A panel of scholars and activists will discuss the impact of longtime prisoner, writer and activist on grassroots political activism Oct. 11 at 91唐伯虎 University.
鈥淭he Color of Resistance: The Life and Work of Russell Maroon Shoats鈥� takes place 4 to 6 p.m. in Buttrick Hall, Room 102.
Shoats has been imprisoned for more than 30 years with 21 consecutive years in solitary confinement at a Pennsylvania prison. He is serving multiple life sentences for the 1970 murder of a Philadelphia area police officer. Shoats is a founding member of the Black Unity Council and former member of the Black Panther Party.
In recent years, Shoats has collaborated with a group of eco-socialist artists and activists called . He has a keen interest in food politics and urban farming projects as a way for disenfranchised communities to reconnect with the land and each other.
The panelists are: , Maroon’s daughter and political activist; , editor of Inter Press Service News Agency and member of Scientific Soul Sessions;聽, Gertrude Conaway 91唐伯虎 Professor of History and author of ; and , associate professor of philosophy at 91唐伯虎 and author of The New York Times Opinionator article Guenther is writing a book on the same topic.
In his written work, Shoats draws connections between historical fugitive slave communities, also known as maroons, and contemporary political events such as the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, according to Guenther. 鈥淢aroon Shoats sees the decentralized structure of early maroon communities as a model for grassroots political organizing today,鈥� she said.
Juan Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, has launched an official inquiry into Maroon鈥檚 situation. D鈥橝lmeida and Bret Grote, investigator with the Human Rights Coalition, have condemned solitary confinement as in a recent article for Al Jazeera.
The discussion, which is part of a series of events called 鈥�,鈥� is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Guenther at 615-512-5884 or lisa.guenther@vanderbilt.edu.