I would like to inform the supporters, comrades and my fellow brothers
throughout the world, plus also in the “Amerikan Prison System,” that we
must be watchful of our message that we are attempting to give and
spread to those who very well needs it. The ULK article that was
titled
“Konfused
Gangster Mentality” was deemed to be a threat to the Morgan County
Correctional Facility. So it was rejected by the mailroom staff. This
decision was upheld by the “Security Threat Group” coordinator, and by
the final decision of the head warden.
The article was said to be written by a supposed gang member who has
ties to the Bloods street gang. It was said by the prison officials that
the way the word “confused” is spelled as “Konfused.” But also that the
word “Damu” that’s a part of our Afrikan native people spoken language,
that many of our slave ancestors spoke called Swahili. This was brought
to the land of Amerika by the Afrikan slaves, who spoke Swahili and also
many other Afrikan language dialects.
Even today across the great land of Amerika, you can hear Swahili spoken
throughout many major cities as common language by “Afrikan Amerikans.”
Many may greet one another in such of a way for all to hear. “I love you
Damu of my Damu!” Let me translate “I love you Blood of my Blood!”
Because for we as Afrikan Amerikans we share something in common. That
our people was stolen, kidnapped and then shipped across the Atlantic,
during which millions of people died while being transported.
Now when we are attempting to speak to brothers, sisters, supporters,
plus comrades through the ULK, we must choose and use our words
wisely in our articles, so the law enforcers won’t be offended. Because
here at Morgan County CF they have a long history of being taught to be
racist, prejudiced, biased and abusive by assaulting prisoners while
being in restraints. Yeah they’re country boyz here at this facility.
They don’t want prisoners awoken and told what they should be doing
against their oppressors. Because that would mean that these coward
“Correctional Officers” would be getting their ass kicked left and right
when they do things to us in a wrongful act.
And last, but not least, it was said by the STG coordinator here that he
didn’t like that the article titled “Konfused Gangster Mentality” used
the word pig to describe law enforcers. I myself thought it was funny,
because this same STG coordinator at MCCF, he has witnessed his
co-workers partake and possibly himself also in one or two of the foul
acts I mention above.
Now we know that this is an ongoing problem that’s not confined to the
prison system; it also is happening in our streets of Amerika. The law
enforcers are killing unarmed black males at an alarming rate as they
did in 1950s thru the 1960s when our true brothers and sisters known as
the Black Panthers became aware of the problems and began to form a
movement to deal with them.
If you are affiliated with a gang my brother, keep your gang slang, your
dissing ways toward another gang out of the ULK. Because these
swine are always looking for ways to stop such articles and paper from
entering into the prison systems. And that goes for being straight
forward when it comes to speaking on dealing with the law enforcers. And
being behind enemy lines without the system knowing that it has been
infiltrated by us in all forms. Then more damage can be done against who
we are fighting. This simple, but effective technique has been used by
the oppressed through the world.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer raises a difficult question
for those of us working to expose the criminal injustice system. We want
our publication to get in to our readers behind bars. We also want to
print the truth. And we want to use language that inspires and empowers
our readers. This truth and this language sometimes leads to censorship.
We try to walk the line, always printing the truth, but choosing our
language carefully when there is an alternate word that means the same
thing and can prevent censorship. We can be thoughtful about what words
we put out front.
We also need to take on these censorship battles and use them to expose
the prison system, and the lack of free speech under imperialism. Like
this writer, we need to appeal censorship when it happens. And when you
appeal, if you inform MIM(Prisons) of the censorship we will also write
an appeal as distributor of the publication. Even if we don’t win these
appeals, we put the prison on notice that we’re paying attention to
their rule breaking. Often the words and articles they cite as reason
for censorship wouldn’t pass a review by the courts. We need to remind
them of these laws. If you don’t have a copy of our guide to fighting
censorship, write in to request one.