“I’m trying to get off of here...if I have to, I don’t mind setting myself on fire again.” That’s what 28-year-old Ekong Eshiet told journalist Kevin Rashid Johnson. Both men are incarcerated at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison. According to Johnson, within just two weeks, a dozen Black men had self-immolated there.
Self-immolation, or burning oneself to death, is historically one of the most extreme forms of political protest. But when oppressive systems cause such agony, the line between protest and self-harm can be thin. For example, after relentless police harassment, a Tunisian street vendor burned himself alive, inspiring the Arab Spring. In 1972, traumatized Vietnam veteran Willie B. Philips self-immolated in Atlanta, citing “the long train of abuses that all Black people suffer.”
Johnson was told Red Onion’s self-immolations were not protests. They had a clear, desperate goal: to get transferred out. Johnson, who co-founded the New Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter and went on a 71-day hunger strike last year to get himself transferred, understood.
Johnson calls Red Onion an apartheid system. Guards reportedly spew anti-Black slurs, withhold medication, cut off contact with loved ones, retaliate against people filing lawsuits, and beat them, making them fear for their lives.
No one should suffer agonizing burns to escape or draw attention. But now, they have our attention. For a petition, click https://pushblack.news/glt. To learn more about their conditions, visit Johnson’s website: https://pushblack.news/8yb.