[The North Philadelphia Food Not Bombs crew is deeply in need of a new or used refrigerator to continue a hot meal to our most vulnerable neighbors. to our mission of serving a fridge or know someone who does, get in touch. If you have access We can pick up!’]
Experiencing lots of Craigslist missed connections lately 𼾠dm if you can help us đ
Everyone should support the defendants facing charges related to their alleged participation in the George Floyd uprising â this list of our imprisoned comrades needs to be getting shorter, not longer. See Uprising Support for more info. The status of pre-trial defendants changes frequently, but to the best of our knowledge they currently include:
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FDC Philadelphia
PO BOX 562
Philadelphia, PA 19105
You can donate to Davidâs legal funds here.
Lore-Elisabeth Blumenthal 70002-066
FDC Philadelphia
PO BOX 562
Philadelphia, PA 19105
Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting âAdd a facility,â choosing âState: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections,â going into the âmessagingâ service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or âAF3896.â
Birthday: December 15
Address:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Fred Burton
AF3896
SCI Somerset
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida
33733
Alejandro Rodriguez-Ortiz
A former Vaughn 17 defendant. While the state has now dropped its attempts to criminalize Alejandro in relation to the uprising, all Vaughn-related prisoners continue to be targets for retaliation. Years later, these prisoners are still being abused for staying in solidarity with one another against the state.
Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting âAdd a facility,â choosing âState: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections,â going into the âmessagingâ service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or âNW2883.â
Birthday: December 17
Address:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Alejandro Rodriguez-Ortiz, NW2883
SCI Coal Township
PO Box 33028
St Petersburg, FL 33733
Jonathan Rodriguez
A former Vaughn 17 defendant. While the state has now dropped its attempts to criminalize Jonathan in relation to the uprising, all Vaughn-related prisoners continue to be targets for retaliation. More than three years later, these prisoners are still being abused for staying in solidarity with one another against the state.
Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting âAdd a facility,â choosing âState: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections,â going into the âmessagingâ service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or âNU0434.â
Birthday: December 31
Address:
Smart Communications / PA DOC
Jonathan Rodriguez â NU0434
SCI Phoenix
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL, 33733
The National Native Day of Mourning (so-called Thanksgiving) marks the invasion, theft of land, and genocide committed against the Indigenous Native People by European colonialists and later by their Amerikan descendants. UFF Ohio 7 comrades, Kazi Toure and Jaan Laaman, will be conducting a 24 hour fast on Nov. 25th and ask you to join:
This fast is to recognize and highlight the genocide of Native People and the theft of Native land. This is NOT just a historical horror â it continues today with all the injustices, abuses and ongoing land and resources theft committed against Native People all across this imperialist – colonialist USA state. In particular we focus on and demand the immediate release of Leonard Peltier – Native Elder, AIM activist, teacher, mentor, sun dancer and our dear friend and brother. Leonard is a political prisoner, in captivity over 44 years! Leonard must be freed â all U.S.-held political prisoners must be freed! Many Native Councils and governments have long called for Leonardâs release. Very recently, 10 US Senators and Representatives have called for President Joe Biden to release Leonard Peltier. We welcome everyone, each one of you, to join Kazi and Jaan in fasting, however long and in whatever way is meaningful for you, on Nov. 25th. Also do all you can, to get Leonard out of captivity NOWâ see Leonardâs website for how you can help! FREE LEONARD PELTIER! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
â Jaan Laaman
Philly ABC is hosting an anti-colonialist letter-writing in solidarity with imprisoned indigenous freedom fighter Oso Blanco. Join us Monday, November 29th, 6:30pm online! Weâll be sharing some information on Oso Blancoâs case, as well as updates on several political prisoners. As we write letters, the film âZapatistaâ will be streaming since Oso Blanco is being held captive for expropriating funds to support the Zapatistas. We also encourage folks to send birthday greetings to political prisoners with birthdays in December: Fred âMuhammadâ Burton (the 15th) and Casey Brezik (the 30th).
This month weâll be watching Adam Curtisâs three part documentary, The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom? from (dusts off label) 2007! Curtis examines positive versus negative freedom with examples ranging from the Austrian school of economics to R.D. Laing and anti-psychiatry to neoliberalism and the occupation of Iraq.
If youâve never watched an Adam Curtis feature youâre in for a treat!
Weâll be meeting in Clark Park on Sunday, November 28th, from 1-3 barring us finding somewhere congenial and heated â meet near the chess tables.
You can find the documentary on YouTube (or elsewhere) â each part is one hour, and weâll be discussing all three!
[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire article follow the above link.]
Welcome to the tenth installment of In Contempt, your monthly one-stop shop for state repression news, political prisoners birthdays and updates, and information about how to support those being targeted by the State in the aftermath of the George Floyd rebellion.
With so much to cover, letâs dive right in!
Uprising Defendants
Everyone should support the defendants facing charges related to their alleged participation in the George Floyd uprising â this list of our imprisoned comrades needs to be getting shorter, not longer. See Uprising Support for more info. The status of pre-trial defendants changes frequently, but to the best of our knowledge they currently include:
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FDC Philadelphia
PO BOX 562
Philadelphia, PA 19105
Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going toconnectnetwork.com, selecting âAdd a facilityâ, choosing âState: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Correctionsâ, going into the âmessagingâ service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or âNT0000â.
Birthday: November 10
Address:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Dwayne Staats, NT0000
SCI Phoenix
PO Box 33028
St Petersburg, FL 33733
Russell âMaroonâ Shoatz, the Black liberationist long respected as a political prisoner and freedom fighter by friends and supporters, was granted a medical transfer on Monday to leave a Pennsylvania prison for treatment and hospice after five decades of imprisonment.
A former member of the Black Panther Party and a soldier in the Black Liberation Army, Shoatz organized inside prisons for decades to abolish life sentences without parole, inspiring activists and attorneys to take up the cause.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is now considering whether a legal challenge to the stateâs practice of denying parole hearings to people serving life sentences for certain second-degree murder convictions can proceed. All life sentences in Pennsylvania excluded the possibility of parole, and the state has the highest per-capita rate of people serving life sentences in the nation and the world, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights.
The 78-year-old Shoatz, who remains highly influential within the Black liberation and prison abolition movements, is reportedly terminally ill after being diagnosed with cancer. In social media posts, activists and family members who spent years fighting for his release celebrated on Monday after a judge in Philadelphia agreed to transfer Shoatz from a prison to a hospital.
In 2014, Shoatz was released from solitary confinement after spending 22 consecutive years in âthe holeâ and later won a $99,000 legal settlement. Supporters say the solitary confinement amounted to retaliation against Shoatzâs efforts to organize other âlifersâ and abolish what activists now call âdeath by incarceration,â or life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Shoatz, who is considered both a political prisoner and prisoner of war by supporters, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after a 1970 attack on a Philadelphia police station.
As they are today, tensions over racist police violence were running high in Philadelphia during the summer of 1970, when Police Chief Frank Rizzo ordered a crackdown on Black liberation groups ahead a national convention of the Black Panther Party. Anger boiled over after police once again killed an unarmed Black youth, and police were attacked in retaliation, leaving one officer injured and another dead. The attack prompted a raid on the Black Panther headquarters and the arrest of multiple activists.
Shoatz went underground but was arrested and convicted of murder two years later; supporters have said he was falsely accused. Shoatz escaped prison with other Black liberationists twice before being hunted by authorities and captured again. The liberationists were called the New African Political Prisoners of War.
Shoatz spent much of his life resisting solitary confinement, inspiring activists in the free world and working for the liberation of people sentenced to die in prison. Shoatzâs supporters say he is now free to rejoin his family during the final stage of his life.
Dan Baker is a social justice activist and former army vet. He went AWOL instead of fighting in Iraq, and then took his training to help defend Rojava with the International Freedom Battalion and was featured on VICE. Dan was also active during the George Floyd rebellion and took part in CHAZ . He was arrested on January 15th, 2021 after the FBI compiled social media posts related to Trump supporters’ actions on inauguration day to build a criminal case against him.
Dan was facing up to 10 years for two counts of transmitting a communication in interstate commerce containing a threat to kidnap or injure. On October 12th, he was sentenced to 44 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release. Join us on Jitsi (link will be shared the day of) as we listen to a podcast about the case and write letters of support to him. He is currently held at FDC Tallahassee, but will likely be moved to a longer-term facility in the coming weeks to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
The crisp of autumn is in the air and the sun ceding ground to the long, long night, which means itâs time for a spooky reading!
Today, the man best protected against setting the stage for his own dying is the sick person in critical condition. Society, acting through the medical system, decides when and after what indignities and mutilations he shall die.
Join us on Saturday, October 30th in Clark Park (near the chess tables) from 1-3 pm for a discussion about Ivan Illichâs âDeath against deathâ from the classic Medical Nemesis. You can read the chapter online with footnotes here or in pdf form below:
Aaron Whallon Wolkind, Vice President of Philly Proud Boys, despite living in Delaware.
âThe FBI raided the home of the vice president of the Proud Boysâ Philadelphia chapter on Friday, seizing his computer, phone, and other electronics to gather information on the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, his lawyer said Monday.
Aaron Whallon Wolkind, 37, woke up around 4 a.m. Friday to more than a dozen federal agents, dressed in riot gear and accompanied by an armored vehicle and battering ram, swarming his Newark, Del., home, and ordering through a loudspeaker that he exit with his hands in the air, his lawyer Jonathon Moseley wrote in a court filingâŚ
Wolkind was not in D.C. during the Jan. 6 riot, Moseley said. He believes the search and seizure was to gather information in the case against Zach Rehl, the self-described president of the Philadelphia Proud Boys, whom Moseley also represents. Rehl was arrested in March on charges he conspired with other leading members of the organization to attack the Capitol and has been in custody in Philadelphia pending trial since.â
Wolkind is a longtime Proud Boy who participated with Rehl, Richard Schwetz and other PBâs/assorted racists who attacked Anti-Racists at the Columbus Statue in Marconi Plaza in the summer of 2020. Wolkind has been at nearly every Proud Boys demo in Pennsylvania since the groupâs founding.
Zach Rehl continues to be held at FDC Philadelphia awaiting trial.
In case you’re looking for an opportunity to peacefully protest Jamie Dimon and the establishment’s celebration of finance, there will be a partially outdoor reception hosted for him (by a taxpayer-endowed organization) next Monday October 11 at the Independence Visitor Center.
In lieu of our usual monthly letter-writing event, we will be mailing printed copies of our 2021 Running Down the Walls reportback to over 30 political prisoners. This is one way to share and celebrate the energy garnered at the event as over 200 people gathered in Philly alone to move our bodies in solidarity with those on the other side of prison walls.
Join us this Monday at 6:30pm, at the northwest side of the dog bowl in Clark Park as we package and mail the reportbacks. Snacks and supplies are provided. We encourage people who want to discuss ideas on how to support political prisoners and prisoners of war to come hang out, and sign cards for political prisoners with birthdays in October: Jamil Al-Amin (October 4th), David Gilbert (October 6th), and Malik Bey (October 8th).
Everyone should support the defendants facing charges related to their alleged participation in the George Floyd uprising â this list of our imprisoned comrades needs to be getting shorter, not longer. The status of pre-trial defendants changes frequently, but to the best of our knowledge they currently include:
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FDC Philadelphia
PO BOX 562
Philadelphia, PA 19105
Lore-Elisabeth Blumenthal is a community care worker from Philadelphia and pre-trial political prisoner facing charges connected to her alleged participation in the George Floyd Uprising.
Birthday: October 27
Address:
Lore-Elisabeth Blumenthal 70002-066
FDC Philadelphia
PO BOX 562
Philadelphia, PA 19105
Weâre pleased to share the following reportback of our fourth annual Philadelphia Running Down The Walls in support of political prisoners and prisoners of war.
On sunny September 12, 2021, a light breeze persisted from off the lake in FDR park as participants gathered to check-in for their t-shirts, make donations, set up tables, and hang banners. For the fourth year in a row, the day kicked off an amazing yoga warm up lead by Sheena Sood  to uplift the energy for the rest of the day. Our comrade Spiritchild from the maroon party for liberation  emceed the event getting participants amped and queued up. Walkers left the start line around 11:10 am, followed by folks moving at a medium pace, and finally the runners around 11:30 am.
After the 5K, the crowd gathered as Spiritchild performed a song for the spirits of political prisoners, fallen comrades and ancestors, followed by pouring libations. Then we acknowledged the prisoners who were sponsored for and participated as part of the Philadelphia event: John Bramble and Paul Kali Hickman (Vaughn Correctional Center), Hector âPicaâ Huertas and Jerome Coffey (SCI Pine Grove), Jacob Busic (Halifax Correctional Unit), Alejandro âCapoâ Rodriguez-Ortiz and the 9 others participating with him (SCI Phoenix).
The first speaker was Mumiaâs grandson, Jamal Jr. He started with the chant heâs heard his whole life – âFree Mumia!” – to remind everyone what the goal is, and then continued to share his raw emotions with us. Jamal spoke on how hard it was to see Mumiaâs incision wounds from the recent open heart surgery, but his words come from more than just that. They come from a lifetime of fighting to free his grandfather. His call to action is for all of us to do one revolutionary act a day. See Jamalâs full speech from Unicorn Riotâs  live stream here.
I wish my grandfather was here to address you today. We have a puppet in his stead. I wish he was here, lending his voice for the liberation of others like he always does. I wish he was here laughing and telling stories, flanked by his wife, children, grandchildren, and other family. ⌠Heâs been abducted longer than most of us have been alive. Just think of that. ⌠They intended to kill him, but the people had something to say about that. ⌠They took him from me, and they still intend to hold him. Iâm pretty sure we got something to say about that. They took him from my children, and they intend for him to die in thereâ to die behind enemy lines. ⌠Freeing political prisoners is personal to me, because my grandfather has been a political prisoner all my life. Heâs been a political prisoner most of my dadâs life. Bringing him home is the goal. You guys hear that? We got to bring him home. We have to.
We all got work to do, so I am going to require one revolutionary act a day. One revolutionary act could be sharing a revolutionary story. One revolutionary act could be joining in on a conversation of political prisoners and injustices that we need to challenge. Thereâs many ways we can do one revolutionary act a day⌠. When Iâm asking you guys to voluntarily do one revolutionary act a dayâ donât just do it because it makes you feel okay, you know it makes you feel right, makes you feel whole, makes you feel good, you know supporting political prisonersâ do it because, you know, a lot of us, we donât have a choice⌠In supporting political prisoners, and supporting revolutionaries, in a lot of ways youâre supporting the family members, you know, of revolutionaries ⌠the ones who didnât sign up for this.
The next speaker was former political prisoner, Kazi Toure,  who was imprisoned for over ten years for his role in bombings carried out by the United Freedom Front (UFF) to combat Apartheid in South Africa and US Imperialism in Central America. Kazi traveled down from Boston to participate and share his wisdom, solidarity for Mumia and all political prisoners, as well as his experiences with Running Down The Walls both inside and outside prison. See Kaziâs full speech here.
Each year I see this [Running Down The Walls] growing and growing, more and more. And you know itâs something we really need to do because of the double standards that they have on this land. Where Mumia would already be out, and a lot of other political prisoners would be out. So we have to double our efforts.
As brother [Jamal] spoke before ⌠[where] he was talking about doing one revolutionary act a day, I think the self-discipline plays into that. Just like where we start the day off with yoga, and then went on our walk and our run⌠we have to incorporate all that and study revolutionary movements, and who the political prisoners are. People should know them. They are in there because they made a choice. People made a conscious choice to fight against this government, and itâs racist, sexist, homophobic policies.
Following came a legal update from Nia Holston of the Abolitionist Law Center,  on the current status of medical parole for political prisoner Russell Maroon Shoatz. Maroon has been imprisoned for 48 years and suffers from stage 4 cancer, to the point at which he is eligible for compassionate release into to hospice. However that didnât stop a Judge last month from asserting this 78 year old man is an âundue risk of escape or danger to the community,â and denying his release. Nia and others from ALC are still fighting for his release, and they believe he will come home. See Niaâs full legal update here.
I definitely want to acknowledge the family of Russell Maroon Shoatz thatâs here today, and that we stand in solidarity with them. In August we filed a petition for compassionate release in his case, because of the illness, because of what heâs been going through, because he spent so long incarcerated. Weâve been working to file that petition to get him released. Now I have to say that unfortunately, Judge Scott of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas did deny that petition in August of this past month, but we are still working. We are still preparing the litigation to continue that fight, and we believe that we will win.
But I will say, as you all know here, we know that we canât rely on the legal system to do whatâs right. We know that we canât. And so, all of the work that you are doing, all the good work youâre doing to organize this event, and all of the work that the Free Maroon Now coalition is doing to support the litigation is so, so important.
Next up, we were again joined by Robert Saleem Holbrook. Saleem is a former juvenile lifer who was released in 2018 after spending over two decades in prison. He spoke at last yearâs event about the political education and mentorship he received from Maroon and Joseph âJoe-Joeâ Bowen  while incarcerated with them. This year he spoke on the history of Jericho and their new Philly chapter that formed a few months ago. He also echoed the strength and victories of our movements to free political prisoners. See Saleemâs full speech here.
Jericho was founded in 1998 after a call was made by Jalil Muntaqim ⌠for all national organizations that support the Black liberation movement and support radical things in this country, to come together and march on Washington demanding the release of political prisoners who were casualties of this countryâs war against the Black liberation movement, and this countryâs war against the social protest movement of the 60s and 70s. ⌠Since 1998, Iâm proud to say that we have brought home a lot of political prisoners. Something that at one time seemed impossible. Jalil Muntaqim, the political prisoner who made that call, is now home. However not only is Jalil home, his comrades are also home. ⌠A lot of times when youâre in the trenches fighting, you sometimes forget our victories ⌠but we have victories that we need to uplift, and I think as a movement we need to uplift these victories a lot more⌠. There are so many who are released that gave inspiration to us that we need to acknowledge when weâre in their presence.
We have a lot more work to do. We got bring home Mumia Abu-Jamal ⌠Russell Maroon Shoatz ⌠Fred âMuhammadâ Burton ⌠Joseph âJoe-Joeâ Bowen ⌠Sundiata Acoli ⌠Mutulu Shakur ⌠Leonard Peltier ⌠You know today is his birthday, so we need to uplift Leonard Peltierâs presence [and] his fighting spirit today. Philly Jericho is part of this movement, this mass movement to liberate our political prisoners.
The final speaker was longtime ABCF member, Tim Fasnacht. Since 2005, Tim has been the person dispersing the monthly Warchest stipends to political prisoners and prisoners of war. He gave a brief update and history of the program. See Timâs full speech here.
Right now weâre up to 18 political prisoners [that] we send $50 a month. We also provide occasional legal money if someone needs help with legal fees. And [what] we also started over the past couple years as the Warchest has really grown, is a release fund. So weâre giving political prisoners who have been released over that last couple years anywhere from maybe $500 to maybe $3000 to help them get on their feet when they get out.
The Warchest started in 1994. It came about from comrades up in Patterson, New Jersey. They started writing and visiting different political prisoners. The first one they wrote to was Ojorie Lutalo ⌠heâs been a huge inspiration to the formation of the ABCF in all different aspects, and heâs the one who coined the term âWarchest.â So you can thank him for it, you can thank Sekou Odinga and Sundiata Acoli – theyâre the ones that kind of put together the list of people that we should get in touch with who were in need of financial assistance. Weâll just keep on doing this every year until they are all free.
Between speeches, we read aloud Running Down The Walls solidarity statements from political prisoners Oso Blanco and Bill Dunne, former political prisoner Jaan Laaman, and Capo on behalf of the Vaughn 17 prisoners who participated with us. Many people also signed up to join the Free Mumia listserv, which can also be subscribed to here. All the while, were accompanied by powerfully symbolic 18 ft. Mumia puppet in the background. If you appreciated the puppet, please donate to sustain that project. The speeches wrapped up with some short announcements of upcoming events and another reminder of the many political prisoners weâve brought home, followed by a group photo on the pavilion steps.
Weâd like to thank Food Not Bombs Solidarity for the snacks and refreshments, to Unicorn Riot for the full livestream  of speakers, statements and announcements, and photographer Joe Piette for yet another collection of amazing photos. We were honored to be joined by former political prisoner Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3, who traveled all the way from New Orleans to be a part of the event. In that same vein, we were honored to be joined by and Kazi Toure and former Anarchist prisoner of war, Ojorie Lutalo,  as well as recently released Pennsylvania prisoners Arthur âCetawayoâ Johnson (August 11, 2021) and Eric Riddick (May 28th, 2021).
We thank the 200+ people who attended in person or remotely from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California, Vermont, Illinois, New York, Virginia, Washington, Texas, Minnesota, Ohio, Arizona, Massachusetts, D.C., Malmo (Sweden), and Tokyo (Japan). Together we raised a total of $10,505 to be split between Mumia Abu-Jamal and the ABCF Warchest  that sends monthly stipends to 18 political prisoners with little or no financial support. A full breakdown of Warchest funds in and out since 1994 is available here.  Funds available beyond the reserved amount needed for the monthly stipends will be disbursed as one-time donations to other political prisoners who demonstrate financial need, or to the release funds of the next comrades to come home.
We look forward to more successes in the next year as we further the struggle to free Mumia and abolish the carceral system! We encourage folks to donate what they can to the Ant Smith Defense Committee. An outspoken supporter of Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners, Ant is a beloved educator, community member, and organizer who participates in Running Down The Walls. Since October of 2020, he has been the target of trumped up, politically motivated charges related to protest during the George Floyd uprising. Follow the #FreeAnt Linktree,  Twitter,  and Instagram.  Make donations to freeantphl on Cashapp or PayPal.
We want to close this out by commemorating former political prisoner and long-time friend and comrade of Philly ABC, Chuck Africa. After nearly 42 years in prison, on February 7th, 2020, Chuck was the last of the surviving Move 9 to be paroled. His cancer had already reached stage 4 by this time, but Chuck remained strong and optimistic.
Chuck spoke at last yearâs Running Down The Walls,  to which he called on the movement to take immediate action in supporting his imprisoned comrades Joseph Bowen and Steven Northington, and a list of women serving life without parole (or sentenced to death by incarceration).
It was Chuckâs first and only public speaking engagement since his release. He was excited to attend the event again this year, and possibly speak again, but his health declined too rapidly in the month prior.
Around 3:00am on Monday September 20th, Chuck joined the ancestors after his four year battle with cancer that clearly worsened through incarceration. His family and close friends know him as a bold and selfless warrior, always standing up and fighting for everyone else before himself. He will forever be remembered as someone who loved with all his might, and we will keep fighting in his honor. #RestInPower comrade.
Leave it to the alt-right to besmirch something as classic as the The Mamas and the Papas. In contrast to the acclaimed American folk band, âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ has been making racist music distributed by the âWhite Art Collectiveâ since 2017, with titles such as âAnchor Baby,â âPride and Privilegeâ and âFake American.â
Thanks to the recent breach of Nazi-friendly domain registrar Epik.com by the hacktivist collective Anonymous, we were able to track down the identity of the front person and lead singer of âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ who calls herself âMama P.â Since the hack by Anonymous was in response to Epik.com hosting an anti-choice website, what we discovered in our investigation was surprisingly topical.
âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ
Logo for the alt-right folk duo âThe Mamas and the Pepes.â
âThe Mamas and the Pepes,â named as a spoof mash-up of the American band âThe Mamas and the Papasâ and the alt-right mascot âPepe the Frog,â has been creating music with racist, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, Islamophobic and fascist themes since 2017 . Fronted by âMama Pâ with âThe Handsome Horseâ on guitar, the duo has produced such songs as âHate Crime Hoaxâ:
HATE CRIME HOAX
They pay Blacks & Jews & Muslims the most
So if you need your race hate sub-sid-ized
Have yourself a HATE CRIME HOAX [archive]
Accompanying artwork for The Mamas and the Pepesâ song âHate Crime Hoax.â
and âYou Gotta Go Backâ:
You gotta go back where you came from
You donât like us
You just like our stuff
We gave some to you, but itâs never enough.
So letâs coexist
With you OVER THERE
Over the wall, out of our hair [archive]
The Mamas and the Pepeâs encouraged snitching on undocumented immigrants to ICE on the web page for their song âYou Gotta Go Back.â
In âBad Opticsâ the lyrics reference the racist âgreat replacementâ conspiracy theory:
I took a trip back to my old hometown
and lo and behold â the children are brown!
Iâm wonderinâ where all the white people went
This is the goal of the GREAT REPLACEMENT [archive]
Accompanying artwork for the song âBad Optics.â
Neither members of the duo show their real faces publicly, with âMama Pâ using a literal sock puppet for her online appearances on neo-Nazi podcasts.
A âMama and the Pepesâ album cover. âMama Pâ is represented by the sock puppet on the left.
âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ are closely affiliated with the White Art Collective (WAC), a group of musicians and visual artists who promote white supremacist themes and other right-wing beliefs. âMama Pâ conducts many interviews with other alt-right personalities (and even one of themselves) for their website and also hosts a music show on the WACâs DLive channel.
One of the interviews âMama Pâ conducted was with the Global Minority Initiative (GMI), a group that seeks to provide legal, financial and moral support for whom they call âpolitical prisonersâ (ie. neo-Nazis and other white supremacists who are incarcerated). She ends the interview with:
So please, whatever your belief system, taking care of our guys matters. It matters to me, and it should matter to you, too.
While there is much to criticize about the prison industry, by âour guysâ âMama Pâ means the white supremacists who are incarcerated for committing violence upon non-white persons and other minorities. âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ even did a promotional piece for the GMI in which you can hear their speaking voices:
âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ also have a Gab account operated by âMama Pâ on which they promote their material and post racist and LGBT-phobic messages, as well as anti-vaccination messages.
[archive]Racist post on Gab by âMama P.âTransphobic post on Gab by âMama P.âAnti-vaccination post on Gab by âMama P.â
They may not have known at the time but âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ was quickly attracting some unwanted attention by some nosy antifascists (us).
An Epik Fail
On September 13, 2021 the hacktivist collective Anonymous announced that they had breached the systems of Epik.com, a domain name registrar known for catering to extreme right-wing customers, in response to their hosting of an anti-choice website and would allow access to this information. The info dump proved to be a treasure trove for researchers and provided what we needed to track down âMama P.â
An âEpik Failâ for Epik.com; An epic win for antifascists [archive].
The official website for âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ was registered through Epik.com and the registrantâs information was present in this info dump, as shown below. (We have redacted some details, although this information is now publicly available):
âJulie Greenâ,â+1.215694****â,âin****@gmail.comâ,â59 S ********** Rd, Wallingford, PA 19086âł
Information for the registrant of âmamaspepes.comâ was found in the Epik.com breach.
A password used by âmamaspepes.comâ and stored in plain text by Epik.com was an appreciative nod to violent right-wing extremist âBased Stickmanâ Kyle Chapman.
While this was a tremendous lead, by itself it was not enough, especially considering that some of the customer data in the Epik breach was deliberately falsified by customers who wished to avoid identification, so further scrutiny was necessary. A quick search of public records indicated that a âJulie S Greenâ was indeed a real person residing at the registered address, but we needed more proof to ensure that this was the person behind the account. A search of popular social media sites was not fruitful with such a common name. What we did have, however, was an email address: in****@gmail.com.
Upon researching this email we learned that it was also present in another information breach, that of the blogging website Livejournal. While this particular blog had been deleted, the username found in this data set was an important clue: âjewelsgreen.â
We located another now-deleted blog on an archive site belonging to a person calling herself âJewels Green.â One of the images displayed on a blog post was also an image used on the Google profile for the in****@gmail.com email address, though its orientation had been rotated by 90 degrees.
Public Google reviews made by the email address âin****@gmail.com.â Note the profile image above.An image found on an archived blog by âJewels Greenâ is also used on the Google account associated with the email address âin****@gmail.comâ found in the Epik breach (orientation rotated) [archive].
While this was simply a stock photo, we found no other instances of this particular cropping elsewhere on the internet. We also found a website, The Burgenland Bunch, in which she is listed with a surname âSemâ and the in****@gmail.com email address is linked. In this case, that email was publicly attached to âJulie Shana Semâ of New York, New York, born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Altogether, these were very strong indicators that we had found the person we were looking for. Further research made this indisputable.
Photo of âJewels Greenâ found on an archived blog [archive].
âJewels Greenâ was very active in anti-choice circles regarding abortion for a period of time between 2011 and 2017. She claimed to have had an abortion as a teen and to have worked at an abortion clinic, but came to regret her past. As such, there are numerous videos on the internet of her speaking appearances. We were able to compare her voice on these videos of her speaking appearances with the voice of âMama Pâ found on the many examples of her speaking and singing. One of them may be found here, on her own YouTube channel.
Julie âJewelsâ Green, aka âMama Pâ in a video on her YouTube channel.
If that video happens to disappear, other examples exist:
We have these videos archived locally in case they are removed.
We compared Jewels Greenâs speaking voice with the speaking voice of âMama Pâ on her various white-supremacist podcast appearances such as one called âThe After Party,â a short clip of which may be viewed and listened to below.
We concluded that the voices were undeniably the same; Julie Shana Green, of Wallingford, Pennsylvania, aka âJewels Greenâ was the person behind the voice and (literal) sock puppet of âMama Pâ of âThe Mamas and the Pepes.â
From Anti-Choice to White Supremacy
With the knowledge that âMama Pâ was in fact anti-choice activist âJewels Green,â much of the Twitter activity of âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ Twitter account (@MamasPepes) made clear sense, showing very specific knowledge of anti-choice talking points.
At some point Julie âJewelsâ Green went from conservative anti-choice activist to full on fascist, as demonstrated by this awful parody of a Partridge Family song:
Julie Shana Green was born on August 26, 1971 and claimed to have been âa 17-year-old drug-using high school drop-outâ who was forced into an abortion by her then-boyfriend. She then claimed to have âworked at an abortion clinic for five years (from age 18 to 23)â and claimed to have been a pro-choice activist during this time. She graduated from Kutztown University in 1995 (under her surname previous to her marriage to Green, âSemâ) and then claimed that she quit working at the abortion clinic and became an anti-choice (so-called âpro-life)â activist.
Julie Shana Green, aka âJewels Green,â in an anti-choice promo.
Julie âJewelsâ Green at a speaking appearance in 2013 [archive].[archive]
Her anti-choice activism continued through around 2017, and during this time she made many public appearances at anti-choice demonstrations. After around 2017 âJewels Greenâ seemed to disappear from the anti-choice activism scene.
We can only speculate why such a notable anti-choice speaker who claimed to have converted from a pro-choice stance and who claimed to have had an abortion herself in the past left the scene so suddenly and thoroughly, but the slide from anti-choice into full-blown white nationalism is unsurprising. The crossover of racism and xenophobia into anti-choice circles is a well documented one. As Alex DiBranco, writing for The Nation, notes:
In recent decades, the movement mainstream has been careful to protect its public image by distancing itself from overt white nationalists in its ranks. Last year, anti-abortion leader Kristen Hatten was ousted from her position as vice president of the anti-choice group New Wave Feminists after identifying as an âethnonationalistâ and sharing white supremacist alt-right content. In 2018, when neo-Nazis from the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) sought to join the local March for Life rally organized by Tennessee Right to Life, the anti-abortion organization rejected TWPâs involvement.
The mention of Kristen Hatten is interesting since we found that Green (perhaps unsurprisingly) seemed to be a close associate of Hatten, as evident by their appearances together at anti-choice events.
Julie âJewelsâ Green (center) with Kristen Hatten (right) [archive].Tweet from Kristen Hatten âlikedâ by Jewels green as it appears on archive.org.
Green also associated with several other extreme right-wing Twitter accounts, such as Ashley Rae Goldenberg (aka â@Communism_Kills) who is known to associate with white supremacists and Robert Spencer, operator of the Islamophobic website âJihad Watch,â as evident by archived Twitterposts.
Twitter post by Julie Green operating the â@MamasPepesâ Twitter account [archive].
In 2017 the white-nationalist folk musicians âThe Mamas and the Pepesâ appeared, with presences on Gab and other right-wing-centric internet platforms. While having strong opinions about abortion is one thing, Green obviously feels that her racist, white nationalist views are more dangerous to her social standing since she has only appeared from behind a cheaply made sock puppet. She has expressed on various racist podcasts that she cannot show her face. Apparently, she would much rather express her racist views with poorly written jingles and cheap cotton socks.
Julie âJewelsâ Green
While we donât know what made Julie âJewelsâ Green disappear from the anti-choice activism scene to become a white nationalist folk singer who hides behind a sock puppet, we do know that she can put those socks back on her feet because she canât hide behind them anymore.
Julie Shana Green of Wallingford, Pennsylvania.Julie âJewelsâ Green, aka âMama Pâ of âThe Mamas and the Pepes.âJulie âJewelsâ Green, aka âMama Pâ of âThe Mamas and the Pepes.âJulie âJewelsâ Green at a Star Wars event. Interesting that she chose to side with intergalactic fascists, no?(Photo by Lawrence Lucier/Getty Images) [archive]
A big shout-out goes to Anonymous, whom we are not affiliated with in any way, despite our name. Thank you for your service!
![Public Google reviews made by the email address "insula@gmail.com." Note the profile image above [a baby's hand with an adult's hand].](https://accollective.noblogs.org/files/2021/09/Screenshot_2021-09-22-Contributions-by-Julie-Green.png)
![An image found on an archived blog by "Jewels Green" is also used on the Google account associated with the email address "insula@gmail.com" found in the Epik breach [a baby's hand with an adult's hand]](https://accollective.noblogs.org/files/2021/09/Screenshot_2021-09-22-Blog-Jewels-Green.png)
![Julie "Jewels" Green at a speaking appearance in 2013 [https://archive.is/lO2BB].](https://accollective.noblogs.org/files/2021/09/julie-green-crp.jpg)
