Who is the ? Exactly what Gilbert did in the between 1970 and the David Gilbert was a founding member of group’s demise around 1975 is not entirely Students for a clear. Although not on the group’s coordi- Democratic Society and a member of the nating committee (the Weather Bureau), he Weather Underground Organization. After did act as a regional leader, spending at eleven years spent underground, he was least some of these years in Colorado. arrested with members of the Black The Weather Underground committed sev- Liberation Army and other radicals follow- eral bombings and actions in this period ing an armored car robbery in 1981. He is against government and business targets. currently serving 75 years-to-life. As support for the group began to wane David Gilbert grew up in a Jewish family on the Left, the pace of actions lessened, in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of and some members reemerged. Most were . Inspired in his teens by the not prosecuted or did not serve time in Greensboro sit-ins and other events of the in February 1965, experiences he prison because of serious police miscon- American , he joined describes as formative. Known by the late duct and illegal tactis. the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) at ‘60s primarily as a young theorist, publish- Gilbert did not emerge, however; he and age seventeen. He entered Columbia ing articles in Notes and other his partner remained active University in 1962. In his junior year he movement publications, he went on to play even following the birth of their son Chesa helped found the Independent Committee an organizing role in the April-May 1968 Boudin in August 1980. Against the War in (ICV) and later Columbia student strike. In the early 1980s some of the former the school’s chapter of Students for a As Columbia SDS grew during the spring members of the Weather Underground Democratic Society. He traveled regularly 1967 term, Gilbert tended to return to the joined up with members of the Black to Harlem while working as a tutor, and Columbia campus only to offer a ‘radical Liberation Army. Together they formed a saw speak at education’ counter-course for Columbia new organization called the Revolutionary SDS freshmen and sophomores in a Armed Task Force (RATF). lounge in Ferris Booth Hall. Most of his On October 21, 1981, the group partici- activism was centered in downtown at the pated in an expropriation of funds from a New School for Social Research or at the Brinks armored car at the Nanuet Mall, SDS Regional Office. near Nyack, New York. During the incident, In 1969 SDS split into different ideologi- a broke out resulting in the death cal factions. Weatherman emerged, its pur- of one guard, minutes later two police offi- pose being to build up armed struggle cers were also killed in a shootout at a amidst young white Americans in support of roadblock. Also killed in a subsequent the Black Panthers and other militant shootout days later was a BLA soldier by groups, and also oppose the war in the name of Myatari Sundiata. Vietnam with actions that would ‘bring the War home.’ Gilbert joined this group in 1969 with his friend , who in early 1970 would die in the infamous townhouse explosion that killed three Weather members. The group’s partici- pants went into hiding at this point, and the organizations was renamed the Weather Underground. Kathy Boudin, Judith Clark, Samuel Brown and David Gilbert were captured as they fled from the scene. Several days Free David Gilbert later, Sekou Odinga was arrested and tor- tured after a high-speed chase and shootout with police. During the altercation, BLA soldier, Myatari Sundiata was killed. David Gilbert Marilyn Buck, and sev- Write to the David Gilbert at: eral others were also arrested in connec- tion with the incident. In the fall of 1983, David Gilbert was sen- David Gilbert tenced, along with Kuwasi Balagoon and 83A6158 Judith Clark, to 75 years-to-life for three CCF MAIN counts of felony manslaughter. Their P.O Box 2001 extremely long sentence for participating in Dannemora, NY 12929 this action may be due to their decision not to participate in their trial and not recogniz- ing the authority of the state to try them. Local groups working with Gilbert continued his activism despite David Gilbert: being in prison. He co-founded an inmate peer education program on HIV and AIDS JERICHO AMNESTY COALITION in the Auburn Correctional facility in 1987, and a similar more successful project in PO Box 34186 Great Meadows prison in Comstock follow- , CA 90034 ing his transfer there. His work in HIV and AIDS education was prompted by the death Anarchist Black Cross Federation of his comrade Kuwasi Balagoon to AIDS (ABCF) in 1986. He has published book reviews and PO Box 11223 essays in a number of small/independent Whittier, CA 90603 newspapers and journals, which were col- email: [email protected] lected in the anthology No Surrender: Former Member of the Writings from an Anti-Imperialist Political Prisoner (Abraham Guillen Press) in 2004. Weather Underground He has also published longer single pieces on the topic of misleading AIDS conspiracy Sentenced to theories and white political consciousness. The 2003 documentary 75 Years-to-Life The Weather Underground featured inter- YOU CAN HELP BY GIVING POLITICAL view segments with Gilbert, illuminating his PRISONERS A VOICE AND VISIBILITY profile beyond those in the small political prisoner support network who have been THE TRUTH CAN SET THEM FREE! following his case.