Who has not heard of the Angola Three, three young black prisoners who were falsely accused of killing a prison guard in 1972 in the infamous Louisiana maximum security prison cited at a former slave plantation—and named for the place where the African captives came from, Angola. On Thursday, August 4th, attorneys for Albert Woodfox announced his passing at the age of 75. For over 43 years, Woodfox and several other black men were held in brutal solitary confinement, one of the longest held solitary prisoners on earth: 43 years, seven days a week, 23 hours a day. The United . . .
Political Prisoners
The Indiana Prisoner Rebellion of 1985 Pt. 2
Continuing the focus on the Indiana prisoner rebellion in 1985 at the Indiana Reformatory (now Pendleton Correctional Facility), this interview spotlights Christopher “Naeem” Trotter. Trotter, in solidarity with John C. Cole aka Balagoon and their comrades, led the takeover of a cellblock inside the Indiana reformatory for 15 hours. . . .
George Jackson: Black Revolutionary
By Walter Rodney, November 1971 To most readers in this continent, starved of authentic information by the imperialist news agencies, the name of George Jackson is either unfamiliar or just a name. The powers that be in the United States put forward the official version that George Jackson was a dangerous criminal kept in maximum security in Americas toughest jails and still capable of killing a guard at Soledad Prison. They say that he himself was killed attempting escape this year in August. Official versions given by the United States of everything from the Bay of Pigs in Cuba to . . .
Prisoners of War
Our ancestors, our elders, our (New) Afrikan Liberation prisoners of war suffering the most heightened forms of bestial oppression in america’s concentration camps, deserve more than flowery tributes and toothless appeals to a conscienceless empire. Only the naive or willfully ignorant can not see the failure of the ‘left’ to truly acknowledge the existence of or work toward the release of our political prisoners and prisoners of war. . . .
Kuwasi Balagoon: Love, Power and Peace by Piece
Freedom is a habit and for Africans throughout history, it is one that can cost you dearly while under the repressive state apparatus of an imperialist power. Despite this, it has rarely discouraged those who’ve taken up the program for Black liberation from making the ultimate sacrifice out of their love for the people. Recognizing the colonial status of Africans in the US and in the diaspora is only the first step. Through organization, struggle, uniting around a set of principles and an unwavering commitment to the movement is where some of the strongest and most fierce of the litter . . .
The Indiana Prisoner Rebellion of 1985
On February 1st, 1985 guards at the Indiana Reformatory (now Pendleton Correctional Facility) sparked a rebellion with the brutal beating of defenseless inmate Lincoln Love aka Comrade Lokmar Abdul-Wadood. In a successful attempt to save his life, a politicized group of prisoners took several hostages including guards and a politician and occupied a cell block in the Indiana State Prison for 15 hours. . . .
Political Prisoners in Azania
Any discussion about Azania has to start with an anti-colonial understanding of that region of Southern Africa. First, Azania is the original and proper name for the country commonly known as South Africa. Pan-Africanist formations like the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and the Azanian People’s Organization (AZAPO), as well as Pan-Africanists worldwide, have been calling Azania that for decades. Speaking through an anti-colonial lense, the name South Africa clearly represents one imposed by those from Europe who invaded the country and have occupied it for centuries. Second, like with any settler colony i.e. the United States, Australia, occupied Palestine . . .
January 2022 Update: New Legal Filing in Mumia’s Case
In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston wrote, “There are years that ask questions, and years that answer.” With continued pressure from below, 2022 will be the year that forces the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and the Philly Police Department to answer questions about why they framed imprisoned radio journalist and veteran Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal’s attorneys have filed a PCRA petition focused entirely on the six boxes of case files that were found in a storage room of the DA’s office in late December 2018, after the case being heard before Judge Leon Tucker . . .