Incarcerated Organizers Call for Mass Actions in August to Abolish Prisons
San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, California, on December 14, 2020
In 2020, during just the first two months of the pandemic, incarcerated people collectively participated in at least 106 COVID-19 related rebellions in the United States. This year, organizers with Jailhouse Lawyers Speak (JLS), a national collective of imprisoned people fighting for human rights, are calling on non-incarcerated people to share the baton by holding “National Shut ‘em Down Demonstrations” on August 21 and September 9.
These are historically significant dates in the Black liberation struggle against the prison-industrial complex. On August 21, 1971, prison guards assassinated incarcerated theorist, organizer and revolutionary George Jackson at San Quentin State Prison in California. The next day, incarcerated people at Attica Correctional Facility went on hunger strike in his honor and, on September 9, 1971, more than 1,200 people took over the prison, demanding an end to “slave labor” and improved living conditions. Four days later, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ordered New York State Police to brutally suppress the rebellion. Twenty-nine incarcerated people and 10 hostages died in the raid.
Echoing this spirit of resistance, JLS is urging supporters to hold demonstrations at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) concentration camps, higher learning institutions with ties to prison labor, and jails and prisons across the United States, to highlight “prisoners’ historical struggles and the current political struggles to dismantle the prison industrial slave complex.” Supporters can share the JLS event flyers on social media, donate, order stickers, network with local organizations to plan a demonstration and host events leading up to the days of action.
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