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Vol. 79/No. 34 September 28, 2015
Meeting plans broader fight for freedom of ‘Omaha 2’
BY LAURA GARZA
OMAHA, Neb. — Some 40 people gathered at the Malcolm X Memorial
Foundation here Aug. 22 to mark 45 years of the unjust imprisonment of
Mondo we Langa and Ed Poindexter by the state of Nebraska and to discuss
how to broaden the fight to win their freedom.
The Omaha Two, as they are known, were leaders of the Black Panthers who
were framed up in 1970 on false charges of killing Larry Minard Sr., an
Omaha cop, and sentenced to life in prison. Minard died after being
lured into a home where a suitcase bomb exploded.
Poindexter, a U.S. army veteran who worked in the post office, and we
Langa (formerly David Rice), a student and community activist, had
helped organize protests against police brutality. They were targets of
the FBI’s Counterintelligence Program, or COINTELPRO, a spying and
disruption campaign directed against Black rights organizations,
anti-war coalitions, the Socialist Workers Party and others.
Witnesses placed the two elsewhere at the time of the bombing, and the
prosecution’s “physical evidence” linking them to the case was dubious
at best.
The main testimony against them came from Duane Peak, a 15-year-old who
police initially charged with murder in the case. Peak didn’t mention
Poindexter and we Langa until days after his arrest, at first denied
their involvement in court, and changed his story numerous times.
Despite all the irregularities in the trial, the courts have rejected
all their appeals.
“We need to get this case known more widely outside of Nebraska to help
bring pressure to bear,” Mary Dickinson, a leader of Nebraskans for
Justice, told those at the meeting.
Pressure is also needed to get prison authorities to let people visit
Mondo and Ed, Tariq Al-Amin, another leader of Nebraskans for Justice,
added. “In the past we had free access,” he said, but recently prison
authorities denied a request for a press interview. Al-Amin encouraged
people to write to the two to let them know they have support.
Audience members discussed taking advantage of greater opportunities
today to get word about the fight, pointing to the growth of Black Lives
Matter and other anti-police brutality actions in the last year. “More
people have seen how the cops and prosecutors have lied, planted
evidence and framed people,” said Dennis Richter of the Socialist
Workers Party, who has been active in actions against police brutality.
“Now is a good time to win more support for their case.”
Al-Amin said we Langa and Poindexter remain active, writing about
politics and working with others in prison. They both suffer from
serious medical conditions.
For more information and to get involved, contact Nebraskans for Justice
at P.O. Box 11725, Omaha, NE 68111 or visit www.NebraskansforJustice.org
and www.n2pp.info.
To write to the Omaha Two, address letters to Edward Poindexter #27767
or to W.M.E. we Langa #27768 and mail to P.O. Box 2500, Lincoln, NE
68542-2500.
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