Laura Whitehorn

Infobox Criminal
subject_name = Laura Jane Whitehorn


image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = April 1945
place_of_birth = Brooklyn, New York, USA
charge = Conspiracy; destruction of government property; fraud
penalty = 20 years in prison
status = Released
education = Radcliffe College Class of 1966 Brandeis University
occupation = Senior Editor, POZ Magazine; guest speaker on college campuses
parents = Lenore and Nathaniel Whitehorn

Laura Jane Whitehorn was born in April 1945 to Lenore and Nathaniel Whitehorn of Brooklyn, New York. As a college student in the 1960s, she organized and participated in civil rights and anti-war movements. [La Manana, Izando. "Hauling Up the Morning". Red Sea Press, Trenton, New Jersey. 1990. p.404.] . After her graduation from Radcliffe College in 1966, she went on to receive her master’s from Brandeis University.Day, Susan. "Cruel but Not Unusual: The Punishment of Women in U.S. Prisons. An Interview with Marilyn Buck and Laura Whitehorn by Susan Day". NeoSlave Narratives: Prison Writing and Abolitionism. SUNY Press, 2004).]

The early days

Having worked as an organizer for Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Whitehorn became a member of the Weathermen/The Weather Underground organization in 1969.Fact|date=November 2007 She traveled with them to Havana, Cuba as part of the organization’s instruction in the ideology of Marxism and urban warfare, visiting one of the camps established by Soviet KGB Colonel Vadim Kotchergine. [Whitehorn, Laura. (2007)]

"The Days of Rage"

On October 6, of that same year, the Weathermen blew up an 1889 commemorative nine-foot bronze statue of a Chicago policeman located in Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois, preceding several days of street fighting between protesters and police. [ Whitehorn,Laura.(2007) ] According to FBI records, the “Days of Rage” or the “National Action” rapidly degenerated into destructive riots and open confrontations with Chicago Police, leaving a vast amount of public property destroyed, including 100 shattered windows in the vicinity.cite web
url = http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/weather.htm
title = Weather Underground Organization (Weatherman)
accessdate = December 2007
author = FBI Chicago Field Office
publisher = Federal Bureau of Investigation
language = English] The Weather Underground Organization (WUO) made a number of demands, primarily related to the Vietnam War. Whitehorn, along with approximately 55 other people, was arrested for her participation in the violence. A Federal Grand Jury in Chicago later returned a number of indictments charging WUO members with violation of Federal Antiriot Laws. The Antiriot Law charges were dropped in January 1974.

The townhouse explosion

The March 6, 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion was a culmination of the political direction in which Weatherman had been headed, according to Whitehorn. “We were out of touch with what was going on, and we lost sight of the fact that if you’re a revolutionary, the first thing you have to try to do is preserve human life." Three Weathermen died in the explosion, Terry Robbins, Diana Oughton, and Ted Gold. cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F5071EFE3B5D0C718EDDA90994D9484D81
title= 'WEATHER' FUGITIVE IS SEIZED IN KILLINGS
last= McFadden
first= Robert D
date= 1981-10-22
publisher= The New York Times
quote= Two members of the long-dormant Weather Underground terrorist group were identified yesterday as being among four captured suspects of a gang that killed an armored-car guard and two police officers in a robbery in Rockland County.
accessdate= 2007-12-11 ]

While Whitehorn continues to claim that great care was taken (during the numerous bombings), to ensure that no one would be hurt, including the janitorial staff, [cite web
url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,76547,00.html
title = Students 'Duke It Out' with Controversial Speaker
accessyear = 2007
author = Serrie, Jonathan
date= 2003-01-27
year = 2003
month = January
publisher = Fox News
language = English] criticsWho|date=December 2007 have pointed out that when a bomb goes off, there is always the potential for endangering lives, especially those of the emergency agencies responding to the scene, who are at risk by the very nature of such an intrinsically dangerous situation.

Feminist Education

In 1971, Laura Whitehorn helped organize and lead a militant takeover and occupation of a Harvard University building by nearly 400 women to protest the war in Vietnam and demand a women’s center.cite web
url = http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/profiles/whitehorn.html
title = Laura Whitehorn
accessdate = December 2007
author = Anarchist Black Cross Federation
publisher = Anarchist Black Cross Federation
language = English] One of the founders of the Boston/Cambridge Women’s School, Whitehorn helped establish the school as an alternative source of feminist education. Operated and taught by a collective of female volunteers until it closed in 1992, Boston/Cambridge Women’s School had gained the reputation as the longest running women’s school in the United States at the time. [Women's School Records. Archives.]

The climate of militancy

The dead end of militancy and violence for their own sake was obvious after the townhouse explosion, says Whitehorn.Berger, Dan. "Outlaws of America". AK Press, Oakland, CA. 2006] Events at the 1972 Republican National Convention protest led Whitehorn to question once more the need for militancy, confirming her belief that they should allow for militancy when guided by a political framework, but not militancy for militancy’s sake.

The Battle of Boston

During the Boston busing crisis, which the WUO referred to as “the Battle of Boston,” Whitehorn was among a small group of the Praire Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) activists in the Boston area who sat with baseball bats in people’s homes, protecting families from local white supremacists who tried to attack with bats, Molotov cocktails and spray-paint. While Whitehorn and other members of the aboveground cadre carried out their vigilance for two years, the WUO engaged in only minor confrontational tactics in response to the Boston crisis.

The Praire Fire Organizing Committee

The Praire Fire Organizing Committee, of which Whitehorn was a member, planned the Hard Times Conference (with WUO support and leadership) as a way to build a national multiracial coalition. The goal was to bring together a multiracial crowd of more than 2,000 people at the University of Illinois Circle Campus in Chicago, from January 30 to February 1, 1976. The slogan for the conference was “Hard Times are Fighting Times.”

Even though attendance far surpassed what the WUO and PFOC had anticipated, the conference became a political disaster. Whitehorn was so nauseated by the politics of the conference that she became physically ill in the middle of it. “I hated it more than anything else I’ve ever done, she told Nicole Kief in an interview on October 20, 2002. She began to pull away from the WUO.

By the early 1980’s, Whitehorn was active in a variety of radical organizations, in addition to the May 19 Communist Organization, including the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and the Madame Binh Graphics Collective, a radical art group named for Nguyen Thi Binh, the Viet Cong's lead negotiator at the Paris Peace Talks. During this time, Whitehorn worked with liberation movements in Zimbabwe and Azania/South Africa and Palestine.

Bombings: the May 19 Communist Organization

The May 19 Communist Organization, also known as the May 19th Coalition and the May 19 Communist Movement, was a self-described revolutionary organization formed by splintered-off members of the Weather Underground. Originally known as the New York Chapter of the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC), the group was active from 1978 to 1985. Between 1983 and 1985, the group bombed the United States Capitol Building as well as three military installations in the Washington D.C. area and four sites in New York City.

Arrests

On May 11 1985 group members Marilyn Jean Buck, wanted for her role in the 1981 Brinks armored car robbery, and Linda Sue Evans were arrested in Dobbs Ferry, New York by FBI agents who had trailed them in the hope the pair would lead them to other fugitives. Whitehorn was arrested the same day in a Baltimore apartment rented by Buck and Evans. cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F50C14F9395D0C708DDDAC0894DD484D81
title= F.B.I. ASSERTS FUGITIVES HAD A NETWORK OF 'SAFE HOUSES'
last=
first=
date= 1985-03-13
publisher= The New York Times
quote= The fugitive life of Marilyn Jean Buck and Linda Sue Evans was supported by a network of underground accomplices and "safe houses" in New York City, New Haven, Baltimore and other locales, Federal officials said yesterday.
accessdate= 2007-12-04 ] At the time of the arrests, group members Susan Rosenberg and Timothy Blunk were already under arrest, Rosenberg for explosives and weapons charges connected with the Brinks robbery, Blunk for similar charges. cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F60915FE3D5C0C7B8DDDAA0894DD484D81
title= RADICALS FOUND GUILTY BY JURORS IN FEDERAL TRIAL
date= 1985-03-18
publisher= The New York Times
quote= A Federal jury today found two self-styled revolutionaries, Susan Lisa Rosenberg and Timothy Blunk, guilty of eight counts each of possessing explosives, weapons and fake identification cards.
accessdate= 2007-12-04 ] Fugitive group members Alan Berkman and Elizabeth Ann Duke were captured by the FBI 12 days later near Philadelphia, cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F60E14F83D5D0C768EDDAC0894DD484D81
title= NEW YORK DOCTOR HELD AS FUGITIVE IN BRINK'S CASE
last= Raab
first= Selwyn
date= 1985-05-25
publisher= The New York Times
quote= A New York City physician, on the run for two years since his indictment for treating suspects in the Brink's robbery and killings in Rockland County, has been arrested, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced yesterday.
accessdate= 2007-12-04 ] however Duke jumped bail and disappeared before trial. cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6DD133AF935A25755C0A967958260
title= Headliners: All the Way
date= 1991-06-16
publisher= The New York Times
quote= How far will Linda Backiel go to protect a client? How far is the jail? Ms. Backiel was a lawyer for Elizabeth Ann Duke, a self-described revolutionary who had been indicted on weapons and explosives charges, when Ms. Duke decided to forgo the rigors of a trial and jumped bail.
accessdate= 2007-12-04 ] The case became known as the Resistance Conspiracy Case.

Indictment, plea and sentencing

On May 12, 1988, the seven members of the group under arrest were indicted. The indictment described the goal of the conspiracy as being "to influence, change and protest policies and practices of the United States Government concerning various international and domestic matters through the use of violent and illegal means" and charged the seven with bombing the United States Capitol Building, three military installations in the Washington D.C. area, and four sites in New York City. The military sites bombed were the National War College at Fort McNair, the Washington Navy Yard Computer Center, and the Washington Navy Yard Officers Club. In New York City, the sites bombed were the Staten Island Federal Building, the Israeli Aircraft Industries Building, the South African consulate, and the offices of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE5DD133DF931A25756C0A96E948260
title= U.S. Charges 7 In the Bombing At U.S. Capitol
last= Shenon
first= Philip
date= 1988-05-12
publisher= The New York Times
quote= Seven members of a group describing itself as a "Communist politico-military organization" were charged today with the 1983 bombing of the Capitol and attacks on several other buildings, including at least four in New York City, according to the Justice Department.
accessdate= 2007-12-01 ]

On September 6, 1990 "The New York Times" reported that Whitehorn, Evans and Buck had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and destruction of Government property. Prosecutors agreed to drop bombing charges against Rosenberg, Blunk and Berkman, who were already serving long prison terms (Rosenberg and Blunk 58 years, Berkman 10) for possession of explosives and weapons. Whitehorn also agreed to plead guilty to fraud in the possession of false identification documents found by the FBI in the Baltimore apartment. cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEED91038F935A3575AC0A966958260
title= 3 Radicals Agree to Plead Guilty in Bombing Case
date= 1990-09-06
publisher= The New York Times
quote= Three radicals will plead guilty to setting off bombs at the nation's Capitol and seven other sites in the early 1980's. The Government has agreed to drop charges against three other people.
accessdate= 2007-12-04 ]

At the December 6 1990 sentencing of Whitehorn and Evans by Federal District Judge Harold H. Greene, in a courtroom packed with supporters, Whitehorn was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Evans to an additional five years after completing a 35-year sentence being served for illegally buying guns. cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEEDB1030F93BA35751C1A966958260
title= Radical Gets 20-Year Term in 1983 Bombing of U.S. Capitol
date= 1990-12-08
publisher= The New York Times
quote= A left-wing radical received a 20-year sentence Thursday for bombing the Capitol and conspiring to set off seven other explosions that a prosecutor called acts of terrorism.
accessdate= 2007-12-01 ] Buck was already serving 17 years on other convictions, and was later sentenced to a 50-year term for the Brinks holdup and other armed robberies.

On August 6, 1999 Whitehorn was released on parole after serving just over 14 years.

The years in prison

During the 14 years Whitehorn served in prison, she directed AIDS education and wrote numerous publications. When asked if her political work ended once she was in prison, she replied that it had consisted basically of three areas: being a political prisoner, organizing and being part of the struggles for justice inside the prisons, and being part of the fight against HIV and AIDS. [cite journal
author =
year = 2001
title = Enemies of the State
journal = Enemies of the State: An Interview with Anti-Imperialist Political Prisoners: David Gilbert, Laura Whitehorn, Marilyn Buck
publisher = Arm the Spirit/Abraham Guillen Press
location = Toronto, Montreal
url = http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/profiles/buck.html
language = English
format = pamphlet ]

Whitehorn lost many friends while she was in prison during some of the worst years of the AIDS epidemic. While Whitehorn served time in a Federal women’s prison at Lexington, Kentucky, her father, Nathaniel, “Tanny” Whitehorn died on January 3, 1992. [cite news
title = Nathaniel, “Tanny” Whitehorn
url =
section = Obituary
format = newspaper
work =New York Times
page = 27
date= January 4, 1992
language = english ] Whitehorn identifies many consequences of being behind bars for fourteen years, including losing someone you love. She notes that not being with them while they are dying, or being able to go to the memorial service afterwards, is just one way families are destroyed by prison.

Life after prison

Since her release from prison in August 1999, Laura Whitehorn has been involved in a wide range of causes, including the release of political prisoners.cite video
people = Green, Sam & Siegel, Bill
year2 = 2002
title = The Weather Underground
format = DVD
medium = video
publisher = The Free History Project
accessyear = 2007] She has contributed writings and art work to numerous books and articles, and has been a controversial guest speaker at several universities, including an official guest of the African American Studies Department at Duke University in 2003, where she was presented as a human rights activist by Duke faculty [Horowitz, David. "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America". Regnery Publishing, Inc. National Book Network. Washington, D.C. 2006.] Currently a Senior Editor with "POZ Magazine" in New York City, much of her writing has to do with supporting AIDS healthcare providers and empowering patients through publications. Whitehorn is a member of the NY State taskforce on political prisoners, a group dedicated to supporting New York State political prisoners from the black liberation movement and anti-imperialist solidarity movement. [cite web
url = http://womenandprison.org/violence/laura-whitehorn.html
title = Surviving Solitary
accessdate = 2007-12-02
author = Whitehorn, Laura
year = 1997
language = English]

Laura Whitehorn appears in the documentary films, "OUT: The Making of a Revolutionary," directed by Sonja DeVries, [cite video
people = Sonja DeVries
year2 = 2000
title = OUT: The Making of a Revolutionary
format = DVD
medium = video
publisher = Third World Newsreel
accessyear = 2007] and "The Weather Underground" , (2002), directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel, which includes a cast of former Weather Underground Organization members; Bill Ayers, Kathleen Cleaver, Bernardine Dohrn, Brian Flanagan, David Gilbert, Naomi Jaffe, and Mark Rudd.

Notes

References

* Women’s School (Cambridge, Mass.) records. (1971-1992). Archives and Special Collections, Northeastern University Libraries. www.lib.neu.edu/archives/collect/findaids.