² and described as ³a very, very peaceful,
mild-mannered² person, has been sentenced under this law while others who
present clear and identifiable threats, such as certain white supremacist
and anti-choice organizations, have been permitted to distribute bombmaking
information and make direct threats on individuals, clinics, and groups? We
contend that the selective prosecution of Sherman Austin had everything to
do with his race, his politics, his effectiveness as an internet activist,
and his mother¹s lack of financial resources to mount an aggressive legal
defense. We find it significant and telling that the actual author of the
site directly linked to the "Reclaim Guide" is the son of affluent and
conservative white parents.
We also question the validity of Sherman¹s plea itself. Sherman, who was
eighteen years-old when this case began, was told a "terrorism enhancement"
would be applied to his case if he went to trial. This meant that he could
have been subjected to an additional 20 years in prison if found guilty. We
challenge the notion that a plea made under such circumstances could be
truly voluntary. Sherman accepted two plea bargain agreements, one of which
the judge rejected, sentencing Sherman to a term longer than what the
prosecution suggested.
As is evident in the court transcripts, the decisions of U.S. District Court
Judge Stephen V. Wilson were neither fair nor impartial. He stated that he
hoped Sherman¹s case would serve as a deterrent to other activists and
³revolutionaries² and that he wanted to "send a message" by subjecting
Sherman to a harsher sentence. As activists, educators, artists, and
concerned individuals, we stand together to send a message back to Judge
Wilson. We will not be silenced or deterred.
Many of us have published, recorded, performed, or presented work that is
critical of U.S. foreign policy, domestic examples of social injustice, and
the effects of globalization. Some of us have made statements that could
provide even more compelling grounds for applying the standard of ³intent²
invoked in Sherman¹s case had we offered free-hosting website space that the
author of the ³Reclaim Guide² could have used. Because Sherman is now
serving time in federal prison for having expressed opinions not unlike our
own, we feel compelled to speak out lest we be next.
Two days after entering prison, Sherman was moved into isolation because of
death threats made by white supremacist groups. Thanks to numerous calls,
faxes, and letters sent to prison officials, Sherman has now been
transferred, but his safety in prison remains a concern. In the words of
the Department of Corrections Psychologist, Sherman ³is likely to become a
victim by virtue of his youth, slight build and naiveté. He is totally
unprepared to defend himself in such a setting. He is more likely to become
brutalized by the experience than to learn from it."
We support the efforts underway to challenge the terms of Sherman's plea and
probation, and we demand that prison and government officials ensure the
safety of Sherman Austin while he remains in custody.
Michael Albert
Z Magazine and Znet
Antonio Austin
artist and writer
Melanie Austin
Rachel Austin
graphic artist
Shermane Austin, Ph.D
Associate Professor, Computer Science
Medgar Evers College
The City University of New York
http://nrts.mec.cuny.edu/saa/
Blase Bonpane, Ph.D.
Director, Office of the Americas
Margaret B. Carey
Attorney at Law
Denver, CO
Alison Chubb, Ph.D.
Biologist and videographer
Redwood City, CA
Nicholas De Genova
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Latina/o Studies
Columbia University
Zack de la Rocha
Folk This!
James Fujii
Associate Professor of Japanese Literature
University of California, Irvine
Paul George
Director, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
Palo Alto, CA
Theodore Harris
artist
Philadelphia, PA
Patricia Hartz, Ph.D.
Humanities
University of California, Irvine
Julie Hoigaard, Ph.D.
Social Science
University of California, Irvine
Adrienne Carey Hurley, Ph.D.
Stanford Institute for International Studies
Ramsey Kanaan
AK Press
Roger Linn
Roger Linn Designs
http://www.rlinndesign.com/
Josh Lofthouse
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Futoshi Nakagawa
Tokyo, Japan
Anahita New (U.K. National)
Bangkok, Thailand
David Remer
Frankfurt, Germany
Jennifer Martin Ruggiero
Teacher of Computer Science & Imaging
Stephen Ruoss, M.D.
Associate Professor
Stanford Medical School
Carla Williams
writer and artist
Oakland, CA
Deborah Willis-Kennedy
Professor of Photography & Imaging
Tisch School of the Arts
New York University
Armando Yañez
San Jose, CA
Prof. Howard Zinn
http://www.howardzinn.org/
