The San Quentin six

Following when they all. Do. The sad. Thing. For us. Struggling. With. This. Just think. Tongue. Out. Just think. LONG A. Week. The San Quentin six are prisoners at what is known as the Adjustment Center at San Quentin.

They face trial on murder and conspiracy charges stemming from the events of August 21st 1971 when George Jackson was killed. The six are charged with the death of three guards and two white prisoners. No one has been indicted for the murder of George Jackson. The names of the six are Fleta drum go David Johnson who grew up you know Johnnie Larry Spain the restyle the mantis and Willie Tate white attorney Steven Bingham was also charged. He has not been located. I woke up this morning there with the rabbit that killed him a meaningless Saudi unfit. That could tour vex embarrass him in

the. Phantom of the prison. But seven a diamond ring the closing bell behind him. And the way they think they cut Joe Jackson down. Where. George Jackson knew that his eloquent exposure of prison conditions his resistance to racism his ability to teach and inspire others meant that his life was always in serious danger. We're just beginning. Again aren't we going to. Really be together right now to function together. And now we're getting over it. But. We are aware of the fact that. You know. The opposition

uses to. Kill off eight planes will kill a body. And we said a brave guy I think in that sort of thing. I get that tomorrow but maybe 8 to 300 people take one that was George Jackson. Prison authorities statements on what happened the day he was killed are full of contradictions to this day his death remains shrouded in official inconsistences which many see as a deliberate cover up of a calculated assassination. First official said a gun was smuggled in is here then in a hat then an Afro wig. The original autopsy report said he was shot in the head while running into a walled courtyard. But the final autopsy made after the doctor was finally given his clothing showed conclusively that he was shot in the back. Well lined down with his head lower than his knees faced with questioning by reporters prison officials were sometimes brutally direct. At one point a warden park exploded into

this. The word was god damn rude to kill him. After George Jackson's death San Quentin was closed up tight men who signed themselves the George Jackson brigade and later made a sworn affidavit about what went on for long hours afterward. All 27 remaining prisoners in the Adjustment Center were forced to lie naked on the ground. Their affidavit says we were subjected to all types of physical brutality beaten with clubs kicked tortured with lighted cigarettes cursed at spit upon dragged stuck with pins. All this was going on while we were chained like animals naked upon the grass. Fascism in its rawest form. Since that time the everyday brutality of San Quentin has often erupted into protest against

conditions especially in the adjustment center and several times the send button six have been reported attacked by guards. Who are the San Quentin six. Where did they come from. Yes. It's a real they're. Running. It. It's. All. Coming. Got a call. It's been. Awhile.

What's that. It's. All. Down. To me. I got a call. For a drum go was one of the three Cilla dead brothers charged along with George Jackson and John cliche with the murder of a guarded soul the dead following the murder of three black prisoners by guards. George Jackson was killed before the trial took place free to drum go in John cliche were found not guilty but free to still face charges as one of the San Quentin six. He is 27 years old and he writes this about his life. I'm 27 years old I was born in Shreveport Louisiana. Most of my childhood was spent there where I lived with my cousin and I. After moving to L.A. I was put in Preston a so-called school for boys. After a brief release Fleta was busted again charged with attempted murder for an argument when he was

loaded on reds. He was locked up in youth authority for over three years. He writes When I was released things had changed tremendously. Black people had made a step toward unity and self dignity. The Watts riot had happened. Brothers and sisters were Afros as opposed to processes. It was a new world to me. I was in prison when Malcolm was killed. Stokely and rap were burning up when I was released. I didn't have any consciousness of the struggle at that time. My thoughts are wrapped up in trying to style. I wanted to be a player so call slicker. I wanted a suit and a Cadillac. He started dealing marijuana but the money was slow and not enough. He was convicted of burglary and sent back to prison in November 1967 I was at Soledad. I started attending black history classes you know really trying to get myself together. I was disciplined for having posters of you in rap on my wall. In 1969 I heard about Comrade George Jackson. My cell partner asked me did I know General G.

I was in the gym punching the bag when someone came up and took me to meet comrade George. When we got there he was in a heavy conversation discussing the war in Vietnam. He was the one who introduced us to alcohol and Moll and Che and Fidel when we got there he gave me some literature and told me to read it. George always encouraged us to read an exercise. So this is when I really started to get my shit together. Bring. Me. Home to steady. Me. When I don't I get it. David Johnson his 25 years old.

He writes I was born and raised in San Diego at 15 I was sent to the California Youth Authority for petty gang activities. The usual thing the state gets teenagers far. In 1966 I was railroaded into a county camp for assault on a police officer even though he gave testimony that I did not strike him. In 1968 I was coerced into pleading guilty to a charge of second degree burglary. David Johnson like all of the six often expresses his solidarity with liberation struggles around the world. He describes his political development this way. A lot of people who were close to me have been victims of this system's violence. I never could understand why these beautiful people were singled out to be the victims. And Soledad I began reading and studying various books and looking at objective conditions. I was able to see the whys of the different incidents entering the penal complex I was somewhat shocked as to what was coming down. It was like

a war zone. Racial confrontation was constant. I was drawn to nationalism first because that seemed to be the solution to black people's problems. After more extensive reading I saw where it was not a race of people who were oppressing us but a system and that the only way black people could be free was if all people were free. Therefore I dismissed nationalism and began to change my attitude. At this point I started to lean toward communism since it is a system based on the people being equal and in into racism and oppression here in this you know complex when you enter this system you are forced to struggle to survive. I struggle because I do not want to be part of the system. I'm in total opposition to it. I am a revolutionary because I cannot stand by idly and watch people being oppressed by this system. I am struggling to make things right for the people. Committing.

Crime would be. A lamp to. Win. Me. Home if they had. To get at me. So. Let me. Go. You go to No. 28 was born in Nicaragua and was raised there at the age of 12. He came to California with his mother and his sister. He writes My experience in Nicaragua. It's a bitter one to remember. It's of ghettos Guterres stench rancid pollution poverty hunger under development to the very extreme. In 1957 my mother decided to bring me to what she believed to be the land of equal opportunity a medic aka USA 1957 was the year of my arrival and the comments of my torture which reflected upon everyone who cherished my

person. And soon after enrolling in school going through the routine applications to learn this American tongue I was promised to be placed in my perspective grade in accordance to the determination of an IQ test. This was never put into effect and so my progress was a backward step because the record showed that I excelled in all subjects except in English grammar. I brought it to the attention of my mother but she didn't understand though she was pleased with my grade results. Junior high school was a rerun for me and I protested and demanded to be elevated to the grade of which I felt I belonged. After putting up with two years of frustration in the eighth grade and part of the ninth I quit and my incarceration began. The Youth Authority confinement the adult fragile ism slavery they served as my high school college university and its true raw depiction. Johnny Larry Spain was born in Jackson Mississippi. The child of a white woman and a black man.

His mother was still married to her white Southern husband at the time. He was sent to Los Angeles when he was 6 where he was adopted by a black couple named Spain. He writes in reviewing those first six years of my life I see now that it wasn't my mother who didn't want me. It was America that couldn't and can't stand for this intricate organism. This nigga baby to exist. It was America that turned what should have been a normal birth into a perilous adventure type terror. At 17 January Spain was sent to prison because of an incident in L.A. which left one man dead. He says he was defending himself against a man who attacked him. I was sent to prison for what the state termed a crime yet the facts which are recorded in my trial transcripts say otherwise. They say that I was but defending my person of an attack. The facts in the records of history say that in American society when black people defend themselves against any form of racism they are automatically guilty. Prison and death

are both become an inevitability. It's customary that a black in a racist society is guilty. Since 1966 there has been the realisation of imprisonment the ever pressing oppression that exist for the imprisoned. I have become a target as a result of my learning's beliefs and unbend love for comrades yardage. As long as the social order permits anyone to be locked behind walls and bars for unjustified reasons there will be resistance first against the imprisonment and then against the social order which created the imprisonment resistance is the call I hear every time the bell of oppression ring is. Going to see anybody. Going to break me chain you know up the road. Want to show.

Us. The Restylane mantises twenty nine years old. He grew up in Venice California. He was sent to San Quentin in 1965 on two counts of armed robbery. Having spent the previous 10 years in and out of youth camps hustling to survive. In prison he has concentrated his energies on getting prisoners to stop fighting among each other. He writes of his childhood. I had to really learn to speak or for that matter to even bring tortillas to eat in my lunch bag.

I can't remember how many fights I had with the other kids mostly gringos when they'd call my tortillas flying saucers that used to really turn me off so I used to isolate myself at lunch time to eat alone because I was damned if I was going to stop eating my tacos and whatever else was left over from the previous dinner. We were too poor to buy bread an American food and the rights of Lhasa. I have much faith in our people. The will to survive will never die in them. It has survived all this time and brought us this far so that in our hearts we are still the people. Willie Tate is 27. He's been in prison for over 10 years. He writes I come from a very large family and we've known poverty all of our lives. Over a third of my life has been stolen from me wasted by the California Youth Authority and Department of Corrections. I was born in South Alabama and raised in Fresno California in the hope of giving their children a better and less oppressive life. My parents moved to California.

In order to survive we picked cotton berries grapes. Finally my father had to receive assistance from the Welfare Department. Despite the fact that my father had a regular job. There were 12 of us stand his wages were insufficient to feed and clothe all of us. Willie Tate was sent to youth authority for allegedly assaulting a white youth who slapped him. He was in for 21 months then out on parole then he was arrested for gang activity. He was sent to Tracy a combined youth and adult institution after an argument with a white councilor at Youth Authority. He writes I was taken directly to the Adjustment Center at Tracy where a guard informed me there's a big white boy you'll be living by if he spits on you our race talks you don't say nothing. And that you see there were only five blacks. Needless to say all night long we would hear nothing but nigger nigger nigger living under these conditions served to raise our consciousness to the need to bring some basic changes by confronting the

nigger collars. Comrade George was there in 1962. This brother strive tirelessly to educate and raise our consciousness politically. He taught us to respect blacks not to fat mouth not to play with races to preserve our lives by taking concrete steps when necessary. In short he taught us how to survive and win respect from our fellow prisoners regardless of their color. He also told us the importance of prisoner's unity. Those are the same Clinton six soon to face trial six different men united in the struggle of prisoners for human dignity. Six men who have become revolutionaries during the course of their imprisonment. The struggle for change inside the prisons has in the past several years been an important part of the history of this country with many mass protest actions highlighted by the rebellion at Attica. The support that the six express for movements in other countries is returned as witness this message from Vietnamese in Cuba sent to the prisoners of Attica and all prisoners.

We are indignant about the brutal prison system in the United States which we have heard and read about George Jackson's letters from prison have deeply moved our youth. We know that there are thousands of American revolutionaries in U.S. prisons and although we cannot always express our support for them because of the news blockade our hearts are always with them. We support your struggle and are fully convinced that you will triumph. Together with other progressive American people our victory in Vietnam is also your victory. Sen. Clinton six and many other prisoners are continuing their struggle. There have been several reported incidents of beatings of the six. They have continued to protest the conditions in the adjustment center. At pretrial hearings they have so far been denied the attorneys of their choice as the California Supreme Court ruled that there is no right to have an attorney of your choice only a court appointed attorney that the session is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Chained in court the 6 continue to demand their rights. As you listen to this they are in six by nine

cells in solitary confinement allowed to walk on the floor only one half hour a day if that within a prison system built on slave labor with rotten food atrocious medical care forced experimentation rats roaches cold walls bars chains clubs as you listen to this prisoners maintain even in the face of these conditions their humanity and their resistance. They can't fight alone they can. Sign off the guard dry off to. The side of.

The keyboard. You. Didn't know but golden didn't keep. Them. They beat them dead. Heads. But just by. The B.S. someone says that the man won't never have a go. That's why I try and never fight em. We talk about freedom you know in words and there's people who spend their lives.

To bring that come out but they can't.