Search - List of Books by George Jackson
"The savage repression of blacks, which can be estimated by reading the obituary columns of the nation's dailies, Fred Hampton, etc., has not failed to register on the black inmates." -- George Jackson
George Lester Jackson (September 23, 1941 – August 21, 1971) was an American convict who became a left-wing activist, Marxist, author, and a member of the Black Panther Party while incarcerated. Jackson achieved fame as one of the Soledad Brothers and was later shot to death by prison guards in San Quentin Prison under debated circumstances.
"But now with the living conditions deteriorating, and with the sure knowledge that we are slated for destruction, we have been transformed into an implacable army of liberation.""Most of today's black convicts have come to understand that they are the most abused victims of an unrighteous order.""Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice.""They have learned that resistance is actually possible. The holds are beginning to slip away.""Up until now, the prospect of parole has kept us from confronting our captors with any real determination.""Very few men imprisoned for economic crimes or even crimes of passion against the oppressor feel that they are really guilty.""What the Super Bowl did for us was give us a sense of urgency."
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Jackson spent time in the California Youth Authority Corrections facility in Paso Robles because of several convictions. He was convicted of armed robbery, for robbing a gas station at gunpoint and at age eighteen was sentenced to serve one year to life in prison.
While at San Quentin State Prison in 1966, he founded the Black Guerrilla Family, a Marxist prison gang with political objectives.
On January 16, 1970 he was charged with murdering guard John V. Mills along with Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette. Mills was said to have been killed in retaliation for the shooting deaths of three black inmates by officer O.G. Miller from his guard tower; both the shooting and the retaliation took place inside Soledad Prison. Miller, however, was not convicted of any crime, a grand jury ruling his actions to be justifiable homicide in response to a fist fight that had broken out. Incarcerated in the maximum security cellblock at Soledad Prison, Jackson and the other two inmates became known as the "Soledad Brothers".
Isolated in solitary confinement for twenty-three hours a day, Jackson studied political economy and radical theory and wrote two books, Blood in My Eye and Soledad Brother, which became bestsellers and brought him worldwide attention.
Marin County Courthouse Incident more » « less
On August 7, 1970, George Jackson's seventeen year old brother Jonathan Jackson burst into a Marin County courtroom with an automatic weapon, freed prisoners James McClain, William A. Christmas and Ruchell Magee, and took Judge Harold Haley, Deputy District Attorney Gary Thomas, and three jurors hostage to demand the release of the "Soledad Brothers". Haley, Jackson, Christmas and McClain were killed as they attempted to drive away from the courthouse. Eyewitness testimony suggests Haley was hit by fire discharged from a sawed-off shotgun that had been fastened to his neck with adhesive tape by the abductors. Thomas, Magee and one of the jurors were wounded. The case made national headlines.
Angela Davis, accused of buying the weapons, was later acquitted of conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder. Magee, the sole survivor among the attackers, eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975. Magee is currently imprisoned in Corcoran State Prison and has lost numerous bids for parole.
On August 21, 1971, three days before he was to go on trial, twenty-nine year old George Jackson was shot and killed at San Quentin prison.
According to the state of California, lawyer-activist Stephen Bingham had smuggled a pistol concealed in a tape recorder into the prison to Jackson, who was housed in San Quentin's Adjustment Center time awaiting trial for the murder of a prison guard. On August 21, 1971, Jackson, according to the state, used the pistol, an Astra 9-mm semi-automatic, to take over his tier in the Adjustment Center. Six people were killed, including prison guards Jere Graham, Frank DeLeon and Paul Krasnes, two white prisoners, and Jackson himself.
French intellectuals such as Michel Foucault and Jean Genet argued that Jackson's death was a "political assassination".
Following the incident, Bingham fled the country, living in Europe for thirteen years before surrendering in 1984 and returning to the United States to stand trial.
In the Bingham's trial, defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach successfully defended Bingham, successfully arguing that prison guards had slipped the pistol to Jackson so that they would be justified in murdering him. Bingham himself explained that he had fled the country and remained on the run for so many years as he had believed it would have been impossible to receive a fair trial since the crime of which he was accused resulted in the death of prison guards. Bingham was acquitted in July 1986.
Music
- Dead Prez, an alternative rap pair mention George Jackson in their song "Together": "Anything can happen if you make it so, I'm like George Jackson .45 in my afro".
- Marxist punk blues band The Dicks released an original composition titled "George Jackson" on their 1980—1986 compilation album, in which singer Gary Floyd proclaims "You were my hero."
- Hip-hop artists Digable Planets make reference to George Jackson in the song "Jettin on their 1994 album Blowout Comb.
- A non-album single was released by Bob Dylan titled "George Jackson" about the plight and death of Jackson. The song made the American charts peaking at #33 in January 1972.
- Frankie Goes To Hollywood, on their 6:15 second cover version of the song "War" titled "War (..and hide)" which is found on the original UK 12" vinyl version of their LP album Welcome to the Pleasuredome, the song has a voiceover artist imitating Ronald Reagan who says "Then of course there is revolutionary love. Love of comrades fighting for the people, and love of people. Not an abstract people but people one meets and works with. When Che Guevara talked of love being at the center of revolutionary endeavor, he meant both. For people like Che, or George Jackson, or Malcolm X, love was the prime mover of their struggle. And love cost them their lives. Love, coupled with a man's pride."
- Ja Rule named his 2003 album after Jackson's book, Blood In My Eye.
- Basque singer Imanol Larzabal sang a tribute entitled "George Jackson" on the album Orain Borrkarenean.
- Nas pays tribute to George and Jonathan Jackson in his song "Testify" from his album Untitled. He also references the Soledad Brothers in an unreleased track with The Game:; "I wear the pain of the Soledad Brothers/ And them chrome gat bussers"
- Jackson was referenced in the song "Pull The Tregroes" on the 1972 National Lampoon, Inc. Radio Dinner album.
- Jackson is mentioned in the Rage Against the Machine song "New Millennium Homes" from the album The Battle of Los Angeles. Jackson's book Soledad Brother is also one of the many books photographed in the liner-notes to their album Evil Empire.
- J. P. Robinson, a Florida based Soul and R&B singer cut a version of "George Jackson" that appeared on the Atco Records label (6298) in 1972. This track is available on the Kent/Ace album Change is Gonna Come: The Voice of Black America.
- Hasan Salaam has a reference to the Jackson brothers in the song "Get High Riddum" found on Tales of the Lost Tribe: Hidden Jewels; "I fight for my freedom like George and John Jackson".
- Tupac Shakur's controversial song "Soulja Story" on the album 2pacalypse Now was dedicated to George and Jonathan Jackson.
- Archie Shepp, a leading member of the free jazz movement of the late 1960s, recorded a tribute, "Blues for Brother George Jackson" on his 1972 album Attica Blues.
- Steel Pulse, who performed Dylan's version of "George Jackson" on the album African Holocaust , also sang about "George Jackson, Soledad brother" in the song "Uncle George" on their 1979 album, Tribute to the Martyrs.
- Underground hip-hop artist Zearle describes the fatal 1970 Marin county jail break attempt by Johnathan Jackson and George Jackson's subsequent killing by prison guards in his song "Manchild".
Literature
- Stanley Williams dedicated his 1998 book Life in Prison, in part, to George Jackson. In Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's response to Williams' appeal for clemency, the governor claimed that this dedication was "a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed and that he still sees violence and lawlessness as a legitimate means to address societal problems."
Film
- The 2007 film Black August is a retelling of the last fourteen months of Jackson's life.
- There is a George Jackson Poster on the back of a door in the famous Blaxplotation film 'Foxy Brown' about 1:10 into the film.
- Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson (1970) ISBN 1-55652-230-4
- Blood In My Eye (1971) ISBN 0-933121-23-7
- Min S Yee. The Melancholy History of Soledad Prison; In Which a Utopian Scheme Turns Bedlam (1973) ISBN 0-06-129800-X
- Eric Mann. Comrade George; An Investigation into the Life, Political Thought, and Assassination of George Jackson. (1974) ISBN 978-0060803186
- P. Collier and D. Horowitz; Destructive Generation, (1996) ISBN 978-0684826417
- Jo Durden - Smith Who Killed George Jackson ? 1976 394-48291-3
Jackson's writings, interview, advocacy of his views
- Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson — online text of Jackson's 1970 book
- Remembering the Real Dragon: An Interview with George Jackson — by Karen Wald, May and June 1971
- George Jackson: Black Revolutionary — pro-Jackson article by Walter Rodney, November 1971
- A collection of George Jackson quotes
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