On this International Day of Political Prisoners, we lift up Jeff Fort.
With deep and abiding respect, we honor Jeff Fort, also known as Imam Malik, who was indicted 40 years ago this month.
The federal government's campaign to prevent the rise of a "Black messiah" through COINTELPRO and related programs was never about one or two people. It was a calculated effort to stop any prominent Black leader from becoming a force that could unite, organize, and protect Black people.
Jeff Fort was one of those leaders. He was openly surveilled and targeted. Today he is nearly 80 years old and remains in solitary confinement at ADX Florence, Colorado, arguably the most restrictive prison in the Western world, where he has been held for nearly 20 years. His sentencing judge said the sentence was never meant to keep him in federal prison for the rest of his life.
We have to understand the term "political prisoner" as something that has changed over time, rooted in history and not confined to a simple binary. Make no mistake: Mr. Fort remains in the harshest prison in the nation because of who he is, not because of who he is not.
This rare footage from 1979 shows what those in power found threatening: a man who was peaceful, vigilant, and organized, reflecting the unassailable beauty of Black people.
His story has not yet been told. We will tell it.
We still say power.
Power.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
#FreeFort