PEACE WARRIOR

The Peace Warrior: How I Escaped the Prison of Anger, is the illustrated true story of Greg Payton, an African- American soldier who was jailed in Vietnam in 1968 when The strict African-American warden had a secret: his brother was one of America's biggest heroin dealers, working with the Italian Mafia. Prisoners angry at their treatment and racism in the military rioted, wounded many, and burned the entire stockade down, allowing some to escape. Congressman Gus Hawkins flew to Vietnam to investigate and returned to sponsor many laws to give soldiers of color equality. Greg Payton, son of famous jazz musician Freddie Roach and protege of intellectual Amiri Baraka, struggled with PTSD and addiction upon returning to the U.S. which he overcame with the help of his wife. Greg became a sober lifelong peace activist in the U.S., Belfast, South Africa and beyond - work he continues to this day. To research this book, we obtained the previously highly classified documents of the Defense Dept. investigation into the riot and aftermath.