Friday, January 31
6:00 pm
Indianapolis Liberation Center
The Pendleton 2 Defense Committee, IDOC Watch, and FOCUS Initiatives present a special screening of “The Pendleton Two: They Stood Up” at the Indianapolis Liberation Center the day before the 40th anniversary of the heroic 1985 prison rebellion at Pendleton Correctional Facility.
The award-winning documentary tells the story of the 1985 prison rebellion and, more importantly, energizes the decades-long struggle to win justice for the real heroes of the uprising: John “Balagoon” Cole and Christopher “Naeem” Trotter. For the “crime” of saving a fellow inmate’s life from guards openly affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, Cole and Trotter were sentenced to 84 and 142 years respectively.
On the morning of February 1, 1985, Lincoln “Lokmar” Love was doomed to the same fate as George Floyd, Tyre Nichols, and so many other Black men in the U.S. As he lay handcuffed and shackled, Pendleton Correctional Facility guards beat the prisoner beyond recognition as terrified bystanders watched from their cells. But Lokmar’s story ended differently when two fellow prisoners sacrificed their freedom to save him from his assailants: a KKK-splinter guard gang known as the Sons of Light.
“The Pendleton 2: They Stood Up” tells the stories of the leaders of the Indiana prison uprising that rescued Lokmar, exposed Pendleton’s dehumanizing conditions, and unleashed the vindictive wrath of the IDOC. The film features exclusive first hand testimony from Cole and Trotter, as well as interviews with family members and witnesses to the uprising who have, for decades, fought for the Pendleton 2.
The resilience of Cole and Trotter and the persistence of their supporters and defense campaign are perhaps the main reasons why the political prisoners are still alive, despite the IDOC’s ongoing attempts to try and kill both heroes through medical neglect, solitary confinement, and other means.
We hope to see you for this incredible opportunity to watch “They Stood Up” with the film’s creators and recommit ourselves to struggling to free the Cole, Trotter, Shaka Shakur, and all political prisoners and prisoners of war!
Full film credits
Presented by: The Defense Committee to Free the Pendleton 2
Director: THEKINGTRILL & Too Black
Producer: THEKINGTRILL & Too Black
Editor: Too Black
Filmed by: IDOC Watch & Focus Initiative
Narrator – THEKINGTRILL
Musical score by Jorel Jebre, Clint Breeze, and THEKINGTRILL
Transcribed by Ben Wrubal Artwork by THEKINGTRILL, and Allistor King