WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:57 — 20.0MB)
As we approach the August 21st launch of the national prison strike, Kite Line is focusing on the historic and recent precedents for the current prisoners’ movement. This strike, called by Jailhouse Lawyers Speak along with a growing coalition of grassroots prisoners’ groups, is grounded in four decades of organizing, symbolized by George Jackson’s state assassination in 1971 and the Attica prison uprising which kicked off in response. More recently, it builds on and learns from the 2016 strike. Outside supporters are learning lessons too, and prioritizing anti-repression organizing. Jailhouse Lawyers Speak is already reporting that organizers are being thrown into solitary in South Carolina, as have many other prisoners who will be mentioned later in the episode. We open today with a short history of the Lucasville uprising in Ohio, then move to a statement from Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, and end by speaking with an organizer with the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and The Fire Inside collective, who shares with us an important introduction to the prisoners movement.
