Sacco, Vanzetti, Foster

Last week was the 80th anniversary of the execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, who, as
Emma Goldman put it, “died, as the entire world knows today, because they were Anarchists. That is to say, because they believed and preached human brotherhood and freedom. As such, they could expect neither justice nor humanity.”

Tomorrow, Kenneth Foster is scheduled to die in Texas. Will the protests and appeals to the governor (and visit his website to see how: www.freekenneth.com) save this man, who even the state of Texas knows is innocent of actually committing any murder?

Foster, like Vanzetti, has been writing in prison:

“What do I define a political prisoner as today? While the term still retains its original definition let it now encompass (any) who have been falsely and unjustly incarcerated and are being held captive under frivolous sentences with bias politics affirming them. No matter if these brothers and sisters are Activists, Communists, Muslims or Panthers—they are OUR people and worthy of defense and the opportunity to have a just life and treatment. When we face a system that subjugates, oppresses and murders by politics justifying that regimen (in society or jail) we are political prisoners.

Prisons have become a morbid design to punish and conform people to a regimen far worse than society realizes. It has been purposely made a breeding ground for violence, ignorance and death. But what about those that have not given in? What about those of us who have decided to utilize our time and consciously build our mind and soul? Are we being neglected because we have no revolutionary background or did not come to prison for a political cause? As a people I think we are forgetting to cultivate each other and that we can’t give up on each other. Gwendolyn Brooks said it best: We are each other’s bonds, business and magnitude.”

That quote is from a poem in honor of Paul Robeson, and more fully concludes:

We are each other’s harvest;
we are each other’s business;
we are each other’s
magnitude and bond.