A cinematic memoir of justice and redemption that traces one man’s tumultuous life from gang member to Black liberation leader to political prisoner.
Russell Shoatz was a gang member in inner Philadelphia starting at age 11. But at 23, after hearing Malcolm X speak, his life changed course. Shoatz would become a lifelong crusader for justice, a soldier in the most militant units of the Black Liberation Army, and a community organizer who was constantly brushing up against the notorious Frank Rizzo and his police commandos in Philly. As the struggle for self-determination among Black communities intensified, Shoatz was convicted to life in prison following a coordinated attack on a park police station that left one guard dead.
The prison walls, however, could not deter Shoatz’s battle for personal and collective freedom. He escaped state prisons twice, making him a living legend, and endowed him with the moniker “
