14. The Symbionese Liberation Army was behind her kidnapping
The Symbionese Liberation Army originally formed when a Berkeley professor wanted to provide educational opportunities for African Americans who were in prison. However, in the darker days of the Civil Rights Movement, the group’s ideology became increasingly radical and came to see black inmates as political prisoners of a white regime. Ironically, by the time Patty was kidnapped, the only member of the SLA who was African American was its leader, Donald Defreeze. He had spent time in prison and was a recent escapee, putting him at the top of the most wanted list in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Defreeze saw the SLA as a military group of “urban guerrillas” and viewed its military strength in rather hyperbolic terms. He called himself the “field marshal” of an organization that stood against “racism, sexism, ageism, fascism, individualism, competitiveness, possessiveness and all other institutions that have made or sustained capitalism.” Even though the group had only a dozen members, Defreeze planned to kill the guards of predominantly African-American prisons and even killed a black educator for being “fascist.” The attack on the prison was called off, as Defreeze anticipated that it could have negative repercussions for the African-American inmates who were doing time there.
