Skip to main content

New top story from Time: ‘America’s Notorious for Saying One Thing and Doing Something Else.’ Albert Woodfox Talks Solitary Confinement, Social Distancing and Racial Justice

https://ift.tt/3ueuz8x

Feb. 19 marks the five-year anniversary of Albert Woodfox’s release from Louisiana State Penitentiary. (It also marks his birthday.) Woodfox, 74, had spent over 40 years in solitary confinement while incarcerated there, one of the longest periods of solitary confinement periods in the history of the U.S.

During their time in the penitentiary, Woodfox, along with Robert King and Herman Wallace, joined the Black Panther Party and became activists. “We used education… to help transform ourselves from petty criminals into political activists,” Woodfox tells TIME. “The Black Panther Party played a great part in doing that. It gave me a sense of self-worth and a purpose and a direction.”

They became known as the “Angola Three“—the Louisiana State Penitentiary was also known as Angola Prison—as they worked to improve the conditions of the prison while also educating their fellow inmates and organizing protests.

Their actions caught the attention of the prison administration. In 1972, Woodfox and Wallace were charged with the murder of a fellow inmate, though there was no evidence that connected them to his death. King was convicted of a different prison murder. All three were later sent to solitary confinement.

Woodfox was released in 2016 after multiple challenges to his murder charge in court. He has since written a memoir and been involved in numerous creative projects—recently collaborating with the producer Fraser T. Smith on his album 12 Questions—as well as continuing to advocate for prison reform, criminal justice reform and basic human rights. Speaking with TIME, Woodfox discusses his activism both past and present, his experience in solitary confinement and his expectations for how the Biden administration will address criminal justice issues.

TIME: Can you talk about your experience being in solitary confinement for over forty years?

Woodfox: I was actually in solitary for forty-four years and ten months. [King, Wallace and I] made a conscious choice to fight against what solitary confinement can do to you—it can take away your sense of dignity, pride, self-respect, self-worth. It can destroy your mind, kill your hope.

HUMANRIGHTS-FRANCE-US-PRISON
Alain Jocard—AFP/Getty ImagesFormer Louisiana State Penitentiary prisoners Robert King (R) and Albert Woodfox (L) pose prior to a press conference on Nov. 15, 2016 in Paris.

I think this pandemic has helped King and I explain more what it’s like to be confined to a small area. This pandemic has forced people to quarantine and stay in their houses and cut off socialization with family and friends and pretty much just limit all [that] you can do. So it made it much easier for us now to try to make people understand what being held in solitary confinement is.

I still get requests from a lot of guys in prison to help in any way I can; for some reason what happened to us, what we went through and how we survived has resonated with other individuals who have been in lock-up. We feel a moral obligation to make society aware that these people exist, and [are] aware of the sacrifices that they have made and continue to make even now.

Even five years later, are there things about freedom that you’re still adjusting to?

Yes and no. I have considered myself to be free, mentally and philosophically, since my early forties—when I was able to define the kind of human being I wanted to be. I developed moral values and a sense of self-worth [out of] years of oppression. As complicated and as long as my life is, the results are pretty simple. [Now] I just want to be happy. I want to have the basic necessities that humanity needs to survive and given the opportunity to create happiness for myself and people in my immediate family and my extended relationship with friends.

Read more: ‘You Have One Minute Remaining.’ Why I’ll Always Drop Everything to Answer My Brother’s Calls From Prison

In the last year, much has been said about America undergoing a reckoning on racial justice. Do you see any parallels between your activism while in prison and the Black Lives Matter movement, or the response to last summer’s police killing of George Floyd?

Long before the world embraced it, I saw the similarities between the Black Lives Matter movement and the Black Panther Party. There are a lot of movements in the country right now, and they seem to be growing with influence because the level of consciousness is once again [growing].

I work with a lot of political organizations, and [King and I] made a point, wherever we went for speaking engagements, to ask the host that ran the meeting to connect us with some of the young leaders in Black Lives Matter

George Floyd’s murder touched people. People seeing a man begging for his life, and the cruelty of the police [officer] who was killing him. And the pivotal moment when he realized he was gonna die—he was trying to connect with his mom, and he was calling for his mom. That kind of thing cuts so deep and it raises people’s level of consciousness, and it takes them out of the comfort zone they live in, and makes them realize that the world is not as they’re [being told it is]. This is reality, this is what’s really going on. And we have to do something about it.

Do you think today’s forms of activism and protest are proving to be effective? Particularly the “defund the police” movement, for example.

I think that any form of activism that is against inhumanity is a good movement. It may not be a movement I would participate in, but I still acknowledge it. I don’t see it as a competition. Robert King had this saying when we’d do speaking engagements: he’d say every time somebody throws a pebble in the pond it creates a ripple.

If you keep throwing pebbles, the ripple will become a wave. You keep throwing pebbles, that wave will become a tsunami. And a tsunami is a force of change. It could be progressive change, or it could be destructive change—that depends on the people throwing the pebbles.

I see any movement in society or in the world right now to make humanity better, to make society constructed in a way that treats humanity in the most dignified way. I see that as a positive step towards the goals of building a better humanity.

What are your hopes for the Biden administration and any potential progress on criminal justice issues?

I don’t have a great deal of faith in the political movements in this country right now. I voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but he wasn’t my first choice. He was the lesser of two evils; my vote was more against Donald Trump and his white supremacist administration than it was having confidence in President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Right now I have a wait-and-see attitude. America’s notorious for saying one thing and doing something else; we have a very short attention span. We forgive too easily and forget too quickly.

What steps do you think should be taken to ensure that racial justice, racial equality and criminal justice issues remain at the forefront of the national conversation?

Challenge, challenge, challenge. Take a stand. Become a part of a movement, create a movement. Change is never easy. It’s a difficult process. It takes us out of our comfort zone—but it’s necessary. One of my goals is to teach humanity the importance of embracing change, rather than seeing change as the enemy. See it as an opportunity to move forward, to improve yourself, to improve humanity, to improve society.

I try to raise people’s level of consciousness—making them understand the economic and political and social institutions in this country and how they work against humanity rather than for humanity. I have four beautiful great-grandkids. And I would like to leave a society better than it is now. I would hate to see them fighting the same battles thirty years from now. So that’s what my life is about right now. That’s my purpose.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bihar: Stages collapse during Congress rallies in Darbhanga, West Champaran https://ift.tt/37QFnks

The stage on which Congress candidate from Jale assembly seat, Mashkoor Ahmad Usman was addressing a rally broke and collapsed in Bihar's Darbhanga on Thursday. In a similar incident, another stage collapsed and took down party leaders Imran Pratapgarhi and Akhilesh Singh along with several party workers who were on the dias, during a Congress rally at Bagahi Deoraj in Champaran.

Permanent Relief for Muni Customers in SoMa?

Permanent Relief for Muni Customers in SoMa? By Erin McMillan Shortly after the pandemic’s onset, the SFMTA implemented Temporary Emergency Transit Lanes to make sure essential trips on Muni wouldn’t get caught in traffic. On Mission Street from 11th to 3rd streets in SoMa , the transit lanes have proven effective at protecting Muni travel times while traffic has increased. Now, with the city’s reopening generating even more traffic, keeping these lanes on the road permanently is as important as ever. Paint Shop Crew Removing Old Pavement Markings for Installation of Transit Only Lanes on Mission Street on September 23, 2020 What’s Next? Given that the data shows the lanes are effective, the SFMTA is now pursing making the full-time transit lanes, and their benefits, permanent. Following up on our initial evaluation of the project, we are now inviting the community to learn about next steps for making the lanes permanent. We are hosting a two-week virtual open house where you ca...

New Muni Service Changes Start Saturday, August 19

New Muni Service Changes Start Saturday, August 19 By Clive Tsuma 28R 19th Avenue will run on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. starting Monday, August 21.  Back to School  With SFUSD students returning to school August 16, many families who rely on Muni to get to school will see service increase after school as part of the new schedule. Because Muni vehicles often become crowded during morning peak hours and sometimes pass up stops when there is not enough room for more riders, families are encouraged to plan their trips ahead of time and hop on Muni early to make sure students get to school on time.  With every public school in the San Francisco Unified School District being served by at least one Muni route , students can expect extra Muni service on the first day of the school this fall and continue providing service throughout the school year. While the Muni service changes won’t be implemented until August 19, school tripper service will be offered starting Au...

Plan Your Next Golden Gate Park Trip with Muni

Plan Your Next Golden Gate Park Trip with Muni By Eillie Anzilotti   A map of San Francisco showing Muni lines that offer direct service to Golden Gate Park, including: The 18 46th Avenue, the 29 Sunset, the 5 Fulton and 5R Fulton Rapid, the N Judah, the 44 O’Shaughnessy, the 33 Ashbury/18th Street, the 7 Haight/Noriega, the 43 Masonic and the 28 19th Avenue. Around each bus route shown on the map, a red zone shows the range within 1,000 feet of a stop, orange shows within 2,000 feet of a stop, and yellow shows within 3,000 feet. Here’s a fun fact: 70% of San Franciscans are within a 15-minute walk of a transfer-free Muni ride to the largest public space in our city: Golden Gate Park.   Especially as COVID-19 has heightened the importance of outdoor recreation and park access, SFMTA has made efforts to update Muni service to get people to Golden Gate Park. As of now, ...

New Dashboards Give a Window into Muni Service Changes

New Dashboards Give a Window into Muni Service Changes By Kate McCarthy An inspector manages Muni service. New dashboards that help inform changes to Muni service are now live at SFMTA.com/MuniData Many factors inform our decisions about Muni service adjustments. These include making sure changes to service support the SFMTA’s values, which are economic vitality, environmental stewardship, trust and equity. We also evaluate travel patterns. You can now explore these patterns using the new Muni data dashboards  (SFMTA.com/MuniData). When looking at possible Muni service changes, the first thing we do is turn to the Muni Service Equity Strategy for guidance. Using the Muni Service Equity Strategy, we prioritize providing Muni service along routes that more often serve people of color, members of low-income households, and/or those who are dependent upon transit service, including people with disabilities and seniors. We also use ridership data to analyze where riders are boa...

India reports first 6 cases of new coronavirus strain after UK returnees test positive https://ift.tt/3pA0T2j

India on Tuesday reported the first six cases of the new coronavirus strain after six people who had returned from the United Kingdom were tested positive for the new UK variant genome. According to the details, the new coronavirus strain cases were reported from Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore. Samples of 3 UK returnees were tested and found positive for the new UK strain in NIMHANS, Bengaluru. The other two cases were tested at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad; while the last case was tested at the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

FOX NEWS: Ohio amusement park shut down after multiple fights break out Kings Island in Mason, around 20 miles north of Cincinnati, closed down 30 minutes early Saturday night after several fights among teenagers occurred, reports suggest.

Ohio amusement park shut down after multiple fights break out Kings Island in Mason, around 20 miles north of Cincinnati, closed down 30 minutes early Saturday night after several fights among teenagers occurred, reports suggest. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3wsn8uI

New top story from Time: At Thanksgiving, Biden Seeks Unity as Trump Stokes Fading Embers of a Campaign

https://ift.tt/3q4cU1i WILMINGTON, Del. — On a day of grace and grievance, President-elect Joe Biden summoned Americans to join in common purpose against the coronavirus pandemic and their political divisions while the man he will replace stoked the fading embers of his campaign to “turn the election over.” Biden, in a Thanksgiving-eve address to the nation, put the surging pandemic front and center, pledging to tap the “vast powers” of the federal government and to “change the course of the disease” once in office. But for that to work, he said, Americans must step up for their own safety and that of their fellow citizens. “I know the country has grown weary of the fight,” Biden said Wednesday. “We need to remember we’re at war with the virus, not with one another. Not with each other.” President Donald Trump, who has scarcely mentioned the pandemic in recent days even as it has achieved record heights, remained fixated on his election defeat. He sent his lawyer Rudy ...

FOX NEWS: UK neighbors cut tree in half over bird poop dispute: ‘We were absolutely distraught’ Pictures of the odd tree in Sheffield, U.K., have been posted online and have been turned into memes on social media.

UK neighbors cut tree in half over bird poop dispute: ‘We were absolutely distraught’ Pictures of the odd tree in Sheffield, U.K., have been posted online and have been turned into memes on social media. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3jl8Sk3

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J कोरोना के बीच शुरु हुई टीवी सीरियलों की शूटिंग, 25 लाख रुपये का कोविड-19 बीमा कवर, जानें डीटेल

कोरोना वायरल लॉकडाउन के बाद अब एक बार फिर इंटरटेनमेंट इंडस्ट्री धीरे धीरे काम पर वापस लौट रही है। महाराष्ट्र सरकार ने कई गाइडलाइन्स के साथ फिल्म और टेलीविजन इंडस्ट्री को शूटिंग की अनुमति दे दी है। लगभग सभी टीवी सीरियल्स from टेलीविजन की खबरें | Television News in Hindi | TV Serials Update in Hindi – FilmiBeat Hindi http:/hindi.filmibeat.com/television/tv-serials-shooting-resumes-25-lakh-insurance-cover-for-crew-know-details-090531.html?utm_source=/rss/filmibeat-hindi-television-fb.xml&utm_medium=23.11.231.156&utm_campaign=client-rss