On Tuesday, Elizabeth [Soto] was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison; Ines’s sentencing is set for 1 July. All because, as she put it: “They didn’t like my book club.” Her laugh doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
After a three-week trial, a [Texas] jury found eight of nine protesters guilty of “providing material support to terrorists”, among other crimes. For the Sotos, this “material support” included owning a “printing press” used to print anarchist zines and being part of a leftist book club, the federal government argued. The couple had already left the scene by the time guns were drawn. All eight of the defendants sentenced so far have received unusually harsh sentences – 30 to 100 years – essentially life in prison.
Mark my words. This will pass, trump will die, this fascism will end, but these people won’t be freed, ever.
Not trying to be negative, or cynical, but this IS the USA, none of these victims will ever see freedom again even when they’re innocent. How else is the prison industrial complex going to get rich?
Maybe, maybe not. Regardless, a name is a powerful thing. It’s hard for some to rally around an idea, especially when it’s big and nuanced. People know who Nelson Mandela was though.
Even worse, it’s Texas.
All the people still in jail for weed despite it being fully legal in their state now.
The future doesn’t have to be set in stone. We can create the future we want by demanding it and taking action. I can see a future where a progressive is elected president in 2028 and a critical mass of people successfully petition that president to issue pardons.