Imprisoned Intellectuals: America's Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion (Transformative Politics Series, ed. Joy James)

Annotation Prisons constitute one of the most controversial and contested sites in a democratic society. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the industrialized world, with over 2 million people in jails, prisons, and detention centers; with over three thousand on death row, it is also one of the few developed countries that continues to deploy the death penalty. International Human Rights Organizations such as Amnesty International have also noted the scores of political prisoners in U.S. detention. This anthology examines a class of intellectuals whose analyses of U.S. society, politics, culture, and social justice are rarely referenced in conventional political speech or academic discourse. Yet this body of outlawed 'public intellectuals' offers some of the most incisive analyses of our society and shared humanity. Here former and current U.S. political prisoners and activists-writers from the civil rights/black power, women's, gay/lesbian, American Indian, Puerto Rican Independence and anti-war movements share varying progressive critiques and theories on radical democracy and revolutionary struggle. This rarely-referenced 'resistance literature' reflects the growing public interest in incarceration sites, intellectual and political dissent for social justice, and the possibilities of democratic transformations. Such anthologies also spark new discussions and debates about 'reading'; for as Barbara Harlow notes: 'Reading prison writing must. . . demand a correspondingly activist counterapproach to that of passivity, aesthetic gratification, and the pleasures of consumption that are traditionally sanctioned by the academic disciplining of literature.'--Barbara Harlow [1] 1. Barbara Harlow, Barred: Women, Writing, and Political Detention (New England: Wesleyan University Press, 1992). Royalties are reserved for educational initiatives on human rights and U.S. incarceration Letter from Birmingham Jail / Martin Luther King, Jr. The ballot or the bullet / Malcolm X Political prisoners, prisons, and Black liberation / Angela Y. Davis Prison, where is thy victory? / Huey P. Newton Towards the United Front / George Jackson COINTELPRO and the destruction of Black leaders and organizations / Dhoruba bin Wahad Religion and revolution / Jalil Muntaquim July 4th address / Assata Shakur Coming of age : a Black revolutionary / Safiya Bukhari An updated history of the new Afrikan prison struggle / Sundiata Acoli Anarchism and the Black revolution / Lorenzo Komboa Ervin Intellectuals and the gallows / Mumia Abu-Jamal Genocide waged against the Black nation / Mutulu Shakur ... [et al.] The struggle for status under international law / Marilyn Buck White North American political prisoners / Rita Bo Brown On trial / Raymond Luc Levasseur Letter to the Weathermen / Rev. Daniel Berrigan Maternal convictions / Michele Naar-Obed An interview with lesbian political prisoners This is enough! / Jose Solis Jordan Art of liberation : a vision of freedom / Elizam Escobar Violence and the state / Standing Deer Inipi : sweat lodge / Leonard Peltier. "This volume is based on the conviction -- disturbing to many -- that the United States and its governing institutions, not just its penal sites rife with human rights abuses, need to be transformed. Here, activists incarcerated for deeds criminalized by the United States appeal to the U.S. Constitution, international law, morality, and religious faith to transform life on both sides of the razor wire. Insights into insurrection, rebellion, and liberation require that we engage with their works, both their contributions and contradictions. Refusing to position imprisoned intellectuals as icons, this collection presents them as gateways to avenues that bypass a pantheon in a difficult journey toward liberation movements"-- Preface, page xiv These essays, by writer-activists incarcerated because of their political beliefs and acts, offer some controversial and thought-provoking theories of contemporary social change and liberation movements.