Rosenberg Fund for Children

Saving the Attica Fund

In 1994 the RFC initiated its Prison Visit Program to enable the children and grandchildren of political prisoners to visit their incarcerated parents and grandparents. But it was under-capitalized, and we had to siphon funds from our regular granting to sustain it. Then in 2001 Elizabeth Fink, head of the legal team that won financial compensation for the victims of the mass killing and torture of inmates at Attica State Prison in 1971, and co-counsel Daniel Meyers and his wife Joan Max Reinmuth, made very generous gifts that launched a successful campaign to build this fund’s endowment.

I felt at the time that these gifts guaranteed the long-term financial viability of the RFC’s Attica Fund Prison Visit Program, renamed to honor this epic struggle for justice. I wrote, “The phrase poetic justice is inadequate to describe how I feel about using some of the reparations for the atrocities committed against the Attica Brothers, and won at such great cost by their resolute attorneys, to ensure that for years to come the children of political prisoners can visit their imprisoned loved-ones.”

The Attica Fund has always been particularly important to me because I would have almost no memories of my parents if I had not visited them in prison. I was overjoyed that during the next eight years the Attica Fund’s endowment generated sufficient income to award approximately $100,000 in grants.

And that’s why I was so distressed to be forced to announce in our last newsletter “that for the first time in eight years the Attica Fund’s endowment has become inadequate.” The recession coupled with increased demand left the fund in urgent need of a $10,000 infusion.

But now a generous donor has stepped forward and offered to match dollar for dollar up to a total of $5,000 all contributions earmarked for the Attica Fund in response to my appeal! This means every dollar you give for the Attica Fund will generate two. As of September 28th this appeal has already generated $1788, so with the match we have already raised $3576! And if our supporters collectively give a total of just $3212 more, we will receive an additional $3212 and achieve our $10,000 goal.

The goal is within reach. Please donate online now, and mark your gift “on behalf of Attica,” or send a check payable to the RFC, write “Attica” in the memo line and mail it to: RFC, 116 Pleasant Street, Ste. 348, Easthampton, MA 01027.

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We're Over the Top!

In the last issue of our newsletter I announced that the Attica Fund Prison Visit Program was in financial trouble and needed a $10,000 infusion. Two weeks ago I reported here that in response to my appeal a generous donor had stepped forward and offered to match dollar for dollar all contributions earmarked for the Attica Fund up to a total of $5,000.

Because the newsletter had already been printed we were only able to share this very positive new development with our 2,000 member-strong email list. Since our donors had already contributed $1200 when we sent the email, and the donor had agreed that we could apply the match challenge retroactively, it brought the total raised to $2400. That meant if our donors contributed an additional $3800, with the match, we’d reach our goal.

I was skeptical about our ability to raise the additional $3,800 online. I was already rehearsing the letter I’d write to the donor asking that she consider kicking in the remainder of the $5,000 even if we didn’t achieve our goal. But happily that is unnecessary because since announcing the challenge our donors have contributed a whopping $3,945! In other words our supporters have given a total of $5,145 for the Attica Fund in response to our appeal. This brings the grand total, with the challenge-match, to $10,145 for the Attica Fund, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we approach the $11,000 mark before we are finished.

It is even more remarkable that we’ve achieved this goal without diminishing the regular granting donations generated by our newsletter. So far those contributions are roughly equivalent to what we received in response to our September 2008 newsletter. That we remained steady during such a difficult economic period demonstrates the incredible dedication of our community.

But this late-breaking matching gift offer also illustrated an on-going challenge. Since we have email addresses for less than a third of our supporters, the majority of our community never heard about this campaign. While not all of our backers have email addresses, I am sure that at least another 1000 do, but haven’t shared that information with us.

We will continue our drive to gather all the email addresses we can, but we urge you to help as well. If you know other RFC supporters, please spread the word that we’d like their email addresses. And please comment on this post to give us any suggestions you have about how to facilitate this outreach effort.

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Hope for the Cuban 5

After more than a decade there is finally some hope for the Cuban 5 - Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González who have been imprisoned since 1998. They were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. Four were sentenced to life and one to 75 years. The 5 were agents of the Cuban government, but were not committing espionage against the United States. Instead, they were monitoring Cuban exiles in South Florida who were plotting terrorism against Cuba. The trial, held in the rabidly anti-Castro Miami, was a kangaroo court and the outcome was entirely predictable.

I first wrote about the Cuban 5 in 2004: “Six-year-old Ivette, a U.S. citizen, hasn’t seen her imprisoned father René Gonzalez in four years. She misses her dad terribly, but she can’t see him because the US State Department refuses to grant her mother Olga (René’s wife) a visa to travel with Ivette from their home in Cuba to visit him. Adriana Perez has not seen her imprisoned husband Gerard Hernández in six years! The State Department has denied Adriana a visa four times. Denying prisoners the right to see their families is a form of torture under international standards.”

Although the movement to support the Cuban 5 has, until now, concentrated its efforts almost exclusively on legal redress and demands for their release, I was more focused on the issue of family visits. I wrote in 2006 when Ivette still had not seen her father: “I know from personal experience how important it is for children to visit their incarcerated parents. My only memories of my parents, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, are of my prison visits to them when I was a small child. It is vital to Ivette’s development that she see her father. The Board of Directors of the Rosenberg Fund for Children has already indicated its willingness to fund travel expenses within the United States for visits by Ivette and other children of the Cuban 5 through its Attica Fund Prison Visit Program, but no visits will happen until the United States Department of Immigration and Naturalization is pressured into permitting them.”

I also felt then, and still do, that agitation around this latter issue makes strategic sense. Regrettably, all but a few will close their minds to the legal injustices associated with the imprisonment of Cuban agents. But a broader segment of the population will be sympathetic to the plight of those who are not allowed to visit with family members. This is a way to reach beyond a marginalized Left and involve people who, as they learn more about the legal particulars, may come to see the travesty of the Cuban 5’s imprisonment. It is a way to bring more attention to this case, both nationally and internationally, and thereby, increase the chances for the release of the Cuban 5.

Unfortunately, several more years have passed since 2006 before a glimmer of light appeared in this case.

Recently, Amnesty International issued a report which noted serious concerns about the fairness of the Cuban 5’s trial, questioned the validity of the evidence against The 5, and criticized the defense lawyers’ lack of access to all the evidence. Finally, the report concluded that the entire process was flawed and the punishment disproportionate (the report is available here).

This encouraging development was followed by The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 (www.freethecuban5.com) announcing a new visa campaign:

“Due to the U.S. government's refusal to approve visas, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez have not seen their wives since their incarceration!! Others in the Cuban 5 have not seen their parents, wives and children with regularity. The U.S. government has taken prolonged periods of time to issue them visas.

The U.S. government's denial of visitation rights is a cruel and horrible form of psychological torture. Their rationale for denial is ridiculous and baseless; none of these family members are a threat to national security.

We are asking people to fax or mail out this letter to Ms. Navanetham Pillay, The NEW High Commissioner of Human Rights of the Office for Human Rights-United Nations Office at Geneva. We are asking her to intercede on behalf of the Cuban 5's mothers/wives to pressure the U.S. government to grant them visas to visit their husbands/sons!!”

Download the letter at the following link:

http://www.freethecuban5.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/newcuban5vletter.pdf

Sign it and mail/fax to:

Ms. Navanetham Pillay, High Commissioner of Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-United Nations Office at Geneva
8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211
Geneva 10, Switzerland

Fax: + 41 22 917 9011

I urge RFC supporters to take this action.

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