Each year on Black August, socialists, revolutionaries, and those familiar with the Black radical tradition mark the month to “study, fast, train, fight” in honor of the many freedom fighters who were killed or languish behind bars in service to the Black liberation movement. Black August marks a number of key dates within the Black liberation movement, including when the first enslaved Africans landed in what is now the United States in 1619, Nat Turner’s slave rebellion in 1831, as well as more modern events such as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of 1963 and the Watts Rebellion on 1965.
Human rights organizations have often argued that the US prison system is condemning people to death through lengthy prison sentences, including life without the possibility of parole. This becomes even more apparent when looking at how the US prison system treats its political prisoners, imposing systematic medical neglect and decades of prison time.
Ruchell Magee was released in August of 2023 and at the time was the longest held political prisoner in the United States. He died only 81 days after his release, after spending most of his life behind bars. Magee was the only survivor among those involved in the Marin County Courthouse Rebellion of 1970, described as a “slave rebellion” by other prisoners and a key episode in the history of revolutionary politics in the United States.
Leonard Peltier, now the longest held political prisoner currently in the United States, had his bid for parole denied earlier this summer, despite suffering from multiple health issues due to his long term confinement.
“Leonard is going to be 80 years old on September 12 this year, and has been in prison for almost 50 years,” Gloria La Riva, longtime activist for the freedom of US political prisoners, told Peoples Dispatch in an interview. “Prison always has elements that for any average person would be extremely detrimental. Leonard is confined in a small cell, most of the time being on lockdown, where he can’t even walk properly and have circulation and sunshine and proper food.”
Political prisoner Mutulu Shakur passed away on July 6 of last year, shortly following his compassionate release after spending 37 years in prison. Shakur was lauded within the Black liberation movement for his involvement in organizations such as the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) and the Republic of New Afrika, and his work as an acupuncturist who dedicated his life to holistically treating and transforming the lives of working class people addicted to drugs in the radical Lincoln Detox Center in New York City. The state only agreed to release him after doctors determined that he had months to live due to terminal bone cancer.
Sekou Odinga, a former United States political prisoner for 33 years stemming from his involvement in the Black liberation movement, passed away on January 12, only able to live ten years of freedom following his 33-year-long imprisonment. Odinga was a part of several of the most impactful organizations in US Black liberation history, including Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity, the Black Panther Party, and the Black Liberation Army. Odinga is also known for his role in the escape of fellow political prisoner Assata Shakur, who lives free in Cuba to this day.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, one of the most high profile prisoners in the world, let alone the United States, is surrounded by a powerful, multi-generational movement for his release. Abu-Jamal, like other political prisoners in the US, was jailed for his activism in the Black liberation movement. Abu-Jamal, however, continues to lend a hand to a variety of different struggles from behind prison walls, sending messages of solidarity to various Gaza solidarity encampments this year.
“I urge you to speak out against the terrorism that is afflicted upon Gaza with all of your might, all of your will and all of your strength. Do not bow to those who want you to be silent,” Abu-Jamal told students at the Gaza solidarity encampment at the City University of New York.
Abu-Jamal’s health continues to deteriorate behind bars, and yet his numerous appeals for release continue to be denied. Abu-Jamal’s struggles for adequate healthcare are not merely individually based struggles. Through his successful struggle for Hepatitis-C treatment, he set a precedent in improving treatment for the disease for other prisoners.
Abu-Jamal’s case has been described as “death by incarceration,” as he is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The systems of prisons and policing in the United States have in fact expressed explicit intentions of killing him since even before putting him behind bars. Abu-Jamal successfully fought off a death penalty charge, but that has not staunched the state’s determination to sentence him to a slow death of medical neglect behind bars, like so many other political prisoners past and present within the country.
This year, as Palestinians in Gaza endure genocide and the resistance continues to negotiate the exchange of Israeli hostages for prisoners, many across the world are hearing for the first time about the horrors committed by Israel against Palestinian political prisoners—including torture, starvation, and sexual violence.
“The Palestinian Freedom Movement is in many ways similar to the Black Freedom Movement in the US in that prison is an inescapable part of the struggle,” said Abu-Jamal. This year, following ten months of genocide in Gaza, it is worth reiterating the many struggles of political prisoners within the belly of the beast.
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