is a living legend. you always hear stories about black panthers & other militant social organizers from the 1960's & 70's all being either dead, in jail, or [unfortunately] tenured university professors sculpting the minds of young neo liberals to believe that pacifism & working within the system are the only effective methods to change it, but this brother from another mother has been on the run for over four decades & in september 2011 he finally got a tiny taste of that unbelievably over used & under experienced word/concept......freedom!
after 41 years, multiple militant actions, after serving over 7 & a half years in prison, self emancipating a.k.a. escaping from prison in new jersey, commandeering a.k.a. hijacking a plane from detroit to boston to refuel for the new intended destination of algeria a.k.a. political asylum. George Edward Wright a.k.a. José Luís Jorge dos Santos was finally granted citizenship & immunity from the government of Portugal. without critical analysis of Wright's situation its easy to think he got away with something, but the bittersweet truth is that the past 41 years of his life were probably full of paranoia & turmoil. the truly gangster thing he did was maintain his personal liberty & even more impressive is how he refused to allow the system to control his destiny @ all costs...as the kids say, "He did it REAL BIG!"
real talk: mr. george wright is an international super thug/gangster [meant in the wonderfully powerful & free dirty corporate c.e.o. or politician its alright because its all white sort of way]. there's no surprise that no one has ever heard any of the stories about him or his incredible exploits. there is waaaaaay too much inspiration to be gleaned from wright's story that would surely motivate wayward #occupy protesters to actually do something instead of loitering to make symbolic gestures...of course there have been instances where instead of taking police sponsored beatings, or pepper spray to the face while getting arrested like a lil crying bitch for loitering in public places, organizers have actually helped people get back into or skirt eviction from their foreclosed homes.
for more information on Geroge Wright here's a good starting point on wikipedia which interestingly lists this disambiguation as fugative instead of militant freedom fighter, or political exile
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