From the Bottom of the Heap

Robert Hillary King

Description

In 1970, a jury convicted Robert Hillary King of a crime he did not commit and sentenced him to 35 years in prison. He became a member of the Black Panther Party while in Angola State Penitentiary, successfully organizing prisoners to improve conditions. In return, prison authorities beat him, starved him, and gave him life without parole after framing him for a second crime. He was thrown into solitary confinement, where he remained in a six-by-nine-foot cell for 29 years as one of the Angola 3. In 2001, the state grudgingly acknowledged his innocence and set him free. This is his story.

It begins at the beginning: born black, born poor, born in Louisiana in 1942, King journeyed to Chicago as a hobo at the age of 15. He married and had a child, and briefly pursued a semi-pro boxing career to help provide for his family. Just a teenager when he entered the Louisiana penal system for the first time, King tells of his attempts to break out of this system, and his persistent pursuit of justice where there is none.

Yet this remains a story of inspiration and courage, and the triumph of the human spirit. The conditions in Angola almost defy description, yet King never gave up his humanity, or the work towards justice for all prisoners that he continues to do today. From the Bottom of the Heap, so simply and humbly told, strips bare the economic and social injustices inherent in our society, while continuing to be a powerful literary testimony to our own strength and capacity to overcome. The paperback edition includes additional writings from Robert King and an update on the case of the Angola 3.

Sujets

• Angola Three
• Prison reform
• Miscarriage of justice
• Prison abolition movement

Informations

• Publié par: PM Press
• Date de parution: 05 octobre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781604867916
• Langue: English

Extrait

" IN TELLING HIS POWERFUL STORY, ROBERT
King keeps the light shining on the struggle for human rights and justice."
HARRY BELAFONTE
" MARTIN LUTHER KING REMINDED US THAT
‘our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.’ Robert King is very much alive and still fighting for justice. This book is a must-read!"
COLIN AND LIVIA FIRTH
" LESS THAN TWO MONTHS FROM HIS 7 0TH
year of sojourn on the planet, and the 40th anniversary of A3’s stint in solitary confinement, Robert Hillary King goes back to the bottom of the heap to extract quicksilver and lines of turquoise. This new edition contains a collection of essays on volatile topics like the n-word and executed POWs Shaka Sankofa a.k.a. Gary Graham (June 2000) and Troy Anthony Davis (September 2011). The book is also an annotated look at one man’s quest to alert the world about the conditions inside a system that punishes those who think differently. As relevant now as it was in 2009, perhaps even more so, From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of Black Panther Robert Hillary King, shows how despite the residual psychological effects of captivity solitary confinement at that one’s humanity can be saved. This little book, by a brave and thoughtful man, can serve as a blueprint for those on the front line both in minimum and maximum security America."
WANDA SABIR Cofounder and CEO of Maafa San Francisco Bay Area; WandasPicks.com
" KING’S WORDS PERCOLATE WITH THE
urgency and determination that made the Panthers once one of North America’s most revolutionary units….Though Louisiana has yet to atone for the wasted years given by the trio of Black Panther organizers, From the Bottom of the Heap is one man’s shot at making sure a history and a struggle are not lost now or to future generations."
ERNESTO AGUILAR Political Media Review
" THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND TRUE-TO-LIFE
stories described in From the Bottom of the Heap illustrate that there are multiple and diverse African-American experiences in the U.S., experiences that range from the White House to prison walls."
STEFAN CHRISTOFF The Hour
" WHEN ROBERT KING WAS RELEASED FROM
Angola, he declared, ‘Even though I was free from Angola, Angola would never be free of me.’ With this book, King makes good on his promise."
MEL MOTEL WIN magazine
" ALBERT WOODFOX, HERMAN WALLACE AND
Robert Wilkerson are worth my efforts and the efforts of all who believe that you must fight injustice where you find it."
DAME ANITA RODDICK Cofounder of The Body Shop and human rights activist
" THE RELENTLESS PROSECUTION OF THE
Angola 3 in the infamous Penitentiary at Angola … is another in a long line of cases in this country involving egregious prosecutorial misconduct. The interests of justice can only be served by ending the prosecution and dropping the charges against them, and setting them free."
RAMSEY CLARK Former U.S. Attorney General
" FRIENDSHIPS ARE FORGED IN STRANGE
places. My friendship with Robert King, and the other two Angola 3 men Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, is based on respect. These men, as Robert reveals in this stunning account of his life, have fought tirelessly to redress injustice, not only for themselves, but for others. Since his release in 2001 Robert has been engaged in the fight to rescue these men from a cruel and repressive administration that colludes in deliberate lying and obfuscation to keep them locked up. This is a battle Robert is determined to win, and we are determined to help him."
GORDON RODDICK Cofounder of The Body Shop and human rights activist
" THIS BOOK IS A SEARING INDICTMENT OF THE
contemporary USA, a rich and commanding nation, which still crushes the hopes and aspirations of so many poor Black Americans and criminalizes their young. Robert Hillary King’s account of his horrifying 29 years in prison for a crime he did not commit should shame all of us who believe that justice has to be at the heart of any democracy worthy of that name."
(BARONESS) HELENA KENNEDY QC Member of the House of Lords, Chair of Justice, UK
" WHEN THERE IS A TRAIN WRECK, THERE IS A
public inquiry, to try to avoid it recurring. Robert King’s conviction was a train wreck, and this book is perhaps the only way the world will get to understand why. There are more than 3,000 people serving life without the possibility of parole in Angola today, some as young as 14 when they were sent there, and many of them innocent but without the lawyer to prove it. We owe it to them, and others in a similar plight around the world, to read this book. And Robert King wears a mighty fine hat!"
CLIVE STAFFORD SMITH Director, Reprieve
" AS A BRUSH WITH DEATH SHARPENS LIFE, A
lifetime of confinement can broaden the vision … "
AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN
"… DISTURBED BY EVIDENCE SUGGESTING
that their long term isolation may have been based, at least in part, on their past activism and association with the Black Panther Party … the prisoners’ prolonged isolation breached international treaties which the USA has ratified … The relevant treaties have found that prolonged solitary confinement can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL on the Angola 3, 2007
" THEIR ADHERENCE TO THE BLACK
Panther ideology has given them the strength, courage and spirit to fight the prison system."
DAVID HILLIARD Former Black Panther Party Chief of Staff
"… THERE IS POWERFUL EVIDENCE THAT
they were framed … despite the compelling evidence of a terrible miscarriage of justice, Woodfox and Wallace remain locked up …"
INDEPENDENT TELEVISION NEWS UK
" THEY ENDURED AND SURVIVED OVER ALL
these years with very little help from the outside. They are the kind of unsung heroes who we must come forward to help because they never asked for anything from us in exchange for what they have suffered."
GERONIMO JI JAGA Former Minister of Defense Black Panther Party and former U.S. political prisoner
" FACED WITH LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE IN SOLI
tary, it is past time for us to organize for their lives to be lived in freedom. They are political prisoners of the highest caliber who deserve your support."
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL Former Black Panther, and U.S. Political Prisoner on Death Row
" THESE KINDS OF WARRIORS MUST NEVER BE
forgotten. They have been at the front line of the struggle, fighting against the worst kind of brutalities and humiliations."
YURI KOCHIYAMA Human Rights Activist
" I RECENTLY BECAME AWARE OF EVIDENCE
that suggests these men were wrongly convicted. I urge a swift and just resolution of the matter."
JOHN CONYERS U.S. Ranking Congressmen and Chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee
" WE KNOW FROM GUANTANAMO BAY AND
other notorious prisons that keeping detainees in solitary confinement for extended periods of time can be extremely damaging and it is truly shocking that the Louisiana state authorities saw fit to inflict decades of solitary on ‘the Angola 3.’ Robert King’s book is a timely expose of past injustice as well as a call to action. It deserves to be read by anyone with even a passing interest in the United States, justice and human rights."
KATE ALLEN Amnesty International UK director
" TO LOSE ONES FREEDOM IS A TERRIBLE
punishment in itself. To be innocent and incarcerated for 29 years is almost beyond belief. Robert King survived this experience with his dignity intact and with a renewed passion for justice. An amazing story."
TERRY WAITE CBE

FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE HEAP:
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BLACK PANTHER ROBERT HILLARY KING
BY ROBERT MttRRY KING
Copyright © 2012 Robert Hillary King
This edition copyright © 2012 PM Press
All Rights Reserved
Published by:
PM Press
PO Box 23912
Oakland, CA 94623
www.pmpress.org
Cover photograph by Ann Harkness
Angola 3 illustration by Rigo 23
Robert King illustration by Emory Douglas
ISBN: 978-1-60486-575-2
Library Of Congress Control Number: 2012945337
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the USA on recycled paper,
by the Employee Owners of Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan.
www.thomsonshore.com
DEDICATED TO
The memory of Anita Roddick: activist, humanitarian, benefactor, and friend; 1942 2007.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Ruminations on From the Bottom… by Mumia Abu-Jamal, M.A.
Introduction by Terry A. Kupers, M.D., M.S.P.
From the Bottom of the Heap
Epilogue
Whither South Africa: Journey to the Beloved Country by Marina Drummer
Robert King Live at the Centre for the Study of Crime, Criminalisation and Social Exclusion, October 2011
Shaka, or Checks and Balances
What’s in a Name: (Vulgarizing…Vulgarity)
Appendices
King Family Tree
Anita Roddick: A Friend of Distinction
A Poem for Alice (africa)
Malik Rahim and the Founding of Common Ground
The Case of the Angola 3
Acknowledgements
REVOLUTIONARY LOVE AND REGARDS TO
Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, who have kept the commitment to truth throughout these years and have continued to pay for it by being held in solitary for over thirty-six years. Your freedom is