The American Gulag was not birthed in Guantanamo. However ugly the conditions of incarceration for Muslim prisoners on the Cuban Island, black revolutionaries in the U.S., in particular those affiliated with the BPP and the BLA during the 1960s and 1970s, were among the first to be subjected to subhuman treatment a la Abu Ghraib. Today I celebrate the birthday of a forgotten warrior, Hugo Pinell. He is a black Nicaraguan, one of the San Quentin Eight, held in U.S. custody for the last 42 years. Pinell's "crime" was being black and a close comrade of the late George Jackson during the 1960s. Although the feds ostensibly dismantled COINTEL, and the racial motivation behind the prosecutions of the period are undisputable, Pinell remains in jail, denied parole eight times.
Through exercise, vegetarian diet, and writing, Pinell has survived 36 years of solitary confinement. The highest suicide rates across the prison system occur in solitary.
A summary of the Pinell case, by Mumia Abu Jamal, is here.
A look at Pinell's parole denial, by New Orleans native and long-time community activist Kiilu Nyasha, is here.
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