It began nearly 2 years ago

January 24^th 2002 to be exact

It was 4 in the afternoon,
Sherman Austin was asleep, seemed like a normal day, until reason was suddenly stripped from reality. 25 fully armed special agents surrounded his house, 2 of the agents met him at the door showed him a warrant and drug him outside. With shotguns and machine guns they entered his house and went straight to his room. Once inside they began ripping through his belongings, ceasing his books, his political posters, and finally dismantling his computer which was taken immediately to federal trucks that were parked outside and had all this information downloaded to government servers and were then confiscated. And then they left

 His room torn apart
And the life of his friends and his family turned upside down
They left and he was charged with nothing

It began almost 2 years ago

But it was just the beginning.

A month later in February after his home was raided,
Sherman drove 3000 miles to New York to participate in a peaceful demonstration against the policies of the World Bank and IMF. Standing in Columbus circle as arch was beginning he was again rushed. This time by 20 police officers and arrested. He was jailed and interrogated without the presence of a lawyer for 30 hours. While inside he was asked over and over again if he was a terrorist and if he belonged to terrorist organisations. He was released without being charged.

It was almost 2 years ago

But it was just the beginning

While waiting for a ride, 30 minutes after he was arrested without charge thinking the worst was over in the same court house he was arrested and released he was surrounded AGAIN this time by 6 FBI agents, and arrested. He was grabbed by his neck, thrown into a black SUV, and taken to a federal building where he was placed in a maximum security jail and held for 11 days. He was then taken out of prison in New York and taken to Oklahoma, in a federal jail for 2 more days.

At this point… you might be asking what was his crime.

Was he a murderer?

Did he kill anybody?

 Or was it, that he was a young black anarchist, and an activist, who REFUSED to be silent.

 The website that the government attempted to shut down is called www.raisethefist.com
It was a site that Sherman ran from his bedroom. He posted information about all kinds of topics, covered all kinds of issues dealing with everything from challenging racism and police brutality to giving a voice to those engaged in the movement to challenge corporate globalisation.

The site www.raisethefist.com Also functioned as a host server, providing LINKS to the sites of OTHERS. One of those sites not authored by Sherman contained information about explosives. Yet it was Sherman after 2 years of harassment, abandoning the lives of his family, who is finally charged with ‘distribution of material related to explosives with the intent to use them’.

He was charged and sentenced for a year for having a LINK to a SITE which he himself did not author or personally indorse, containing information that can be found ANYWHERE. It can be found In Libraries, in book stores, internet book distributors; you can find it on fucking amazon.com
Here, look: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0970148526

In fact, I found my first Rage against the Machine t-shirt that had a cartoon with instructions in Spanish on how to make a Molotov cocktail. Looking back it was probably a silly provocation. But the funny thing is that it was authored by the CIA.

I mention this only as a glaring example of the level of hypocrisy that not only runs right through Sherman’s case but is also weaving its way into the very fabric of our every day lives. It’s an example of this vicious and repressive political climate set into motion by the bush administration and the aftermath of the September 11^th

It is in this climate that where blind obedience and buying things is acquainted with patriotism

When being a muslim is to be considered a suspect

And being a young

Black

Free-thinking

Rebellious

Righteous

Anarchist, Is acquainted with being a violent criminal.

I’m sure that for the family and friends no wonders can describe the pain and loss. But it brings up one of the reasons that you continue to read this here and to give our support, love and solidarity. To help give them the strength and courage to continue to fight and bring some justice home Sherman.