On November 2, the San Francisco Public Library squeezed a panel called "A Generation of Political Prisoner Support and Archiving Resistance" between its regularly scheduled story time and Tai Chi classes. The panelists included a man convicted of murdering two NYPD officers, a woman convicted of bombing the U.S. Capitol, and a man who plotted to blow up the 1984 Olympic Games with 37 pounds of explosives.
SFPL librarian Charlie Harmon helped organize it. The event moderator, Josh Davidson, identifies as an anarchist and abolitionist.
Herman Bell, a former Black Liberation Army member, sat on the panel. In 1971, Bell murdered two New York City police officers and was later convicted of the voluntary manslaughter of a San Francisco police sergeant. He spent decades on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. He's now co-founder of the Certain Days Collective, the organization behind the event.
Laura Whitehorn was there too. Former Weather Underground. Convicted for her role in bombings that included the U.S. Capitol and the National War College. At the library, she described Assata Shakur's 1979 prison escape — after Shakur was convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper in 1973 — as creating "the biggest narrative change ever."
David Gilbert, also Weather Underground, participated in the 1981 Brink's armored car robbery that left two police officers and a security guard dead. At the panel, he called Shakur's prison break "a beautiful example of what well thought out and carefully planned and brave clandestine action can do." He told the audience that being a political prisoner "entails for us who were political prisoners a responsibility to pass on lessons."
Pass on lessons. At a public library. Funded by taxpayers.
Claude Marks rounded out the panel. Former Weather Underground, associated with the FALN — the Puerto Rican separatist group responsible for over 100 bombings in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Marks himself was caught planning to disrupt the 1984 Olympic Games with 37 pounds of explosives. Also made the FBI's Ten Most Wanted. He now runs Freedom Archives and co-founded Certain Days Collective alongside Bell.
The stated purpose of the event was preserving "movement legacy," raising funds for "political prisoners," and inspiring new militants. Whitehorn told the audience, "We come out of the revolutionary movement... We don't take money from like the Ford Foundation and shit." Marks added, "These are the stories that the state would like to wipe out."
The Certain Days Collective publicly funds groups including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Puget Sound Prisoner Support, Coalition to Decarcerate Illinois, Appalachians Against Pipelines, and Cascadia Forest Defenders. The organization previously funded Addameer, later designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Israel.
The Daily Wire obtained public records showing SFPL emails from October 13 regarding newsletter distribution for the event. Earlier correspondence from May and June revealed attempts to secure presenter honorariums — meaning the library may have tried to pay convicted terrorists for their appearance. W-9s and invoices were discussed. SFPL Interim Director of Communications Jamie Wong has not clarified whether payments were made.
Dequi Kioni-Sadik, widow of Sekou Odinga — the man who masterminded Shakur's prison escape — also appeared on the panel. The event's moderator praised Benjamin Song, sentenced to 100 years for a 2025 attack on an ICE facility, as part of the same lineage of resistance.
The library hosted convicted murderers and bombers to teach the next generation how to carry on. Between story time and Tai Chi. On a Saturday.
SFPL's calendar listed four events that day. Three were for the public. One was for the revolution.