Laura Whitehorn, The War Before

In 1968, Safiya Bukhari witnessed an NYPD officer harassing a Black Panther for selling the organization’s newspaper on a Harlem street corner. The young pre-med student felt compelled to intervene in defense of the Panther’s First Amendment right; she ended up handcuffed and thrown into the back of a police car.

The War Before traces Bukhari’s lifelong commitment as an advocate for the rights of the oppressed. Following her journey from middle-class student to Black Panther to political prisoner, these writings provide an intimate view of a woman wrestling with the issues of her time—the troubled legacy of the Panthers, misogyny in the movement, her decision to convert to Islam, the incarceration of out spoken radicals, and the families left behind. Her account unfolds with immediacy and passion, showing how the struggles of social justice movements have paved the way for the progress of today.

 


 

Laura Whitehorn has been a political activist since the 1960s. She spent 14 years in prison for the Resistance Conspiracy case. Released in 1999, she lives in New York City. She is now a senior editor at POZ magazine.

Event date: 

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 7:00pm

Event address: 

Porter Square Books
25 White St
02140-1413 Cambridge
us
The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison, and Fighting for Those Left Behind By Safiya Bukhari, Laura Whitehorn (Editor), Wonda Jones (Preface by) Cover Image
By Safiya Bukhari, Laura Whitehorn (Editor), Wonda Jones (Preface by)
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ISBN: 9781558616103
Availability: Available to Order from Supplier: Arrives at Store in a Week(ish)
Published: Feminist Press - February 1st, 2010