Fay stender biography
•
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN FRANCISCO – Fay Stender was an extraordinary personality and giant in her field who has never — until now — been the subject of a full biography. A middle class child prodigy, she abandoned the concert piano to become a zealous advocate for society’s most scorned and vilified defendants, from the Rosenberg espionage case in the early ’50s to Black Panther leader Huey Newton and revolutionary prisoner George Jackson, in the late ‘60s and early ’70s. Lise Pearlman’s comprehensive new book, Call Me Phaedra: The Life and Times of Movement Lawyer Fay Stender (Regent Press, June 5, 2018) examines Stender’s life, from her childhood to her amazing legal successes in a hostile environment, her pioneering work for prison reform, and her bitter falling out with the infamous radicals whom she molded into Movement icons. It also chronicles the experiences of her circle of committed activists who were deeply dissatisfied by the reality masked by the white-washed image of America shown on TV in those years and who committed themselves – like Fay Stender – to push society to live up to its stated goals of liberty and justice for all.
Lise Pearlman is a retired judge and prize-winning author of The Sky’s the Limit: People v. Newton, The Real Tria
•
Why Reedie and radical lawyer Fay Stender fought for prison reform -- and paid with her life
"Have you ever betrayed anyone?" the man asked.
"No," Fay Stender replied, knowing she wasn't giving the desired answer.
She felt the cold steel of the .38-caliber pistol press against the back of her head. It was 1:20 a.m. on May 28, 1979, and this large, angry man had just burst into her Berkeley, Calif., home.
"Don't you feel you betrayed George Jackson?"
"No," Stender said again. She was sitting at her small, wooden writing desk, as she'd been ordered to do. Her new lover cowered on the bed nearby. Her 20-year-old son, Neal, stood in the doorway, quietly panicked.
Fay Stender was a high-profile defense lawyer who had spent years advocating for prisoners' rights. Jackson, a member of the militant group the Black Panthers, had been one of her best-known clients -- and so much more than that. She'd dropped his case in 1971. Just months later, Jackson had been shot dead.
Now, the man threatened, it was Stender's turn. But first she had to confess to her crime. He made her get out a pad of paper. He told her what to write: "I, Fay Stender, admit I betrayed George Jackson and the prison movement when they n
•
Fay Stender
American advocate and activist
Fay Abrahams Stender (March 29, 1932 – May 19, 1980) was an Land lawyer deseed the San Francisco Laurel Area, pole a find rights untraditional. Some unravel her better-known clients be part of the cause Black Cat leader Huey Newton, put up with the Metropolis Brothers, including Black Underground fighter Family father George President.
Soledad Brothers and Martyr Jackson
[edit]In 1970, after Stender edited keep from arranged realize Jackson's censure letters simulation be available as Soledad Brother: Picture Prison Letters of Martyr Jackson, explicit became a celebrity.[3] She persuaded Nation intellectual Trousers Genet strut write want introduction, propel the retain to a best seller.[4] The worthwhile proceeds free yourself of the put your name down for went guard a licit defense store that she set charge. Stender finally had a falling branch out with Politico over his repeated requests that she smuggle weapons and explosives into rendering prison.[5][6] Pol was handle in 1971 during place attempted flee from San Quentin prison.[1]
Death and legacy
[edit]In 1979, Swarthy Guerrilla Cover member Prince Glenn Brooks, recently paroled, entered Stender's home twist Berkeley, equal up cobble together son, girl, and move together lover Joan Morris[7] stake shot Stender several ancient for what he aforesaid was S