Focusing on the intersection of black activism and the prison system, this book explores how, during the civil rights era, activists highlighted the plight of prisoners as symbols of racial oppression. It reveals how confinement became an integral aspect of black life in the U.S., positioning black prisoners as global political icons amidst shifting notions of race and nation. Tracing the evolution of this struggle from the 1950s to the 1980s, it offers a profound analysis of the role prisons played in the black radical imagination.
Who will lead America in the years to come? Letters from Young Activists introduces America's bold, exciting, new generation of activists. These diverse authors challenge the common misconception that today's young people are apathetic, shallow, and materialistic. Aged ten to thirty-one, these atheist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, pagan, transgender, heterosexual, bisexual, metrosexual Americans are from every type of background and ethnicity, but are united by their struggle toward a common goal. They are the inheritors of their parents' legacy from the sixties, but also have the imagination and courage to embark on new paths and different directions. In letters addressed to their parents, to past generations, to each other, to the youth of tomorrow and to their future selves, each author articulates his or her vision for the world as they work towards racial, economic, gender, environmental and global justice. As the editors write in their introduction: "From globalization to the war on terrorism and beyond, our generation is compelled to action in the midst of a rapidly changing, and unique political moment Our challenge, and yours, is to live our lives in a way that does not make a mockery of our values."
Militanter, bewaffneter Widerstand gegen die herrschenden Verhältnisse war in den 70er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts nicht beschränkt auf Befreiungsbewegungen in der damals sogenannten Dritten Welt. Im linken Bewusstsein dieser Jahre waren die USA weltweit das imperialistische Zentrum – und produzierte auch dort zahllose militante Aktionen, besonders bekannt durch Stadtguerillagruppe „Weather Underground“. Heute ist die Geschichte des „Weather Underground“ erneut Gegenstand der aktuellen Diskussion der amerikanischen Linken. Dan Bergers Buch ist weniger historische Chronologie als vielmehr politische Analyse des militanten antikapitalistischen Kampfes vor dem Hintergrund jüngster amerikanischer Politik.
