George Jackson (activist)
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George Jackson (September 23, 1941 – August 21, 1971) was a Black American militant who became a member of the Black Panther Party while in prison, where he spent the last 12 years of his life. He was one of the Soledad Brothers and achieved fame due to a book of published letters.
Biography
Born in Chicago Illinois, Jackson spent time in the Youth Authority Corrections facility in Paso Robles because of several convictions. He was convicted of armed robbery, a felony, for robbing a gas station at gunpoint and at age 18 was sentenced to serve one year to life in prison.
While at San Quentin State Prison in 1966, he founded the Black Guerrilla Family, a Marxist prison gang with political objectives.
On 16 January 1970 along with Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette he was charged with murdering guard John V. Mills as retaliation for the killing of three black activists by guard O.G. Miller at Soledad prison. Miller had been not been charged with a crime, as a grand jury had ruled the killings to be justifiable homicide [specify]). Incarcerated in the maximum security cellblock at Soledad Prison, Jackson and the other two inmates became known as the 'Soledad Brothers'.
Isolated in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, Jackson studied political economy and radical theory and wrote two books, Blood in My Eye and Soledad Brother, which became bestsellers and brought him world-wide attention.
On 7 August 1970 George Jackson's 17 year old brother Jonathan Jackson burst into a Marin County courtroom with an automatic weapon, freed three San Quentin prisoners, and took Judge Harold Haley hostage to demand freedom for the three 'Soledad Brothers'. However, Haley and prisoners William Christmas, James McClain, and Jonathan Jackson were killed as they attempted to drive away from the courthouse. The case made national headlines.
The eyewitness testimony suggests Judge Haley was hit by fire discharged from a shotgun inside the vehicle during the incident since he was being covered by a shotgun attached by wiring, tape, and/or a strap of some sort, and/or held beneath his chin.
Gary Thomas, at that time a prosecutor (later to become a judge), was also taken hostage, and during the incident was paralyzed by a police bullet. Thomas testified in a subsequent proceeding that "the sawed-off shotgun was being held under Judge Haley's chin by Magee. The shotgun went off. It was as if it was in slow motion--all outward features of his face moving away." Some accounts of the incident report that Judge Haley's head was taken almost completely off his body as a result of the close-range shotgun blast.
Ruchell Magee, the sole survivor among the militants who attacked the court, was convicted for Haley's kidnapping and murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, which he is serving in Corcoran State Prison. Now 56 years old, he has lost numerous bids for parole.
On August 21, 1971, three days before he was to go on trial, George Jackson was gunned down in the prison yard at San Quentin during an alleged escape attempt.
During the escape which sparked a riot on the cellblock, Jackson had a 9 mm automatic pistol alleged to have been smuggled into the prison by attorney Stephen Bingham (immediately after the incident, Bingham went on the run and fled the country for 13 years, only to return to the US, turning himself into authorities in which he said he was scared of retaliation by the guards). Some other prisoners who witnessed the event claim that there was no weapon and that Jackson had not been planning any escape or rebellion. During the riot, caused by Jackson and two dozen other prisoners, three corrections officers and two inmates were tortured and killed.
The Official Report
According to the state of California, lawyer-activist Stephen Bingham had smuggled a pistol concealed in a tape recorder to Jackson, who was housed in San Quentin's Adjustment Center time awaiting trial for the murder of a prison guard. On August 21, 1971, Jackson used the pistol, an Astra 9-mm semi-automatic, to take over his tier in the Adjustment Center. In his failed escape attempt, six people were killed, including three prison guards, two white prisoners, and Jackson himself.
The prison guards were Jere Graham, Frank DeLeon and Paul Krasnes. Witnesses allege that Graham was the first victim, shot in the back of the head execution-style after Jackson commented about the pistol, "Let's see if this thing works."[citation needed] DeLeon and Krasenes were beaten, stabbed and had their throats cut, dying after a half-an-hour from loss of blood. Two other guards were similarly treated, and they nearly bled to death before being rescued when prison guards shot their way into the Adjustment Center.[citation needed] In addition to the guards, two white prisoners who had been delivering food to the Center were murdered by the rioters. [citation needed] They were hogtied with bed-sheets and stabbed to death.[citation needed]
The Bingham trial
In the Stephen Bingham case, defense attorney Gerald Schwartzbach (Schwartzbach later successfully defended Robert Blake on murder charges) courted the media in the run-up to the trial. A Bingham Defense Fund was established by sympathizers, allegedly by some who had enabled Bingham to stay on the run for 13 years, having furnished him with a counterfeit passport and money. Bingham attended fund-raisers, where he spoke about his upcoming trial and his years as a fugitive. He explained that he had fled the country and remained on the run for so many years as he had believed it would have been impossible to receive a fair trial since the crime of which he was accused resulted in the death of prison guards. [citation needed] (Critics held [citation needed] that the argument was disingenuous as Angela Davis had been acquitted of similar charges within two years of the incident.) The alternative press in the San Francisco Bay Area was sympathetic to Bingham, as were the jurors at his trial. [citation needed] Bingham was acquitted.
At his request, shotguns, not flowers, were brought to George Jackson's funeral. He is remembered as an intellectual and a revolutionary.
Tributes
There is a non-album single released by Bob Dylan about the plight and death of George Jackson. [1] The song made the American charts peaking at #33 in January 1972.[2]
Steel Pulse, who performed Bob Dylan's composition "George Jackson," on the album African Holocaust also sang about "George Jackson, Soledad brother" in the song "Uncle George" on their much earlier critically acclaimed Tribute to the Martyrs album.
The Dicks, an influential Austin, Texas punk band also made a tribute in the song "George Jackson."
Archie Shepp, a leading light in the free jazz movement of the late 1960s, recorded a tribute, "Blues for Brother George Jackson" on his 1972 album "Attica Blues". The album was widely praised.
Stanley Williams dedicated his 1998 book "Life in Prison," in part, to George Jackson. In Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's response to Williams' appeal for clemency, the governor claimed that this dedication was "a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed and that he still sees violence and lawlessness as a legitimate means to address societal problems."
Dead Prez, an Alternative rap pair mention George Jackson in their song "Together": "Anything can happen if you make it so, I'm like George Jackson .45 in my afro".
In the Rage Against the Machine song New Millennium Homes, George Jackson is mentioned: "Tha spirit of Jackson Now screams through tha ruins". Jackson's Soledad Brother is also one of the many books photographed in the liner-notes to the album Evil Empire.
Underground hip-hop artist Zearle describes the fatal 1970 Marin county jail break attempt by Johnathan Jackson and George Jackson's subsequent killing by prison guards in his song "Manchild".
Hip-hop artists Digable Planets make reference to George Jackson in the song "Jettin'" from their 1994 album "Blowout Comb"-- Pendulum Records, Thorn EMI, now being called The EMI Group.
Tupac Shakur's controversial song "Soulja Story" on the album "2pacalypse Now" was dedicated to George and Jonathan Jackson.
See also
References
Further reading
- Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson (1970) ISBN 1-55652-230-4
- Blood In My Eye (1971) ISBN 0-933121-23-7
- The Melancholy History of Soledad Prison; In Which a Utopian Scheme Turns Bedlam (1973) ISBN 0-06-129800-X