The Impact of George Jackson - Research Paper Example

Being accused of taking part in a gas station robbery that netted $70, George Jackson was arrested in 1960 and was sentenced indefinitely in prison. This was after his lawyer convinced him to plead guilty with the argument that he would get a lighter sentence. He got a sentence of one year to live (Cummins 154). He was only 18-years-old by that time and would spend the next eleven years in prison, seven of which were in particular isolation for a crime that would have earned the average person six months or a suspended sentence (James 156). However, George Jackson was never one to bow to any oppression. Even after seven years of solitary confinement and brutality he refused to buckle under his captors and rose above the moral decadence to become one of the most influential people of his time; a living epithet of the Black Liberation Struggle (Jackson 3).

He has been best known for the two books that he authored while in prison: Blood in My Eye and Soledad Brother: The Prison Writings of George Jackson which highlights fascinating insights into the revolutionary potential of the African Americans. In his writing, he demonstrated black peoples suffering that had gone on for centuries since the era of slave trade. He argues that this victimization did not end with the slave trade but continues through economic exploitation and racism. He also illustrated some political and resistance strategies that he thought would lead to the survival of the black community.

Though his life ended on August 21, 1971, when he was only 29 years, Jackson had achieved for 10 years what most of us can never achieve in our entire lifetimes. Despite being put in solitary confinement for most of the years it was in custody, he became much more than a convict; he rose to become a bestselling author, a leader of the prison rights movement and a high ranking officer of the Black Panther Party. Most of all, he is recognized as the revolutionary who led the black peoples resistance(Colley 265).

Letters from Prison

Letters are one of the important modes of prison, especially in communication as they are the direct link between the prisoners and the outside world. However, they are heavily monitored by the institution since most of the time they convey the conditions of the prisons and exploitable gaps overlooked by authorities in the prisons to the outside world. Even though these letters are highly monitored, they still find their way outside because they are easy to hide and smuggle (Bryant 13). Some like those written by Jackson ended up being published. From June 1964 to August 1970 Jackson wrote several letters, some were destroyed, others never published but most were published in the book Soledad Brothers (Jackson 4).

Jean Genet is quoted in the book saying when we read these letters from a young black in Soledad Prison, they perfectly articulate the road traveled by the author (Jackson 185). According to Dybska, these letters served several functions including education, mentorship, and advisory. Through the letters, Jackson took control of his family life by advising them on daily matters while expressing their weakness (137). Sciullo also adds that Jacksons letters are the best source of getting a sense of his thoughts (164).

Jacksons letters demonstrate his integrity gained over a period in prison. It displays his rejection of the prison system and refusal to concede to any power over him or his spirit, his refusal broken even in solitary confinement. The letters bring to fore the deep-seated anger and insurgency that filled the black inmates in Americas prison. He does not pretend or hide his feelings in the letters even when he knows that they will be read by the prison authority. Jackson is honest and uncompromising and does not lie to gain favors. He tells his parents that he does not believe in their white god and his rejection of the oppressive white society (Sciullo 166).

His first letters were addressed to his parents, and they were quite grim and heartbreaking. He is trying hard to change their convictions from the oppressive white society which has failed the Black people by denying them basic rights such as employment opportunities. He writes to them both in heartfelt tenderness and in anger even when they fail him over and over again. From the letters, we see how important his father is to him and how he would have valued his acceptance of what he, Jackson, had become. While writing to him, he expresses his heartfelt tenderness and passion for the ideas he has been learning while in prison. Apart from writing about anti-prison rhetoric, he also tried to radicalize his father whom he laments is not manly enough (Sciullo 162).

His family is all he has in the beginning, and he must, therefore, radicalize them, he must convince them to accept who he has become. However, they do not seem to be convinced, and this frustrates him a lot. For instance in February 1965 when writing to his mother, he says My feelings seem to be wasted on you.I write home to you people, my closest kind of understanding.. I get no understanding (Jackson 35). He feels that his parents donot love him because they have refused to listen to him and support him in his ideas. He accuses them of sympathizing with the wrong side but at the same time says that he does not blame them especially his father whom he calls by his name. He argues that Robert, his father, has limited education and can be easily overlooked. To his mother who has been exposed to education, he feels betrayed. He writes to her full of accusations I feel that you have failed me, Mama. I know that you have failed me (Jackson 36). To his father, he often wrote in angry mood especially after he realized that they did not share his revolutionary ideas I try to share the benefits of my experience and my observations, but I am rewarded by being called a madman (Jackson 46). Unlike the inmates, his father does not seem to understand or value his education but instead remain loyal to institutions contrary to Blacks interest (Jackson 46). The more time Jackson spent in prison, the more he seemed to be estranged from his father probably because his father did not share his intellect or support his radical ideas or maybe because of the generational gap that existed between the two.

In the beginning, Jacksons belief was in the patriarchal system which he states should be practiced in America as it is the key to progress. When writing his mother earlier on, his letters are more sexist as he seems to undermine womens role in society. He believes his mother has done his father a disservice by being the one to run things in a predominantly mans world. He calls his mother a bourgeois woman. He argues thus How could I, Robert, Jon or any of the men of our kind accomplish what we must as men if we think like bourgeois women, or let our women think for us (Jackson 36). His advice to Robert is that women are there to sit and listen without giving their opinions because they like to be dominated.

However, this view of a social hierarchy of men changes when corresponding with another radical luminary and civil activist, Angela Davis and her lawyer Fay Stender and he begins to recognize that women can also play an important role. He admits having gone through some changes after reading about females like Angela Davis. In one of the letters to Davis, he writes I understand exactly what the womans role should be. The very same as the mans. Intellectually, there is very little difference between male and female. The differences we see in bourgeois society are all conditioned and artificial (Jackson 168). Angela Davies was among the activists who were trying to free the Soledad Brothers.

From 1969 his letters were mainly to his younger brother Jonathan who was only 7years when Jackson was arrested. The younger Jonathan hardly knew his brother, but through correspondence, they developed a bond.

For George, it was easier to educate Jonathan about the revolution and the black culture though it is not specifically clear whether Jonathan believed in the revolution or his brother. What is clear though is that Jackson had such a strong influence on his brother that the latter was willing to do anything to gain his brothers freedom. So strong was Jacksons influence on his younger brother that at the of17, almost the same age that Jackson was convicted, Jonathan took it upon himself to free him and two other inmates which unfortunately ended his young life. Of his death, Jackson wrote .he was free for a while. I guess thats more than most of us can expect (Berger 125). To Jackson, his brother had reached his full potential in the revolutionary fight even though he was still just a child.

The letters to his lawyer Fay Stender and Davis are mainly lectures on racism, revolutions happening around the world, resistance in Vietnam and of the prison system in the United States. Jackson believed that it was possible to have a society where everyone, both Blacks and Whites, was equal. These fascinating letters display the insights he gained from reading the works of Karl Max, Mao, Lenin and Franz Fanon among others.

Jackson criticizes the inequality in America arguing that it was brought about by capitalism which had replaced chattel slavery with economic slavery. Economic slavery according to Jackson is manifested through marginalization and disempowerment of the Blacks. Through this, the survival of black mass is threatened because survival depends on an ability to obtain work yet they are denied this basic right. It is for this reason that a majority of Blacks engage in crime and explains why a majority of inmates are Blacks (273).

Racism in Prison

The letters that Jackson wrote provided lot of criticism not only on the prison system but also on the conditions of Blacks living in the society at large. He was frustrated and angry at the system that just perpetuated the racism that was already rampant on the outside. In the letters, he elaborated the intimidation and terror that the inmates faced and also the ruthless racism that was taking place (Dybska 137).

Basically, politicization in prisons was already going on even before the George Jackson was arrested. The prison was meant to be a correctional center where prisoners were to be rehabilitated by the correctional officers who were to act as the correctional officers. However, this was far from the truth as the prison system was full of untold brutality and terror with prisoners living under terrible conditions and struggling for basic terms of life. The recipients of this terror were mainly the Blacks (Cummins 268).

Different policies applied depending on whether one was White or Black, parole, discipline, job classification all favored the white while the black mass was more prone to incidences of violence. Racism was seen in every aspect of the prison including parole which became a focus of frustration for the black inmates (Cummins 154). Cummins sentiments that the prison conditions were barbarous are echoed by Wald who was among the journalist to visit George Jackson in prison (Wald 232).

The killing of prisoners was made for no excuse at all, and mostly it was based on personal or racial bias. When a guard killed a prisoner, it was justifiable and was rarely disputed, but when a prisoner killed a guard, then he would be severely punished including being sentenced to death. One such incident is worth noting. When a correctional officer killed three black prisoners and injured a white one, his actions were deemed justifiable, and there were no repercussions, but in January 1970 when a guard was murdered, the Soledad Brothers among them Jackson were arrested and were put in maximum security at San Quentin to await trial. These justifiable killings by the guards led t...