John Sinclair was a Detroit-based poet, activist, and counterculture icon as well as the manager of the pioneering rock group MC5.
- Died: April 2, 2024 (Who else died on April 2?)
- Details of death: Died in Detroit after a long illness the age of 82.
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John Sinclair’s legacy
John Sinclair was born in Flint, Michigan, to a working-class family. He developed an early affinity for jazz and the beatnik culture while attending Albion College and later, the University of Michigan-Flint. Sinclair’s activism took shape amidst the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and opposition to the Vietnam War. He founded the White Panther Party in 1968, an anti-racist group aligned with the Black Panthers thatadvocated for ending the Vietnam War and supporting racial equality. The group’s name was later changed to the Rainbow Peoples Party.
In 1966, he became manager of the pioneering rock band MC5, known for their confrontational and politically charged performances. Under Sinclair’s guidance, Wayne Kramer (1948–2024), Fred “Sonic” Smith and the rest of the band earned a reputation for their explosive concerts and radical message, helping to lay the groundwork for punk rock in the process.
Sinclair was also a poet, often performing jazz poetry accompanied by live music. He released more than two dozen albums over the years, including “Thelonious Volume 1: A Book of Monk,” “It’s All Good: A John Sinclair Reader,” and others. His work focused on working class and urban life and was strongly anti-authoritarian in nature.
Sinclair’s activism eventually put him in law enforcement crosshairs. In 1969, he was arrested for possession of marijuana and given an unprecedented sentence of 10 years. His imprisonment caught the attention of prominent figures like John Lennon (1940–1980), who wrote a song titled “John Sinclair” in protest of the sentence. In December 1971, after serving nearly three years, he was released when the Michigan Supreme Court deemed his sentence cruel and unusual punishment. He continued to be a pro-legalization activist in the decades ahead, spearheading Michigan’s eventual capitulation on the issue.
On his 10-year sentence for marijuana possession:
“I was part of the revolution, and that’s what authoritarian states do to revolutionaries. So it was part of my job. I accepted it.”—Interview with The Guardian, 2014
Tributes to John Sinclair
Full obituary: Detroit Free Press
