Nuh Washington

Revolutionary
Political Prisoner
Prisoner of War
Imam

Passed April 28, 2000 Albert 'Nuh' Washington passed away April 28, 2000, at the Regional Medical Unit at Coxsackie Correctional Facility. There will be a public viewing April 29,2000 at 8:00 pm at Masjid Ihsan located at 977 Fulton Street between Washington and Grand in Brooklyn. The funeral services will be held at 9:00 am Monday, May 1, 2000 at the same location, followed by internment at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. The services are, at the request of Nuh, a traditional Islamic service. A memorial service is being planned for a later date.   -- Safiya Bukhari for Jericho

 

      " Nuh (the Arabic form of Noah) was a committed member of the Black Panther Party and later, after the notorious FBI-engineered East coast-West Coast split, worked with the Black Liberation Army (BLA), in defending the lives and dignity of black folk.
       " Back in the 1970s, Nuh was shot and captured with another Panther, Jalil Muntaqim, and was later charged and convicted of murder along with Jalil and Herman Bell. Evidence has since surfaced strongly suggesting the three men were unjustly convicted in this case.
       " For over 28 years Nuh (was) held in California and New York gulags, and repeatedly punished for his political ideas. ..."

              -- Mumia Abu-Jamal, Feb. 2000
                   (More from Mumia's column)

Who Is Albert 'Nuh' Washington?
(autobiographical statement, 1992)

My name is Albert Washington. I am a political prisoner. I am called Nuh (Noah), and like a handful of others, I am one of the longest held political prisoners in this country. As a member of the Black Panther Party, I worked to raise the political consciousness of Black people and teach them self- defense. The government-sponsored COINTELPRO created situations that led to the split in the Black Panther Party and forced many of us underground. Underground we became the Black Liberation Army and engaged in active self-defense. In defending the Black community in San Francisco, I was shot and captured along with Jalil Abdul Muntaquin. Later I was charged with killing two New York City police officers with Jalil and Herman Bell.

The State has conceded that I have committed no act but that I taught political education classes. For that I have been sentenced to life imprisonment and subjected to the tightest security, not only in the states of California and New York, but in the country as well.

I am a political prisoner because I spoke out against racism and oppression. There is also another aspect to this imprisonment and that was in overcoming the negative life open to Black youth. My parents gave me love and I, in turn, tried to give it to others. Blacks are encouraged to be self-centered and individualistic and thus be weak against resisting organized oppression.

My family instilled in me values and a sense of pride in myself, family, and people. They were always there. I am not allowed family reunion visits because I am considered a high- security escape risk, while others, who have escaped, can get them. It is now harder for my mother to visit me. My friends must make plans to get here. I have not held my wife in a long time.

I tell jokes and educate my fellow prisoners, which is why I am transferred a lot. The Black Panther Party is physically gone but the spirit lives in a lot of us. Just recently a brother asked me for the goals and rules of the Black Panther Party, and a few people wish to be part of it again.

After 20+ years as a prisoner, the memory of being with the people still brings a smile to my face and it is something I share with my fellow prisoners: The concept of unity, movement, and love.

I am a Prisoner of War as well as a Political Prisoner because of the historical and contemporary acts of war carried out against Blacks/New Afrikan people inside and outside these United States by the government and those who believe in white supremacy.

There is very little in here of me yet it is all me. I am kind to my fellow prisoners and I feel for others. I would like to take a walk at night and hug my baby. I'd like to do all the things that people take for granted in their so-called freedom. Not being able to touch and share special moments with another makes one generalize. I tell myself I am all right. But who can be all right after all these years under these conditions? Still I am in command of my politics. I can laugh and love, so the damage is not that bad. Whatever strength I have comes from the knowledge that I am a political prisoner and the things we stand for were/are correct.

         -- Albert Nuh Washington

(Note: This bio was first printed in Can't Jail the Spirit, Third Edition, October, 1992; Editorial El Coquí, Publishers, Chicago, IL. Reprinted here on prisonactivist.org with permission of the authors and Nuh.)

[Tribute to Nuh ] [ Letter on Nuh's health and status, February 2000] [ Nuh Washington: No Death in a Cage! - column by Mumia Abu–Jamal ][ Black History Month, 1995: Remembering George and Jonathan Jackson - statement by Nuh ] [ Poems and essay by Nuh and bio on thejerichomovement.com ]

This page maintained by Jericho Amnesty Movement, SF Bay Area chapter. and the Prison Activist Resource Center Updated 28 April 2000.