by Huey P. Newton
“Calamity has hardened me and turned my mind to steel.”
— Ho Chi Minh, quoted by George Jackson in Revolutionary Suicide
Synopsis
The life of Huey P. Newton. It’s striking how much is just waiting for trials and the repeated efforts made to keep Huey P. Newton behind bars, felt like the entire second half of the book. It’s amazing how much of an impact he was still able to make in spite of the time incarcerated, but one wonders how much more good he could have done.
“We welcomed the discussion, because the criticism helped us to find weaknesses in our program and to sharpen our position.”
— p. 154
“Wait a minute, I have to get my equalizer out of the trunk.”
I glanced back as he was coming around the car and saw him putting what looked like a snub-nosed .38 revolver in his belt.
With his gun and me in chains, I guess we were equal.
— p. 296
“They talked for a while about Mexico — how nice it is there in the summer and how beautiful the parks and buildings are, particularly Mexico City.
But one of them said that every time he goes to a Latin country, even Mexico, he is afraid a guy like Castro will take over and kidnap all the Americans and not let them return to the United States.
I assured him that even if someone like Castro came to power, he would probably pay the cop’s trip back on the fastest plane.
This is what is done in Cuba … Cops are generally uninformed and politically naïve, but on the subject of socialism, they are especially ignorant.”
— p. 298
“During the five years since the Party had been formed, it always seemed that time was measured not in days or months or hours but by the movements of comrades and brothers in and out of prison and by the dates of hearings, releases, and trials.
Our lives were regulated not by the ordinary tempo of daily events but by the forced clockwork of the judicial process.”
— p. 330
“No sooner had David begun serving his term than we turned our attention to the upcoming trial of George Jackson … He had fulfilled his own prophecy: ‘I know that they will not be satisfied until they’ve pushed me out of this existence altogether.’”
— p. 330–331
“Prison was the crucible that shaped his spirit, and George often used the words of Ho Chi Minh to describe his resistance: ‘Calamity has hardened me and turned my mind to steel.’”
— p. 331