Letter From Elaine Brown, Former Chair of the Black Panther Party

My dear Sisters and Brothers,

Help us FREE CHIP FITZGERALD! Chip has been in prison for over 38 years now! He will go before the California Board of Parole Hearings on July 2, 2008.

Chip was a member of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1969 when he was shot and wounded by police.—This was the year the FBI pledged to wipe out the Party, the year the Party’s L.A. office was assaulted for over five hours by several hundred members of the LAPD’s new SWAT Team, the year so many Party members were killed by police, including Walter Touré Pope and Fred Hampton.—Over a week later, Chip was arrested and charged with assault on police and the murder of a security guard. He was sentenced to death. When the death penalty was outlawed in California, his sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole.

Chip continues to believe in the struggle for the liberation of all oppressed people, and, despite the hardship of all these years of incarceration, heroically recognizes that his captivity is the result of his dedication and commitment to that struggle, a result we welcomed when we dedicated our lives to the Party and the Struggle.

On behalf of the Committee to Free Chip Fitzgerald, I’m asking you to sign our online Petition to the California Board of Parole Hearings advocating for Chip’s parole. The Petition can be easily accessed on our website: www.freechip.org. And, I’m asking you to pass it on, send out this email to every single person and organization you know, to all your email lists, urging everyone to sign the Petition and pass it on to their contacts! We want 100,000 signatures by June 30, 2008!

With love for the People,

Elaine Brown