Everyone Comes From Somewhere, by Noelle Hanrahan, Esq. P.I. Sinister Wisdom 126: Out of Control published Fall 2022
The first step to freedom is understanding the truth. The next step is honoring it by fighting like hell for everyone’s liberation.
It is never easy to write in this way, because it is making the invisible visible. I am claiming this space and defining this space as much for you, as for me. I have always been out as a lesbian. But even if you know that about me, you need to know how the community of revolutionary lesbians in the late 1980’s shaped our collective culture.
The committee to support Mumia Abu-Jamal in the San Francisco Bay Area was formed in 1992. There were 10 women on it. 7 were lesbians. I told Mumia about the composition of the committee during our 2nd recording session. He was open and also shocked. He had lived inside then for 11 yrs, and did not have the ability to see, hear, and feel the revolutionary movements on the outside. Movements often lead by women and lesbians. He was profoundly curious and warm, he said “Why?” I explained that we, as women & lesbians are also deeply oppressed by this society and those of us who are revolutionaries “see our future bound with yours”. Those discussions happened in late 1992.
As a young butch lesbian in San Francisco in the late 1980’s I was searching for ways to challenge the state. The women in Out of Control: Lesbian Committee to Support Women Political Prisoners* and Women Against Imperialism were funny, dynamic, and provided one hell of a political compass. I would see them everywhere. Out of Control was formed to protest the placing of women political prisoners in the Lexington Control Unit. They fought and they won the closure of that solitary confinement underground control unit.
The connections they had with the revolutionary women political prisoners inside American prisons, I knew had everything to do with my own liberation and our collective liberation. They were also dykes who dove right into the national work and held other revolutionaries accountable, without apology.
I was one of a generation inspired by their presence, tactics, and newsletter. I was only on the periphery of Out of Control, but that was exactly the point.
Out of Control shaped the entire culture by their presence, transforming public space and consciousness. Questions and demands were visible on the streets, in community newspapers and in dozens of local lesbian community spaces like Old Wives Tales, Amelia’s, Osento, The Women’s Building.
I would not have begun recording the voices of prisoners had I not met and been moved by Jennifer Beach, Jane Segal, Julie Starbin, Jay Mullin, Blue Murov, Bo Rita D Brown, Mo Kalman. And through them the women on the inside Dylcia Pagan, Marilyn Buck, Laura Whitehorn, Linda Evans and many others.
Out of Control member Jane Segal and Jennifer Beach, 1988. Jennifer co-founded Prison Radio in 1990.
I gained a sense of possibility. It was not exactly permission, but more that the path had been worn. I felt a sense of place. Because of their presence, I knew that lesbian revolutionaries can and should work directly for and with Mumia Abu-Jamal. I knew I was focused on exposing neo colonialism through prison work, but while doing that I felt I could take my whole lesbian self with me.
Lesbians supported the liberation of Assata. What is not to LOVE about that?
As a white working-class lesbian, I was inspired to negotiate the artificially constructed colonial divisions and not let them deter my revolutionary work.
Out of Control and Women Against Imperialism taught me how to begin to bridge race, class, and gender boundaries. They also taught me that you had to come to the work with a profound respect and the willingness to listen and learn. Prison Radio’s magic is that it amplifies self-determination and autonomy. There are so many times in political work when you are working across race, age, class, and culture divides where you may not understand something that is happening, but you must be humble, quiet, and patient with yourself. You have to be uncomfortable and listen, because very likely, that tension is something that we need to learn from, or we need to meet in a way that is respectful of the space that other people are in.
When We Fight, We Win
When We Love, We Win
When We Survive, We Win
Noelle Hanrahan, Esq. P.I.
Co Founder of Prison Radio w/ Jennifer Beach (a member of Out of Control)
This piece was adapted from “Everyone Comes from Somewhere” by Noelle Hanrahan Sinister Wisdom 126: Out of Control published Fall 2022. Sinister Wisdom 126: Out of Control | Sinister WisdomPS I was a member of WAI Women Against Imperialism.
PPS. The documentation of this work is not meant to obscure or replace any other work that has been done. There are other people whose stories need to be told that are very important on this journey. This just happens to be mine.
