“Power in defense of freedom is greater than power on behalf of tyranny
and oppression.” - Malcolm X
As most of you may know, we are engaged in a protracted struggle to
secure our liberation from perpetual torture and uphold our human
rights. On July 1st the Pelican Bay
SHU D-Corridor
Collective called for an indefinite
hunger
strike to peacefully protest the decades and decades of subhuman
conditions we have endured in these sensory deprivation torture units.
The NCTT, along with 6,600 other prisoners and untold thousands the
world over answered that call. We did not eat for 21 days. I personally
lost 42 pounds and had to be rushed to the emergency room at least once.
Men older and less physically resilient than myself, some with chronic
disease such as diabetes, asthma and cancer survivors, made these same
sacrifices, and we are prepared to make those sacrifices again, taking
them to their ultimate conclusion if necessary, to achieve what is by
right ours already.
This makes the events of 16 August all the more perplexing, even though
we were forewarned and expected it. At approximately 08:00 on 16 August
2011 some 20 to 25 Correctional Officers (COs) and some 10 to 12 ISU and
IGI [“gang intelligence”] officers converged on 4B1L-C-section under the
pretext that they’d received a “kite” alleging New Afrikan and/or
“southern” Mexican partisans in 4B1L-C-section were going to “assault
staff.”
For months, IGI has been attempting to manufacture fear and reactionary
resentment amongst building COs that New Afrikans were planning to
attack staff during Black August memorial. Mindful of the daily
injustices visited upon indeterminate SHU prisoners, and already fearful
of the dreaded retribution, some staff actually bought into this
absurdity. There was no threat, there was no “kite” found – this was
simple unadulterated retribution for the hunger strike and the unwanted
public attention it has brought to the domestic torture camps they are
managing at Pelican Bay, Corcoran and Tehachapi SHUs.
We were all stripped down and escorted out of the building and placed in
the small management yard caged (imagine a K-9 kennel cage – that’s what
our yard is). For approximately 6 hours they systematically tore our
cells up, cut open mattresses, tore down or trod upon personal photos,
confiscated any item they felt would hurt us on a personal level, with
abject disregard for personal property regulations. Coffee and tooth
powder was strewn over personal letters and laundry was taken or trod
underfoot. We were brought back to our cells only to find what I can
only describe as the leavings of a tornado of F-5 proportions.
That this was done as retaliation was itself insulting, how it
was done was blatant disrespect – but what perplexes the mind is what
did they hope to gain by such a transparent reactionary response? We
are, and have demonstrated historically, that we are fully prepared
to die to secure our human rights and dignity. So surely this
could not be some act to deter resistance. Perhaps it was an act of
provocation, an attempt to engender a reactionary military response to a
psychological and political attack? But no, this couldn’t be the case
because unlike the blindly violent monsters they would make us out to
be, the truth of the matter is that we are men of principle who believe
in self-defense and clearly exhausting all legal and peaceful means of
protest. Unlike the state, for us violence is a last resort and
we are not, and cannot be, compelled to react to provocation or allow
such to deter us from the legitimate struggle for our, and the people’s
human rights and dignity.
So this leaves us with the obvious conclusion that like a petulant child
or a bully who’s been exposed for the sadist they are, they strike out
blindly, to inflict whatever discomfort they can in an act of impotence
and frustration; an acknowledgment of their weakness in the face of the
people’s power.
Men in ernest are not afraid of consequence. There exists no set of
retaliatory actions, no sanctions they can bring to bear, that will
deter our course, as long as we have you, the people,
supporting us we will win. Together we can attain even greater
victories than these. It is our sincerest hope that you continue to
support this effort and open yourselves up to the prospect of more
progressive initiatives to come. Stand with us and we will forge a
brighter tomorrow.
