Remembering Civil Rights Attorney Dennis Cunningham and Judi Bari bombing with Karen Pickett

Breaking Green

Send us a text

On March 6th, Famed Civil Rights Lawyer, Dennis Cunningham died of cancer. He was 86.
In his long and varied career Cunningham successfully represented Attica Prison Inmates, members of the Black Panthers. He also represented Earth First! organizers Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney in a case they won against the FBI and Oakland police for violation of their civil rights when they were arrested after a car they were traveling in had a bomb detonate under the passenger seat nearly killing Bari.
Despite having numerous death threats against them Bari and Cherney were named as suspects in their own bombing. They were never charged, and a jury awarded them 4.4 million dollars in a 2002 for the violation of their civil rights.
On this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Karen Pickett.
Pickett has been a grassroots activist for over 40 years. She has focused on forest and habitat preservation as well as environmental justice, protecting the civil rights of activists, and alliance building with Indigenous campaigns and the labor movement.
She is a founder and Director of the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters, Biocentric Media Inc, as well as earlier organizations, including the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment. She is a Board member of the Global Justice Ecology Project and has a decades-long affiliation with Earth First!.
Pickett worked closely with Mr. Cunningham on the trial against the FBI and Oakland police and was a close personal friend of Judi Bari.
Breaking Green is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by donations from people like you.
Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Simply click here to send a donation or text GIVE to 1 716 257 4187.
Support the show

Chapters

1. Breaking Green Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Episode Introduction (00:00:30)

3. Introduction to Karen Pickett (00:01:14)

4. What Brought Pickett to the Environmental Movement (00:02:05)

5. Career of Dennis Cunningham (00:04:59)

6. Historic Cases: Black Panthers; Attica State Penitentiary; Earth First! Bombing (00:07:34)

7. Cointelpro (00:14:09)

8. Martin Luther King a Cointelpro Target (00:18:44)

9. Break with Theresa Church (00:19:59)

10. Judi Bari Bombing and Cointelpro (00:21:11)

11. Bari's Commitment to Nonviolence (00:29:11)

12. Bari and Alliance with Labor (00:30:47)

13. Trial Unfolds After Bari's Death (00:36:31)

14. Bombed Car was Compelling Evidence Against FBI (00:39:34)

15. Bari's Continued Activism After Bombing (00:41:43)

16. A Personal Loss And A Collective Hope (00:44:30)

17. Outro (00:47:23)