Oct. 13, 2016
The Campaign to Free Oscar López Rivera, National Boricua Human Rights Network
Dear President Obama,
We, the undersigned academics, professors, and researchers, call upon you to exercise your constitutional power of pardon and release Oscar López Rivera (87651-024, FCI Terre Haute).
As one of the Western hemisphere’s longest held political prisoners, Oscar López Rivera has served nearly 35 years in prison—12 in solitary confinement—for his commitment to the independence of Puerto Rico. With this letter, members of the academic community join the international clamor demanding an end to Oscar’s unjust, disproportionate, and politically motivated incarceration.
Oscar López Rivera was charged with seditious conspiracy,the same charge levied against one of your personal heroes, Nelson Mandela.
Oscar deserves commutation for many reasons. As he was not charged, let alone accused, of harming or killing anyone. His 70-year sentence is therefore disproportionate. At 73 years old, this decorated Vietnam veteran has spent almost half his life in prison. His co-defendants, released long ago, are productive members of society.
Support for his release is broad and growing in the United States, Puerto Rico, and throughout the world. It includes the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; five members of Congress; the governor of Puerto Rico; labor organizations, such as the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement; the New York City Council; churches and religious leaders, such as the United Church of Christ in the U.S. and the Catholic Bishops of Puerto Rico; the United Nations Decolonization Committee; six presidents of Latin American nations, and four of your fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
We applaud your promise to commute more sentences and your expressed understanding that the constitutional power of pardon is the appropriate remedy for correcting the wrong of disproportionate sentences. We also support your recent commutations of the disproportionate sentences of people convicted of drug related offenses.
Given your recent use of your power of pardon and the increasingly fervent calls for Oscar’s release, we are at a loss to understand why you have not yet granted him clemency. As you are well aware, Presidents Truman, Carter and Clinton commuted the sentences of men and women in prison for their commitment to the independence of Puerto Rico. The integration of each of these individuals into Puerto Rico’s civil society has been seamless, thanks to vast community and familial support. This would be no different for Oscar.We urge you to grant him immediate release. His family and supporters await him with open arms.
Sincerely,
Name
Title and Department
Institutional Affiliation
Dr. Frances Aparicio Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Director of the Latina and Latino Studies Program Northwestern University
Dr. Bettina Aptheker Distinguished Professor, Feminist Studies, UC Presidential Co-Chair, Feminist Critical Race & Ethnic Studies University of California-Santa Cruz
Dr. Maren Aukerman Assistant Professor in Graduate School of Education Stanford University
Dr. Gianpaolo Baiocchi Associate Professor of Individualized Studies and Sociology New York University
Dr. Dan Berger Assistant Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences University of Washington-Bothell
Dr. Gustavo J. Bobonis Associate Professor of Economics University of Toronto
Dr. Yarimar Bonilla Associate Professor in Department of Anthropology Rutgers University
Dr. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Professor of Sociology Duke University
Dr. Douglass Cassel Professor of Law Notre Dame Law School
Dr. Samuel Cruz Assistant Professor of Church and Society Union Theological Seminary, City of New York
Dr. Antonia Darder Leavey Presidential Chair of Ethics and Moral Leadership Loyola Marymount University
Dr. Arlene Dávila Professor of Anthropology and Social and Cultural Analysis New York University
Dr. Angela Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department University of California, Santa Cruz
Dr. Cedric de Leon Associate Professor of Sociology Providence College
Dr. Gina Dent Associate Professor of Feminist Studies University of California-Santa Cruz
Dr. Johanna Fernandez Assistant Professor in the Department of Black and Latino Studies City University of New York-Baruch College
Dr. Nilda Flores-Gonzalez Associate Professor of Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Diane Fujino Professor of Asian American Studies University of California, Santa Barbara
Dr. Julian Go Professor of Sociology Boston University
Dr. Van Gosse Associate Professor and Chair of Department of History Franklin & Marshall College
Dr. Deborah B. Gould Associate Professor in Department of Sociology University of California, Santa Cruz
Dr. Greg Grandin Professor of History New York University
Dr. James Green Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Professor of Modern Latin American History and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies and Director of the Brazil Initiative Brown University
Dr. José Itzigsohn Professor of Sociology Brown University
Dr. Laura Ruth Johnson Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment Northern Illinois University
Dr. Gilbert Joseph Farnam Professor of History and International Studies Yale University
Dr. Jane A. Juffer Distinguished Professor of History Rutgers University
Dr. Mary Kay Vaughan Professor of History, Emerita University of Maryland-College Park
Dr. Rashid Khalidi Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies Columbia University
Dr. Peter Kuznick Professor of History and Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute American University
Dr. Deepak Lamba-Nieves Postdoctoral fellow, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs Brown University
Dr. Marisol Lebron Assistant Professor in American Studies Dickinson College
Dr. Amanda Lewis Associate Professor in Department of African American Studies and Department of Sociology University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Linda Martin-Alcoff Professor of Philosophy Hunter College and the City University of New York Graduate Center
Dr. Edwin Meléndez Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning Hunter College, City University of New York
Prof. Matt Meyer International Peace Research Association United Nations ECOSOC Representative
Dr. Nadine Naber Associate Professor in Gender and Women’s Studies Program and Asian American Studies Program University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Amalia Pallares Professor of Political Science and Latin American and Latino Studies and Director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Imani Perry Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies Princeton University
Dr. Margaret Power Illinois Institute of Technology Department of Humanities
Dr. Barbara Ransby Professor of History, African-American Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Latina/o Studies Program Northwestern University
Dr. Jonathan Rosa Assistant Professor in Graduate School of Education Stanford University
Dr. Francisco A. Scarano Professor of History University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies Princeton University
Dr. Heather Ann Thompson Professor of History and Afroamerican and African Studies University of Michigan
Dr. Angela Valenzuela Professor in Educational Policy and Planning Program in the Department of Educational Administration University of Texas-Austin
Dr. Barbara Weinstein Professor of History New York University
Dr. Deborah M. Weissman Reef C. Ivey II Distinguished Professor of Law, School of Law University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dr. Cornell West Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practices Union Theological Seminary, City of New York
Dr. John Womack, Jr. Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics, Emeritus Harvard University
Paula Chakravartty Associate Professor, Department of Media, Culture and Communication and the Gallatin School New York University
Diana Grizbord Assistant Professor of Sociology & Latin American and Caribbean Studies University of Georgia
Ann Peterson-Kemp Associate Professor Emerita & Affiliate Associate Professor, Information Sciences University of Illinois; University of Washington
Dr. Maura I. Toro-Morn Professor, Latin American and Latino Studies Program Illinois State University
Daniel Aldana Cohen Assistant Professor of Sociology University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Michael Staudenmaier Senior Lecturer of History Aurora University
Dr. Brian Connor Lecturer of Sociology University of Maryland, College Park
Johana Londoño Assistant Professor of Latina/o studies University at Albany
Jennifer Jones Assistant Professor of Sociology University of Notre Dame
Edward D. Vargas PostDoctoral Trainee University of Wisconsin-Madison
Melissa F. Weiner Associate Professor of Sociology College of the Holy Cross
Alvaro Jarrin Assistant Professor of Anthropology College of the Holy Cross
Meghan Tinsley PhD candidate, Dept of Sociology Boston University
Peter Carlo Adjunct Professor, Sociology and Anthropology University of Puerto Rico
Juan G. Ramos Assistant Professor of Spanish College of the Holy Cross
Dr. Peter Klein Assistant Professor of Sociology and Environmental and Urban Studies Bard College
Rodolfo Aguilar visiting Assisant Professor of American & Latin American/Latino Studies Kennesaw State University
Ann Morning Associate Professor of Sociology New York University
Cynthia Duarte Director Center for Equality and Justice California Lutheran University
Dr. Madeline Troche-Rodriguez Assistant Professor of Sociology City Colleges of Chicago
Andy Clarno Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies University of Illinois at chicago
Guadalupe Gomez Associate Professor of Finance Harvard Business School
Jill Hamberg Visiting Professor of Urban Planning Pratt Institute
Phyllis Sanfiorenzo Artistic Director/Painter/Sculptor Self employed
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