Dylcia and Cisco on Panthers and Independistas

ABOVE: Full, 39 minute version. BELOW: Edited, 10 minute version.

Dylcia and Cisco on Panthers and Independistas
--SF8 Hearing on March 2

By Kiilu Nyasha and Angola 3 News

This February 26, 2011 episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle features Dylcia Pagan and Francisco Torres.

Dylcia Pagan is a Puerto Rican freedom fighter and Independista, who spent nearly 20 years in Federal prisons on charges of seditious conspiracy for her role in the underground wing of the Puerto Rican independence movement. One of 11 Puerto Rican political prisoners granted clemency in 1999 by President Clinton, she was paroled to Puerto Rico, where she has continued to struggle against U.S. colonialism nonviolently. Born and raised in New York City, Dylcia studied psychology, political science, and Puerto Rican studies at Brooklyn College where she founded the Puerto Rican Students Union. Her culture and politics are expressed through painting, ceramics, poetry, writings, and film.

She has participated in the production of a video about her life and compañeros in the struggle; and while in prison, she helped direct a documentary about Puerto Rican Women Prisoners of War. Her biography has been published in Puerto Rican Women: A History of Oppression and Resistance and she appears in the new film Machetero (view a clip with Dylcia here).

Francisco Torres (Cisco), 58, of New York City, was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City. He is a Vietnam Veteran who fought for the grievances of Black and Latino soldiers upon his return to the states. A former Black Panther, he has been a community activist since his discharge from the military in 1969. Cisco continues to work with troubled youth in his Queens community.

Cisco is the last of the San Francisco Eight to still be facing charges. As Cisco discusses in this interview, he had an evidentiary hearing scheduled for March 2, 2011. However, three days after the interview, on February 28, this hearing was canceled. A short update published on the SF8 website states: "An evidentiary hearing had been planned to take up the question of wiretaps, whose existence had long been denied by the prosecution. It now appears that the question may be settled without a hearing. Details to be posted here as soon as available...Stay tuned for future court dates." For the latest developments in the case and what you can do to help, please go to www.freethesf8.org.

--This episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle is a collaborative project by Kiilu Nyasha and Angola 3 News, which is a project of the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3. Our website is www.angola3news.com where we provide the latest news about the Angola 3. We are also creating our own media projects, which spotlight the issues central to the story of the Angola 3, like racism, repression, prisons, human rights, solitary confinement as torture, and more.

RELATED EPISODES: Charles Bourdon: The San Francisco Eight (Feb. 8, 2008), Harold Taylor: The San Francisco Eight (April 25, 2008), Ray Boudreaux and Richard Brown: Free The SF8! (July 3, 2008), Richard Brown & The SF8 Case (Sept. 5, 2008), Francisco Torres: The San Francisco 8 (Oct. 2, 2009)

Bato and Sundi Remember Comrade George

Freedom is a Constant Struggle TV show, Black August 22, 2008.

Luis Bato Talamantez and Willie Sundiata Tate were in the so-called Adjustment Center (lockup!) in San Quentin on Black August 21, 1971, the day their/our comrade George Lester Jackson was assassinated by prison guards in what we believe was a set-up by the Administration.

Bato and Sundi were comrades who became known as The San Quentin Six, and are currently members of All of Us or None. They both did time in California juvenile and adult prisons where they got to know Comrade George, became politicized, and turned their lives around. Bato also works with the ANSWER Coalition and California Prison Focus. They continue to advocate for equal justice, freedom for political prisoners, and equal opportunities for ex-prisoners upon release.

RELATED EPISODE: Willie Sundiata Tate: Black August (Aug. 21, 2009), Elbert "Big Man" Howard and Billy X Jennings: Black August (Aug. 7, 2009)

Richard Brown & The SF8 Case

Freedom is a Constant Struggle TV show, September 5, 2008.

(NOTE: Kiilu regrets having to go solo, much preferring to have in studio guests. However, Richard was unable to make it to the studio on that date, so we opted for a phone interview since the interview was timely--immediately prior to a SF8 court hearing in 2008.)

Richard Brown is a former Panther and long-time community activist. He was employed for 20 years as a program coordinator at the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. For the past nine years, Richard has been a Community Court Judge Arbitrator working with the San Francisco District Attorney's office. Brown says: "We place a lot of emphasis on restorative justice, so most of the community service done will be done in our own community where the offender can give back to the community."

Brown is one of the San Francisco Eight. Since this show was filmed, the charges against him have been dismissed and Cisco Torres is the only one still facing charges. Torres has an evidentiary hearing on March 2, 2011, and an 8 AM rally prior to the hearing, where supporters are urged to attend. For the latest developments in the case and what you can do to help, please go to www.freethesf8.org.

RELATED EPISODES: Charles Bourdon: The San Francisco Eight (Feb. 8, 2008), Harold Taylor: The San Francisco Eight (April 25, 2008), Ray Boudreaux and Richard Brown: Free The SF8! (July 3, 2008), Dylcia and Cisco on Panthers and Independistas (Feb. 26, 2011), Francisco Torres: The San Francisco 8 (Oct. 2, 2009)

The People Have Won!

I’m so glad to be alive! This people’s victory in North Africa, first in Tunisia and now in Egypt, is OUR VICTORY TOO. We are all North Africans, i.e., human beings struggling to be free.

Clearly, the Egyptian people have been engaged in a decades-long struggle for liberation from an extremely oppressive regime backed up by the U.S. and Israeli imperialists – to the tune of billions in support of the military machine. This victory didn’t fall out of the sky or just up and happen one fine day. It’s the culmination of hard struggle, countless martyrs and political prisoners, strikes and demonstrations previously defeated, an unwillingness to give up and faith in the power of the people...

This people’s victory in North Africa, first in Tunisia and now in Egypt, is OUR VICTORY TOO. We, the people of the world, must move forward toward global revolution that will liberate the entire global community....

-Read the full article, published Feb. 11 by the SF Bay View Newspaper, here.

-See also the previous, Jan. 31 SF Bay View article entitled Revolution Has Come!