Marilyn Buck

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Marilyn Jean Buck (born 1947 in Jasper, Texas)[1] is an American, a self-described life-long anti-racist and anti-imperialist activist,[2] and a convicted felon, convicted of conspiracy in a number of violent crimes. She has been convicted for her participation in the 1979 prison break of black activist Assata Shakur, as well as conspiracy to commit armed robbery as a participant in the Brinks robbery of 1981, in which members of the Weather Underground and Black Liberation Army used a car owned by her and apartments rented in her name;[3][4] and for her role in the 1983 U.S. Senate bombing, "conspiracy to protest and alter government policies through use of violence."[5] Buck received an 80-year sentence for the Capitol bombing that she is serving at FCI Dublin in California. Her Federal Prison register number is 00482-285.

While in prison, Buck has contributed articles to Sojourners Magazine, Monthly Review (Buck et al. 2001, Buck 2004), and Social Justice, as well as other journals and anthologies (James 2003, James 2005), on the subjects of women in prison, solitary confinement, and related issues. She received a PEN American Center prize for poetry in 2001.

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[edit] Early life

Buck is the daughter of a minister. She attended the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Texas.

[edit] 1960s activism

After organizing in support of Native American, Palestinian, Iranian and Vietnamese sovereignty, Buck joined Students for a Democratic Society in 1967 and subsequently worked with San Francisco's Third World Newsreel.

[edit] 1973 conviction, fugitive

In 1973 she was convicted of purchasing two boxes of handgun ammunition for the Black Liberation Army. Three years into her unusually long, ten-year sentence for that crime,[citation needed] Buck was given a furlough from prison and went underground instead of returning.

[edit] Possible role in Brink's robbery

Authorities believe Buck played a key role in the Brinks robbery of 1981, providing the robbers with a safehouse and weapons. During the investigation into the armed robbery and attack, investigators found "a supply of automatic weapons, shotguns, ammunition, bomb-making material and something else that made their blood run cold: detailed blueprints of six Manhattan police precincts,"[6] in an apartment in East Orange, New Jersey rented by "Carol Durant," an alias of Buck's. Police found papers there that led them to an address in Mount Vernon, New York, where they found bloody clothing and ammunition: "Investigation later revealed that the bloody clothing belonged to Marilyn Buck, who had accidentally shot herself in the leg when she tried to draw her weapon during the shootout at Mountainview."[7]

[edit] 1983 arrest

In 1983 Buck was recaptured and charged as a participant in successfully assisting convicted felon Assata Shakur to escape from federal prison.

Main article: 1983 United States Senate bombing

In 1985, she and six others were convicted in the Resistance Conspiracy Case, which included the bombing of the United States Capitol Building to protest the US invasion of Grenada and US intervention in Latin America in general, and the bombing of the South African consulate in Washington, D.C. to protest US support of South Africa under apartheid.[8]

Five of those charged in the case have since been released from prison and one was never captured, leaving Buck the only defendant still in prison.

Buck received an 80-year sentence which she is serving at FCI Dublin in California, United States. Her Federal Prison register number is 00482-285.

[edit] As an author

Buck has contributed articles on women in prison, solitary confinement, and related issues to Sojourners Magazine, Monthly Review (Buck et al. 2001, Buck 2004), and Social Justice, as well as other journals and anthologies (James 2003, James 2005).

Marilyn Buck is an accomplished poet, having received a PEN American Center prize for poetry in 2001. Her poems have appeared in the anthologies Hauling Up the Morning (Blunk and Levasseur 1990), Wall Tappings (Scheffler 2002), Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth (Buck 2006), Seeds of Fire (Anderson 2008), and in her chapbook, Rescue the Word (2002). Her poems as well as those by David Meltzer, Mitsuye Yamada, Uchechi Kalu, and others appear on the audio CD Wild Poppies (Freedom Archives 2004). Her translations and introduction to Cristina Peri Rossi's poetry have appeared in State of Exile as Number 58 in the City Lights Pocket Poets Series (Buck, 2008).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Incarceration ... - Narratives: Prison Interviews
  2. ^ Thompson 2001
  3. ^ Lubasch, Arnold H. (May 12, 1988). "2 Ex-fugitives Convicted of Roles in Fatal Armored-Truck Robbery.". New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-18.
  4. ^ The Brinks Robbery of 1981 - The Crime Library on truTV.com
  5. ^ Marilyn Buck, political prisoner
  6. ^ The Brinks Robbery of 1981 - The Crime Library on truTV.com
  7. ^ The Brinks Robbery of 1981 - The Crime Library on truTV.com
  8. ^ Associated Press (May 26, 1988). 6 Radicals Deny Charges in '83 Capitol Bombing. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-18.

[edit] Works

[edit] Further reading

  • Andersen, Jon, ed. 2008. Seeds of Fire: Poetry from the Other USA. England: Smokestack Books. ISBN 0955402824.
  • Blunk, Tim, and Raymond Luc Levasseur, eds. 1990. Hauling Up the Morning. New Jersey: Red Sea Press. ISBN 0932415601.
  • Freedom Archives, ed. 2004. Wild Poppies: A Poetry Jam Across Prison Walls - Poets And Musicians Honor Poet And Political Prisoner Marilyn Buck. San Francisco, California: Freedom Archives. Audio CD. ISBN 0972742247. Available as mp3 downloads at http://freedomarchives.org/wildpoppies.
  • James, Joy, ed. 2003. Imprisoned Intellectuals: America's Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0742520277.
  • James, Joy, ed. 2005. The New Abolitionists: (Neo)slave Narratives And Contemporary Prison Writings. New York: SUNY Press. ISBN 0791464857.
  • Peri Rossi, Cristina. 2003. Estado de Exilio. Madrid, Spain: Visor Libros. ISBN 8475225152.
  • Peri Rossi, Cristina. 2008. State of Exile.Pocket Poets Number 58. San Francisco, California: City Lights. ISBN 0872864634.
  • Scheffler, Judith A. (Ed.) 2002. Wall Tappings: Women's Prison Writings. 2d ed. New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY. ISBN 1558612734.
  • Thompson, Becky. 2001. A Promise and a Way of Life. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0816636346.

[edit] External links