Activity

I was such a political prisoner, but this did not discourage me during my twenty-two months in the Penal Colony; I knew that a political consciousness was growing among people both in and out of prison. I could see it when I talked with other inmates at mealtimes; we got into heavy raps about the s…

There is a process of self-enlightenment that operates among inmates, a process that moves far beyond the level desired by the authorities. A “rehabilitated” prisoner may see the “incorrect” nature of his past actions. He may even see that the assault or robbery, or whatever, was a “mistake.” But h…

After my meeting with the warden I was assigned to a counselor, who proposed that I go through a “rehabilitation program” to prepare me to return to society. I felt no need to be rehabilitated; my only crime was to speak in defense of the people. But the counselor went on describing the program. As…

Although called a Men’s Colony by the authorities, San Luis Obispo inmates know it as the California Penal Colony, which sums up what it is all about—a penal institution and a colonized situation. The state believes in the power of euphemism, that by putting a pleasant name on a concentration camp …

By political strategy I mean this: I wanted to use the trial as a political forum to prove that having to fight for my life was the logical and inevitable outcome of our efforts to lift the oppressor’s burden. The Black Panthers’ activities and programs, the patrolling of the police, and the resist…