In this episode of “The Black Myths Podcast,” Shaka Shakur joins podcast host TOO BLACK and fellow political prisoner Christopher “Naeem” Trotter, one of the Pendleton 2, to discuss the Indiana prison rebellion of 1985. The rebellion was sparked after jail guards at an Indiana prison affiliated with a KKK-splinter group beat inmate Lincoln Love in a vicious and calculated act. The racist guards would have murdered Love had Trotter and John “Balagoon” Cole not intervened.
After the bold uprising, a period of state repression by the Indiana Department of Corrections followed. As part of the state’s counteroffensive, they punished Trotter and Cole for saving Lincoln’s life and sentenced them to 84 and 142 years in prison, respectively.
Shaka Shakur presents, among other information, a detailed history of the struggle of prisoners in Indiana and the barbaric conditions to which the state subjects those incarcerated. The second of a two-part series on the uprisings and their aftermath, you can listen to the previous episode here.