Dr. Mutulu Shakur, a lifelong activist in the New Afrikan (Black) Independence Movement and a Doctor of Acupuncture, was cofounder of the Republic of New Afrika (1968); the Black Acupuncture Advisory Association of America and was one of the pioneers in using acupuncture in the treatment of substance abuse; the Islamic Young Men's Movement, a youth prisoner organization; and was a key organizer in the historic gang truce between the Bloods and the Crips at Lompoc Penitentiary. Shakur was sentenced to 60 years imprisonment for an alleged conspiracy by the Black Liberation Army/New Afrikan Freedom Fighters against the U.S. government. Since the mid 1960's the Black Liberation Movement has confronted the establishment on many levels and with varying degrees of intensity. Shakur was one amoung thousands of young Black people who stepped forward to confront the system. As a student at Shimer Junior High School in Jamaica, Queens, New York, Shakur worked with Sekou Odinga (aka Nathaniel Burns, former Black Panther and now a Prisoner of War) to form a student organization and demand that Black history be included in the curriculum. At the time, young brothers and sisters on the block were the leaders and foot soldiers of the struggle and had a high degree of political consciousness and commitment to their people. That same commitment is emerging in today's youth. At age 15, he met the Black revolutionary educator, Herman Ferguson- a Junior High School principal- who was to have a major influence on New York City Black youth. As a teenager, Mutulu had already concluded that the number one priority for Black people in America was the struggle for self-determination- total control over every aspect of our lives. He believed they were owed land and reparations for 250 years of slavery and another 100 years under a white supremacist social and political system. He joined the Republic of New Africa and later worked with the New African People's Organization to pursue the goals of establishing an independent Black nation in the southern United States. In 1970, Shakur was asked to teach political education to clients of the Lincoln Hospital Detoxification Program. This program was founded by Black and Latino revolutionary youth in the South Bronx, NY. Shortly after starting there, two of his children were badly injured in an auto accident. Looking for alternative treatment, he approached activists of the I Wor Kuen, a revolutionary Chinese organization, that ran a health service for the older Chinese community. An Asian woman who was an acupuncturist cured his children using traditional Chinese Medicine. Discussions with the Chinese and sessions with addicts at Lincoln Detox showed Shakur similarities between the struggles of China against opium addiction which had been brought there by the British colonizers and the struggles in the Black community against the genocidal drug traffic recently revealed to have been orchestrated by the US Central intelligence Agency (CIA). Shakur attended the Quebec Acupuncture Association where he obtained a Doctorate in Acupuncture. He used his skills to treat narcotics addiction and eventually became Director of the Lincoln Detox Acupuncture Research Unit. After losing a legal battle with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation over the control of the Lincoln Hospital Detoxification Program, Dr. Shakur and several other acupuncturists were transferred out of the program. As is true with many programs and ideas developed by young revolutionaries, the treatment of addiction with acupuncture continues at several public hospital sites in New York City but the names of the pioneers are not mentioned in the official history. Shakur and several comrades later found the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture where community residents received holistic health care and students were trained in acupuncture and other healing arts and sciences. Dr. Shakur's contributions were not limited to health care. In the spirit of a true community activist, he supported tenant housing, fought along side parent organizations for control of their children's educational destiny and participated in every significant struggle in the Black community. In response to the revolutionary practice of Shakur and thousands like him, the US government implemented the Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) to destroy the Black Liberation Movement. As a result of this vicious war against the Black Liberation Movement prominent Black Leaders like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. were targeted and assassinated and many lesser known activists were slain or imprisoned. Many remain in prison today. Mutulu Shakur- a freedom fighter who had been targeted by COINTELPRO- was captured by the Joint Terrorist Task Force in February, 1986 and was placed on trial. The charges states he was part of an armed underground unit that conspired to free Assata Shakur from prison. He was also charged with conspiring to carry out several armored car and bank "robberies" (or revolutionary expropriations) the proceeds of which, the governments alleged, were used to support political activities. He was convicted under questionable circumstances and was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison. His revolutionary nationalist spirit remains strong despite continuing efforts by prison official to crush him. Dr. Shakur is the father of six children. His son, Tupac, was assassinated in 1996. He has solid evidence that it was a continuation of COINTELPRO. The Federal Bureau of Prisons with law enforcement made every effort to keep him separated from his son Tupac. Mutulu Shakur Flier