A coalition in California hosted a week of teach-ins in schools followed by a day of action on November 19, 2003. Education not Incarceration began last May with a large demo in the capital, Sacramento, to make their demands heard (www.may8.org). This was done largely through the voices of students who met with state assembly members.

MIM and RAIL were two of the numerous organizations and individuals working around prison issues, in the number one prison state in the number one prison country in the world, that were invited to give presentations to classes during the week of teach-ins. We had the opportunity to work with a number of high school classes in Oakland, where the relevance of the prison system evoked a very positive and engaged response from students.

Many students were quick to respond to statistics on imprisonment based on nationality in the united $tates with responses like "that shows the government is racist" and "Blacks and Latinos are in there because of oppression." The local legacy of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense is also well known by many of the students. One RAIL comrade made this historical link by explaining the prison boom following the break up of organizations of the oppressed like the BPP, and the subsequent creation of the SHU's, prisons within prisons, to combat organizing behind bars.

In California, MIM and RAIL have been waging a protracted battle to shut down the Security Housing Units (SHUs), which represent some of the most torturous conditions in prisons across the united $tates. We focused on this topic in our teach-ins, giving the students first hand accounts of the sensory deprivation and abuse that prisoners in the SHU go through. Many understood that such conditions are in no ones interest when people in the SHU are going to be released back onto the streets.

In discussing the use of 'gang affiliations' to get people sent to the SHU, students were able to draw parallels to their own lives. One student mentioned having three people on a corner wearing the same color is enough to get trouble from the police. Many others had stories to share about Oakland Police using excessive force, such as pulling out long gats and putting them to the heads of their peers. Later, at the rally this point was reiterated by a speaker who talked about the no loitering and vagrancy laws being enforced in Oakland and how they parallel the state's reaction to the freeing of African slaves, which created an often unwanted work force in this country that exists to this day. One high schooler who spoke talked about how her history of political outspokenness has led to unjust punishment by the school. She also reminded everyone that the school district brought in the Secret Service last school year when a couple of students said that Bush is whack.

From the teach-ins and rallies that we attended we can say that this week was a worthwhile step in bringing this movement together. We stand behind the oppressed nation youth of California as they demand that money being spent to incarcerate them is used to educate them instead. As we noted on our report from the forum on education in Oakland this July, "The revolutionary content of such a campaign is inherent in the class content of those involved. We are asking for money to be taken out of repression and put into basic needs. The same could be said of "money for health care, not for war." The key difference here being that we are organizing against repression while serving the needs of the oppressed, which in itself will have a transformational affect on those whose interests are opposed to imperialism." (1)

In our last article we also wrote, "The main thrust of such a campaign will be strong only to the extent that our organizing efforts to get the money allocated differently will in turn allow us to decide how that money is used." Most of the over 200 people in attendance at the November 19th rally at Oakland City Hall were from two small autonomous schools; Street Academy and the School for Social Justice. These schools exist within the public school system but have the independence in structure and curriculum similar to a charter school. While staying within the system, these schools seem to be a source of progressive and productive outlets for Oakland students. We do not have too much knowledge of their programs, but the students in attendance, especially those that spoke on stage were able to spend their school day speaking out about police brutality, the prison system and even Oakland public schools.

While the student leaders of this movement see the links between the prison system and capitalism and hundreds of years of oppression, and while the majority of the students we interacted with had a negative opinion of the prison system, when asked to come up with alternative solutions to violent crimes they were at a loss. Most of the students felt that people are going to continue to murder and rape each other and that's just how it is. This seems to be the biggest obstacle for us and for the student leaders in those schools to cross to unleash a powerful movement of young people to change society. Once the Black Panthers showed people that they could change things, their support in the community was strengthened greatly. We must learn from their example and organize people by serving the people within a larger framework of changing the whole system.