George Jackson on his brother Jonathan

KRON-TV Newswatch footage from August 15th 1970 featuring an interview in jail with George Jackson, who is being asked to comment on the violent death of his younger brother Jonathan Jackson on August 7th. On that day Jonathan Jackson had burst into a Marin County courtroom with an automatic weapon, freed prisoners James McClain, William A Christmas and Ruchell Magee and taken Judge Harold Haley, Deputy District Attorney Gary Thomas and three jurors hostage to demand the release of the Soledad Brothers. Haley, Jackson, Christmas and McClain were killed as they attempted to drive away from the courthouse. George Jackson states: "I'm saying that there was no conspiracy. That Jonathan - a 17 year old man child - was working according to the dictates of his own mind. In fact, in fact I'm convinced that everyone around him was making a tremendous effort to clip his wings, slow him down." He goes onto describe his brother's loss of "faith" in the system, which he claims motivated Jonathan's fatal course of action. Opening graphic designed by Carrie Hawks.