In this fourth Rattling the Cages panel discussion, Eric King, dequi kioni-sadiki, and Harold Taylor discuss the significance and relevance of Black August today, and the importance of political prisoner support. This event is a fundraiser for the Jericho Movement and attendees are asked to make a donation in lieu of ticket cost.

Recently published by AK Press, Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners is a project of abolitionist Josh Davidson and Eric King. The book is filled with the experience and wisdom of over thirty current and former North American political prisoners. It provides first-hand details of prison life and the political commitments that continue to lead prisoners into direct confrontation with state authorities and institutions.

If you missed the previous panel discussions you can watch the recordings here.

dequi kioni-sadiki is a Coordinating Committee member of the Spirit of Mandela Coalition, the former chair of the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, and leader of the Sekou Odinga Defense Committee which waged a successful campaign for the release of her husband. A consistent coalition-builder and organizer, dequi is a retired educator with the NYC Department of Education and a member of the Jericho Movement to Free All Political Prisoners. She co-edited Look for Me in the Whirlwind: From the Panther 21 to 21st Century Revolutions (PM Press, 2019) and is a contributor to Black Power After Lives: The Enduring Significance of the Black Panther Party (Haymarket, 2020).

Eric King is a father, poet, author, and activist. Last December, he was released from the supermax ADX prison after spending nearly ten years as a political prisoner for an act of protest over the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He was held in solitary confinement for years and was met with violence by guards throughout his incarceration. Eric has published three zines: Battle Tested (2015), Antifa in Prison (2019), and Pacing in My Cell (2019). His sentencing statement is included in the book Defiance: Anarchist Statements Before Judge and Jury (2019). Eric now works as a paralegal for the Bread and Roses Legal Center.

Harold Taylor joined the LA chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1967 and spent much time in jail for his part in the Black liberation struggle. He was arrested in 1973 in New Orleans and charged along with others in a 1971 attack on a police station in San Francisco. The case was dismissed after it surfaced that the defendants were brutally tortured by the police. In 2007, Harold was arrested again in connection to the decades-old case along with seven other men, known collectively as the San Francisco 8. Charges were eventually dropped against Taylor and others, though two other former Panthers pleaded to lesser charges.