Fire To The Prisons: Igniting the Plantation Through Inside-Outside Solidarity

Race Capitol

The movement for the abolition of slavery, which includes the dismantling of prisons and policing, has never had a shortage of prisoner resistance. The legacy of those like Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner—who inspired free people to join them in a struggle for collective liberation, all while operating as either captives or fugitives of the state—lives on within us and our movement. It is the folks on the inside, and those most affected by the violence of carceral systems, who continue to educate, agitate, and organize a resistance against the disenfranchisement of oppressed people. Together, we will lift the sky—with the ashes of the Amerikan plantation fading away into the Earth beneath our feet. This week on Race Capitol, we discuss inside-outside solidarity movements taking place across the country. Co-host Nomi Isaac sits down with Prison Lives Matter members, Nick Grevens from IDOC Watch and Kwame Shakur, co-founder and chairman of the New Afrikan Liberation Collective. We close the show with words from Freedom Fighter and Former Black Panther member Assata Shakur. Resources: - “Down: Reflections on Prison Resistance in Indiana” - “Radical Resistance for Prison Abolition” by Comrade Frank Talk, a Captive New Afrikan Revolutionary - “Stand Up, Struggle Forward” by Sanyika Shakur - “A War Within Our Own Boundaries: Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and the Rise of the Carceral State” by Elizabeth Hinton - Assata Shakur in Her Own Words: Rare Recording of Activist Named to FBI Most Wanted Terrorist List via Democracy Now! Music: “Amerikan Sins” - Naomi Isaac “None of Us Are Free” - Solomon Burke “My Queen is Harriet Tubman” - Sons of Kemet “The Guillotine” - The Coup