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Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971
1970-11-20 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 3
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NO MORE PRISONERS OF WAR [hand drawn pic of 5 women] I've been in prison now for 6 months- a different kind of prison than the POW camp my friends rescued Tim Leary from, but a prison nevertheless. It's been a drag, unnecessary, and an absolute waste of our time- but I will be free soon. It's made me understand how wrong our attitudes and actions toward political prisoners have been. When I was released on $160,000 bail in May, after a month in various jails, I was exiled to the very middle of Babylon- Fort Dodge, Iowa. Placed in my parents' custody (after all, where should a young pregnant revolutionary be sent- to keep her out of trouble- but "home" to her mother), I was locked into my whiteskinprivilege past, forced into live with my parents. Pretty decent psychological torture- a constant assault on every level of my identity and sanity (can Fort Dodge really be real?!): severe culture shock hardly describes it. So my life energies, for now, are directed toward SURVIVING in this alien world, reading the few books I can get my hands on, and grinning nightly when I hear the news (only to receive three-hour lectures from my parents on morality and the glories of the Republican Party). Our original mistake made it easy for the Feds to impose such insidious punishments- on the advice of my lawyers, we tried (very unsuccessfully) to pretend that I was a sweet, apolitical young thing, hoping to win pig Julius Hoffman's favor and a bail reduction. (Picture me using straight (piggy) lawyer and a dress as my "weapons" against the state...!) Obviously the Feds knew better- somehow it seemed improbable to them that weatherwoman/ fugitive Linda just "reformed" after a few weeks in jail, especially when I refused to inform on my friends and "clear myself." So we got no bond reduction, heavy and unprecedented custodial/ travel restrictions, and, later in the summer, another indictment. But even worse than Hoffman's decisions (which after all were pretty reasonable given that he's a part of the Enemy) is the sexism that has kept me here unnecessarily all summer long. Some of my "revolutionary" male lawyers made empty promises and priorities (to claim my "hysteria", no doubt) to get me out -and they've done nothing. I guess it was hard for them to understand that, being a woman, I have any important political work to do in the few months before my trials begin -so they abandoned and isolated me even more by promising to help and not following through. However, I'm not really so bitter, only disappointed at having a trust betrayed and wasted. I finally took matters into my own -hands and got a woman lawyer/ friend to take all of my cases -quite a job, but she is going to get me out on the streets again soon. Some of my sisters are helping her with the legal shit, and helping me keep my head together -and some men, revolutionaries in a real sense of the word, who are changing their attitudes/actions toward women, have even joined. So I will be free soon. Sisterhood is powerful -and very beautiful. (How much I have learned, how much I have changed...) But we have to use our power in other ways, too. As I wrote this, Angela was caught and now is held without bond. Pun Plamondon was captured in August and starts trial soon for bombing the CIA recruiter in Ann Arbor. Bobby Seale has been in jail for over two years. Afeni Shakur, Erika Huggins, the New Haven women, the Panther 21 -the list can go on forever. It includes people in every state, on every campus -draft resisters, kids we know and love and care about. We need each other to be free -our people and our lives are our best weapons in this war. Having our people in jail is a waste of our time -and we can do something about it. Obviously, some people should probably go to jail if they can get good deals or do only a few months' time. Many people who are now fugitives could come back, spend 2-3 months in jail, and come out "clean" -able to move freely, accomplish more, make more/wider connections than you can when you're underground. So for some, a few months in the hands of the states will be a drag, but worth it. We can get some of the people out legally, through the courts, or by raising bail money, so they can have a few months' freedom before the pigs try to put them away. Skip Taube, busted for harboring a Federal Fugitive (gee, officer -that's just my friend Pun...) can be free for $3000. We got Dianne out (thanks to our New York sisters, especially RAT women) in time to get her an abortion and a few months' (relative) freedom before her trials. But we just can't give up on people when they are captured -we have to fight on every level, in every way, to get them out and back in the streets with us. There are others, though, who won't get by so "easily". The pigs want them off the streets permanently -so they abduct Bobby Seale in the middle of the night, bust Angela despite her great disguise, put Bernadine on their 10-most-wanted list. These sisters and brothers can be freed only by taking a few risks. So when the pigs tried to put Afeni back in jail, prisoners all over New York took hostages, rioted for a week -demanding her freedom and substantive bail reforms so other people could be freed as well. (Break open the jails -the people inside are part of us. A puerto Rican junky sang beautiful songs through the bars to calm my angry tears...) When Leila Khaled was captured the PFLP freed her by risking the anger/ reprisals of the world, and their own expulsion from the Palestinian guerilla command. They won. So can we. "The revolution is upon us. Unless we stop them now, these young radical revolutionaries will change our whole way of life," said the head pig at the oink-in on the steps of Congress. He's right, of course -we're in the middle of a revolutionary war, though we may be just beginning to realize it, accept it, understand what its possibilities mean in terms of our own lives. We have to take time to live, to create a beautiful culture and beautiful lives, to love each other -but our love for each other means a lot of responsibilities, too, especially when our sisters and brothers get ripped off. THERE SHOULD BE NO PRISONERS OF WAR. We need each other to be free, so we can grow together, learn together -fight and win together. We have to fight so Eldridge can come back, so all my weatherfugitive-friends, janie Alpert, Rap Brown can come back and live among us. It means changing ourselves/loving ourselves a lot, realizing how much we really are oppressed, fighting for the kinds of lives we could live if the pigs hadn't robbed us of our freedom -and our possibilities. We really are as strong as we want to be, as strong as the risks we are willing to take to win our freedom. Power to my brothers & sisters of the Proud Eagle Tribe. Freedom to all prisoners of war, all fugitives, all exiles... Power and love to all of us. FREEDOM, Joy. Linda a woman? 20 NOV. 1970 3
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NO MORE PRISONERS OF WAR [hand drawn pic of 5 women] I've been in prison now for 6 months- a different kind of prison than the POW camp my friends rescued Tim Leary from, but a prison nevertheless. It's been a drag, unnecessary, and an absolute waste of our time- but I will be free soon. It's made me understand how wrong our attitudes and actions toward political prisoners have been. When I was released on $160,000 bail in May, after a month in various jails, I was exiled to the very middle of Babylon- Fort Dodge, Iowa. Placed in my parents' custody (after all, where should a young pregnant revolutionary be sent- to keep her out of trouble- but "home" to her mother), I was locked into my whiteskinprivilege past, forced into live with my parents. Pretty decent psychological torture- a constant assault on every level of my identity and sanity (can Fort Dodge really be real?!): severe culture shock hardly describes it. So my life energies, for now, are directed toward SURVIVING in this alien world, reading the few books I can get my hands on, and grinning nightly when I hear the news (only to receive three-hour lectures from my parents on morality and the glories of the Republican Party). Our original mistake made it easy for the Feds to impose such insidious punishments- on the advice of my lawyers, we tried (very unsuccessfully) to pretend that I was a sweet, apolitical young thing, hoping to win pig Julius Hoffman's favor and a bail reduction. (Picture me using straight (piggy) lawyer and a dress as my "weapons" against the state...!) Obviously the Feds knew better- somehow it seemed improbable to them that weatherwoman/ fugitive Linda just "reformed" after a few weeks in jail, especially when I refused to inform on my friends and "clear myself." So we got no bond reduction, heavy and unprecedented custodial/ travel restrictions, and, later in the summer, another indictment. But even worse than Hoffman's decisions (which after all were pretty reasonable given that he's a part of the Enemy) is the sexism that has kept me here unnecessarily all summer long. Some of my "revolutionary" male lawyers made empty promises and priorities (to claim my "hysteria", no doubt) to get me out -and they've done nothing. I guess it was hard for them to understand that, being a woman, I have any important political work to do in the few months before my trials begin -so they abandoned and isolated me even more by promising to help and not following through. However, I'm not really so bitter, only disappointed at having a trust betrayed and wasted. I finally took matters into my own -hands and got a woman lawyer/ friend to take all of my cases -quite a job, but she is going to get me out on the streets again soon. Some of my sisters are helping her with the legal shit, and helping me keep my head together -and some men, revolutionaries in a real sense of the word, who are changing their attitudes/actions toward women, have even joined. So I will be free soon. Sisterhood is powerful -and very beautiful. (How much I have learned, how much I have changed...) But we have to use our power in other ways, too. As I wrote this, Angela was caught and now is held without bond. Pun Plamondon was captured in August and starts trial soon for bombing the CIA recruiter in Ann Arbor. Bobby Seale has been in jail for over two years. Afeni Shakur, Erika Huggins, the New Haven women, the Panther 21 -the list can go on forever. It includes people in every state, on every campus -draft resisters, kids we know and love and care about. We need each other to be free -our people and our lives are our best weapons in this war. Having our people in jail is a waste of our time -and we can do something about it. Obviously, some people should probably go to jail if they can get good deals or do only a few months' time. Many people who are now fugitives could come back, spend 2-3 months in jail, and come out "clean" -able to move freely, accomplish more, make more/wider connections than you can when you're underground. So for some, a few months in the hands of the states will be a drag, but worth it. We can get some of the people out legally, through the courts, or by raising bail money, so they can have a few months' freedom before the pigs try to put them away. Skip Taube, busted for harboring a Federal Fugitive (gee, officer -that's just my friend Pun...) can be free for $3000. We got Dianne out (thanks to our New York sisters, especially RAT women) in time to get her an abortion and a few months' (relative) freedom before her trials. But we just can't give up on people when they are captured -we have to fight on every level, in every way, to get them out and back in the streets with us. There are others, though, who won't get by so "easily". The pigs want them off the streets permanently -so they abduct Bobby Seale in the middle of the night, bust Angela despite her great disguise, put Bernadine on their 10-most-wanted list. These sisters and brothers can be freed only by taking a few risks. So when the pigs tried to put Afeni back in jail, prisoners all over New York took hostages, rioted for a week -demanding her freedom and substantive bail reforms so other people could be freed as well. (Break open the jails -the people inside are part of us. A puerto Rican junky sang beautiful songs through the bars to calm my angry tears...) When Leila Khaled was captured the PFLP freed her by risking the anger/ reprisals of the world, and their own expulsion from the Palestinian guerilla command. They won. So can we. "The revolution is upon us. Unless we stop them now, these young radical revolutionaries will change our whole way of life," said the head pig at the oink-in on the steps of Congress. He's right, of course -we're in the middle of a revolutionary war, though we may be just beginning to realize it, accept it, understand what its possibilities mean in terms of our own lives. We have to take time to live, to create a beautiful culture and beautiful lives, to love each other -but our love for each other means a lot of responsibilities, too, especially when our sisters and brothers get ripped off. THERE SHOULD BE NO PRISONERS OF WAR. We need each other to be free, so we can grow together, learn together -fight and win together. We have to fight so Eldridge can come back, so all my weatherfugitive-friends, janie Alpert, Rap Brown can come back and live among us. It means changing ourselves/loving ourselves a lot, realizing how much we really are oppressed, fighting for the kinds of lives we could live if the pigs hadn't robbed us of our freedom -and our possibilities. We really are as strong as we want to be, as strong as the risks we are willing to take to win our freedom. Power to my brothers & sisters of the Proud Eagle Tribe. Freedom to all prisoners of war, all fugitives, all exiles... Power and love to all of us. FREEDOM, Joy. Linda a woman? 20 NOV. 1970 3
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