Eddie Conway, a fearless fighter for working people everywhere, died on February 13th. Eddie was a Black Panther who was unjustly imprisoned for 44 years. In his honor we republish a series of biographical interviews hosted by Paul Jay, first released in 2015.
We continue our Reality Asserts Itself series with TRNN Executive Producer Eddie Conway, who spent 44 years as a political prisoner and is now in the leadership of TRNN.
In an interview that took place days before Trump was elected President, Bill Ayers discusses what needs to be done as we head into a ”form of friendly-looking and familiar fascism or some other form of extreme social disintegration”. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced November 13, 2016, with Paul Jay.
Mr. Conway says that after 44 years in prison, he found the conditions in Baltimore worse than when he went in. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself produced on November 28, 2014.
Mr. Conway says police are asked by society to control the poor as if they are fighting a war, so anything goes. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself produced on November 26, 2014.
Mr. Conway says after 44 years in prison, he considered people to be of value and to be respected and refused to be dehumanized himself. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself produced on September 16, 2014.
Mr. Conway says prisoners were treated like animals; and because he resisted and organized, he was in lockup twenty-three and a half hours a day for six years. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself produced on September 25, 2014.
Mr. Conway tells the story of his arrest and trial and being “represented” by a lawyer who spent 45 minutes with him before going to trial. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself produced on September 24, 2014.
Mr. Conway says, by targeting the Panthers, the FBI and other state and local agencies were functioning as national secret police. That was COINTELPRO; it carries on under The Patriot Act. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself produced on September 16, 2014.
Mr. Conway says the Panthers were also a threat because they recognized the humanity of and worked with all ethnic groups. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself produced on September 14, 2014.
Mr. Conway describes the campaign by police agencies to destroy the Black Panthers, and how he joined the Baltimore chapter which he later found out was founded by an agent of the NSA. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself produced on September 10, 2014.
This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced September 9, 2014. Former Black Panther Eddie Conway says, while serving in the military, it dawned on him that the same army that was aiming its guns at the black community was doing the same thing in Vietnam.