Biography
RNA citizen from Milwaukee, age 29 at the time of the August 18, 1971 raid. Convicted of firing the shot that killed Lt. William L. Skinner. Sentenced to life imprisonment by the state of Mississippi. Husband of Tamu Sana (also arrested in the raid).
Obadele reports a Mississippi life sentence and a separate twelve-year federal sentence imposed by Walter L. Nixon Jr.; these are different proceedings. The article gives no final federal discharge day. The narrative is a participant’s account of the RNA-11 prosecutions, and its political assessments are attributed to its author. Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41065737#page=2
Custody research — September 2026
Obadele’s contemporary account dates the raid and arrests to August 18, 1971.
Identified photograph and release-year corroboration
The African Community Centers for Unity and Self-Determination biography explicitly identifies Hekima Ana Kanyama, his wife Tamu Sana, and the RNA-11 prosecution. Its original 555-by-480 portrait is preserved without a new crop or alteration. Credit: African Community Centers for Unity and Self-Determination, Inc. Organization biography and portrait.
The biography explicitly dates his release to 1980, after imprisonment at Parchman and Atlanta. The existing release field remains YEAR precision: January 1 is a storage convention, not a verified release day. The original Winter 1980 Breakthrough update, printed page 25, reports transfer from Mississippi prison to federal custody; that transfer must not be treated as release to freedom. Exact final release and transfer dates remain unresolved. Rounded years served do not establish an exact day count. Contemporary custody update.
A February 1978 report on newly released FBI records challenged the palm-print evidence used against Ana in the Mississippi prosecution. The report said the FBI fingerprint laboratory had not been prepared to support the claim that a print on the alleged murder rifle belonged to him. This account concerns the 1971 Jackson raid and subsequent prosecution.
The Black Panther, volume XVIII number 5, February 18, 1978, PDF page 7; The Black Panther, volume XVIII number 5, February 18, 1978, PDF page 8.
