Harriet Clark spent 37 years visiting her mom in prison
7/20/202646 min
In 1981, members of radical offshoots of the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers robbed a Brinks truck carrying over $1.5 million. It ended in a shootout, killing two police officers and a security guard. Judith Clark was driving a getaway car. She was sentenced to a minimum of 75 years. Her 11-month-old daughter was left to be raised by Judith’s collective and later by Judith’s parents. Terry Gross talks with her daughter, Harriet Clark, whose new acclaimed novel is drawn from childhood experiences visiting her mother in prison. “I think she figured out how to mother me in some of the most difficult conditions possible,” she says.
Also, Ken Tucker reviews two albums that draw on rock's past: The Dirty Knobs’ ‘Mission of Mercy’ and Low Cut Connie's ‘Livin in the USA.’
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsIra Glass0:00
This is Ira Glass of This American Life. Do you know our show? Okay, well either way I'm gonna tell you about it. We make stories that hopefully pull you in at the beginning with funny moments and feelings and people in surprising situations, and then you just wanna find out what is gonna happen and cannot stop listening. That's right, I'm talking about stories that make you miss appointments. This American Life, wherever you get your podcasts.
Terry Gross· Host0:23
This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. One of the last actions of the extremist left-wing groups with roots in the 1960s was the Brinks robbery of 1981. Two militant groups, one an offshoot of the Weather Underground, the other an offshoot of the Black Panthers, robbed a Brinks armored truck carrying over a million and a half dollars. It ended in a shootout in which one security guard and two police officers were killed. Judith Clark was a getaway driver who was sentenced to 75 years to life. It meant leaving behind her 11-month-old daughter. That daughter, Harriet Clark, is my guest. She's just published a novel that draws from her own experiences being raised by her grandparents and visiting her mother in prison every weekend for most of the 37 years her mother was incarcerated. It required traveling about an hour from New York City to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison for women. Harriet knew her mother would never get out, but she did get out after being granted clemency