Aug. 28, 1971: 52 years ago, Aug 28 1971, over 2000 mourners attended the funeral of [...]
52 years ago, Aug 28 1971, over 2000 mourners attended the funeral of George Jackson, slain leader of the Black Panther Party’s San Quentin Branch, at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Oakland. Jackson was killed by prison guards during an alleged escape attempt 7 days earlier
Jackson founded the San Quentin Branch while serving an indeterminate 1-year-to-life sentence for stealing $70 in 1961, during which he published his highly influential bestseller Soledad Brother, a foundational text in the prison abolition movement
At the funeral, statements from activists and incarcerated people from across the country were read by Bobby Seale, who remarked: “Love for the people is the love that is often paid for with life itself. Every soldier for the people knows this is what revolution is all about”
The Weather Underground also coordinated bombings on three California Department of Corrections to correspond with Jackson’s funeral, doing about $100,000 in damage in Sacramento, San Mateo, and San Francisco. In a statement, they quoted Jackson’s call for “war without terms”
See footage from the funeral here:
