FREE SHERMAN AUSTIN

"The events reported in the statement below are deeply troubling. Sherman Austin appears to be the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, and I hope that this matter is pursued quickly, fairly, and justly." Noam Chomsky







We, the undersigned, are united in our opposition to the selective prosecution and imprisonment of Sherman Austin, a twenty year-old African American webmaster and activist. Sherman's sentencing sets a dangerous precedent for the future of our right to express dissent and marks a troubling escalation in the criminalization of critical thinking and the erosion of the very civil liberties and rights our society purports to value.

On September 3, 2003 Sherman Austin surrendered himself to begin a one-year term in federal prison for the contents of a website that was authored by another boy and linked to Sherman's site, www.raisethefist.com, on a free-hosting area Sherman provided there. The other boy's site included a direct link to the "Reclaim Guide," a manual that provides crude instructions on how to build explosives. While this boy has not been charged with any crime, Sherman, who had no part in writing or posting any of the offending material, was prosecuted under a 1997 law sponsored by Dianne Feinstein that makes it illegal to distribute information related to explosives with the intent to use that information in a "federal crime of violence."

Numerous websites feature bomb-making instructions, and while such information is easily accessed via the internet and online bookstores such as amazon.com, Sherman, who has no history of violence and who did not write the "Reclaim Guide," is the first person to be charged under this law. The key element in the case against Sherman hinged on the question of "intent." Because Sherman's site is critical of U.S. government policy, police brutality, globalization, and racism, the prosecution and judge maintained that his politics provided grounds for proving intent.

Senator Feinstein, in a press release issued the day Sherman entered prison, expressed "dismay" that prosecutors had not pursued the "bombmaking" law "aggressively" enough as a "tool in fighting terrorism." We ask, why is it that a nonviolent twenty year-old, someone whom the California Department of Corrections Senior Staff Psychologist determined "does not represent a risk to society whatsoever" and described as "a very, very peaceful, mild-mannered" person, has been sentenced under this law while others who present clear and identifiable threats, such as certain white supremacist and anti-choice organizations, have been permitted to distribute bombmaking information and make direct threats on individuals, clinics, and groups? We contend that the selective prosecution of Sherman Austin had everything to do with his race, his politics, his effectiveness as an internet activist, and his mother's lack of financial resources to mount an aggressive legal defense. We find it significant and telling that the actual author of the site directly linked to the "Reclaim Guide" is the son of affluent and conservative white parents.

We also question the validity of Sherman's plea itself. Sherman, who was eighteen years-old when this case began, was told a "terrorism enhancement" would be applied to his case if he went to trial. This meant that he could have been subjected to an additional 20 years in prison if found guilty. We challenge the notion that a plea made under such circumstances could be truly voluntary. Sherman accepted two plea bargain agreements, one of which the judge rejected, sentencing Sherman to a term longer than what the prosecution suggested.

As is evident in the court transcripts, the decisions of U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson were neither fair nor impartial. He stated that he hoped Sherman's case would serve as a deterrent to other activists and "revolutionaries" and that he wanted to "send a message" by subjecting Sherman to a harsher sentence. As activists, educators, artists, and concerned individuals, we stand together to send a message back to Judge Wilson. We will not be silenced or deterred.

Many of us have published, recorded, performed, or presented work that is critical of U.S. foreign policy, domestic examples of social injustice, and the effects of globalization. Some of us have made statements that could provide even more compelling grounds for applying the standard of "intent" invoked in Sherman's case had we offered free-hosting website space that the author of the "Reclaim Guide" could have used. Because Sherman is now serving time in federal prison for having expressed opinions not unlike our own, we feel compelled to speak out lest we be next.

Two days after entering prison, Sherman was moved into isolation because of death threats made by white supremacist groups. Thanks to numerous calls, faxes, and letters sent to prison officials, Sherman has now been transferred, but his safety in prison remains a concern. In the words of the Department of Corrections Psychologist, Sherman "is likely to become a victim by virtue of his youth, slight build and naiveté. He is totally unprepared to defend himself in such a setting. He is more likely to become brutalized by the experience than to learn from it."

We support the efforts underway to challenge the terms of Sherman's plea and probation, and we demand that prison and government officials ensure the safety of Sherman Austin while he remains in custody.

Michael Albert
Z Magazine and Znet

Anarchist Action, Australia
Australian RTF Chapter

Blake Anthony
Irvine, CA

Antonio Austin
Artist and writer

Melanie Austin

Rachel Austin
Graphic artist

Dr. Shermane Austin, Ph.D
Associate Professor, Computer Science
Medgar Evers College
The City University of New York

Elena Banales
Retired Labor Worker, Cake Designer

Guadalupe Banales
Environmentalist and Artist

Monica Banales
College Student

Sandra Barbosa
Bloomington, CA

Linda Boigon
Teacher
Valley Village, CA

Blase Bonpane, Ph.D.
Director, Office of the Americas

Mat Callahan
Musician, author

Margaret B. Carey
Attorney at Law
Denver, CO

Alison Chubb, Ph.D.
Biologist and videographer
Redwood City, CA

Kimberly Claytor
Teacher
Costa Mesa, CA

Paul t Cobbin
aka Captain Wardrobe
artist
UK

Karin Dalesky
Grad student, Interdisciplinary Studies
University of Washington, Tacoma

Nicholas De Genova
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Latina/o Studies
Columbia University

Zack de la Rocha

Frank Dorrell
Publisher of Addicted to War

Folk This!

Cameron Frost
Victoria, Australia

James Fujii
Associate Professor of Japanese Literature
University of California, Irvine

Paul George
Director, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
Palo Alto, CA

Jamie Hagen-Holt
San Diego, CA

Paul Hagen-Holt
San Diego, CA

Theodore Harris
Artist
Philadelphia, PA

Patricia Hartz, Ph.D.
Humanities
University of California, Irvine

Carl Henriksson
Solidarity Organization Twiga
Sweden

Julie Hoigaard, Ph.D.
Social Science
University of California, Irvine

Adrienne Carey Hurley
Postdoctoral Fellow
Stanford Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

Ramsey Kanaan
AK Press

Roger Linn
Roger Linn Designs

Josh Lofthouse
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

Christine Lynch
Lawrence, MA

Adam Marx
Hopkins, Minnesota

Richard Moreno
President, Not In Our Name (Mt. SAC) Student Alliance

Liv Murphy
Santa Fe, NM

Futoshi Nakagawa
Tokyo, Japan

Chizuco Naito
Doctoral Candidate
Tokyo University, Japan

Nicholas Napolitano
Granada Hills, CA

Anahita New (U.K. National)
Bangkok, Thailand

Csaba Polony
Editor, Left Curve

David Remer
Frankfurt, Germany

Jennifer Martin Ruggiero
Teacher of Computer Science & Imaging

Stephen Ruoss, M.D.
Associate Professor
Stanford Medical School

Fiona Searson
Assistant in Nursing
Australia

Michael Slate
Writer for the Revolutionary Worker newspaper
host on Beneath the Surface, KPFK Radio, Los Angeles

Ashley Smith
Flushing, MI

Carolyn Spidle
Santa Fe, NM

Brian Squadrilli
Huntington Beach, CA

David Torres
Labor Worker

Susana Torres
Human Resource Support

Linda Tran
Stanford, CA

Serena Turley
Co-editor, The G-Spot
Arizona State University

Alissa Van Nort
Civil Servant
Berkeley, CA

Deirdre Visser
Artist and teacher
San Francisco, CA

Megan Wallis
Los Angeles, CA

Carla Williams
Writer and artist
Oakland, CA

Susan Whitmyre
Long Beach, CA

Cynthia (Cyndy) Williams
Political Activist, Stained Glass/Mosaic Artist

Deborah Willis-Kennedy
Professor of Photography & Imaging
Tisch School of the Arts
New York University

Armando Yañez
San Jose, CA

Melissa Yang
Dayton, Ohio

Howard Zinn