RATT|LING THEQ

ORAL HISTORIES oF
NORTH AMERICAN @)
POLIICAL PRISONERS g

(7]

i “Political Prisoners, Mass
Incarceration, & Abolition”

1 8869
Originaly hosted us aliv conversation by Firestorm Books,
reconding available on iretormn' youtube channck
hitpss/ /e youtube.com watch?v-AuIQZWiA

April 28,2004

Published by AK Pross, Rartling the Cages: Oral istores of
North American Paltical rsoners is project of sbolitonists
Josh Davidson and Eri King, The book s filled with the
experience and wisdom ofover thisty current and former North
‘Amrican pliica prisoners. It provides first-hand detils of
prison ife and the political commitments that continue o lead
prisoners into directconfrontation with sate authorities and.

Transeripton, editing, and formatting by ev, Danielle,Josh, &
Jeremy with help from Firestorm Books.

allsbor votunteered

with whatever weapons a hand

Eric King is a father, poet, author, and activist. In December 2023 he was,
released from the supermax ADX prison after spending nearly ten years as
a political prisoner for an act of protest over the police murder of Michael
Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He was held in solitary confinement for
vears and was met with violence by guards throughout his incarceration.
Eric has published three zines: Battle Tested (2015), Antifa in Prison (2019),
and Pacing in My Cell (2019). His sentencing statement is included in the
book Defiance: Anarchist Statements Before Judge and Jury (2019). Eric
‘now works as a paralegal for the Bread and Roses Legal Center.

Herman Bell s a former member of both the Black Panther Party and the
Black Liberation Army, and he was imprisoned for forty-five years.
Herman was captured in New Orleans in 1973, and eventually he, Jalil
Muntagim, and Albert Nuh Washington were convicted of attacks on
police. Herman was also implicated in the San Francisco & case and
pleaded guilty to.a lesser offense. He spent five years imprisoned in the
federal system, in the Marion control unit for two of those years, before
spending decades in various New York State maximum security prisons.
‘While imprisoned he was committed to community work, and he is a
founding member of the Victory Gardens Project and the Certain Days
Collective. He was relcased in 2016, after his cighth parole hearing.

pr— f
‘David Gilbert s a ifelong anti-imperialist who was captured and
imprisoned as a result of an attempted expropriation of a Brinks truck in
Nyack, New York, in 1951, He was sentenced to seventy-five years to life
but his sentence was commuted by outgoing Governor Cuomo, and he was
released from prison after nearly forty years in November 2021. Though
he spent short stints at MCC-NY and other federal prisons and jails, David
spent the majority of his forty-year incarceration at the six maximum
security men’s prisons in New York (Attica, Auburn, Clinton, Comstock,
Wende, and Shawangunk prisons). While in prison, David was a cofounder
of the Certain Days Collective, and he also helped pioneer AIDS awareness
programs that saved thousands of lives in prisons across the country.
David wrote numerous zines, including Our Commitment I to Our
Communities: Mass Incarceration, Political Prisoners and Building a
Movement for Community-Based Justice (2014). He also wrote three books
—No Surrender: Writings from an Anti-Imperialist Political Prisoner
(2004); Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and
Beyond (2012); and Looking at the U.S. White Working Class Historically
(2017,

‘Susan Rosenberg spent sixtcen years in high security federal prisons for
her involvement i the anti-imperialist armed actions that culminated in
the Resistance Conspiracy Case of the mid- 19805, Her sentence was
commuted by outgoing president Bill Clinton in 2001, Susan was
imprisoned at the Lexington high security unit at FCI Lexington, the first
‘maximum security prison for women in Marianna, Florida, and FCI
Danbury, and she also spent time in the DC jail She was involved in the
May 19th Communist Organization, the Puerto Rican independence
movement, the movement to Ban the Box, and the successful fight for the
release of longtime politial prisoner Dr. Mutulu Shakur. Susan published
the book An American Radical: Palitical Prisoner in My Own Country
(20w,

S ey s
Libertie Valance: My name is Libertie, and 'm a member of the Firestorm
Collective. Tonight we're really excited to host contributors to this book
vight here, Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political
Prisoners, and they're going o be joining us for a conversation on their
experiences behind bars and how today’s activists can prepare themselves
for political repression and the possibility of incarceration.

If you've never been to one of our events before, Il give you our standard.
spiel. Firestorm is an almost 16-year-old radical bookstore owned and
operated by a queer feminist collective in southern Appalachia on the land
of the Cherokee people. We strive to feature books and events that reflect
our interests and also the needs of marginalized communities in the
South, and we're continuing to do a few events virtually alongside content
that we do face-to-face. The virtual content, I think, is great for events like
this where we can bring together people across borders and from a

ant distance, and it’s also good for folks in our community who
have barriers to access related to health or Covid. So, I'm really
appreciative of the ability to have these spaces.

T'm s0 appreciative of y'all for being here, and I'll go ahead, since you're on.
sereen, and mention that we also have with us K'Sisay Sadiki, who is an
actvist, flmmaker, performing artst, and daughter of Black Panthers
Pamela Hanna and longtime political prisoner Kamau Sadiki. Thank you,
0 much for being here as well. P'm going to go ahead and pass this off to
Eric to get us started here. Thank you so much, Eric.

Eric King: Thank you so, so much. I'd like to welcome everyone that is
joining us and I would like to start this by saying that all of us collectively
would like to dedicate this to the people of Palestine for their resistance
during the almost century-long oceupation, and for all those who are
resisting currently, including the students in the encampments all over
the country, the students that are rising up and standing against
imperialism and against repression. We would like to send solidarity to all
of them.

Let’s begin. When I was locked up, 1 was locked up in 2014, and that was
about the time when mass incarceration was coming down a lttle bit. All
of you did multiple decades in prison, and a lot of that was during the
height of mass incarceration, so 1 would like to ask you all about what
your experiences were like in prison during that time—in regard to your

Fattng thecags s
personal experiences, whether programming, interactions with officers,
interactions with other prisoners—and what you learned about prison,
and maybe what you learned about society being locked up during this
time period. Whoever wants to start first would be great.

‘David Gilbert: Well, when I came into prison in the early '80s—people have,
to remember that it's not a complete Iron Curtain between prison and
outside society, and people in prison are very affected by what's going on
outside—and the political consciousness of the '60s and ‘705 hadn't
completely died out. You could walk down a gallery, an
there would be posters of Albizu Campos and Lolita Lebrén, and in other
cells there would be posters of Malcolm X. There was still a lot of political
consciousness. In New York there wasa tradition that went back to the
Attica rebellion of people working together. Prison was very segregated in
terms of social interaction. The whites unfortunately, stil at least
culturally, believed in white supremacy. Those were problems, but when it
was time for collective action, there was that tradition of people coming
together. There were still some Attica Brothers in Auburn when I arrived,
like Al Victory. He was a white guy, was very respected, but he stood for
people working together.

some cells

s mass incarceration built and built and built, things changed
considerably. One thing is most of the constructive programs where
peaple could do something positive, feel good about themselves, make
arts and erafts for their families, they were one-by-one eliminated. People
became more crowded, which is partly just the numbers with mass
incarceration, but it was also the political changes in society. The
correction system went more and more to a punishment mode, a
punishment paradigm. There's nothing redeeming... 1’s almost like they
wanted to create the brutes that they claim people were for their own
political purposes. That made it more difficult. Certain changes, like the
erack epidemic and the influx of certain drugs, but also when TV came in,
where people were allowed to get their own TV, a lot of people who would
become voracious and then deep readers were more spaced out on TV,
more pa

Even so—and I said outside society is a big influence—there have been
prison initiatives since then where prisoners took political leadership:
‘most dramatically the Pelican Bay hunger strike against solitary, also the
Free Alabama movement among Alabama prisoners. So, its not like it's all

6 i thecgs
extinguished, and 'm thinking and looking, as we're all here in solidari
with Palestine and self-determination and liberation for Palestine, if the
upsurge around Palestine is also leading to renewed politicization in
prison. 1 heard that one of my friends from prison sent a solidarity
‘message to the Columbia students

Herman Bell Pl follow your remarks, David, because the other day there
wwas a conversation about your message to the Columbia students and, like
youmentioned, that you sent a letter of solidarity to them,. In a way, i’s
like we, during that time you speak of, were somewhat like a fly on the
wal, checking out what was going on in the world, s0 to speak. 'm a
news-hound, and 've always been, and in the joint around that time we
had just begun to get FM radios in the joints. Other than that we just had
AM, and that was that. Being a news-hound, you try to keep abreast of
what's going on in the world as best you can. We talk about mass
incarceration, think that Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow is
4 good pice, it's a comprehensive picce, and it speaks about a predictor of
incarceration and harsher sentences in US courts, and that’ just a piece of
itin terms of what was going on out in the streets. But the consequences
of that harsh sentencing and all of that, along with the thetoric from the
various presidents like, say, Nixon, Reagan, and you could throw Bill
Clinton in there, to Bush, and others. Their whole mantra was “tough on
crime” and just throwing them away, throw them in the jal and lock them
away forever. And then there were some changes in the use of search and
seizure laws that also contributed to the inerease of the prison population.
And then, as David mentioned, drugs also contributed to the de-
industrialization.

Of course, we know that this was intentional. There were times Ilooked
around in the prison yard, and I see so many young Black men and Latinos
in there. It's as if they came into our neighborhood with a giant net,
scooped us all up and just brought them to the prison and just dropped
them in the yard. It was painful times, too, in a sense. There was this guy
‘named Sisyphus, I believe, who was sentenced to hell, and his punishment
was to carry a rock up a hill, and the guy, he was devoted, he'd go up the
hill, but he get so far up and he start coming back down. In prison, looking
out and you're seeing so many people coming in. Well, where’s the front
gate? How do we get out of here? When will things ever change? That's
just a tiny piece of what was going on in some respects in the jails.

ationg the cages 7
‘Susan Rosenberg: Thank you, Herman. T was in the federal prison system.
It may have looked differently, but it tracks the same as what both David
and Herman are saying. T would just say, big picture, when I first went
into prison, which was at the end of 1984, the prison population in the
federal prison was basically small-ish, not small but smaller than it has
become over the course of all of the policies of mass incarceration. 1t was a
third white,a third Latino, and a third African- American, with some other
foreig, international prisoners in the mix, and certainly that was true in
the population of women. By the time Ileft prison, which was 16 years
later, mass incarceration had become the norm, and the population
numbers really had changed. 80% of the federal prison population among
Women were African-American. The numbers had grown, had doubled,
butin that period I think the numbers of women who had been
incarcerated grew by 800%,so there was a huge influx and a complete
change in the population at that time. Alongside of that, there was the
AIDS epidemic and cracl
‘There were really these massive epidemics that took place inside the
population: that was mass incarceration, AIDS, and crack, and an increase
in all kinds of drug use. The whole structure shifted in the period as a
result of mass incarceration. 1 think part of it was I had also been and
spent almaost three years in the DC jail in between different places in the
federal prison system, and there you could just sce how it was going to
Play out in terms of the large numbers of young Black people from DC
who were in jail who then got sent to the federal system. I think that the
quality of life inside changed. As David put it,the punishment paradigm
took over. It was always there, but I think it increased enormously. The
communities in women's federal prisons, certainly from my experience,
went through changes, huge changes, negative changes. The quality and
content of peaple’slives got much worse. That would be what I would say
in terms of the specific question.

the '50s, the middle '505, and the late 50s.

‘Herman Bell: Also T would add, at that time inside we were looking around
for some explanation, for some reason that was causing the nation to go in
the direction that it was headed. There was really no explanation, but then
we have to be mindful that that was also around the time when the US

was de-industrializing, industrialists are running, leaving the country,
going (0 Asia, Mexico, in pursuit of cheap labor. But then that left alot of
dle citizens in the country who really had no jobs and what not. My take
s that they had capitalized on this fact and started throwing them in the
prisons and exploiting that situation, and thus they still make moncy.

5 ot theags
Iwill note that the warden at Marion when I was there in 74, Ibelieve, his
‘name was Charlie Fenton, and when he retired as warden, he was hired by
the Corrections Association of America, he became their first warden, and.
that was the very first private prison that they had initiated here in the
country, and then more and more private prisons started to spring up,
and they were largely financed by Wall Street. That is something that we
can’t overlook either.

Susan Rosenberg: 1 just wanted to add that in that same period that you're
talking about, what happened was the prison sentences changed, right,
they got longer and longer and longer. The power of the prosecution in
nal trials got more and more consolidated. The whole apparatus

during mass incarceration, not that there hasn't always been racial
capitalism and what all of that oppression and exploitation entail, but,
literally, the eriminal legal system shifted under Reagan, past Reagan,
wwhere law and order—“law and order” i a catchphrase—but the
structures also changed within the system to oppress and control larger
and larger nurmbers of people. 1 know everyone knowsthis, but this

imprisons more people than any other place, and it really
took a step forward during that period. There's till that number of people
inside. The idea that mass incarceration is over, I think you could debate
that,but it feels the same in terms of numbers now.

David Gilbert: If L can, T just want to talk about the connection between
political prisoners and mass incarceration, because in addition with the
de-industrialization the main thing that was going on s that this country
was stressed by the level of rebellion. The Black Liberation movement was
a spearhead of that, and it inspired other internal colonies and inspired a
\women’s movement, environmental movement, and there’s actually
documentation that President n the diary of
‘Haldeman, his main advisor—the problem in this country is the Blacks,
and we have to do something about it, without saying that’s what we're
doing. They had a two-fold strategy, and it's what links political prisoners
and mass incarceration. One was to destroy the revolutionary Black
‘movement with assassination and imprisonment—vicious. But the other
was—it was a rebellious Black community, there were urban uprisings in
hundreds of cities—the war on drugs and mass incarceration. They knew
‘making drugs llegal or prosecuting it wouldn't end drug use. They had
gone through that with abolition and aleohol, it doesn’t work. But it was
an excuse... And it’s not when you put people in prison, i’s not just that

ationg the cages s
there are two million people in cages, they have families that are missing
breadwinners, who are missing stabilizing influences, communities. It was
a conseious strategy to incapacitate the Black community.

‘Eric King: You're absolutely right. Thank you for sharing Thank all of you
for those answers. One of the things that impacted me greatly while I was
ide was meeting so many non-political prisoners. One of the best
friends I made inside was someone named Randy Platt, and he’s currently
at the federal supermax in ADX, and the way that we bonded was because,
while he was in prison, the person who taught him his GED class was Dr.
Shakur, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, and that’s how I was able to connect with this
social prisoner was through the impact that Mutulu had on his lfe. So, Id.
like to ask you all, as political prisoners, as highly political people in
general, what were the connections that you made with social prisoners?
Did you see it as a need to radicalize? Did you learn from them? Were you
able to build strong ties and strong bonds with prisoners who weren’t
inherently political at least in their crimes? David, we can start with you.

‘David Gilbert: I learned a lot from so-called social prisoners,a tremendous
amount, and there’s tremendous solidarity, people really looked out and
supported us. A couple of different times, prisoners who work cleaning up
offices, you know, that was their job, cleaning up the offices, found a
memo about how they're going to harass me or come at me, and made a
point of telling me about t. But 1 also learned—1 mean, I had been
underground for 10 years before I was busted, I had learned how to
function clandestinely, but 1 had never been in such a totalitarian
atmosphere, and a lot of the so-called social prisoners hadn’t given up on
organizing, hadn't given up on ways of finding how to do things, so there
was a lot of ingenuity, alot of determination. The other thing I learned
was the importance of community, that even though there were different
philosophies and different approaches, we're ll in the same situation, we
have to work together. As to whether trying to politicize people, first, you
don't come in with a big pontificating to people. You have to show respect,
and you have to listen, and you have to learn from people, and you have to
there'll be disagreements. Of course, I tried to talk with white
prisoners about racism. Actually, early on there were a couple who did
identify with the movement, one of whom had been mentored by Herman
Bell, but the mainstream among white prisoners was still white
supremacist, not as overt as in the feds or in California, because whites
were aminority, so they didn’t want a race war. I have to say without

W ety hecages
getting too long winded, most of my work didn’t do that much good. T
would say more that I was an example of a white guy who was respected
because they had a heavy case who didn't abide by the segregation, who
worked with everybody, who admired and respected especially the ex-
Panthers.

We helped renew the tradition of working together for prisoners’ rights.
When we started the AIDS work, we were bringing back together the most
respected people in each of the communities, and that's why the prison
reacted so hostilely, and that's why I went through a lot of repression. But
it was an example, and it was also an oceasion to at least attenuate the
prevailing homophobia, because we talked about, if we're doing AIDS
work, we have to treat everybody with respect. It was more the examples.
of the work we did that had some impact, but I can't say, “Ab, here’s the
formula of how you talk to people who are white supremacists and win
them over.” I wasn’t that successful at that.

Susan Rosenberg: It makes sense what you say, David, a ot would say, T
think the solidarity that people gave us as the political people who had
heavy cases and stood for the things that they thought we stood for or
that we did stand for was the best, most important part of being inside of
prison, his solidarity. The solidarity that we received was on multiple
levels. So-called social prisoners were the majority of peaple that I spent
16 years with, so 1 don't think of them quite as social prisoners. I think of
them as my friends who were inside and people who were imprisoned for
their own reasons. 1 made a ot of friends inside, and some of those people
are still my dear, dear, dear friends. I think where we were able to have
community and do wark, that's where there was an impact. One-on-ones
were very, very hard. 1 also tried to talk with white women prisoners
about race and about the issues that were going on in the prison with
some limited success, but we ended up doing a lot of educational work
through the education programs there, and AIDS advocacy, and teaching
courses in history, American history, and Black history, and other courses,
English, and a wide range of things. I those situations, there was more
success where we bult calletivity, and it was integrated. 1 would say,
from the very moment that I went to the DC Jail where what the police
said about all of us in the Resistance Conspiracy Case was that we were
part of the Klan, which was their strategy to have everybody attack us
inside of the DC jail, but they locked us all down, so of course people were
like, “Well, who are these white people in this prison with us?” And people

ationg the cages [
wanted to know, and so you tell people, “Don't go near them.” Well, of
course, everybody was right at our doors talking with s from the very
beginning. That kind of solidarity over time got built into respect. T had a
really great friend, and the first time we met in the DC jail, she came to my
cell, and she gave me an orange and a Snickers bar and said, “I don’t
believe them,” and we kind of went from there. But, again, in the feds you
get moved alot. They really don't want anybody to be able to build
stability, to be able to organize, so 1 would say that.

‘Eric King: I remember that anecdote from your book also, when you're
talking about the person with the orange, and that really affected me,
because I read that while in the shoe, and a Jihadi bro had brought me .
bagof coffee, and he had slid it under the door for me, because the guards
were just on this bullshit time, and so he had looked out for me. That
really impacted me reading that you had gone through something very

‘Susan Rosenberg: Very similar, yes.
Eric King: Alright, Herman, to you please

‘Herman Bell: 1 remember probably reading Susan's book at some later
point of my stay in prison, where these marshals were transporting her to
another location, she was at MCC, and they were boasting about this
pretty new car, spanking brand new, that they had in the basement, and
that she was going to be the frst one to ride up in t, you know, arideis a
ide, 5o they got 10 the basement, and Susan said it was a Mercedes Benz,
and she told them, “You're not going to put me in that Nazi wagon” or
Whatever it was. She refused to go. But, of course, thy just picked her up,
and threw her in there. But I was so, so proud of the response she gave
them, It was really sweet. It made my day, in fact. I still think about it
sometimes. T mean, we have to have a certain amount of levity under
those circumstances. You have to find it somewhere, otherwise it just
makes existence in there much harder.

We were different as political prisoners, simply because of the heavy case
we had, and all the political implications regarding that. Speaking for
myself, but 'm sure it applies to all my comrades as well, nobody knew
quite what to make of us or or what to expect of us, and I'm talking about
the prison class as well as the authorities. We were just there, and, as far

B oty tecages
as I'm concerned, T was good with that, because prison is a very dangerous
place, there’s no doubt about it, and, as you know, there are people in
there—guards and prisoners—they will test you. I maintained a certain
posture inside the prison, and I maintained that throughout.1do have a
heavy case, and there were men who were reluctant to approach me as a
normal person like everybody else, to chat about this or that, you know,
just be people with people. That being the case, I decided to become a bit
more active in institutional sports such as basketball and football and
things ke that. I chose to do that. I was not in favor of participating in
institutional sports, but I chose to do so, because that makes me a bit
‘mare available to the rest of the guys in the joint, and they can pull up to
me and say, “Hey, what's up! Nice game,” or “You called that game very
well,” or whatever, and once they open up, then that enabled me, without
standing on a soap box, right, o talk to them like I would talk to my
brother or one of my children or whatever the case may be, and, therefore.
Tcould get my message across. In terms of what is happening in the world,
what is happening in the jails, what is happening in interpersonal
relationships. For the most part we were well-received by the prison
population in the various joints that we were in. As Susan pointed out,
David knows as well, they moved us around a lot, and they didn’t want us
to maintain a lasting relationship with the prison class. From joint to joint,
it kind of built up. People look to you, they think of you, and they respect
‘you, but, of course, they expect you to comport yourself in such a way that
you don't disappoint them, because if you disappoint them, then they
start hating you, and then they start disrespecting you, and it goes offinto.
other things. Tl leave it there for now.

David Gilbert: I just want 0 add a comment from being in the same
system as Herman. His skill as a quarterback was legendary throughout
New York. More importantly, I mentioned that he mentored this one
white guy who became pretty conscious. You don't know, and you
probably don't know, Herman, how many, mainly young Black prisoners,
but other people too, came up to me and said, “I was mentored by Herman
Bell.” 'm not exaggerating That was widespread. That's widespread.
People were proud of that, and they were in the process of becoming
politcally conscious too.

Eric King: Herman, I'd like to ask you, because you did both state and
federal time, was there a difference between how you were received in
New York state or Louisiana versus how you were received at Marion?

g theages 1
‘Herman Bell: New York state s a state prison, and the state prisons,
especially New York state, are different than the prison system in the feds.
In some ways the feds is a bit more dangerous in a sense. 1 saw a lot of
bodies, a number of people being bodied in the fed system, and you've
been there, so you know it's a very dangerous place. At the time that I was
in the feds, Susan pointed it out in regards to mass incarceration, like
when she had made parole, but the time that I was in the federal system,
the system wasn't as large as it grew to be. think they had maybe 8,000
10,000 federal prisoners,if that. It was very small, and most of the
prisoners in the fed system were like professional crooks or whatever you
may want to callthem, but they were mostly professional. They hung
paper, yes, they rob banks. I ran into a few of the guys who was in the.
‘You remember the movie, The French Connection? There's a variety of
colorful people, but they're a different kind of a prison class. Now, for
example in Washington DC, they have no state prison system. They send
al their prisoners to the federal system. 1 have happened to meet some of
the guys out ofthe DC area, and I had never run across human beings like
that ina prison system. They call them the DC boys. I've never seen a
bunch of men that was so tight, you knov, so close-knit, and even the
guards had to pull back and give them that amount of respect. But here
the system started changing just as I started leaving out in 79 going into
the state, and that was because of the drugs epidemic that was going on,
and that was because the state, the federal laws had started changing, and
the sentencing laws were changing such that a lot more people were
coming in, and also they were filtered into the federal system, so that now
Ihave no idea what the numbers are, but i’s probably tripled since I was
in that system. So, there’s adifference. In New York State it's a bit
different

‘Eric King: Thank you. One of the reasons why me and Josh rushed to get
out Rattling the Cages is that people grow old. We've lost a lot of fighters
recently, and we still have a lot inside. We still have Jamil (Al-Amin), we
stil have Mr. [Kamau] Sadiki, we still have Leonard [Peltier]. 'd like to
give each of you a chance, if you'd like, to speak about comrades you lost
inside or brothers and sisters we might still have inside, if you'd like to
talk about any memories you have, or any interesting anecdotes yowd like
to share, just to honor those that we've lost or that are still locked down.
Herman, you're up.

‘Herman Bell: You mentioned Leonard [Peltier}, and then also there’s

Bty ecages
Veronza [Bowers]. I spent time with Veronza in Atlanta, but 1 met Leonard
at Marion. He had just been deported from Canada, where he was
captured, and they dropped him off at Marion. I happened to also be there
‘with Rafael Cancel Miranda, one of the Puerto Rican nationalists, which
was cool, 1 mean, T had good company there, it was fine. 1 had heard alot
about Leonard, but I wanted to check Leonard out as a person, you know,
see what happened, see what kind of a dude he was. That was quite
interesting. We spent time together in the yard, in the blocks, wherever.
‘We had our political discussions along with Rafael, so it really was a fun
time, a special time for me, because I got the opportunity to hang wi
those guys for a minute. T spent a bit of time in Atlanta, which is where
Veronza was,

Eric King: Atlanta USP?

‘Herman Bell: USP, yeah. It was not long after I was there that the Ma
boat people, Fidel was kind enough to empty his jails and send them over
t0 the US, and they discovered that it was a lot of miscreants and bad
‘people who was committing all inds of erimes in Florida, so they told
Fidel, “Hey, hey, take ‘em back.” Fidel said, “No, no, no. Ain't nothing
happening.” They didn't know what to do with em, so they brought a lot
of them, they brought "em to Atlanta and housed them there. It was a
pleasant time there in Atlanta hanging with Veronza and a few of the
brothers there. Back to Leonard, Leonard fancied himself as an artist, he
was learning to draw. T thought it was quite amusing, right, so fast
forward, in our calendar, Certain Days, one day Tlooked up, and I saw this
pieture ofa horse, and it was credited to Leonard, and the horse looked
goo0d, I said, “Oh, wow, he’s rally, rally upped his game. That's so cool.”

My hope is that we all get out, and that has not been the case. Some of us
have come out, some of us remain in there, and that's very hurtful.

‘Susan Rosenberg: think when Marilyn Buck and Dr. Mutulu Shakur were
on tial in New York, a number of us who were political prisoners were
called to New York to possibly testify in their trial, but we were called
there lso to do work on some of the motions that they were working on
for their case. The Political Prisoner Offense Exception was a paper, David,
Tknow you remember, and Geronima Pratt was there. He was one of the
‘people who worked on that, and he passed. He got out, which was a great
victory, but he passed not that long after, a couple of years after he got

g theages S
out. There's so many. One of the things I was so struck by in your book, in
Rattling the Cages, was the breadth of people that you include, and how
many people who are political from across different movements in so
‘many different ways who have been incarcerated. There’s really so many
peaple and people that we don’t mention anymore, and I've been thinking
about Geronimo in the context of this past year, is not even a year, that
so many of the Black political prisoners have passed away. I spent the last
decade working on Dr. Shakur’s case and was an associate and a comrade.
of his for 45 years. Yeah, a long time. His fight to get out, his fight to be.
heard politically, I think was really intertwined with the battle for his
release, You know, we're at a place where people are getting
compassionate release, if they get that, and P'm sure K'Sisay s going to
talk about that also. At the edge of the door, kick them out. You know
what it means for people to be released so that they can die on the
outside, and, while that's better than dying on the inside, it's a mixed
ictory, or it's a mixed success at fighting the state in that particular way.
I think Dr. Shakur and Sekou Odinga and there are others, many others, 1
think we need to remember them all, the known and the lesser known.
‘Thinking about Marilyn Buck, and Marilyn Buck getting out, I see your
shirt, Eric, love that shirt, its a really beautiful picture of Marilyn, but just
numbers of peaple whose lives, I think, are important to know, important
for the movement now to know and to understand some of those people
who are not front of mind anymore, understandably, because time and
change happens, and there's a whole new, multiple new generations, but 1
feel very sad about who we've lost in the last couple of years. These were
giants in the revolutionary movement, and they will always for me be in
the present.

‘Eric King: They are our giants. David, will you go?

‘David Gilbert: Sure. First of all in New York, I mean, as Susan just said,
we've lost so many really wonderful people who have alot to contribute
and did contribute from prison, but it would be great if they could
continue to have dialogue with the younger generation, because we
learned from each other. As we age, it's sort of natural that we're going to
lose some comrades physically. We keep what they taught us, or what
they did, or what lives on after them, but prison takes a tremendous toll.
10's poor medical care, it’s poor diet, it's high stress. All of those things
shorten people’s lives. In New York state T had the honor and learned a
tremendous amount from doing time with several of the ex-Panthers and

o ety hecags
BLA. Herman and I were together for a bit of time. They would break
things up, and at the end they would spread us all out. So many beautiful,
courageous, brilliant brothers. Some people aren’t even well-known. Jah
‘Teddy Heath, and, of course, my co-defendant and dear friend, Kuwasi
Balagoon, and [Albert] Nuh Washington, nt, very spiritual brother,
Seth Hayes, Robert Seth Hayes. These are people I did time with and had
developed friendships with. There are other people like Bashir Hameed—1
should have made a list of the names.

Twant to talk briefly about Sekou Odinga, who didn't die in prison, who
got out and did great work once he got out after doing 30 some years, but T
want t0 talk about him, because he just joined the ancestors three months
ago, and this wasn't prison healtheare, it was this very sudden illness,
which he fought bravely but suceumbed to. Sekou—we were co.
defendants—and he was charged with playing a major role in breaking.
Assata Shakur out of prison. If L can just talk about him. To me he is
probably the most outstanding example of steadfastness that 1 know of.
When I say, “steadfastness,” I don’t mean someone who's rigid or
dogmatic and driven that way, but someone who has a deep love for his
people and, through, that for all oppressed people. He was part of the
famous Panther 21 case in '69, but when the police came to arrest him, he
jumped out of a four-story window, and next time he was sighted was in
Algeria, and how he got to Algeria was pretty dramatic, too. But even
though he was safe in Algeria, he came back to the United States to be
underground to continue the struggle of iberation here. He wasn't on
Brinks, the case where I was busted, but Brinks led o a collapse of a ot of
security networks, and he was arrested soon thereafter at the same time
Mtayari Shabaka Sundiata was killed by the police. Sekou walked into the
police station in perfect health, came out to three months in the hospital
and part of it in intensive care. It wasn't just beatings, there’s a difference
between beatings and torture, torture is more scientific to break people
down. He was tortured, and he didn't break. When we got together,
Kuwasi and Sekou and me, you know, in those situation people can
recriminate, say. “This fool did this.” Sekou wasn't on Brinks. He was
jammed up for life because of Brinks. None of that. We're revolutionaries.
We know that there are risks. We analyze mistakes, but we don’t
recriminate against other people. When he came out after 30 some years
in prison, he went right to political work. He helped with Jalil [Muntagim]
toform In the Spirit of Mandela, which is a great program to raise
conseiousness about political prisoners, but also to renew the charge of

oty theges 7
genocide, the United States’ genocide against New Afrikan people. He's an
example.

KSisay Sadiki: Can say something? I want to alk about my father, but
think o of the impact of osing so many of our political prisoners. For
me, I have to share that information with my father, which is very hard,
because even talking about Baba Sekou Odinga, I recently saw him, he
supported my father's campaign, and I saw him back in March and spoke
on panel with him, and T have so many photographs of him. The impact
of his health and his relationship with his wife, dequi s like my aunt, you
kinow, so these relationships that have, our politial prisoners ike my
aunts and uncles,i’s hard to be the voice to share that information, When
you have to share with someone who was lacked up, like my dad, and give
him updates. When I had to share with him that Sckou passed away, my
father broke down, and T've never heard my father break down before. He
was very apologetic about i, but that’s alot, to have to share that
information. But thank you for sharing,

‘David Gilbert: I wanted to add that,in talking about the comrades who
passed away, in prison people say the worst thing is, “I don't want to die
in prison,” which is completely understandable. You want to be among
loved ones. But even more important s to have lived our lives with
integrity. People like [Albert] Nuh [Washington] and people like Jah
[Teddy Heath] and people like Kuwasi [Balagoon) lived their lives
integrity, and there’s alegacy there that can be valuable to future
generations

‘Eric King: I would like to remind our listeners that even though political
prisoners, we hold these people up as fighters and warriors, but political
prisoners are still humans and still have hearts and still develop strong.
personal relationships with each other and with others, and when we lose
one another it still hurts. 1t hurts bad, and those holes are hard to mend.,

While we have you here, I'd like to have you introduce yourself, K
talk about your father for a little bit

KSisay Sadiki: Well, thank you. It good to see everybody. David, my
‘mother has spoken so much about you, too, my mother, Pamela Hanna,
and hi everyone, hi Susan. 1 just want to say that there was a time when T
would talk about my father and 1 felt alone. I'm his daughter, you know,

B ey thecages
incredible relationship with my father. I've experienced my
father in prison when I was a baby. I have letters from him as a baby. I've
experienced my father come out of prison. I've experienced that
remarkable moment of seeing him come home, and then I've experienced
him going back into prison, and having to be a woman and go and
experience him going into prison for a second time, and I've had to have,
my children—he has grandchildren—go through that. I want to say that
for me to come on this panel today and actually talk about my father and
the International Campaign to Free Kamau Sadiki, that is progress. That's
progress, because there was a time when we didn’t have a campaign for

him, and [ have taken this energy, this emotion that I have from my
father, and I'm putting it and channeling it into his campaign. We have so
much support. My father s in Augusta State Medical Prison, and he's had

several wounds, he has sarcoidosis, he has hepatitis, and even with that

he’s a warrior. We know that,

My father's incredible. He's my hero, but I am always his voice, because,
even with this incredible campaign that we have for him, he stil doesn’t
ke to talk about what's going on sometimes. 1 only get to communicate
‘with him through JPay, and when he sends me a message I'm like, I need
toknow exactly what's happening, because we have this campaign for

you, and we have a legal and medical team committce, we have outreach,
‘We're here to educate people so that they do know who you are” This i

what I tell my father. Right now, we're focused on this parole packet. Even
tosay that, again, my father went back into prison in 2002, and I never
thought we could even talk about him coming home. That wasn’t
something I could even think about before, because it was too much. But
now with our campaign, we're focusing on getting these letters out,
meeting with council members, just letters from family to bring him
‘home. He's gonna come home. I'm gonna film that, I'm a filmmaker t00,

s gonna be an ineredible time for me, and I'm channeling that. 1know
he’s going to come home.

What we ask is for support. I always think about the support right now, so
that when he does come home—Herman, you know that—you're talking

about housing and just the basic needs of a person when they come home
‘with your family and everything. We're pushing for the parole packet and

getting these letters out. My father recently, he emailed me, and he said
that his sarcoidosis was acting up, that he hasn't experienced that kind of
‘pain in a while. I'm going to sce him hopefully soon in May. Again, he has

g theages 19
the legal team in Atlanta to go visit him, which is progress. I have an email,
and people can support by going to freckamau.com.

We're making progress. I know what prison is like, not that I've been on
the inside, but having someone that 1 love, 1 know that it's heavy, and so.
anytime that I get to see my father is just a remarkable time, even if it's
two hours. People take that for granted, ifit's two hours it’s a special two
hours, the letters that we get to write each other, it’s special. Ialso do
political work. When I say political work, I'm an artist, but I needed to
understand the system, I needed to understand policy, and so the kind of
work that I do, even my day work is working with immigration, working
in policy. I'm in Harlem, you may hear those horns. I needed to
understand what the system is, you know, having those interactions and
the strategic plans and what needs to be done to really build a campaign,
and, again, using my knowledge, using the connections that T have with,
everyone, the support, using that, not just feeling like I'm hopeless as his
daughter, but feeling like I can really advocate for my father. That's so
important for me.

‘Eric King: I would like to remind our listeners also that political prisoners
have families. Its not just us that are inside, it’s our families too and they
need help too. I’s not just supporting prisoners, let's support their
families. Alsolets support their children, their loved ones, their support
teams. Let’s raise up our communities instead of just individuals.

We've got one question left and it's a question for the Abolitionist
‘movement. It's what do you see in the Abolitionist movement? What do
you see that we're doing well and what needs to be done? There’s a lot that
needs to be done. We haven't won. So, what would you say to those people
fighting to change this world? What message would you say that they're
doing well,or what would you say we need to work on?

‘David Gilbert: First ofall, my salute and solidarity to the Abolitionist
‘movement, and thanks for the courage and the fortitude and the
persistence to make it a major issue. 1 like the concept of abolition because
it says the whole system is wrong, and P'm not close enough in to sort of
make detailed suggestions. Two things from feedback I get— mean close
enough into the day-to-day work—1 think people learned this from the
Pelican Bay strike, we don’t want to be dogmatic against reforms. Reforms
mean a lot to prisoners. We want to understand reforms that illustrate

B ety tecages
that the system is corrupt and wrong and that push forward to more
change and to challenge the whole system. I think we have to point out
how the society, the people in power, are the real criminals and they're
generating the real damage. The last thing, which I know is happening.

n is always important, especially with Pales

right now.

Eric King: OK, thank you. Susan, if there’s anything yowd like to say to the
abolitionists out there,

Susan Rosenberg: Yes, that abolition has become a movement with
multiple elements and factors and people and forces ory also ora
success of what was an idea. It had been a movement in the Civil War, but
then for a long time was not a word that people used to describe systems
or demands. 1 know that 1 ot out of prison before Angela Davis wrote the
book about abolishing prisons. She published that in 2003. I came out of
prison being a prison abolitionist, but I think now over the last period that
term has correctly or has in fact become a much broader definition than
just about prisons, 1 shouldn't say just, but i terms of prisons. think
that's really important, and I guess I see a link between the fight about
prisons and against mass incarceration and around exposing what the
state and the power of the state through all of ts mechanisms has done
and been—itisn’t just prisons, its more than prisons,for sure. IUs police,
it's policing, we haven't talked about that at all, but I think it’s a very
important and positive, wonderful thing that it now has a much broader
meaning.

ke David, mostly I teach about prisons and o activism in relationship to
political prisoners, but 'm not in abolitionist areas of work, so 1 don't
have a eritique of the abolitionist movement or things I have to say about
what you should or shouldn't be doing. I do think that all movements.
need to listen to the people that are in them, and that seems really
important to me in terms of where the direction is. 1 agree with David that
internationalism really is a key factor.

Iguess the one other thing we haven't really talked about or touched on is
women and the role of feminism and the role of women’s leadership and
the role of Black women's leadership and the need to integrate that, and T
don’t mean integrate from the point of view of integration, but the need to.
put together and recognize that that leadership of mass movements that

oty theages 2
is going on across the US is crucial, and all the movements have to take
that leadership and learn from it and move forward with it. I feel like
that's a whole different discussion but would be great to have, because
without it we can’t win. I really think it's that clear.

‘Eric King: Herman, would you please?

‘Herman Bell: Il be brief. As both David and Susan have said, I, too, am not
as close to the Abolitionist movement, but 1 am aware of it, I strongly
supportit, and I see that there has been an uptick in general overall
support of it. T have no critique of it. It largely will develop even more
support and awareness based on the kind of education that goes out about
prison and prison abolition. To me, it’s not unlike defunding the police, it's
a term that has been misunderstood and used for various purposes and
what not, but it’s significant. The more peaple become aware of the need
todefund the police, the more people become aware of the abolition of
prisons. In terms of education, I think thatll push us much further along.
until we ean actually tear those walls down. 1t won't happen overnight.

10's just something that we should never lose sight of and should always
throw our strong support for abolition. In addition to that, the future is
for the young people, and we as people who've been out there for a while,
we don’t and shouldn’t take the role of being one who has total knowledge
ofhow to go forward and how to engage the opposing forces. I’s the
young people, it’s their time, and I think that they’re doing pretty well in
terms of taking up that challenge and going forward.

‘Eric King: Man, when I was in Greece, I was there for the austerity
protests about 14 years ago, and there were anarchist banners
everywhere, and they all said “You Can't Fool the Youth,” “The Youth
Carry the Day.” That's what you just reminded me of:

We've got a few minutes left. I'd like to ask all of you if you have any.
projects going on, if you want to talk about them, talk about what you're
working on, if there's anything dear to your hearts that you just want to
put out there, just give that time and space to et you talk about whatever
you've got going on or feel is valuable and would like to say.

‘Herman Bell: 'm currently part-time employed by The Alliance of
Families for Justice, and within that group we have a project called Youth
Empowerment, and it's about teaching young people leadership skills, and

B oty tecages
50 P'm working with them, and it’s quite an experience to work with
people so young, we're talking folks like 14, 15, 25. Yeah, the things that
they say, the things that you hear from them, it's kind of surprising
because, it just makes me realize how young 1 was and how young they
are. You think that they would know certain things as a given, but in fact
given what they say to you, you realize that that’s not so, a lot of work has
tobe done there. Beyond that, ' looking towards trying to get involved
with videos, such that we will be able to tell our own stories in our own
Voice. That's something that is a work in progress. It req
‘gathering of different picces to put it together. I'm also writing my
autobiography. I should be done with my part of it in another three to four
months.

salot of

Eric King: 1 would also like to remind our listeners that, I believe it was,
six years ago, today, that Herman was freed from prison, so today is a
really wonderful, wonderful anniversary and celebration for that.

Susan, if you have anything going on or if you'd like to talk about any
projects you're working on I'd love for you to share, please.

‘Susan Rosenberg: I guess taking this opportunity just o say that there are
allthese political prisoner campaigns that are going on, and they're
dividual, but they're also part of collectivity, they're collective, you
Know, they're of a picce. What K'Sisay was talking about in regards to her
dad. We're talking about Leonard [Peltier] earlicr. There’s this struggle
going on about Mumia. Mumia Abu-Jamal turned 70 this week, and he's
and the legal options are closing as time goes on. There's Veronza
Bowers. There’s al of the people that stil are inside. Sometimes I think
about, like 've been out longer than I was in, and then think of people
who are sillin, who were in when I was in, and i’ almost unfathomable
t0 me to feel their suffering from this incredible lengthy amount of time.
people are doing in horrible, fascistic,totalitarian US prisons. Leave no
comrade behind. To the best that we can make that true, that's what a lot
ofus are still doing, and I think trying to link those cases where there’s
mass movements, where there can be added support, and a linkage
between political prisoners and these other social movements, because we
need large numbers of people to free our people. There are people doing
that more and more. ' not right this second working on a specific
campaign, but I have been for years and we'llfigure that out. I've also
been really impacted by this generational shift that's going on that David

g theages 23
talked about and Herman talked about and 1 also experience as an elder in
our movement. I want to really write ahout the last couple of years of my
experience in supporting both the freedom of Dr. [Mutulu] Shakur and the
struggle that Sekou Odinga waged in the last part of his life, which was, as
David said, just a heroic battle to continue to parti
revolutionary manner in his own life. We don't see that that much in our
society, this is not who we get exposed to. And as a white person fighting
white supremacy within those situations, what can I bring to the moment
now. That's my challenge to myselfin this period.

‘Eric King: Thank you. Before I move on to David, I don't want to make you
three uncomfortable, but 1 hope you know how importantly the youth still
value you, even though I don’t know if 'm considered a youth, but all
three of you were so motivational at least inmylife and my comrades”
lives. When I was 17, 1 had a Kuwasi Balagoon Appreciation Society, and
our whole job was going around letting air out of the tires of cop cars. We.
were just young anarchists trying to rebel. And then all of your books, at
least Susan's and David's, your books are still cireulating. People still text
me about, “Where can I gt this? Where can I read that?” I hope all of you
understand the impact that you have on the youth still today and just how
valuable your actions, words, and thoughts are to all of us.

David, please, if you have anything going on, anyt]
about, please share.

g you want to talk

‘David Gilbert: 1 want to say that when people read Rattling the Cages,
there alot of different experiences in different situations, but every single
person talks about how important outside support was. It was crucial to
me to be able to not just survive and counter repression, but to actually
get 10 point where I could do some useful work, some productive work.
Outside support is crucial, but to get to what you were saying, Eric,it goes
two ways. Political prisoners have a ot to offer, they're not just
individuals that deserve support. There’s a lot of experience that people
can learn from, not mimic, but to learn from. But it goes two ways. As
political prisoners, people have a responsibility to help pass on the
lessons, and that's both to affirm what we stand for, to not cave under the
pressure, or give up our principles, and everybody in this book did a good
job, but also to analyze our mistakes, so that people don't repeat those
‘mistakes. So, 1 just wanted to talk about that two-way process.

B oty tecages
In terms of political work now, I have to say, I haven't caught my stride,
P'm not doing very much, unfortunately. Some dialogues with people
working in mass incarceration on how to bring in internationalism. The
group that I was closest to was RAPP, Release Aging People in Prison, and
agood example of the synergy between work against mass
incarceration and political prisoner work. It was started by two released
political prisoners: Kathy Boudin and Laura Whitehorn, and the third
‘person was a comrade of mine in prison struggles, Mujahid Farid. Part of
the concept was that this would be a route to get at least some of the
political prisoners out, but it was also a way to show how cruel and
‘unusual the prison system is. They're an organization that isn't just an
NGO, isn't an NGO living off grants, they out there organizing. Since I've.
moved from New York, I'm not working as closely, I moved out west to be
with my family, which is wonderful. But one advantage to being free from
prison, none of us are completely free being out of prison, is being able to
010 a number of Free Palestine demonstrations, and that's been
extraordinary.

Eric King: Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you so much.

‘While I have people here, I would like to shout out those in ADX, those in
control units, those in supermasx prisons. Please, folks, please include
them in your support. Please include them in your letter writing, your
campaigns, your ook sendings. Let's not forget those that don't get to see
sunlight.

rdlike to thank everyone. Id like to thank all the panelists. K'Sisay, thank.
you for speaking about your father. This has been a real blessing and
honor for me to get to talk with all three of you and get to share your
experiences with you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Libertie at
Tirestorm for having us. This is a real honor. Thank you.

David Gilbert: And thank you, Eric, for coming out.
‘Susan Rosenberg: Thank you, Eric, reall.

‘David Gilbert: .despite all the di

culties in prison and for organizi

Eric King: 1 love youall so much. For real.

g teages 3
Libertie Valence: Yes, thanks to all of you. I also want (o shout out our

nds at AK press who put together this incredible volume, which T hope.
folks will pick up, and also Josh Davidson, who did a ot of behind the
scene work to make the book and tonight happen. Thank you so much,
Josh. Yall are incredible. 1's been such a pleasure tonight. 1 wish we could
spend more time together, but it was a real gift to be here tonight.

ety the cags
People, Places, Events, & Organizations

Albizu Campos — president of the Partido Nacionalista de Puesto Rico (the
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party) from 1930 tl his death in 1965. Albizu led the
October 1950 mass revolt against US colonialism that was brutally suppressed.
Albiza was imprisoned for 26 years throughout his lie for struggling for
independence. Albizu died in 1965 shortly after his pardon and release from
federal prison; he had alleged that he was the subject of human radiation
experiments n prison.

Lolita Lebrén — a revolutionary Puerto Rican independentista. Lolitaled
guerrillacadre in the United States that attacked the US House of
Representatives chamber in the US capitol on March 1, 1954 to “drav attention
to the fact of Puerto Rico's continued colonial status.” A political prisoner for 25
vears, her sentence was commuted, and she returned to Puerto Rico, where she
continued the fight for independence and participated in the protests against
the United States Navy’s presence in Viegues 1n 1979, Lolita Lebron, rvin Flores,
Rafal Cancel Miranda and Oscar Collazo were recognized us the embodiment of
the directive of their teacher Albizs Campos to exercise valor and sacrifice
beore representatives of filty-one countries at the Internationsl Conference in
Support of Independence for Puerto Rico, held in Mexico City. She passed away
on August 1, 2010,

Maleolm X — a Black revolutionary and Nation of 1slam spokesman. During the
Civil Rights Movement, Malxolm X advocated for freedom "by any means
necessary.” Alter leaving the Nation of slam, Malcolm traveled to Africa and
West Asia, meeting with revolutionary Pan-African socialis leaders such as
Kuwame Nkrumah, Ben Bella, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and others. Before his
assassination, Malxolm converted to Sunni Islam, and after completing the Hajj
10 Mecea he became known as “el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz.” Maleolm conneeted
with the communist Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) and advocated
revolutionary Black internationalism, before he was assassinated on February

Attica Rebellion — a September 9,197 sebellion by thousands of prisoners at the.
New York state prison. Answering George Jackson's calln his writings for
prisoners to take a revolutionary role, risoners at Attica organized around a list
of 27 demands regarding improvements in living conditions that were left
unanswered. Many prisoners,ike Joseph Little, who told a government panel,
“Tm ot for no penitentiary reform. I'm for abolishing the whole concept of
penitentiary reform,” saw the prison as a site of revolutionary warfare. New
York Governor Rockerfeller and President Nixon ordered hundreds of state
troopers and prison guards to take back the prison with force, eaving 10
correctional officers and 29 prisoners dead by police fire. Many prisoners were
assassinated after the sige for their organizing, ike Weather Underground-

oty theages 27
associated revolutionary Sam Melville.On September 17, the Weather
Underground launched a retaliatory attack on the New York Department of
Carections, exploding a bomb near the commissioner’ office. The communiqué
accompanying the attack called the prison system an example of "how a society
run by white racists maintains its control,” with white supremacy being the
“main question white people have to fuce.

Attica Brothers — survivors of the Attica rebellion were known as “Attica
Brothers,” especially those facing legal trouble in the aftrmath.

Pelican Bay Hunger Strike — in July 2015 up (0 30,000 prisoners in California
engaged in a two month hunger strike (o protest solitary confinement,
organized across racial and gang lines by prisoners in solitary.

Free Alabama Movement — along with Incacerated Workers Organizing
Committee (IWOC), Free Alubama Movement organized the 2016 USS. prison
work strike that involved over 24,000 prisoners refusing work in 24 states. The
strike began on September 9, 2016, the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prison
rebellion.

The New Jim Crow — 2010 book by Michelle Alexander that essentially argues.
mass incarceration is an extension of fim Crow racial stratifieation.

AIDS work — many politieal prisoners,like David Gilbert and Susan Rosenbers,
engaged in prison education groups around HIV/AIDS. David Gilbert began
organizing around this after his friend and codefendant, Kuwasi Balugoon, died
of AIDS in 195

Resistance Conspiracy Case — the case charging defendants Marilyn Buck, Linda
Evans, Susan Rosenberg, Laura Whitchorn, Timothy Blunk, and Alan Berkman
for the 1983 bombing of the US Senate n retaliation for US military involvement
in Lebanon and Granada by the Armed Resistance Unit

Jamil Al-Amin — formerly known as H. Rap Brown, the Imarm came (o
prominence in the 19603 as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) and the Justice Minister of e Black Panther Party. He s
perhaps most famous for his proclamation during that period that *violence is
s American as cherry pie,” as well as once stating that

around, we're gonna burn it down.” In 1965, Jamil went underground after
facing weapons and incitement to riot charges following a rally that occurred in
Cambridge, Maryland which left Jamil with a shotgun wound to the head. After
38 months in hiding and on the FBI's Most Wanted list, Jamil resurfoced in an
attack of a New York City bar which was targeted forits exploitation of the
community. This action resulted in a shootout with polic that eft Jamil and
two cops with injuries.Jamil subsequently spent 5 years in prison for charges

£ America don't come

B ety tecages
related to the ineident. Upon his release, Jamil opened a grocery store in Atanta,

wehich he maintsined until 2000 when he was arrested for the murder ofa

Fulton County cop. Later that year, another man confessed to the shooting. In
2002 Jamil, was convieted and sentenced to ife without parole. More
information: whathappenedzrap.com

Kamau Sadiki — a former member of the Black Liberation Army (BL), who is
currently servinga ife sentence for the killing of an Atlanta police off

1070 With the US insurgeney program COINTELPRO that attempted to
neutralize and destroy revolutionary organizations like the Black Panther Party,
many members felt they had no choice but to go underground or risk
imprisonment and death, which Sadiki did in 1971 In 1973 he was captured s
part ofa federal stakeout for a bunk expropriation and was tried with his co-
defendant Assata Shakur—which ended first in a mistrial and after a second trial
with a jury acquittal. 1n 1974, he was tred in another bank expropriation, found.
guilty, and sentenced to s years in prison. During these trials, Assata was
pregnant with s hild she shared with Sadiki. She would later escape t Cuba,
Sadiki's case was part of a renevwed campaign during the early 2000' to target
former revolutionaries from the 19605 and 70s. Sadiki has claimed his innocence,
stating that the government refused to allow testimony that would exonerate
him and used his case as a way to pressure Sadiki to help i capturing Assata.
Sadiki was convieted and sentenced in 2002, His health continues to deteriorate

0 this day, and supportfor his liberation is erucial. More information:
Ireekamans.com

Leonard Peltier —a Native American political prisoner serving two conseeutive
life sentences for s crime he was set up for —the killing of two FBI agents. In the
early 70, Native Americans on the Pine Ridge Reservation were assaulted and
murdered by a group of vigilantes and looked towards the American Indian
Movement (AIM) for help. Hundseds of AIM members occupied the village of
Wounded Knee in Pine Ridge in 1973, demanding an end to the US-backed
‘murder and intimidation of AIM supporters on the reservation and that the
gned by the US be honored that gave the Lakota people the right to
self-rule the land surrounding the Black Hills. Federal authorities surrounded
the oceupation with an army of over 300. The Indians refused to back down.
They used weapons to defend themselves and held off the government forces.
for 72 days. Ater the siege, Leonard came to Pine Ridge with a few other AIM
members in 1975 and set up camp in the village of Oglala to proteet the village
from vigilantes. On July 26, 1975 two FBL agents drove into the property
unannounced and unidentified, and a frefight erupted. leaving the two FBI
agents and one AIM member dead, while scores of FBI agents and US Marshals
surrounded the property. s believed that the attack against the AIM activists
was an attempt 1o create a diversion for secret agreement to transfer parts of
the Pine Ridge Reservation to the federal government. With fabricated evidence.
and preventing Leonard from claiming self-defense, Leonard was convicted to

g theages 20
two life sentences in federal prison. The struggle for Leonard's reedom s not
aver. More information: whoislconardpeltierinfo

‘Veronza Bowers — a former Black Panthes political prisoner who was sentenced
tolife for the killing of a forest ranger in 1975, Bowers maintained his innocence,
arguing that he was the target of FBI's COINTELPRO, supported by the fact that
his conviction rested on the testimony of two informants who received
thousands of dollars and a reduetion in their sentence. After afiled attempt at
self-liberation from Lompoc, Veronza locused on spirituality and healing
medicine and has released meditational music. Veronza released on May 7, 2024,
after 51 years inside.

Rafael Cancel Miranda — & Puerto Rican independentista, revolutionary, and
poet. Rafacl, along with Lolita Lebrén, Andrés Figueraa Cordero, and Irvin Flores
Rodrigue, attacked the House of Representatives in 1954. Rafacljoined pro-
independence political groups s a youth, after his fumily survived the Ponce
massacre, when police opened fire on a march commemorating the abolition of
slavery in Puerto Rico. Rafuel was lter sentenced to two years n prison for
refusing the draft, and upon release sell-exiled to Cuba, where he stayed until
the Batista coup and was expelled. In New York, he met other Puerto Rican
independentistas and became involved in the attack on the House,

continuation of the pro-independence uprisings that began in 1950 in Puerto
Rico. Rafael received a prison sentence of 85 years, which was commuted in
1979, after 25 years. Aer his commutation, Rafael authored nine books and
remained sctive in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence. He continued to
carsy the cause of independence until his death. Rafuel passed away in San Juan,
Puerto Rico on March 2, 2020,

Certain Days — a freedom for politieal prisoners calendar begun by Herman
Bell, Robert Seth Hayes, and David Gilbert, which i organized by outside
organizers, current and former political prisoners, and includes art and writings
by political prisoners. More information: certaindays.org

Marilyn Buck — an anti-impesialist revolutionary who was imprisoned for her
participation in the 1979 prison escape of Assata Shakur, the 1981 Brinks
robbery, and the 1982 US Senate bombing, Marilyn joined Students for o
Democratic Society (SDS) during the height of activism against the Vietnam war
whille at the University of Texas. In 1967 she moved to Chicago where she edited
the SDS newsletter New Lelt Notes, and incorporated Marxist feminism into the
organization's politics. In San Francisco, she worked with Third World
Newsreel, a media colleetive that showeased anti-imperialist and anti-
colonalist struggles around the world. Convicted for purchasing ammaunition
for the Black Liberation Army in 1975, she was sentenced (0 10 years in prison,
farloughed in 1977, and went underground instead of returning to prison. Alter
her capture and convictions in 1985, she was sentenced to 80 years in federal

B oty tecages
prison, where she wrote on women in prison, solitary confinement, political
prisoner support, and revolutionary poetry. Marilyn passed away on August 5,

Kuwasi Balagoon — a Black anarehist revolutionary, and member of the Black
Panther Party and Black Liberation Army. Kuwasi was nitialy part of the
Panther 21 case, but althorgh the Panther 21 were later scquitted, Kuwasi's case:
was separated offand he was convieted ofa New Jersey bank robbery. While
serving his sentence, Kuwasi became disillusioned with the Black Panther Party
and drifted into the more radical Black Liberation Army while also ideologically
embracing Black anarchism. During the 19705, Kuwasi would escape prison
twice, and during his second period on the run, would be involved in breaking
Assata Shakur out of prison in 197. In 1981 Kuwasi was amongat the several
BLA, May 19 Communist Organization and Weather Underground members
involved in the 1981 Brinks robbery. Following his capture in 1952, Kuwasi would
be tried and sentenced tolife for his involvement. While i prison, Kuwasi
passed away of preumocystis preumonia brought about by AIDS on December
13, 1986. He was 19 years old. Kuwasi authored several texts while in prison, alot
offwhich are compiled in Kuwasi Balagoon: A Soldier's Story:

Dr. Mutulu Shakur — a Black Liberation Army political prisoner who was
sentenced t0.60 years in prison for his involvement in the Brinks robbery. Dr.
Shakur was active as a teen in the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM),
Black Nationalist group that struggled for Black self-determination and socilist
change in America. Dr. Shakur also worked very closely with the Bluck Panther
Party, supporting Lumumba and Zayd Shakur. He was a member of the
Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afriks, which endorsed the
founding of an independent New Afrikan (Black) Republic and the establishment
ofan independent Black state in the southern US. In the 70's Dr. Shakur worked.
with the Lincol Detox program, which offered drug rehabilitation for heroin
addiction using acupuncture. Dr. Shakur was one of several Black Liberation
Army members to carry out the October 1981 Brinks robbery, aided by the May
15 Communist Organization and former members of the Weather Underground.
In June 2022, it was revealed that Dr. Shakur had terminal bone marrow cancer
with “six months (o live.” Dr. Shakur passed away from the disease on July 7,
2023, at age 72, about eight months after being paroled.

Geronimo Pratt — Geronimo Ji-Jaga, affectionately known as “C.” was a major.
figure in the Black Liberation Struggle. Recruited into the Black Panther Party
by Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, both of whom were assassinated by
COINTELPRO infiltrators in 1965. Geronimo became the Deputy Minister of
Defense of the Souther California Black Panther Party. Geronimo was convieted
oninformant and infiltrators' false testimony for a murder he did not commit
and spent 27 years in prison, until his conviction was vacated in 1997 on the
grounds that the prosecution concealed exculpatory evidence. Geronimo

g theages 3
continued to work for freedom for political prisoners, and in his later years
moved to Tanzania, where he passed away in 2011

‘Sekou Odinga — Sekou was forced into hiding in 1969 when he and twenty other
Black Panther Party members were wrongly charged with criminal conspiracy
i the NY Panther 21 case. Several month later, while stll underground, he
traveled to Algeria to establish an international chapter of the lack Panther
Party. Later, Sekou became an activist in the New Afrikan Independence
Movement and a member of the Black Liberation Army. On October 25, 1951,
Sekou and Mtyar Shabaka Sundiata were ambushed by the NYC police and FBI
agents. The police murdered Miyari.Sekou was eventually eaptured, tortured,
and eventually charged with the iberation of Assata Shakur and the
expropriation of money from an armored car. Sckou was convicted of two
federal charges under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization
(RICO) Act and was sentence (o forty years imprisonment and a 50,000 fine. He
was lso convieted of six state counts of attempted murder stemming from the
defense of himself and Mtyari during the police attack in 1981. For this he was
sentenced to concurrent lie sentences. Sckou released from prison on
November 25, 2014 and passed away on January 12, 2024, at the age of 7.

Teddy Jah Heath — Teddy Jah Heath was active in the Black Liberation and Civil
Rights Movementin the 6os. In 1968 he joined the Black Panther Party. On May
2,197 Jah was arrested again and charged with kidnapping a drug dealer. This
politcally motivated trail occurred amidst government orchestrated bysteria
around the Black Liberation Army, of which Jah was a member. He was given
lie sentence by an all-white jury for an lleged kidnapping, in which no one was
injured. Teddy Jah Heath served almost thirty years and passed away of cancer

‘Albert Nuh Washington — a member of the Black Panthes Party and Black
Liberation Army. I the early 1970, after years active in the Black beration
struggle, Nuh was shot and captured together Jalil Muntagim. Along with
Herman Bel, they were charged with murdering two cops and became known as
the New York 2. Their erime, in the eyes of this system, was theis revolutionary
polities and their determination to win the liberation of Black people. I seeret,
resources of the FBI and other authorities were mobilized to railroad these.
fighters to prison. He passed away from cancer in the UsS. prison system on April

Robert Seth Hayes — afler the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.and the
social upheaval which followed it, Robert Seth Hayes joined the lack Panther
Party, working in the Party’s free medical clinics and free breakfast programs.
Like many other activists, Seth was forced underground by FB1 and police
repression of the Panther movement. Once underground, Seth joined the Black

Liberation Army. 1n 1973, following shootout with police, Seth was arrested and

S oty tecages
convicted of the murder of a New York City police oficer, and, while maintaining
his innocence to this day, sentenced t0 25 years o life in prison. Imprisoned for
nearly forty years, Seth has long since served his sentence. Seth first came up for
parole in 1998, but prison officials have refused to release him, focusing on his
involvement with the Bluck Panther Party and his knowledge as to the.
whereabouts of Assata Shakur and not his conduct while imprisoned. Whil
prison, Seth has worked as a librarian, pre-release advisor, and AIDS counselor,
‘mentoring younger prisoners and continuing to struggle for his people. Seth
passed away at the age of 72 on December 24,2015,

‘Bashir Hameed — member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation
‘Army. Formerly James York, Hameed was born and raised in New Jersey. In 1952,
‘Bashir and a former BPP comsade, Abdul Majid (formerly Anthony LaBorde),
swere charged and later convicted of the murder of two police officers,a case:
Known as the Queens Two. In almost three decades of incarceration, Bashis,
devout Muslim, applied his rligious and political pinciples to the struggle
againstinjustice and racism behind the walls, aining wide respect among
prisoners. Bashir passed away on August 20, 2008 at the age 67 from
complications of a triple bypass surgery at the New York prison system.

Panther 21 a group of twenty-one Black Panther members who were arrested
and aceused of planned coordinated bombing and long-range rifle attacks on
two police stations and an education office in New York City in 1969, who were
all acquitted by a jury in May 1971, after revelations dusing the trial that police
infiltrators played key organizing roles. Among the defendants were Afeni
Shakur, Lumumba Shakur, Ali Bey Hussan, Michael Tabor, Dhoruba al-Mujabid
bin Wahad, Jamal Joseph, Abayama Katara, Baba Odinga, Joan Bird, Robert
Coller, Sundiata Acoli, Lonnie Epps, Curtis Powell, Kuwasi Balagoon, Richard
Harris, Lee Berry, Lee Roper, and Kwando Kinshasa, and Thomas Berry.

Algeria — after the revolutionary FLN defeated French colonial forces during
their struggle for iberation, activists and liberation movements from around
the world gathered in Algiers,including contingents frorm the National
Liberation Front of South Vietnam, the Alrican National Congress (ANC), and the
Black Panther Party. Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver, the first Black Panthers in
Algeria, helped to set up a local headquarters that would soon welcome Donald
Cox, Sekou Odinga, and Larry Mack, as the Black Panther Party would embrace
international revolutionary strisggles, Black and Arab alike. Multiple American
radicals hijacked planes to Algeria for safety with the BPP office. After splits
‘amang the Party, the office gradually ceased to exist.

Mtayari Shabaka Sundiata — became a citizen of record in the Republic of New
Afrika in 1965, Mtayari worked amang the youth in the Ocean Hill-Brownsille
section of Brooklyn. In 1970 he was incarcerated as the result ofa shootout with
the police. Upon his release, he joined the ranks of the BLA. It was in this

oty theages 3
capacity as people’s warrior that he was slain in combat on October 25, 1981
after he and Sekou Odinga were ambushed by NYC police and FB agents.

Jlil Mutagim — Jail was 19 years okd when e was arrested. He's a former
member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, and was one
ofthe longest held plitiea prisoners in the world.Jalil was born October 15,
1953, in Oakland, CA. His early years were spent in San Francisco. Jali
participated in NAACP youth organizing during the civi rights movement.In
high school, he became a leading mermber o the Blck Student Uion, often
touring in “speak-outs.” Aler the asassination of Dr. King, Jall began o belicve
amore miltant response to acism and injustice was necessary. He began to
ook towards the Black Panther Party for Slf-Defense for leadership and was
secruited intothe BPP by sehool frends who had since become Panthers. Two
manths shy of his zoth birthday, Jail was captured along with Albert "Nub”
Washington in a idnight shoot-out with San Francisco police. While in San
Quentin prison in California in 197, Jalillasnched the National Prisoners
Campaign o Petiton the United Nations to recognize the existence of politcal
prisoners in the United States. Progressives nationwide joined this effot, and
the p

and the National Conference of Black Lavyers having the UN International
Commission o Jurists tour US. prisons and speak with specifc poliical
prisoners. The International Commission of Jurists then reported tha political
prisoners did i fact cxist n the United Stats. In 1997 Jallinitated the Jericho
Movement. Over 6000 supporters gathered in the Jericho o8 march in
Washington DC and the Bay Area o demand amnesty for US politica prisoncrs
on the bass of international law. The ericho Amnesty Movement s to aie
the recogaition by the US. government and the United Nations that political
prisoners existin this countey,and that on the basis ofinternational law, they
should be geanted amesty because of the political nature of thei cases.

ition was submitted in Geneva, Switzerland. This led to Lennox Hinds

‘Spirit of Mandela Coalition — a coulition founded in 2015, led by Black
Liberation organizers and former Political Prisoners working with Black, Brown,
‘and Indigenous Peoples and their alles to bring international attention to US.
huuman rights violations amounting to genocide. Through is endeavors, the SoM
Coalition successfully initiated the 2021 Internationsl Tribunal charging the
United States government with

law, and an independent Panel of Jurists found the US guilty of genocide on all
five counts Subsequently, SoM has launched ne of the most comprehensive.
national action campaigns initiaives in decades - the Peoples’ Senate - seeking
to unify progressive and radical activists across geographic, ideclogical, and
other divides

‘e connts of violations based on international

Are Prisons Obsolete? — The book examines the evolution of carceral systems
from their earliestincarnation to the modern prison industrial complex. Davis
argues that incarceration fail to reform those it imprisons, instead

Sty tecages
systematically profiting from the exploitation of prisoners. The book explores.
potential lternatives o the prison system that could transform the justice
system from a punitive instrument of control and retribution nto a tool capable
of changing lives for the better throtigh a combination of autobiography and
academic examination. It s core text in the prison abolition movement.

Greek austerity protests — from 2010 t0 2012, Greek activists organized against
austerity and the eutting of public services as a response 0.8 debl erisis. Riots,
protests, strikes, arsons, expropriations, and mass demonstrations proliferated.
Ahigh point in the Greck anarchist movemen.

‘Munia Abu-Jamal — an award winning jousnalist and was one of the founders of |
the Black Panther Party chapter in Philadelphia, PA. He has struggled for justice
‘and human rights for people of color since he was atleast 14 years old, the age
when he joined the Party. In December of 1952, Mumia, who moonlighted by
driving s taxi, happened upon police who were beating his brother. During the
‘melee, a police officer was shot and killed. Despite the fact that many people sav
someone else shoot and runaway from the scene, Mumis, in what could only be
called a kngaroo court, was convicted and sentenced to death. During the
‘summer of 1995, a death warrant was signed by Governor Tom Ridge, which
sparked one of the most effective organizing efforts in defense of a political
prisoner ever. Since that time, Murnia has had his death sentence overturned,
but s still expected to serve the rest of his life in prison. More information:
freemumis.com

Release Aging People in Prison — led by formerly incarcerated people and farmily
‘members of people in prison, RAPP works to end mass incarceration and
promote racial justice through the release of aging people in prison and those
serving long sentences. More information: rappeampaign.com

Kathy Boudin — an anti-imperialist sevolutionary and founding member of the
Weather Underground. Kathy served 23 years in prison from her role in the 1081
Brink's rabbery. In 1969, Bovdin was a founding member of the Weatherman
faction of Students for a Demacratic Society, which in 1970 became the Weather
Underground Organization (WUO). In 1970 she and Cathy Wilkerson were the
only survivors of the Greenvich Village townhouse explosion, when a bomb that
thei comrades were constructing in the basement, intending to use it o attack
US. Army personnel that evening, exploded prematurely. Boudin remained a
fugitive for more than s decade, engaging in multiple additional bombings (none
of which resulted in injuries) and other actions. While in prison, Kathy published
articles and poems, and also co-founded AIDS Committee for Education (ACE)
inside the prison in 1988 with other incarcerated women including Katrina
Haslip and Judith Alice Clark to provide sccurate education on living with HIV.
On May 1, 2022, Kathy passed away in New York City.

oty theages 3
Laura Whitehorn — an anti-imperialist revolutionary and artist, who was.
imprisoned for 14 years in federal prison for the 1952 United States Senate
bombing as part of the Resistance Conspiracy Case. Alter working us an
organizer for Students for a Democratie Society (D), Laura became a member.
of the Weather Underground organization in 1965, Laura, slong with
approximately 55 other people, was arrested during “The Days of Rage.” several
days of street fighting between protesters and police, after the WUO blew p an
3889 commemorative nine-foot bronze statue of a Chicago policeman located in
Haymarket Square in Chicago. By the carly 19805, Whitehorn was sctive in
vasiety of radical organizations, in addition to the May 19 Communist
Organization,including the John Brown Anti-Klan Commmittee and the Madame
Binh Graphics Collective. During this time, Whitehorn worked with radical
movements in Rhodesia, South Alrica and Palestine. During the 14 years
Whitehorn served in prison, she dirceted ALDS eduucation and wrote numerous
publications. In 2013, Whitehorn along with Kathy Boudin and Mujahid Farid
founded the Release Aging People in Prison campaign.

Write to Political Prisoners.
‘mentioned in this conversation

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555
SP Tucson

Post Office Box 24550
Tucson, Arizona 85734

Kamau Sadiki® #0001150688
Augusta State Medical Prison
3001 Gordon Highway
Grovetown, Georgia 30813
*Address envelope to Freddie Hilton.

Leonard Peltier #59637-152
USP Coleman 1
Post Office Box 1033
Coleman, Florida 33521

‘Smart Communications/PA DOC
‘Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM8335
SCIMahanoy
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733

‘nycabe.wordpress.com/write-a-letter/

oty theages 37
Rattling the Cages

1) Political Prisoners, Mass Incarceration, & Abolition
Eric King, Herman Bell, David Gilbert, Susan Rosenberg

2). Continuing the Struggle Inside & Out
Eric King, Ashanti Alston, Ray Lue Levasseur
3) Antifascism Behind Bars

Eric King and David Campbell

4) Black August & Prisoner Support
Eric King, dequi kioni-sadiki, Harold Taylor

5) Eric King in Conversation with James Kilgore
Eric King, James Kilgore

6) Post-Prison Activism & Archiving Resistance
Eric King, Jake Conroy, Claude Marks

%) Until All Are Free
Eric King, Jason Hammond, Jeremy Hammond

8) Revolutionary Women Behind Bars

Eric King, Linda Evans, Laura Whitehorn, Nicole Kissane

) Becoming Politicized in Prison
Eric King, Josh Davidson, Heetor Rodriguez, Farhan Ahmed

10) Rattling the Cages: How We Dit It & How You Can Too

Eric King, Sara Falconer, Josh Davidson

all conversations are available @FirestormCoop on youtube

5 ey e cages
Support Political Prisoners.

Asyou've heard & read, it is vital that we support the political
prisoners of our liberation movements. Providing support builds
bridges across and through prison bars, giving those locked inside a
conneetion to the outside world. Your support matters.

Get involved. Write to a political prisoner—a simple letter provides a
needed escape. Visit them in prison. Ask what a political prisoner
needs and do what you can to help them. Offer them support.

the NYC Anarchist Black Cross website
(nycabe.wordpress.com) and learn more about those currently
imprisoned for political reasons.

Buy a Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar
(certaindays.org).

your local Books Through Bars group and send books to those
incarcerated (booksthroughbarsnyc.org/resources).

Join your nearest Anarchist Black Cross group (abefner).

rattlingthecages.com to learn more.

atig the cages:
linktr.ee/rattlingthecages

Four contributors to Rattling the Cages: Oral
Histories of North American Political Prisoners
discuss their experiences withimprisonment,

the changing nature of mass incarceration,

theimportance of solidarity bothinside and
outside the system, and the ongoing
imprisonment of movement elders.

FRESTORM