San
Francisco/Bay Area
In
front of the notorious San Quentin prison, 10 miles north of San
Francisco, 800 people came out to Occupy for Prisoners on February
20. San Quentin has the largest population of death row prisoners –
648 – in the United States. The protest demands included freedom
for political prisoners, abolition of the death penalty and the
“three strikes” rule (the California law that requires life
sentences for a third felony conviction, regardless of the offense)
and real rehabilitation programs for prisoners.
There was a great
spirit of solidarity and unity among all the prisoners’ rights
organizations, families of prisoners and activists from many
movements. Large contingents were present from Occupy Oakland and
Occupy San Francisco, and the majority were youth.
Moving accounts
were given by former prisoners who spoke of the traumas of
incarceration, torture, lengthy sentences and the difficulties of
finding a job and housing after release. In an historic encounter,
Luis Talamántez and Sundiata Tate, members of the San Quentin 6,
returned to the prison 35 years after their acquittal in a political
trial. They and four other comrades had been brutally tortured and
put on trial after prison guards murdered prisoner-revolutionary
George Jackson on Aug. 21, 1971 (known as Black August.) Holding up a
large picture of Jackson in tribute, Talamántez said, “Those of us
who are free owe it to prisoners to share our freedom. Let’s not
stop fighting for their liberation.”
Gloria La Riva
spoke for the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five. She
highlighted the struggle of the five Cubans wrongfully imprisoned in
the United States for protecting Cuba from U.S.-sponsored terrorist
attacks. Both La Riva and Claude Marks of Freedom Archive read
statements from the Cuban Five’s Gerardo Hernández and Ramón
Hernández. La Riva ended by urging the crowd to be alert and oppose
U.S. sanctions and war against Iran and Syria.
Mumia
Abu-Jamal sent a ringing message of solidarity to Occupy for
Prisoners. Other prisoners highlighted were Leonard Peltier, Bradley
Manning, Oscar López Rivera, Hugo Pinell (who San Quentin has held
in complete isolation for 41 years,) the Angola 3 and Lynne Stewart.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation provided the sound system and
other logistical support.
New York City
Protesters from
diverse organizations across the city gathered at Lincoln
Correctional Facility in Harlem to stand in solidarity with our
brothers and sisters behind bars. Members from the ANSWER Coalition
(Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and the PSL (including
vice-presidential candidate Yari Osorio) joined the demonstration on
the south side of 110th Street, across from the
correctional facility.
Around 250
activists, students and organizers attended, starting off by holding
a “teach-in” using the people’s mic. One person would shout
“The U.S prison industry is!” and then point to someone else who
would complete the sentence with something like “a tool of the 1
percent to keep us oppressed!”
After the
teach-in, protesters chanted “Let the 99 percent out! Put the 1
percent in!” referring to our common desire to see our brother and
sisters free while we incarcerate the real thieves and murderers who
sit on Wall Street.
After that,
protesters marched up Malcolm X Boulevard chanting “We don’t want
a prison nation! Stop mass incarceration!” and “Stop and Frisk!
Prison Gates! They don’t keep our city safe!” among many other
crowd favorites.
Protesters
marched to 117th and Malcolm X, where they
stopped in front of a Wells Fargo bank and used the people’s mic to
talk about Wells Fargo’s investment in the GEO group and other
private prison corporations that profit from seeing people languish
behind bars. The last stop was the State Office Building on 125th
Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, where a final
mini-speakout was held. Speakers emphasized that this Day of Action
was proposed by our brothers inside Pelican Bay prison and reaffirmed
the commitment to fight the prison industrial complex and all its
manifestations.
Washington,
D.C.
Around 100 people
gathered in front of the District of Columbia Jail on Feb. 20
chanting “DC say no to the new Jim Crow,” and “Jobs not jails.”
The spirited crowd, which included many former prisoners, marched,
rallied and held a press conference in solidarity with prisoners and
against mass incarceration.
Organizers
highlighted the weekly pickets promoting a local boycott of Wells
Fargo, a major investor in private prisons that hold DC prisoners.
PSL member and member of the Jobs not Jails coalition Eugene Puryear
highlighted past efforts supporting the human rights of the
incarcerated in the District including a mass rally against mass
incarceration held Jan. 14.
A number of
family members of those incarcerated at the DC Jail also shared their
stories, highlighting the challenges faced by loved ones of DC
inmates.
Speakers came
from a wide variety of groups in the Washington, D.C., area including
Cease Fire: Don’t Smoke the Brothers and Sisters, Returning
Citizens United, PSL, Supporting Prisoners Acting for Radical Change
and the Occupy DC Criminal Justice Committee.
Contributors:
Michelle Schudel, Yari Osorio and Eugene Puryear.
