Tur audio Rick Yellowbird

Then editor of the Native Brotherhood Newscall, Rick Yellowbird was subject to involuntary transfer after the Native Brotherhood organized a sit-in to advocate for better mental health and medical supports after the death of three Indigenous prisoners over the course of a week. Here, Yellowbird disputes dismissal of the deaths as suicides because institutional conditions made mere survival a challenge. The article’s publication in August 1976 coincides with the first national Prisoner’s Justice Day, a memorial day for prisoners who died of unnatural causes in custody. August 10th is marked by fasting, work refusal, and advocacy for better conditions. The poem that follows Yellowbird’s article captures the sentiment of the day.   

Read by Thomas Maxie