Goplana

Happy birthday to George Jackson. Black Marxist author, revolutionary, Black Panther. He was born on this day in 1941. He met fellow inmate W.L. Nolen in 1966, while serving a prison sentence. Nolen introduced him to revolutionary politics. In 1970, a prison guard killed Nolen. Jackson founded the Black Guerrilla Family in response. As Jackson said, "I met Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Engels, and Mao when I entered prison and they redeemed me." He also described himself as a "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist-Fanonist." Jackson spent increasing time in solitary confinement. He studied political theory. He wrote letters to friends and supporters. Those letters became two bestselling books: Soledad Brother and Blood in My Eye. They made him famous among US and European leftist groups. He also won admirers among fellow inmates, Black, white, and Latino alike. On 21 August 1971, Jackson was shot dead at San Quentin. He had been involved in a hostage-taking. Three days earlier, he rewrote his will. He left his royalties and control of his legal defense fund to the Black Panther Party.