California's Courtroom Siege

Today In History with The Retrospectors

Jonathan Jackson, teenage brother of imprisoned black power activist George Jackson, entered the Marin County Courthouse concealing three guns under his raincoat on 7th August, 1970.

In the middle of a trial, he took Judge Harold Haley hostage in a bid to secure his brother's release.

The previous year had seen a landmark incident at San Quentin Correctional Facility, when three black inmates were shot dead by white prison guards. George Jackson, Jonathan’s brother, had become a prominent figure, founding a Marxist revolutionary group within the prison and campaigning for justice for the ‘Soledad Brothers’. This context made the courtroom siege an explosive event in the fight against systemic racism.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly detail the brief but deadly shootout that followed in the court’s parking lot; discover why the police opened fire, despite the high-profile hostages; and consider how George Jackson later smuggled a gun into prison…

CONTENT WARNING: violence, murder, racism.

Further Reading:

• ’Marin County Courtroom Shootout’ (Bay Area Television Archive, 1970):

https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/190039

• ‘Bloody Breakout at San Rafael’ (LIFE, 1970): https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=t1UEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA31&dq=harold+haley+james+mcclain&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEnYX1q9aGAxWGWEEAHYg8DBoQuwV6BAgEEAY#v=onepage&q=harold%20haley%20james%20mcclain&f=false

• ‘San Quentin's Bloodiest Riot | The Story of George Jackson’ (19XX, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzDoYNd5xjk

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