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Writer is George Jackson. Contents

Image Credit: Wikipedia: File - Book Cover 1 Prison Letters 2 Purpose of Prison Letters 3 Prison Letter Excerpts 4 Modern Relevance of Jackson’s Prison Letters 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Prison Letters George Jackson, an African-American activist, began his activism due to an arrest and subsequent indeterminate sentencing of one year to a life sentence1. Jackson was sentenced to the Soledad Prison in the State of California2. While in prison, Jackson became a writer and therein, Jackson wrote letters, which are bound in activism, with the letters being written from the years of 1964 to the year 19703. Purpose of Prison Letters The purpose of George Jackson’s prison letters was to showcase “...Black Power, free speech, and antiwar movements, accompanied by a dissatisfaction with the status quo throughout the United States”4. Leading forward, within the concept of free speech, movements towards anti-war, Black Power, and a stance on the frameworks of marginalization in comparison to the status quo, such is correlated with raising awareness of those poor social classes, individuals who have been victimized by different means, those individuals incarcerated, and also those individuals experiencing disillusion of the societal and political frameworks in place that, to George Jackson, were identified to be less favorable and protective than publicly expressed5. Correspondingly, prison letters’ purpose are defined as involving “...prison literature, fitting into the broad rubric that includes other writings in prison as well as novels and plays”6. Prison Letter Excerpts Notable prison letter excerpts of George Jackson, to begin with, comprise a letter on the aspects of political incarceration7. The letter concerning political incarceration was written in the year 1970, and shows: “International capitalism cannot be destroyed without the extremes of struggle. The entire colonial world is watching the blacks inside the U.S., wondering and waiting for us to come to our senses. Their problems and struggles with the Amerikan monster are much more difficult than they would be if we actively aided them”8. In articulation of Jackson’s political incarceration letter, it is observed that struggle becomes necessary, from a political and social sense, in order to act through activism applications to modify the current social and political paradigms that create marginalization and biased forms of civil rights leading to inequality and class struggles among citizens, most notably influenced by a capitalist system9. Political prisoners and the concept thereof, is an important modality as it relates to dismantling the labeled ‘Amerikan’ monster of capitalist domain, that corresponds with displacement of equality. George Jackson’s writings also included novels, and in the novel ‘Blood in My Eye’, which showcases how denial of individuals becomes apparent, as well as the need for an individual to censor themselves, Jackson writes: “I'm in a unique political position. I have a very nearly closed future, and since I have always been inclined to get disturbed over organized injustice or terrorist practice against the innocents — wherever — I can now say just about what I want (I've always done just about that), without fear of self-exposure. I can only be executed once”10. The importance of the excerpt from George Jackson’s novel ‘Blood in My Eye’, is purposed with identifying the fact that it is necessary for a whole societal domain to be understanding of and ready to embrace a revolutionary change11, in order for such a change to occur. Leading forward, the aspect of societal domains being accepting of a revolutionary framework, may be observed by the acknowledgement of a need for change based on the marginalization of social classes and the inequality that can become pervading. In the year 1970, George Jackson writes: “It all falls into place. I see the whole thing much clearer now, how fascism has taken possession of this country, the interlocking dictatorship from county level on up to the Grand Dragon in Washington, D.C.”12. George Jackson’s view on how facism is apparent, and has gripped the United States, from Jackson’s perspective, directly correlates with how inequalities and marginalization of social classes may be identified. Modern Relevance of Jackson’s Prison Letters The modern relevance of Jackson’s prison letters is purposed with raising awareness of inequality and bias against varying social classes within societal and political domains. Therein, with regard to George Jackson’s incarceration, the principle importance is centered in understanding where and how abuse becomes manifested in prison systems, and further, how such abusive environments are also applicable to conditions of overcrowded systems and associative racial inequalities that are applied13. Additionally, the modern relevance of Jackson’s prison letters is identified in the fact, as Jackson contended insofar as how self-creation must be monitored, that due to mail being monitored within prison systems, forms of writing are influenced in self-censorship14. The modern relevance and point of focality, therefore, centers around how social domains are influenced by the political system, and in turn, causes a sense of dictatorship that flows out of the capitalism framework. See also References Chase, R. T. (2015). We Are Not Slaves: Rethinking the Rise of Carceral States through the Lens of the Prisoners Rights Movement. Journal of American History,102(1), 73-86. doi:10.1093/jahist/jav317 Jackson, G. (1994). Soledad - The Prison Letters of George Jackson. Retrieved from http://abahlali.org/files/ebooksclub.org__Soledad_Brother__The_Prison_Letters_of_George_Jackson.pdf Recent Letters and an Autobiography. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/soledadbro.html Sciullo, N. J. (2015). A Rhetorical Analysis of George Jackson 's Soledad Brother: A Class Critical and Critical Race Theory Investigation of Prison Resistance(Rep.). Georgia State University. Retrieved from A Rhetorical Analysis of George Jackson 's Soledad Brother: A Class Critical and Critical Race Theory Investigation of Prison Resistance. External links

Iivanchentw (talk) 05:48, 3 June 2019 (UTC)livanchentw