Video screening: PARC/SF-IMC/Freedom Archives

DESCRIPTION OF VIDEO: David Gilbert is an anti-imperialist political prisoner presently being held in the notorious Attica Prison. He was raised in the Boston area where he began working against the Viet Nam war and for Black civil rights during his teenage years. He became a leader of the Columbia University student strike and Students for a Democratic Society. David was part of a great social upheaval--in 1969, 120 cities burned in Black uprisings, and in the same period 400 campuses organized student strikes against the Viet Nam War. In the 1970s he joined the Weather Underground Organization and worked underground for a decade.

David is serving a sentence of 75 years to life--a life sentence without possibility of parole. Along with others, he was convicted on a conspiracy charge for his participation in a 1981 Brink's truck hold-up aiming to raise funds for the Black Liberation Army.

In prison for more than 20 years, David has continued his work for social justice. Very early, he called attention to the AIDS epidemic in Africa and in oppressed communities in the US, and organized prisoner peer education programs on AIDS. He is an advocate for prisoners. David is a prolific writer, and is now compiling a book of his writings. He is a devoted father and friend.

This interview took place in July, 1998 at Great Meadows Prison, Comstock, New York.

Directors: Sam Green & Bill Siegel Camera: Federico Salsano

Edited in March 2002: Claude Marks and Lisa Rudman

PARC | Freedom Archives