In 2013, nearly 4,000 California inmates in long-term solitary confinement (for decades, in some cases) went on what would become a months-long hunger strike. The collective action was designed to get the attention of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and protest the conditions of those in extended solitary confinement. At the negotiating table, the corrections department was met by a united front of inmates who, understanding the injustice of their dire circumstances, decided they would try to change the very policies that had left them “buried” in concrete cells.
“The Strike,” which premiered on PBS’ “Independent Lens” on Monday and is currently available on PBS.org , the PBS app and PBS’ YouTube channel , chronicles that feat of activist organizing. In the hands of filmmakers JoeBill Muñoz and Lucas Guilkey, the documentary shines a spotlight on the men who helped organize and mobilize their fellow inmates. But it is also a living record of the recent history of the carceral system in the U.S. in general and in California in particular.
“We wanted to trace the arc of the rise of mass incarceration on a deeply personal, intimate level,” said Guilkey. But also, this is not an individual story. It’s a story of collective solidarity. And it’s a story of organizing across racial lines.”…