Today on Sojourner Truth we bring you our Black August Special featuring George Jackson. George Jackson was born in Chicago Illinois.  He was one of five children.  He was arrested in Northern California 1961 when he was 19 years old for allegedly attempting to rob a gas station at gun point for $600.  He was sentenced to 1 year to life in prison and he spent the next 11 years in prison, most of those years were in solitary confinement.   

While in prison George became a revolutionary, an organizer and an author.  He along with fellow prisoner W.L. Nolan founded the Third World Coalition and founded the San Quentin Prison chapter of the Black Panther Party.  He was becoming well-known in radical circles in the US and internationally. He was dubbed a trouble-maker for his revolutionary views and activities by prison authorities.  

In 1970 W.L. Nolan was killed by a prison guard, this after Nolan had planned to file a lawsuit against the superintendent in the prison where he was held.   George Jackson and two other prisoners, Fletta Drumgo and John Clutchette were later accused of killing a prison guard in retaliation for Nolan’s murder.  They became known as the Soledad Brothers and were cause-celebrities of the Black and other radical movements.  They gained the support of Angela Davis who visited George Jackson while he was in prison.  

A month after his brother Jonathan Jackson and two other prisoners were killed attempting to free prisoners, George Jackson was killed in 1971 by prison guards.  In response to George’s murder the New York State based Attica Prison uprising took place just weeks after George’s murder. 1,500 prisoners released a manifesto with their demands and controlled the prison for four days.  The then governor of NY ordered that the prison be stormed by law enforcement and 29 prisoners were killed, none of the prisoners were armed with guns. 

Today George Jackson is remembered as a revolutionary who fought for his freedom and the freedom of others.  His two books include Blood in My Eye and Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson. To this day, we are told that any prisoner in California found with even the name George Jackson anywhere on his person or in his cell is disciplined.  
We will hear reflections on George Jackson from Dr. Angela Davis, James Baldwin, Sundiata Tate, Walida Imarisha and Rachel Herzing featured in the Freedom Archives 99 Books digital series.

Sojourner Truth Black August special on George Jackson

According to the White House, there have been 3.6 million official eviction filings so far in 2022.  We should expect the number of eviction filings to increase, given that Data from the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey released in  2021 found approximately 4.2 million adults report being at risk of eviction or foreclosure in July and August. The data indicated that those facing eviction are significantly more likely to be Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or other people of color.

Analysis by PolicyLink (Cal Matters) indicates that about 900,000 households in California are behind on rent, with an average of $4,600 in rental arrears.  

Today on Sojourner Truth guest host Nana Gyamfi is joined by Pete White, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network aka LACAN. LA CAN’s constituency consists of extremely low-income and homeless people, primarily those living in Downtown LA and South Central LA.
Christina Griffin and Natasha Brown of the California Black Power Network join Nana to discuss how they keep the fire burning for people-powered change.
Finally, Nana welcomes Onyemma Obiekea, the Policy Analyst for Black Women for Wellness (BWW) and its sister organization, Black Women for Wellness Action Project (BWWAP). Onyemma began her work in Reproductive Justice (RJ) as Program Coordinator for BWW’s Get Smart B4U Get Sexy Program  the comprehensive sex and sexuality education program of the Organization’s RJ focused Project, Sisters in Control. Since then, she has continued her work in RJ in varying capacities and currently works on behalf of BWW/AP, to advance intersectional, transformative legislation that seeks to secure the health and wellbeing of Black women and Girls throughout California.

Sojourner Truth: Wednesday September 14, 2022

Sojourner Truth Radio continues our November 2022 election coverage. Today, we unpack polling results as they come in with our panelist roundtable including: Attorney and civil rights icon Barbara Arnwine, Progressive Democrats of America Executive Director Alan Minsky, Chicano Liberation and Environmental Justice artivist Bill Gallegos and London-based labor union artivist Sam Weinstein.

Sojourner Truth: Wednesday November 9, 2022

Today on Sojourner Truth, our Friday round table panel is back with our panelists including: former member of the California State Assembly, and current LAUSD governing school board member Jackie Goldberg, international correspondent Laura Carlsen and historian Dr. Gerald Horne, we discuss the Brazil election and major changes in Israeli politics that place Israel the farthest to the right in its electoral history, we also discuss the U.S. midterm elections and the unexpected victories and losses. as well as the role in this historic midterm of Gen Z, the highest voting majority group than any other age group in the U.S.

Sojourner Truth: Friday November 11, 2022

Today on Sojourner Truth, we bring you voices from a virtual press conference on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the recent amicus brief in the Abu-Jamal Case filed by the UN Working Group on people of African descent. The International Body Observes that Racial Bias has tainted the judicial process up to now citing new evidence of innocence and misconduct by Judges and Prosecutors. 

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s lawyers say evidence in boxes discovered in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office by the new DA at the time, Larry Krasner in 2019 that show his trial was tainted by judicial bias and  police and prosecutorial misconduct, including: withholding of evidence, and bribing or coercing witnesses to lie. 

As of the airing of this show,  the plea for a new trial in the  case of Mumia Abu-Jamal  went before  Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons on Friday December 16th. Judge Clemons asked the commonwealth if they could confirm that there is no new evidence in the 32 boxes that relate to Brady and Bateson claims. The commonwealth did not confirm. So now Mumia’s lawyers will be making arrangements to see those boxes and Judge Clemens  said she would issue her ruling in 60-90 days.

The press conference held on December 13th included: 

Moderator Associate Professor Johanna Fernandez who has researched Mumia’s case at length and is executive producer of the film Justice on Trial: the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal,   Ms. Fernandez is presently Associate Professor of History at Baruch College, CUNY;  the Honorable Wendell Griffen, state court trial judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Arkansas, Dr. Vijay Prashad, Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, New Delhi, and São Paulo; Julia Wright, founder of the Mumia Abu-Jamal Health Committee and Board of the Richard Wright Civil Rights Center in Elaine, AR., Linn Washington, Jr.-- a Philadelphia-based investigative reporter who has covered the Mumia Abu-Jamal matter since Abu-Jamal’s arrest on the morning of Dec. 9, 1981, as well as Mumia’s grandson Jamal Jr.

Sojourner Truth: Thursday December 22, 2022

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Sojourner Truth with Margaret Prescod is a news & public affairs program that airs Tuesday through Friday on KPFK Radio from 7 to 8 AM (PST), and nationwide on Pacifica Radio networks. 

If you're in Los Angeles, or Southern CA, tune in at 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 93.7 FM North San Diego, 99.5 FM Ridgecrest-China Lake, or www.kpfk.org.

Tune in to daily Pacifica News headlines at the start of our show. 

Sojourner Truth brings you news and views on local, national & international policies and stories that affect us all. We draw out how those of us most impacted -women, communities of color and other communities are responding. We also discuss the inter-relationship between art and politics.

Sojourner Truth Black August special on George Jackson

Sojourner Truth with Margaret Prescod

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