Russel Maroon Shoats

Russel Maroon Shoats was a dedicated community activist and founding member of the Philadelphia based organization Black Unity Council, which eventually merged with the Black Panther Party (1969). In 1970, along with 5 others, Maroon was accused of attacking a police station, which resulted in an officer being killed. This attack was said to have been carried out in response to the rampant police brutality in the Black community. For 18 months Maroon functioned underground as a soldier in the Black Liberation Army. In 1972 he was captured. Twice he escaped — once in 1977 and again 1980, but both times he was recaptured and today he is held in a control unit in Pennsylvania where he is serving multiple life sentences.

MXGM understands that the collective institutions of white-supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism have been at the root of our people’s oppression. We also understand that without community control and without the power to determine our own lives, we will continue to fall victim to genocide.
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