Watani Stiner

Watani Stiner went to prison in 1969 after a shootout in which two Black Panthers were shot and killed at UCLA by a member of another revolutionary Black Power group called Us, of which Watani was a part. He was wounded in the shoulder from a Panther’s Bullet. Watani and his brother were sentenced to life in prison although neither of them had taken part in the killings.

Five years later, he escaped from San Quentin and fled to South America, where he lived in exile for twenty years. In 1994, concerned for the safety and welfare of his children, Watani voluntarily walked into the U.S. Embassy in the country of Suriname and negotiated his surrender in exchange for his children’s passage to safety.

Watani was finally released from San Quentin in 2015, over 45 years since he was originally sent to prison. He has been called a “revolutionary elder, a storyteller, a Cointelpro survivor, and a social justice advocate passing the historical baton on to the next generation.