Under Lock & Key

We are caught in a system of competitiveness, manipulation, one against the other, brother against brother, family against family, people against people, gangs against gangs, ethnic groups against ethnic groups, color against color, class against class, instead of minority or lower class against the ruling class.

We focus too much on meaningless self-imposed politics that were manipulated into our minds growing up. Like ditch school, destroy your own neighborhoods, sell drugs to your own people, we gang bang, we fight our own over colors and sides only. The only way you can make it is by rapping about killing your own people or selling drugs to your own. As a Chicano I grew up not only hearing this from my peers but that’s also what the music I was told to like and listen to said. The television also told me my people are only on TV as gang bangers, drug dealers, etc.

As I grew older I started to realize something is wrong here, where did I go wrong? What have I done for myself? For my family? For my people? Nothing but self-imposed distraction. I am soaking in my own blood and that of my people. I got a hunger for knowledge. Why is it things are the way they are?

The more I studied, the more I realized this is not new but a very old cycle set up by a system to manipulate my mind. A system that went after Martin L. King, a peaceful man, a pastor on his quest for civil rights. The government unlawfully wired his phones, tried to break up his family, tried to unlawfully disrupt his movement by all means to an end. We’ve learned how the CIA was helping Pablo Escobar flood our streets with drugs. How they dismantled and unlawfully disrupted the Brown Berets and Black Panthers because they were trying to teach and uplift the people; telling them there is a system in place to oppress you, know and understand your rights, bear arms to protect your neighborhoods from pig brutality. After both Brown Berets and Panthers fell our children were open to assault by this system, poor schools, no jobs, drugs. Then record labels signed groups who furthered the system’s wishes singing and rapping, “kill your own,” “sell drugs,” “it’s cool to go to prison.”

Regardless of tribe, set, race, if you are classified as Security Threat Group (STG) you are on the same boat as me. STG is a Homeland Security term for a domestic terrorist. First rule in war, identify your enemy. We have been identified and classified as enemies of the state. What else is there to be said? Are we to continue letting our self-imposed politics disrupt reality? Such insignificant things and views like colors and sides or race hinder our lives? They can stop one arrow not a hundred. There’s nothing wrong with being part of groups, families, etc. But it is wrong when those groups lose focus of the message and cause. It is not okay to soak in the blood of your own people, period.

Learn from our oppressor, they are some cold operators, they understand the power of knowledge and education. The ruling class in the United States is composed of men and their families who use ivy league universities and elite law schools as private schools for their offspring and as training grounds for their corporate livelihoods. They rule us with iron precision through the military, the CIA, the FBI, private foundations and financial institutions. Their control of all the media of education and communication comprises an extremely effective system of thought control.

We must learn from someone who defeated this system. Ho Chi Minh understood the power of education. His mandated policy for his warriors and cadres was spot on. Fighting and violence is easy. You must have balance. You must be able to read and write, be able to teach others and most importantly fully understand and be educated in your political paradigm and why you are fighting.

Chicanos in Colorado are currently in a struggle for our true history. We hunger for knowledge because that knowledge has ended all violence between tribes, shown us our common interests, not the blind mentality of colors and sides. We are currently under assault by Colorado Department of Corrections, not allowing us to receive our real education, stopping all education or history on the concept of Aztlán, Chicano unity, Mexica movement, claiming it’s STG. Since when is history and education a crime? Well for us, always.

If there is to be a movement, then there must be leaders. Those leaders must be judged by their ability to give not take. Leadership must convey confidence, not egotism, one who sacrifices, not one who is an opportunist. Leadership is the act of using power to free people, not to control them. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The destruction of the Black Panther Party, the flooding of cities with drugs, and the rejection of literature on Chican@ history in prison are all manifestations of the same system. This system seeks to peacefully control oppressed nations by keeping them from learning about the history of this oppression and the many examples of resistance. And when that fails it locks up the oppressed, or even targets activists for death.

What can we do about this system with so much more power and resources than we have as activists and anti-imperialists? The truth is our side has more power; we have 80% of the world’s population, which is exploited and oppressed by imperialism, on our side. The imperialists are paper tigers, that appear fearsome, but in reality are propped up on a fairly fragile structure of power.

That said, dismantling that structure will take a lot of organization, trial and error. As this comrade points out, we need to focus on education and fight to get true history into the hands of the oppressed. And then we need leaders to step up and organize and educate others. There is no special qualification for this leadership. Anyone who sees the problems in the world around them can take up organizing others to fight back. United Struggle from Within is an organization for these leaders, and MIM(Prisons) supports USW organizers with literature and resources. Get in touch today to get started with a local study group or campaign against repression in your prison or elsewhere in the world.

Ministerio Internacionalista Maoísta de Prisiones (MIM(Prisiones)) ha establecido la ambiciosa meta de hacer de Bajo Llave y Candado (Under Lock & Key - ULK) una publicación mensual para el 2022. ULK satisface una necesidad en la prisión, dando un reporte revolucionario anti-imperialista acerca el subproletariado tras las rejas. Este es un proyecto revolucionario relativamente pequeño centrado en el sistema de injusticia criminal. Pero las prisiones son sólo una parte de la gran maquina imperialista y tomará un movimiento revolucionario mucho más amplio que sólo en las prisiones el derribar el capitalismo. Somos una parte de este movimiento y es nuestro trabajo hacer lo que podamos para empujar hacia adelante este desarrollo.

En esta etapa de la lucha, hay celdas revolucionarias organizadas en varios segmentos dentro del vientre de la bestia. Estamos construyendo un Frente Unido por la Paz en las prisiones para reunir al movimiento detrás de las barras. Y además de eso, queremos un frente unido en contra del imperialismo que incluya tanto a organizaciones penitenciarias como no penitenciarias. Este extenso movimiento necesita una publicación unificada, un periódico que pueda ser usado tanto para difundir información y organizar a las personas.

Lenin escribió: ¿Qué hay que hacer? Acerca de la importancia de una publicación regular de un periódico que organice la revolución en Rusia. Y en las primeras etapas de la organización, antes de que el movimiento gane popularidad y mayores miembros, el líder Bolchevique argumentó la necesidad de los revolucionarios de soñar con una extensa distribución de una publicación regular. El escribió que, con suficientes grupos locales y con un circulo de estudio trabajando activamente:

“Podríamos, en un futuro no tan distante, establecer un periódico semanal para su distribución regular en decenas de miles de copias a lo largo de Rusia. Este periódico se podría convertir en parte de un par enorme del fuelle de Smith que avivarían la chispa de la lucha de clases y la indignación popular dentro del conflicto general. Alrededor de lo que, en sí mismo todavía permanece como un esfuerzo muy inofensivo y muy pequeño, pero regular y común, en el total sentido de la palabra, se reuniría y entrenaría sistemáticamente a un ejército regular de luchadores experimentados. Las escaleras y el andamio de esta estructura organizacional general […] [los revolucionarios] despertarían a todo el pueblo para saldar cuentas con la pena y la maldición de Rusia. ¡Esto es lo que deberíamos soñar!”

¿Por qué imprimir un periódico cuando tenemos internet?

Lenin estaba escribiendo en un tiempo donde no había otra forma de comunicarse entre localidades. Ahora tenemos internet, y algunos debatirán que la agitación en línea es todo lo que necesitamos. Nos podemos comunicar con otras personas alrededor del mundo en pocos segundos por medio de internet. Y esto es, en efecto, una herramienta poderosa de organización. Entonces ¿Por qué publicar un periódico más allá de las prisiones, uno de los pocos lugares en los países de primer mundo sin acceso al internet? La respuesta a esta pregunta es acceso y organización.

La mayoría de las personas no llegan accidentalmente al sitio web de Maoísta mientras navegan en línea, y con el inminente fin de la neutralidad de la red esto tendría a ser cada vez más cierto. No vamos a obtener publicidad en medios de comunicación de tendencia y no queremos alentar la mala seguridad invitando a las personas a publicar en Facebook o Twitter y exponerlos a la policía. Les podemos dar salida a los periódicos en las cafeterías, librerías, tiendas de libros, refugios para personas de la calle, centros comunitarios, lavanderías y otros lugares donde las personas puedan cruzarse con una perspectiva que no se ve en otra parte. Esto expande el acceso a noticias revolucionarias y la educación.

Podemos usar el internet para compartir rápidamente información sobre las campañas, y reunir personas de muchos lugares para acciones rápidas. Y podemos publicar el contenido en un periódico en línea, expandiendo ampliamente su alcance más allá de los medios impresos. Pero si bien el internet es una herramienta poderosa, no lo podemos usar afuera en las calles organizando personas, hablando con ellos, y construyendo grupos de estudio y organizando comités.

Con una publicación impresa, los organizadores pueden acercarse e involucrar a las personas en una forma que no podemos hacer online. Los periódicos dan a los organizadores herramientas para usar en la organización cara a cara. Hablar con las personas acerca de sus condiciones, y haciendo las conexiones al sistema imperialista. Pedir a alguien leer un artículo y hablar con ellos al respecto. Responder a un discurso en una movilización con un artículo periodístico sobre este tema como un punto de inicio para conversaciones con la gente que ya simpatice con la causa.

Metas políticas en la expansión del periódico.

• Recibe actualizaciones de la organización de camaradas en prisión con mayor frecuencia, construyendo la unidad entre el movimiento Maoísta dentro de la frontera de los Estados Unidos.
• Distribución más amplia de la información anti-imperialista.
• Coordinación más estrecha del trabajo entre varias organizaciones dentro el frente unido en contra del imperialismo. Herramientas de organización para la gente en la calle y detrás de las rejas.

Se necesita expandir ULK

Distribuidores: Sólo podremos lograr nuestro objetivo si podemos expandir rápidamente nuestra red de distribuidores. Aquí es donde tú, nuestros lectores y seguidores intervienen. Queremos enviarles un pequeño paquete de ULK a $50 por un año. Para nuestros compañeros del programa lanzamiento de vida queremos enviarles gratis hasta que puedan pagar. Enviarlos por $1 la pieza es una manera de obtener los fondos para su suscripción. O si tienes el dinero puedes tomar la ruta fácil de entregar unas pocas copias en tiendas locales y espacios públicos que tengan espacio para que las personas recojan publicaciones gratis. Para nuestros lectores en prisión, comuníquense con cualquier individuo o institución del exterior que creas podrían ser capaces de tomar un envió regular de ULK.

Dinero: Costará más dinero imprimir más periódicos y también más gastos de envío a nuestros distribuidores. Estamos pidiendo a nuestros distribuidores cubrir el costo de envío de lo que enviaremos. También necesitamos personas que intensifiquen y ayuden a financiar la impresión y los costos de envió a los presos.

Contenido: Nuestra meta inmediata es incrementar la frecuencia de ULK, para que nuestros compañeros dentro reciban más actualizaciones regulares de la organización. Puesto que esto también expandirá el contenido, esperamos incrementar el alcance de los temas que ULK aborda actualmente, exponiendo diferentes sectores del movimiento al trabajo de cada uno. Estamos trabajando en conjunto con organizaciones fraternales para ayudar a crear contenido para este periódico. También llamamos a individuos a incrementar sus esfuerzos para producir contenido de calidad y discutir las necesidades de los oprimidos desde una perspectiva del proletariado. ¿Quién debería ser parte de esta expansión?

Organizaciones revolucionarias anti-imperialistas que vean el Maoísmo como la visión a futuro del comunismo hasta la fecha. Este es explícitamente un proyecto revolucionario y no estamos atenuando el Maoísmo como nuestro eje político guía, pero seguiremos publicando artículos de individuos que compartan nuestra agenda anti-imperialista, aunque quizás no sean Maoístas.

Necesitamos expandir nuestra distribución al exterior más allá de los antiguos prisioneros. Expandiendo el contenido en nuestro periódico ayudaremos a atraer más simpatizantes. Pero también necesitamos más partidarios para expandirnos. Así que nuestro reto principal para nuestros compañeros en la calle justo ahora, es el dar un paso adelante y convertirse en un distribuidor regular de ULK. Sin una red de distribución más amplia, no alcanzaremos nuestra meta de duplicar la frecuencia.

Lista de tareas a elaborar para enero de 2022

• Comience por distribuir localmente ULK. Regístrate con nosotros enviando $50 a nuestro apartado postal con una dirección para enviar publicaciones de ULK para empezar a explorar formas de distribuir la publicación regularmente. (No cheques a Ministerio Internacionalista Maoísta de Prisiones, haznos saber si quieres enviarnos un cheque).
• Comprometerse con una contribución financiera para esta expansión. Idealmente, un monto mensual con el que podamos contar. Puede empezar donando ahora para ayudarnos a construir el fondo necesario para este proyecto.
• Ofrécete como voluntario para escribir artículos, pide una copia de nuestra guía para escribir actualizada.
• Las organizaciones revolucionarias interesadas en involucrarse en este proyecto, pueden contactarnos para comenzar a ver cómo podemos trabajar juntos.

Within the Bureau of Propaganda here in New York State (NYS) Department of Corruptions I am reaching out to all political prisoners and true difference makers who are deeply rooted in solidarity, liberation, and unity. Reach for your victory.

My goal and aim is to unify NYS prisoners and prisoners nationally while building upon the vehicles necessary to combat the many forms of injustice that each of us are subjected to per a truly controlled environment. The time is now!

On 6 January 2018, Voice of the People Daily News, circulated an article titled “Gov’s gotta correct corrections.” In this article many valid points were brought to light as to officers stealing from packages, prisoners being afraid to grieve for fear of retaliation, and no respect for our visitors who are our families and loved ones, and the list goes on! This is our reality!

It is my belief that as men and women of a corrupted system built and established for the purpose of breaking the oppressed, we the people of the Incarcerated Nation should be reaching out and communicating to those who stand in solidarity with our struggle. Do not let them win!

In this news article it was stated: “The outside world has no idea about the horrible mind games and abuse that some prisoners are forced to endure.” These corruptional officers are very methodical and meticulous when it comes to seeing a male or female disciplined and/or labeled as a security threat.

I have been reaching out for quite some time to bring light to what has been hidden and enraptured in darkness for so long. I have no doubt that many other comrades are reaching out and doing the same as is necessary to defeat the many forms of injustice enacted upon us.

To look into the eyes of a brainwashed pig and see how deeply ensnared in corruption he or she is, is to see the real and actual truth of the war that has silently been waged against our people. We the people must release our voices. The first step is to open your mouth as to the injustices you have been through while animalized and dehumanized within a cage built to break you. Free your mind.

I am also in request of each comrade who lives in, builds up, and opens the doors to solidarity to reach out to MIM(Prisons) and provide a 5 stamp donation so that we can further our national systems of support and releasing knowledge. There are many doors available, you are the key to these doors being opened. To give is to receive!

If you see a weak link in our chain, reach out and truly set your pride and ego aside to strengthen this weak link. This will in time strengthen your support if you only knew.

For United Separation Ministry, know that a comrade is setting aside his pride and ego to reach out to you.

19 October 2018 – One week to the day of the Dia de la Raza celebrations in Mexico, a caravan of three to four thousand migrant men, wimmin and children (forming part of what’s been dubbed the Central American Exodus) stormed the Mexico-Guatemala border at the southern Mexico State of Chiapas demanding passage through Mexico on their way to the United $tates. The migrants had spent the previous seven days walking from Honduras, where the caravan originated, through Guatemala, where they grew in numbers as Guatemalans joined the procession. Upon arriving at the Mexico-Guatemala border, the migrants were stopped by an assortment of Mexican Armed Forces equipped with riot gear, armored vehicles and Amerikan-supplied Blackhawk helicopters. The neo-colonial government of Mexico was acting on orders of U.$. Pre$ident Donald Trump who had issued the threat of economic sanctions against Mexico and warned of sending troops to the joint U.$.-Mexico border if Mexico didn’t stop the caravan from reaching the United $tates. Similar orders were given to Honduras and Guatemala, who initially ignored the command. As a result, Pre$ident Trump has warned of cutting off economic aid to the recalcitrant countries.(1)

Hungry, thirsty, tired, and now frustrated, the caravan broke through the border fence and began flooding into Mexico where Mexican forces fired teargas and resorted to the use of their batons on the migrants in an attempt to push the caravan back. While some migrants began throwing rocks at the police, the event reached a focal point when various young men began climbing the gates of the bridge where they were held and began to jump into the shallow Suchiate river below. After unsuccessfully trying to dissuade people from jumping, a reporter present at the event asked the question, “why jump?” One migrant responded that he was doing it for his children, and while he didn’t want to die, the risk was worth it if only he could provide for his family. Others stated that they would rather die than return to the crushing poverty and pervasive gang violence that awaits them back home. “We only want to work,” other migrants stated. When it was all over one child was reported to have died from teargas inhalation.(2)

Unfortunately, the assaults on the caravan did not end there. Forty-eight hours after being stopped at Suchiate, about half of the caravan was eventually admitted into Mexico while 2,000 opted to board buses heading back to Honduras. On 22 October, the remaining members of the caravan along with additional Central American refugees already in Chiapas came together, after which their numbers swelled to 7,000 to 8,000 strong. This included the 2,000 children in their midst, along with the migrants’ rights organization Pueblo Sin Fronteras. Members of the caravan made a public plea to the United Nations to declare the Central American Exodus a humanitarian crisis. They ask the U.N. to intervene and send envoys and a military escort to monitor the caravan’s journey through Mexico which they referred to as a “Corridor of Death.” Representatives of the group accused the Mexican government of perpetuating human rights abuses against them. They claimed that wimmin had been raped and children stolen. They also spoke of children in the caravan suddenly traveling alone because their parents had disappeared.(3)

Meanwhile, further south in the hemisphere, actor Angelina Jolie, who is a special ambassador for the U.N. Human Rights Commission for refugees, traveled to Peru to call attention to the “humanitarian crisis” that is currently playing out in neighboring Venezuela where inflation and food shortages have led to mass migrations into Peru, Brazil, and Colombia.(4) The migrations out of Venezuela have been extensively covered by the Amerikan media, along with increasingly hostile rhetoric from politicians to topple the government of Nicolas Maduro, which has stood against imperialist control of the country. In comparison, the plight of the Honduran caravan has barely been given any attention by English language broadcasts except in its influence on the mid-term elections here in the United $tates. Could this be because the Venezuelan government has been a thorn in the side of U.$. imperialism for the last 20 years while the combined governments of Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras have been faithful, if reluctant, servants of that same imperialist power?

Since 2005 the official number of refugees in the world has climbed from 8.7 million to 214.4 million in 2014.(5) However, since the very definition and criteria for refugee status is set by the imperialists themselves, and hence politically motivated, we’re sure the real number is way higher. For example, according to the U.N., Honduras isn’t even considered a country of origin for refugees. Neither is Mexico, and yet the majority of people migrating to the United $tates come from Mexico and certainly the people of Honduras and Guatemala are fleeing conditions comparably worse than the recent crisis in Venezuela.(6)

As of 2014, there were 11.2 million undocumented migrants in the U.$.; 67% came from Mexico and Central America. Of these 11.2 million migrants, 72% live in four of the 10 states with the largest undocumented populations. Of these 10 states, four are Aztlán i.e., California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada.(7) Statistics also show that migrants from the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador will integrate into Aztlán and their children will assimilate into the Chican@ nation.(8)

As the principal contradiction in the world (imperialism vs. the oppressed nations, principally U.$. imperialism) continues to develop, and crisis heightens, we can expect to see more of these mass exoduses in the not-too-distant future. Already, there are reports of another caravan leaving Honduras of at least 1,000 strong. Surely to Amerikans this must seem like a nightmare come true, literally thousands of Third World refugees banging at the gates of their imperialist citadel. As tragic as all of this seems it is but a glimpse of how the Third World masses will finally rise up, and in their desperation, put an end to imperialism once and for all. Oddly enough, revolutionary forces in Mexico have yet to make an appearance and lend a helping hand to the caravan while ordinary working people have already stepped up to lend their assistance. How will Chican@s respond? That is left to be seen.

¡Raza Si!
¡Moro No!

MIM(Prisons) adds: The U.$. National Endowment for Democracy was involved in both the 2009 coup to overthrow Zelaya in Honduras and 2002 coup to overthrow Chavez in Venezuela (later reversed). Hillary Clinton infamously helped orchestrate the coup in Honduras as well. Since then murderous generals trained by the U.$. School of the Amerikkkas have terrorized the population, killing indigenous people, peasants and environmental activists. The U.$. has established a large military presence in Honduras since the coup, backing the robbing of land from poor indigenous peasants and peasants of African descent.(9)

The prison’s segregation unit at Calhoun State Prison (CSP) has a practical policy of delaying an insulin-dependent diabetic’s finger-stick & insulin injection until several hours after meals have already been served and the empty meal trays collected back up. This is even though their medical orders call for them to receive finger-sticks & insulin before meals, not afterward. This is a textbook example (or, in this prison setting, a case-law example) of a prison policy of indifference which exists in violation of both the contemporary standards recognized by the medical profession (medical malpractice), and the federal constitution’s 8th Amendment’s proscription against cruel & unusual punishments.

A factor contributing to this policy is that at CSP’s segregation (seg) unit breakfast is passed out anytime between 4:30 a.m. & 5 a.m. but CSP’s administration doesn’t have its medical staff clocking in for work until 6 a.m. every morning. By that time (1-1.5 hours after breakfast) the diabetics housed in seg are badly in need of relief from the dangerously high blood glucose/sugar level resulting from their having ate breakfast without any insulin. I know from my own experience as an insulin-dependent diabetic that if I eat without first taking insulin I develop a dangerously high glucose level in the 300s, 400s, 500s, or higher. This is a typical insulin-dependent’s reaction to eating without first receiving the prescribed dosage of insulin he requires for the particular meal.

When nurses clock in at 6 a.m. all of the diabetics housed in prison general population have not ate yet. However, instead of first proceeding to seg to promptly attend to those diabetics who are in acute distress, nurses are instead choosing to administer insulin to the diabetics in general population. Next, they are choosing to perform pill call for the entire non-diabetic general population.

Depending on the efficiency of the particular nurses working on a given day, by the time it’s all said and done nurses aren’t arriving in seg with glucose meters & insulin until anywhere from 7-10 a.m. every morning, sometimes even later. Delays are also occurring at lunchtime & suppertime, even though nurses are already clocked in and on duty, and so there is really no explanation apparent to justify these additional delays. I kept a record of the delays between meals & insulin, and the nurses responsible for the worst delays are Nurse Williams, Nurse Deefe, Nurse Gilbert, Nurse Porter, and Nurse Mills.

To clear the air on how dangerous hours-long delays are, I am going to quote to you from page 54 of Dr. Jorge E. Rodriguez’s book Diabetes Solution, where he explains the dangers of high blood sugar, also called hyperglycerin:

“Hyperglycemia, by definition, is a level of sugar in the blood above the accepted normal range… the normal range for a person’s fasting blood sugar (”fasting” means after 8 or more hours without eating anything) level is below 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) of blood, and the normal range at any other time should be below 180 mg/dl)… Elevated blood sugar in and of itself causes tissue damage but having a blood sugar that is extremely elevated can cause life-threatening changes in the body in a matter of hours. An extremely high blood sugar level, and I mean at least 300 – remember, normal is under 100 (fasting) or 180 (any other time) – can cause an imbalance in the delicate acid-based structure in the tissues of the body. When the body can no longer use sugar as an energy source it starts breaking down fat and protein, one of the by-products of these two alternative sources of energy is ketones. A high level of circulating ketones not only damages tissues, but can cause confusion, unconsciousness, and coma.”

The above medical expert’s opinion sufficiently shows how diabetics housed in CSP’s segregation unit are in imminent danger of serious physical injury and/or death. Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) will try to remedy a prisoner’s medical complaints by transferring him to another prison. In just 3 years my complaints of improper diabetic care has caused my transfers to 8 different prisons (there is also a deficiency in the diabetic care at my present prison, Wheeler Correctional Facility).

These repeated failures are evidence which supports a civil complaint, not only against these individual prisons, but against the entire GDC, under the litigation theory that there’s no prison in the GDC network it can transfer me to where I won’t be in imminent danger of serious physical injury or death, due to a lack of adequate diabetic care. I will keep you informed of all the latest developments.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a followup to the articles “Insulin Indifference Endangers Prisoners”, and “Fixing Insulin Indifference”, which we published in 2017 on this same insulin problem in Georgia. These medical battles are literally life and death for some people. Just a further example of the indifference and negligence of the criminal injustice system.

ULK 61 was very informative to me. I’m 47 years old, and I have what you call street cred. I’ve been a drug dealer all my life because I didn’t see it as a crime, I saw it as an illegal business. I’m currently serving a ten-to-twenty sentence, and all my charges are for drugs except for one.

In 2001, I worked in roofing. When I got to the job site there were no shingles so the boss sent us home early with half a day pay. When I came home, as I started up the stairs, I heard a commotion in my front room where me and my wife sleep. As I opened the door I saw my wife (or ex-wife) naked and a man jumping out the window. I lost my mind, started calling her all type of names and beat on her pretty badly. The neighbors called the cops. When I was given my charges it was rape, burglary, kidnapping, and breaking and entering. What should have been a crime of passion turned into something else. They did a rape kit and it was negative. I had keys to the house, and bills in my name.

I had a public defender because she had all my money. So me being a poor Latino, afraid of the racist justice system, I took a deal of 2 years for sexual battery plus ten years registering as a sex offender. I was evaluated by a professional and was determined that I didn’t have a sex problem. Therefore I did not have to take the sex program that a sex offender must take. I’ve been to prison 4 times after that for possession with intent to deliver and all four times I was evaluated to see if I needed the sex program and every time it’s been determined that I do NOT have a sex problem. My problems are with drugs. So my question is, if I do not have a sex problem, why is the state of Pennsylvania still registering me as a sex offender and wants to do it for life?

I want to change my life around but it’s a heavy load to have as an older man. If anyone knows how I can get relief, please help me if you can.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer underscores our point that labels from the criminal injustice system shouldn’t be trusted. Ey also raises an interesting question related to the topic of crimes against the people. Ey writes “I’ve been a drug dealer all my life because I didn’t see it as a crime, I saw it as an illegal business.” Drug dealing is harmful to those who do and buy drugs, and their families and community, and so we put it in the category of crimes that are against the people. This is different from, say, robbing a bank, or tax fraud.

It sounds like this comrade now sees the problem with dealing drugs, and wants to turn things around. This is a good example of someone who has great potential to reform and become a productive member of the revolutionary movement. Having a S.O. label is not a barrier to that, though we would struggle with this comrade over whether they feels justified in beating up eir ex-wife. Drug dealing is a business and a means to get by for many who are deprived of better options. Some think it is cool, others find it degrading. If someone has stopped and understands why it’s wrong. We care most what ey does with eir life going forward.

I wanted to respond to the document On Cardinal Principles from ULK 54.

The situation where a group was supporting imprisoned white power by promoting the 23 via events outside prisons was left-opportunism. It was a situation where the activists felt it was necessary to cater to imprisoned white supremacists in order to “move the movement forward.”

During World War II Stalin made temporary alliances with Hitler, but this was only because Russia had to build up its military, and millions of lives were at stake. Here, had the activists chose not to promote imprisoned white power the movement and its united front would have survived.

Looking back at the response/decision to split with MIM(Prisons) over them not issuing a statement on the matter, I must now say it was wrong. I believe now that I should have criticized MIM(Prisons) on this, but I should not have supported a split. It was an over-reaction, which I feel was brought on by a combination of things. One being the extreme repression and pressure I was under in the concentration kamp. It did affect me in ways I am still dealing with. I was in a situation where death by the state was perpetual, solitary was a mountain of pressure and white supremacy was the assassin ever-present. I felt at the time, betrayal for those who would not issue a response. This of course was an incorrect response.

Being released from the kkkamps has allowed me to look at my thoughts on this with new eyes. It is true that MIM(Prisons) had served prisoners including myself for many years. I should not have responded as if I just met them. This was a result of many years of solitary, and the psychological turmoil that the state put me through. This kind of turmoil often has prisoners turn on each other, here I turned on comrades politically, comrades who had been my instructors for years. I was wrong for this.

I accept the criticism from MIM(Prisons) and for the historical record I stand in unity with MIM(Prisons).

I hope with this self-criticism that our imprisoned comrades can learn from it. It’s important to know that to split with comrades over tactics, whether it is over something you feel you may be correct on, is a very big move. Prisons, and particularly solitary confinement, at times obscures our ability to respond in a materialist way. One way to avoid these challenges from escalating is to take a break when you start to think these thoughts. Write the organization/persyn and let them know that you are taking a break so as not to exacerbate the conflict.

I should note that the tactic of activists to promote the 23 has now been overturned. So in that aspect I was proven correct, it was my response that was incorrect. But this was a very important lesson.

The movement cannot move forward with subjective decisions. I allowed subjectivism to determine my decisions on this issue and that was an error. MIM(Prisons)’s line never changed so my affiliation with them should not have changed either.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We whole-heartedly accept this self-criticism from Pili based on this statement and eir principled work with the Republic of Aztlán.

It is not unusual for us to encounter anger and frustration from our comrades inside. Our relationship is tenuous through the mail. Often comrades will question us because of this. We generally know more about them then they know about us. That is an imbalance that can encourage doubts. This is a good example of the psychological warfare that solitary confinement wages on the oppressed. It is not just about isolating individuals from others, it has broad and lasting impacts on the oppressed’s ability to organize effectively.

For all the reasons mentioned by Pili, we try to be patient and understanding when there is the occasional riff with a comrade we have worked closely with for some time. But we always to looking at practice – look at our work, look at what we say. Is it consistent? Is it correct? And we will take the same approach with you. Sometimes comrades/organizations do change their line and practice to a degree that warrants splitting with them.

Advanced comrades should think about what a dividing line question is for them. This can help orientate you, and avoid subjectivism, when you find yourself questioning whether another group is an ally or not. See the article cited by Pili above for a discussion of cardinal principles and what we believe Maoists should and shouldn’t divide over.

Reports from the September 9 Day of Peace and Solidarity are starting to come in. Comrades in prisons across the country commemorated the anniversary of the Attica uprising, building the movement and taking a stand against the criminal injustice system.

This day of action was initiated in 2012 by a prisoner-led organization working with the United Front for Peace in Prisons (UFPP). The day is focused on building unity and solidarity. The call for peace between all groups, sets, organizations and individuals, even for just one day, frightens the prison administration. We know they don’t want peace. They benefit when the oppressed fight one another. It keeps the attention off the real enemy: the criminal injustice system. We see this in the report about September 9 organizing from Master K.G. Supreme.

This year’s action coincides with the end of the three week country-wide prison strike initiated by Jailhouse Lawyers Speak. The demands of this strike focused on improvement in conditions behind bars and changing laws and unwritten policies of national oppression that perpetuate the criminal injustice system. The organizers of the strike recognize that the battle continues: “Incarcerated organizers never believed that their demands would be met a negotiating table during the past three weeks; it has been a huge success of the 2018 prison strike that the 10 points have been pushed into the national and international consciousness.”(1)

The UFPP principle of Peace states: “WE organize to end the needless conflicts and violence within the U.$. prison environment. The oppressors use divide and conquer strategies so that we fight each other instead of them. We will stand together and defend ourselves from oppression.” This work doesn’t stop with September 9, we need to work for peace among the oppressed year round. Below are a few initial reports from California. We look forward to more reports from the rest of the country.

California Correctional Institution

For this September 9th Day of Peace and Solidarity, I personally will fast, exercise, read and hold a study group, which will consist of 8 committed and conscious-minded individuals, who hold fast to the philosophy of peace and unity amongst prisoners. This day there will be no strife, conflict nor division amongst the prisoners here. It’s not conducive to a healthy environment. Nor will it promote growth and development.

So, the study group’s theme will be peace and unity and how we can best promote these themes within these prison confines. I will start it off by giving my interpretation on what peace and unity means to me. And then i will ask the eight comrades what does peace and unity mean to them individually.

And this will start the deep discussion about the continued peace and unity amongst the prisoners here. And at that, we can come together in solidarity to rid ourselves of the internal oppression that exists amongst us. And only then can we conquer and vanquish imperialism in all its forms. This is our object. We’ll make this a successful effort by all means necessary.

Salinas Valley State Prison

Abolitionists From Within (AFW) is back on the move here at SVSP quad this Bloody September. This September 9, 2018 we remember the anniversary of Attica of Sept 9, 1971 and them faceless freedom revolutionary fighters who fought and died in these prisons uprising throughout history of our struggle as we continue to fight the oppression, exploitation, abuse and inhumane treatment of prisoners. A lot of rights and privileges comrades have today is because of these soldiers at war with this corrupt system.

Throughout this country, we as New Afrikans must reconstruct our thoughts and come up with ways and ideas to get control over our minds behind enemy lines, and work to educate the lumpen. I know our young comrades think they know everything. Being upright, independent and fearless against all odds and not fearing the outcome of whatever is what the young comrades are looking for true leadership.

This Sept 9 day I refrained from all negative conversation. AFW continues to push to end prisoner-on-prisoner hostilities throughout this country. I had the chance to meet and become a student of the main 4 reps to end all hostilities between our racial groups, and also a brother from the representatives body. I spoke with brother X about our beloved brother W.L. Nolen and GJ and our conditions today as “new man,” and how GJ struggled to transform the Black criminal mentality into a Black revolutionary mentality. And solidarity with all you comrades around the country this Sept 9 day.

Valley State Prison

Greetings from the A-yard of Valley State Prison. In honor of the anniversary of the Attica uprising, and as an act of solidarity, the members of our study group abstained form eating for 24 hours. For one day we did not eat, starting with the Sunday G-slam, lunches (cold) and the evening meal. Ten copies of the solidarity study pack were passed out to members of our sg and a few other prisoners who were interested. A comrade was kind enough to photocopy my solidarity study pack which MIM(Prisons) provided. Most of the prisoners who attend our group were not even aware of the events at Attica on 9 September 1971, or the calls for prison reform which the Attica uprising prompted. A special emphasis was put on finding ways to promote peace and to educate all prisoners across the country on principles of the UFPP.

In closing, I want you to know that I may be new to this but I am trying hard to learn and organize here at VSP and so are others. We, as always appreciate very much the material support and organizational guidance of MIM(Prisons). Thank you.

California State Prison - Corcoran

This Black August Resistance was a success. The program was designed to educate the minds of our youth who I believe have revolutionary potential. We read and studied Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, and Chancellor William’s The Rebirth of Afrikan Civilization, along with the Appeals of David Walker. Exercised, and wrote essays on the days required to do so. Also, in support of September 9, we will continue our fast from 8/21 until 9/9, we will not be ordering any canteen nor packages for the 4th quarter. So far we aren’t getting any backlash from the pigs, and other Lumpen Orgs are participating in the program as well.

I just got done reading ULK 61 and I got to say it opened my eyes to a lot of stuff that I did as a gang member of Aryan Brotherhood in Texas to sex offenders coming into the system. When they came in, me and several other dudes would beat them up to “break them” and then would sell them to the butty bandits due to their crime of being labeled a sex offender.

The system would not attempt to protect them either, due to the label they had on them as a sex offender. So we had free reign to punish them as we seen fit. But nowadays I look back on the stuff that I did and can see the big errors of my ways.

I ran into a dude down in the state hospital that was just about dead of AIDS that he got due to the actions of me and some other dudes breaking him. I was going for breaking my hand in a fight and saw the death wagon pull up and unload two AIDS patients, and one dude seen me and called out my name and asked me if I was still breaking in sex offenders and if so to look at him and see what it causes.

I was like “Dude I do not know you or want to know you either.” He told me where I beat him up and sold him, and it blew my mind. I had a lot of hate towards sex offenders when I came into this place and it has mellowed out over the last 34 years that I have been in prison. My baby sister was assaulted by her friend’s father, so the issue of sex offenders is personal to me.

When I started in the County Jail beating up sex offenders for something to do, the Sheriff would tell the jailers to put anyone that came into the jail on my tan and tell me in front of the dude what he was in the jail for. I look back on it now and I am coming to the realization that they were using me to punish the dudes that were charged with sexual assault.

One dude, I broke his jaw in two places due to his granddaughter saying he touched her in a private spot. Come to find out it was a lie because she was mad at him for grounding her for the weekend.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not attempting to brag about it, just am showing the length of time and intensity that I have been blinded by the system to do their work, and now I’m starting to understand the system. What made me wake up is one of my brothers got charged with sexual assault/harassment for grabbing his croch and telling a chick to suck is dic- as he left school. Since he made a crude gesture towards her she said she felt violated. He was on a ten-year probation so he got violated for the gesture and came to prison for it. And yes he has to register as a level 1 tier offender due to him being mad about getting kicked out of school for a 3-day period.

Each case is different so you got to look at all of the facts. If you go blindly as I did for years upon years you are no better than the ones you are jumping on, due to the fact that you are siding with the oppressors and are holding down your own people. Yes I am fully aware that there are some sexual offenses that are true crimes and they need all that they get and ten fold more heaped on top of it if they are truly guilty of the crime of sexual assault on a woman or child.

But before you lace up the steeltoe boots and put your pistols on gloves to beat up a sex offender, make sure it’s a true crime and one that deserve the punishment that you are fixin to hand out. If not you’re just working for the system that you are claiming to work against. You cannot pull both ways at once or you go no place at all.

I used to beat up the dudes, now I try to help them with their cases due to the fact that a lot of them are not able to get help in the law library because they have ask a law clerk to help get a case cite and his first question is “what you charged with?” And he will go to the law books and look up your case, and if you do not pass his smell test he will not help you, or he will tell you the case cite you’re asking about is not in the law library, or throw your request slip away and say he never got it at all.

Look at it like this, what if you’re with a girl and you’re going at it and she says “stop”? If you move forward one more time you have just committed sexual assault.

So before you say it will not happen to you, you got to look at it with your eyes open and see the whole picture and not just what the state wants to show you. So think about all the forms that you may have been labeled a sex offender in the past and then you can get over the stink of the name and start to see the person and not the label that the state has put on a person. Most I can work around because I was a dirty dog in the world and could have been charged a few times too. But the main issue is we need to stop letting the state do our thinking for us and take back our minds from the system. You can handcuff my body but I refuse to let you handcuff my mind any longer.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer has learned through practice pretty much everything we’ve been saying about sex crimes. This is an impressive transformation, and we hope ey has also transformed eir thinking about oppressed nations over many years behind bars.

It’s true that a lot of people have committed sex crimes but not been caught. Men are taught to be “dirty dogs” as this writer says. That’s why the revolutionary movement will need to do a lot of work reforming thinking and rehabilitating. Not just those with sex charges, but everyone raised in this messed up system. As we discuss in the “Punishment vs. Rehabilitation” article, we can do some of this rehabilitating now, but we will focus our energy and time on those who recognize their mistakes and crimes and want to make a change and committ to serving the people.

August 2018 – September 9 is expected to be big! No violence, everyone has agreed to be at peace. In USW we support!

We are upholding the five principles of the United Front here in Missouri. We’ve been effectively organizing, uniting, educating, etc. as a part of the program for peace, unity, growth, internationalism, and independence. And as a result, prison violence has dropped dramatically. We thank you for giving us a way to transmit positive energy and reduce conflict among prisoners. We now have 5 maximum security prisons on board, helping to raise the consciousness of the confused youth and building unity amongst the older captives. As we focus ahead, we see a future filled with love, freedom, and peace. We pray that you will continue to help us transform our people so that together we can strengthen our organizing for liberation.

I received ULK 63! I was so glad to hear from you all. This issue really laid it all out for my guys, so I made 45 copies and passed them out, then instructed each member of UZI (United Zulu Independence Movement) to do the same.

Three days later I called a meeting in the gym to discuss in-depth what each bro had read in this new issue of ULK about UFPP. The responses I received were beautiful. The young Crips now believe that the lumpen in California, who they mimic, are seeking to unite instead of separate. They now see that the gangs are fighting against the oppressor.

Missouri is a slow state, so they were still set on fighting each other, until they witnessed me and my New Afrikan Tribe moving under the sciences of peace, unity, growth, internationalism, and independence. We trade evolutionary material, we speak about communism, we teach each other to use the law as a tool to build doorways to freedom, and now your newsletter just explained everything that I’ve been telling these young Crips about the need to stop the senseless gang bangin’, riots, and territorial disputes on the yard caused by the COs.

Thank you! ULK Thank You! Now these bros see that the struggle is real. I have to get back to work. Will write more soon. Can’t stop! Won’t stop!