We talk with Bo (Rita D.) Brown, who spent eight years in prison for her work as part of the revolutionary George Jackson Brigade. A white working-class butch from rural Oregon, Brown was known as the “Gentleman Bank Robber,” for a number of years in Seattle. Brown talks about coming out, becoming politicized and her relationship with Black Panther Assata Shakur. Bo Brown is now dealing with Lewy-Body dementia; a benefit for her expenses will be held on May 13 in Oakland.
Then we sit down with two activist-authors who have written novels about climate change: Susan Griffin, author of 20 books over 50 years, including the classic Woman and Nature, whose latest work (in progress) is The Ice Dancer’s Tale, her first novel; and Ellen Meeropol, author of House Arrest and On Hurricane Island, whose newest book, Kinship of Clover weaves mental illness, family secrets and climate activism.
Susan Griffin will be in conversation with Women’s Magazine’s Kate Raphael on May 21 at the second of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s Peace Talks, from 3-5 pm at the Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley. Griffin’s topic will be How War Erodes and Destroys Democracies, which we also touch on in tomorrow’s interview.