Contents

1 Soledad Brothers and George Jackson

2 Death and legacy

3 See also

4 References

Soledad Brothers and George Jackson

In 1970, after Stender edited and arranged for Jackson's prison letters to be published as Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson, he became a celebrity.[3][4] She persuaded French intellectual Jean Genet to write an introduction, propelling the book to a best seller.[5] The substantial proceeds from the book went to a legal defense fund that she set up. Stender eventually had a falling out with Jackson over his repeated requests that she smuggle weapons and explosives into the prison.[6][7] Jackson was killed in 1971 during an attempted escape from San Quentin prison.[8]

Death and legacy

In 1979, Black Guerrilla Family member Edward Glenn Brooks, recently paroled, entered Stender's home in Berkeley, tied up her son, daughter, and her lover Joan Morris [9] and shot Stender several times for what he said was Stender’s betrayal of Jackson.[8] Brooks forced Stender to state: "I, Fay Stender, admit I betrayed George Jackson and the prison movement when they needed me most" just before he shot her.[7] Stender was left paralyzed below the waist; in constant pain from her injuries, she committed suicide in Hong Kong about a year later, after testifying against Brooks.[6]

The California Women Lawyers Association has an award dedicated to her memory. Established in 1982, the annual award is given to "a feminist attorney who, like Fay Stender, is committed to the representation of women, disadvantaged groups and unpopular causes, and whose courage, zest for life and demonstrated ability to effect change as a single individual make her a role model for women attorneys."[2]

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3597153&forum_id=2:#38837450)

i bet i can guess what her last word was

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3597153&forum_id=2:#38837892)

Fay began visiting Jackson at Soledad wearing a leather miniskirt, form-fitting top and high boots. They began to surreptitiously touch one another when the guards were distracted. One time, wrote Collier and Horowitz in "Destructive Generation," guards "had to separate her physically from Jackson and drag her out of the visiting area with her clothes half off."

Fay devoted herself almost exclusively to Jackson's case. She made him a radical celebrity, raising money for his defense and hitting up reporters to write stories about him. She called the three accused convicts "the Soledad Brothers," and claimed they were charged with the guard's murder not because of any evidence but because they were politically active. "George is the sort of man they want to keep incarcerated because he is proud and militant," she declared.

She decided Jackson's letters should be published, just as fellow Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver's prison writings had been. She culled and edited the letters, downplaying Jackson's violent nature.

"When he began writing to me from prison I recognized the beauty and individuality of his writing," she said. She convinced French playwright (and former petty criminal) Jean Genet to write an introduction, crowing that Genet believed "Jackson was one of the literary giants of our day." After the success of Cleaver's "Soul on Ice," publishers fought for the right to publish this new revolutionary document.

Even Marvin, increasingly estranged from his wife, admitted Fay "loved Jackson."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3597153&forum_id=2:#38837887)