The Vietnam war was fought not only on the soil of Southeast
Asia, but in the streets of the U.S. as well. Anti-war activists
struggled to end a conflict they knew to be unjust and extended
their fight to include justice and equality for all human beings.
Some felt compelled to take measures outside the law to stop a war
between governments that killed thousands weekly in Vietnam, and to
end the war of racism and poverty that claimed countless more lives
in this country.
Mark Cook, a native of Seattle, was an officer of the Black
Panther Party, which established community programs such as
breakfast for children, free food giveaways, and medical clinics.
With his founding of groups such as CONvention and the Bridge
Project, Mark helped prisoners and ex-prisoners through established
job training programs in prison, supporting prisoners' labor rights
struggles, and creating job placement programs for those recently
released. Throughout the late sixties and early seventies, Mark
struggled to end not only the Vietnam War, but the systems of
racism and imperialism that caused that war.
Across America activists challenged the war on a variety of
fronts: electorally, non-violently, and militarily. In Seattle, the
George Jackson Brigade (GJB) waged an armed struggle, targeting the
property of those who perpetuated injustice. In January of 1976,
three members of the GJB were arrested in a Brigade-sponsored bank
robbery attempt, where one GJB member was fatally shot and another
hospitalized. Two months later the hospitalized member was rescued
from custody. In the process, a King county sheriff was shot and
wounded. A few days later, Mark Cook was arrested as a suspect in
the bank robbery. Months later he was also charged with aiding the
escape and shooting the officer. He was convicted of all charges
and sentenced to serve a thirty year federal term and two life
sentences plus ten years by the state. Mark has never admitted
guilt in any of the charges against him.
Mark has served nearly twenty years for actions intended to
stop an unjust war, far beyond the average served by persons
convicted of similar crimes. Throughout the past two decades of
incarceration, Mark has continued to strive for justice and
equality for those behind bars and on the outside. He has never
renounced his political beliefs. Mark has served the time for his
crimes; he continues to be jailed only becaused of his politics.
Washington State has ignored a court order to have Mark's
federal and state sentences run concurrently. As such, he is only
on the first year of his state sentence(s) - even though a
codefendant in the case (Ed Mead, co-founder of the PLN) served his
state and federal terms concurrently and was released last year.
The Washington parole board refuses to review his case.
Beginning with the pardoning of draft resisters in the late
1970's and ending with this year's lifting of the trade embargo
with Vietnam, one of the most discordant periods in recent U.S.
history has nearly been reconciled. If the time has come to heal
the rift between two warring nations, isn't it time for a nation to
reconcile its' differences with its own citizens who opposed that
war?
The Mark Cook Freedom Committee (MCFC) plans future letter
writing campaigns to the WA State parole board (and governor if
necessary), and a fund raising drive to hire a lawyer to file
Mark's appeal. If you would like to be placed on the MCFC mailing
list to be notified of future events and kept up to date on Mark's
case, write to: Mark Cook Freedom Committee, P.O. Box 85763,
Seattle, WA, 98145-2763 USA
Letter From Mark Cook
I appreciate the political support folks want to give
regarding my case and will compliment it whenever I can. I will
mostly focus on the legal aspect and do the major portion of that
work with the attorneys. As of this date I have still not received
any paperwork from the ISRB [Parole Board - PLN ed.] concerning my
minimum term status. I don't disagree with the 196 month decision,
but only the "time start" date they set. [His state time and
federal time should have been set concurrently, as Ed's was, which
would entitle Mark to immediate release.]
My input on the "political line" to take involving my case may
not agree with yours. The issue is not Mark Cook's case but the
historical conditions that were the impetus of Mark Cook's
activities and the actions of all political prisoners and POW's.
The impetus of the various social-economic-political movements
of the late 60's and 70's was the Viet Nam War. It was a war the
U.S.A. had no justifiable cause of involving its military.
Television allowed the young people witness the ravages of that war
as well as the older peoples' debates as to whether we should or
should not be involved. This began a division in the consciousness
and the patriotism of both young and old on the injustice of the
war. Some folks were just peace-niks and were against all war, some
saw racism in America's war on Vietnamese and other Asians because
of a communist philosophy, yet they would not war against European
communists. Women saw the participation of Viet Nam's women in all
aspects of the war and drew feminist inspiration to fight for
justice. We who suffer injustice here in the U.S. found common
cause with those who suffered injustice from B-52 bombers and such.
It was the common cause of injustice that was the true impetus
for the movements of the 1960's and 1970's. It was the same Red
Book of Mao that gave the Vietnamese people the political
inspiration to challenge the injustice of the U.S.A. that gave the
Black Panther Party (BPP) and other leftist groups their
inspiration. The common cause was so strong among the Panthers that
the BPP volunteered to send members of the Party to fight for the
liberation of Viet Nam. It is immaterial that the offer was
graciously rejected, the Panther Party was then in active support
against the U.S.A. in that war. This is merely a demonstration of
how intertwined the left in the U.S.A. became with the left of the
communist world. We saw left politics as our salvation against
racism, sexism, poverty and serfdom to capitalism.
This impetus affected the Weatherman movement, A.I.M.
movement, B.L.A., B.P.P., and even the moderate movements led by
Martin Luther King. This analysis of the political history of the
60's and 70's is not speculation. It is not only what happened
then, it points to what will happen in the future if the U.S.A.
involves itself in another Great War - unjustly!
In sum, the political prisoners and prisoners of war in U.S.A.
prisons are unjustly imprisoned as criminals. Common cause draws
the militant as well as the moderate. We cannot support injustice
in any form. When we choose not to support it in foreign countries
we are bound not to support it at home.
The Viet Nam war ended and caused the demise of the common
cause within the U.S.A.'s left and non-initiated grassroots
movements. Many of us struggled on militantly and many ended up in
prison. I, as many others, was part of a political movement
striving for justice in an unjust U.S.A. As my African-American
ancestors before me, I was born into a racist society. My children
and grandchildren will suffer the same hurts and injustices, yet
they have the right to fight against injustice with moderation or
miltancy, and they must never be ashamed of their political
positions because actions in support of justice are never criminal.
The former members of the George Jackson Brigade (GJB) must
define themselves and their politics. In the 1970's it was my duty
and responsibility to find out who and what the GJB was because
they were using the name of an honoured and martyred brother, a
political theorist and Field Marshall of the BPP. I did find out
who they were and what I believe they were about. I gave them my
full support as a member of the BPP and out of my own personal
convictions. I'll not say what specific support I gave them. But
because of my position as a BPP member I was fully responsible for
every action taken by the GJB before and after my imprisonment as
if I were an active participant.
From the heat of the Viet Nam war, the social-political-
economic movements of the left soared like eagles over the land,
and when the war ended those updrafts of common cause ended. People
must acknowledge this reality before they can truly understand why
the political prisoners and prisoners of war exist in the U.S.A.
It is important to me that if you wish to take a political
line in support of my freedom, you must understand, at least in
part, that we stood in common cause with millions though we fell
alone in prison.
As to the "line" on my innocence. It is simple; I'm innocent
of the criminal acts but guilty before and after the facts. I've
done enough time from any perspective.
Have faith in the people!
