Eighteen-year-old brother Manyok Akol, shot dead in Jan. We have stories here of young brothers ending up dead after turning to activities that put them in harm’s way because they felt they had no other choice. We ask why they tried you as an adult when your mom said you were 16 at the time…And why did they sentence you to 33 years in prison, for a crime where no one was killed except your friends, in a country whose own president gets off free after inciting a treasonous insurrection that left five people dead? We wonder why we heard lots about Somali “pirates” attacking ships, apparently out of greed, but little of how, for many years earlier, countries illegally fishing off Somalia’s coast and dumping toxic waste depleted the fish stocks and robbed Somali fishermen of their livelihood. We think about why the movie, as its title illustrates, is focussed on the white man’s experience instead of you and your friends’. We think about why we only found out about you because of the movie Captain Phillips. We work on issues of systemic anti-Black racism and discrimination and, although we act very locally, we think globally. I co-lead the 613-819 Black Hub, an Ottawa, Canada-based Black advocacy group. justice system is, especially to Black people…wherever they’re from. What happened to you shows how unfair the U.S. I recently read more about what led to you serving your current sentence. Below is a letter I recently mailed to Abdulwali Muse:įCI Terre Haute, FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, P.O. where he was tried and sentenced to 33 years in prison. They captured the leader and brought him to the U.S. Navy showed up and killed three of the teenagers. One story that got international attention happened over five days in April 2009.įour Somali teenagers took over the American Maersk Alabama cargo ship and took its captain, Richard Phillips, hostage in one of the life boats until the U.S. Depending on how old you are, you may, or may not, remember stories about Somali “pirates” that emerged around 2009.
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