LONG LIVE ANTHONY GAY! JUSTICE FOR ANTHONY GAY!
The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression dips our banners in honor of freedom fighter Anthony Gay, who passed away this past week. We send our condolences to his family and broad community of supporters who are feeling the weight of this enormous loss. Anthony made history by connecting his personal fight to a broader struggle against the system of racist tyranny that keeps so many oppressed people controlled and confined. He survived 22 years in solitary confinement, under the iron heel of police repression and mass incarceration. While enduring that torture, Anthony transformed himself into a freedom fighter. And when he got out, he broadened his fight to change not only his own personal conditions, but to change the way this system is allowed to operate. That fight continues.
It is because of the advocacy he engaged in, fighting to pass the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act, that he was then targeted by the Rock Island Police, pinned with a false gun charge, and sent to federal prison for 7 years. It is because of this wrongful incarceration in retaliation for his organizing that he did not receive the medical treatment he needed when he was diagnosed with cancer. While his family and the movement continued to press for the federal Bureau of Prisons to provide information and provide him adequate treatment, they hid information and demonstrated neglect of his medical needs. Anthony’s death lies squarely at the feet of the Bureau of Prisons and of this racist system that has been trying to silence and control him since he was a teenager.
Beyond his tireless activism, Anthony was a one of a kind person, who cared for everyone he came across, looked out for the most vulnerable, spread light to others, and would drop everything for those who needed a hand. His story reached from news channels to children’s classrooms, from Rock Island, IL to California, Iowa, Florida, and even countries around the world. He brought out the skills in anyone and showed them how to use them to serve the people, and managed to continue cultivating his relationships even while he was locked up. The movement in Chicago and all of Illinois will never be the same without him, and he should be here with us today.
We must and we will carry on the struggle to end the use of solitary confinement in his memory and carry on the fight against the system that enabled his death. We must do this with the love for the people and each other that Anthony showed us in our hearts and the understanding of the brutality of this racist system that he shared in our minds.
Long Live Anthony Gay! Justice for Anthony Gay!