Cover of Soledad Brother

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. Download high resolution version (540x831, 65 KB) This image is a book cover. ... Download high resolution version (540x831, 65 KB) This image is a book cover. ... September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ... Logo of the Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) is a revolutionary Black nationalist organization in the United States that formed in the late 1960s and grew to national prominence before falling apart due to a combination of internal problems...

Biography

Born in Chicago, his family moved to Los Angeles when he was 14. Several juvenile convictions resulted in spending time in the Youth Authority Corrections facility in Paso Robles. Jackson was convicted for stealing $71 from a gas station and was imprisoned as a felon for one year to life at age 18. Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... Paso Robles (El Paso de Robles) is a city located in San Luis Obispo County, California. ...

While at San Quentin State Prison in 1966, he founded the Black Guerilla Family, a Marxist revolutionary organization. The original goal of the group was to eradicate racism, to maintain dignity in prison and to overthrow the United States government. San Quentin State Prison is located on 432 acres (1. ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... The Black Guerrilla Family (also known as the Black Family or the Black Vanguard) was founded in 1966 by George Jackson while he was in San Quentin. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... A black man drinks out of a water fountain designated for black people in 1939 at a streetcar terminal. ...

On January 13, 1970, along with Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette, he was charged with killing a guard in retaliation for the killing of three black activists by a guard at the California's San Quentin prison (the San Quentin guard had been acquitted after the Grand Jury ruled the killings as justifiable homicide). He was incarcerated in the maximum-security cellblock at Soledad Prison. Jackson and the other two inmates became known as the "Soledad Brothers." January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... A non-criminal homicide, usually committed in self-defense or in defense of another, may be called justifiable homicide in some cases. ...

In August 7, 1970, George Jackson's 17-year-old brother Jonathan burst into a Marin County courtroom with a machine gun, freed three San Quentin prisoners and took Judge Harold Haley as a hostage to demand freedom for the three "Soledad Brothers." However, Haley, prisoners William Christmas and James McClain, and Jonathan Jackson were killed as they attempted to drive away from the courthouse. The case made national headlines. August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Marin County is a county located in Californias San Francisco Bay Area, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. ...

The eyewitness testimony suggests that Judge Haley was hit by fire discharged from a weapon inside the vehicle during the incident, since he was being covered by a firearm 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 a judge) who was also taken hostage and paralyzed by a police bullet during the incident, 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.

There are theories that the FBI had foreknowledge of the August 7 plot, but allowed it to proceed in order to force a confrontation with the Black Panthers in which they could be discredited and their members killed, as well as produce an opportunity to bring conspiracy charges against their supporters, such as Angela Davis. Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an African American radical activist, primarily working for racial and gender equity and for prison abolition. ...

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. Solitary confinement is a punishment in which a prisoner is denied contact with any other persons, excluding guards and doctors. ...

On August 21, 1971, three days before he was to go on trial, Jackson was gunned down in the prison yard at San Quentin in what officials described as an escape attempt. The official report said that in his possession, Jackson had a 9mm automatic pistol alleged to have been smuggled into the prison by attorney Stephen Bingham (Bingham was acquitted of charges related to the incident in 1984). According to the Soledad guards, it was discarded after the alleged escape attempt, but no record was ever made of the weapon's destruction. Some other prisoners who witnessed the event claim that there was no weapon and that Jackson had not been planning any escape or rebellion. The official report also accuses Jackson of participating in a riot earlier that day, involving two dozen other prisoners, where three corrections officers and two inmates were tortured and killed. At his request, no flowers but only shotguns were brought to Jackson's funeral. August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ...

Quote

George Jackson on the pacifism of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Pacifism is opposition to war. ... Martin Luther King, Jr. ...

"The concept of nonviolence is a false ideal. It presupposes the existence of compassion and a sense of justice on the part of one's adversary. When this adversary has everything to lose and nothing to gain by exercising justice and compassion, his reaction can only be negative."

See further

• Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson (1970) ISBN 1556522304
• Blood In My Eye (1971) ISBN 0933121237

External links

• Remembering the Real Dragon: An Interview with George Jackson