Under Lock & Key

So many today dismiss the Pan-Afrikan movement and its various bodies, both within and outside of U.$. prisons, as that of an unnecessary call and reference to an outdated idea. In the context of the proletarian political causes, it is often the ultra-leftist who has taken up this position.

However, in our attempts to fast forward the most correct methods of resolving contradictions, we acknowledge that they come in the form of class consciousness among nationalist leaders driven by internationalist struggles led by the proletariat. The Pan-Afrikan movement is one likely place where we find these elements.

Many prisoners are aware of the name Marcus Mosiah Garvey, but very few are familiar with Amy Jacques Garvey, the wife of Marcus Garvey and the bone and marrow of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Amy Garvey was a special person in the history of liberation struggles. Born 31 December 1895 in Kingston, Jamaica to a middle-upper class family, Amy Garvey was ahead of her time. Though “all identity is individual, there is no individual identity that is not historical or, in other words, constructed within a field of social values, norms of behavior and collective symbols.”(1)

The mother of what author Ula Yvette Taylor coined “community feminism,” Amy Garvey pressed the issue of lower class wimmin not only in serving their male counterparts, but also educating themselves to become political leaders in the nation. Today, lumpen wimmin of the internal semi-colonies still find themselves criticized for either being home-oriented or for sex. UNIA enjoyed support across gender and promoted equality of the sexes. Yet, in practice, this “community feminist” approach was a means of dealing with the expectations put on wimmin to be supporters of men while still being political leaders. While wimmin like Amy Garvey had to take on an unequal burden compared to their male counterparts, their actions served to break down the expectations of gendered roles, paving the way for others.

Amy Garvey empowered wimmin to confront racism, colonialism and imperialism, while contesting masculine dominance as well.(2) As she wrote, wimmin should use their “intelligence in a righteous cause” as they are needed to “fill the breach, and fight as never before, for the masses need intelligent dedicated leadership.”(3)

Since the 1920s, Amy Jacques Garvey’s organizing activities had sought to further the decolonization of West Afrikan nations as people of African descent endeavored to restructure their societies. The antecedents of these largely nationalist movements were well-established in Pan-Afrikan struggle that came into its own during the early 1940s, including the fifth Pan-Afrikan Congress. Meanwhile, other power shifts were occurring such as: the rise of the Soviet Union, liberation struggles in southeast Asia, the independence of China and the Asian-African Bandung Conference.(4) Indeed, within this political milieu, “West Afrikan nationalism and various brands of Pan-Africanism, could mix with everything from Fabian socialism to Marxism-Leninism.”(5)

While engaging in the international arena, Amy Garvey also struggled against fellow comrades of the UNIA. She was well known for her refusal to hold her tongue on the contradictions that arose within, even at times writing critical positions of Marcus Garvey himself. It resembles so many of those within the belly of the beast babylon who struggle to liberate themselves in order to offer liberation to their people, only to be hushed by LO leadership.

Amy Garvey was from Jamaica and considered herself an Afrikan. She drove home the point that people of Afrikan descent in the United $tates (New Afrikans) and elsewhere were living as second-class citizens, largely as a result of economic oppression. Today we see the second-class citizenship that New Afrikans and Chican@s face as the biggest targets of social isolation by the U.$. prison system. The second class that the oppressed nations are being bred into today is what we call the First World lumpen class. In the imperialist countries, that is the class that has nothing to lose from a revolution except the very chains that bind them to a bourgeois system that doesn’t serve them. “As the lumpen experience oppression first hand here in Amerika, we are in a position to spearhead the revolutionary vehicle within the U.$. borders.”(6)

The 2015 release of Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán by a MIM(Prisons) study group introduces prisoners to the reality of their class identity with the lumpen of oppressed internal semi-colonies in North America.

“Kwame Nkrumah in his analysis of neo-colonialism in Africa defined it as: ‘The essence of neo-colonialism is that the state which is subject to it is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside.’ Nkrumah stressed the importance of dividing the oppressed into smaller groups as part of this process of preventing effective resistance to imperialism as had already occurred in China, Vietnam, Korea, Cuba and elsewhere.”(7)

Amy Garvey too considered the likes of Kwame Nkrumah as her comrade, alongside of Nnamdi Azikiwe, W.E.B. DuBois and George Padmore, just to name a few. She was a disciplined, arduous scholar whose objective was to fold Garveyism into existing progressive organizations, thus uniting a divergent Pan-Afrikan world.

Many of the ideas that are circulated amongst the lumpen organizations within the belly of the beast babylon are grafted from the ideas of the peoples parties like the UNIA, whether they admit it or not. The proof is in the pudding. Amy Garvey showed that one could stand on two legs and not buckle under the pressure of integrationist culture.

Amy Garvey held Marcus Garvey up while he served his prison bid in Atlanta, and took the driver’s seat of one of the world’s most influential Negro organizations in its time when wimmin weren’t expected to be political. It is so similar to the anti-imperialist prisoner movement; prisoners aren’t expected to be political souljahs.

Death to babylon-imperialism!

MIM(Prisons) adds: MIM said that Pan-Afrikanism should be a strategic question, and is not worth splitting over.(8) They also said that Pan-Afrikanism has historically been the most progressive of the “pan” ideologies. Clearly that the Pan-Afrikan mission has yet to succeed in the dire need for effective revolutionary leadership is evident in the recent revelations that

“In 2014, the U.S. carried out 674 military activities across Africa, nearly two missions per day, an almost 300% jump in the number of annual operations, exercises, and military-to-military training activities since U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) was established in 2008.”(9)

The imperialists continue to foment the tribal divisions across the African continent to wage proxy wars that amount to inter-proletarian killing on the ground. The overwhelming proletarian character of the populations in Africa gives Pan-Afrikanism its strong progressive character.

He overcame so many obstacles with so few resources, and he gives me motivation and inspiration to overcome and succeed, although my difficulties are minor compared to his. He was a great man and an unsung hero of freedom fighting. He must have thought to himself that it was better to risk death and fight for his freedom, than to conform to the wishes of tyrannical beings.

He fought and won. So much was against him and yet his spirit refused to be broken. He knew how powerful words can be. He learned them and mastered them. And once he’d won, he didn’t let the realm of success lull him into complacency – a realm where many men venture and are swallowed, ending their reign of greatness. No, Frederick Douglass was a mossless stone; he never stagnated. Douglass continued pressing forward, not only bettering himself, but also bettering those he came in contact with and helping other oppressed individuals.

His written word will echo through the generations, inspiring thousands and perhaps millions. The American education system gives him only a cursory glance, then moves on to lies about founding fathers. Imagine if they lingered longer or more often on Frederick Douglass, and the valuable influence on those impressionable minds he would render. Frequently, I wonder about a stronger, less passive and more spirited generation. Like Frederick Douglass.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Frederick Douglass was born into slavery around 1818 in Maryland. Ey escaped slavery and went on to become a prolific writer, speaker, and newspaper publisher. Eir primary battles were against slavery and for wimmin’s right to vote. Douglass had a similar path to radicalization as many readers of ULK, even though ey lived almost two centuries ago.

Douglass was taught the alphabet at around 12 years old from eir slavemaster’s wife. Even though ey was discouraged from reading, sometimes with violence, Douglass continued to study and taught many others how to read as well. With the ability to read, Douglass became politicized through reading newspapers, which helped em develop into an internationally-acclaimed writer and speaker against slavery and oppression.

Even in the face of censorship and lack of programming, many U.$. prisoners build themselves and others up in the same way Douglass did. Present-day prisoners are not allowed to come together in a group to study, for “security threat concerns,” which parallels Douglass’s experience of having eir weekly literacy classes disbanded by the clubs and stones of slave owners. Nowdays, those who try to teach in spite of restrictions are locked in isolation toture cells.

Without good literacy skills, one can’t file a lawsuit, or write grievances, or understand the prison handbook, or read Under Lock & Key; get the picture? Various sources state that 60-70% of U.$. prisoners are functionally illiterate.(1) Illiteracy affects the majority of prisoners, and thus hinders the organization of the majority of our subscribers’ peers. Passing on an issue of ULK does little good if the recipient can’t understand it.

Statistics from the prisoncrats themselves state that prisoners have a 70% chance of recidivism if they get no help with their literacy, whereas prisoners who do receive literacy help have a 16% chance of recidivism.(2) We wonder, why aren’t there more programs for teaching reading comprehension and writing skills in prisons? It’s clearly a continuation of the same exact national oppression faced by Frederick Douglass’s generation.

That we are still having a conversation about building literacy among New Afrikans should give us a clue of the ineffectiveness of reformism and the necessity of complete communist revolution. After gaining state power, one of the first steps of this revolution will be to establish a joint dictatorship of the proletariat of the oppressed nations (JDPON), so that the most oppressed people in the world can dictate to those who have been oppressing others for centuries how society will be run. As was done in communist China under Mao, one of the primary functions of this dictatorship of the proletariat will be to build literacy at every single level of society, and especially among those who are furthest removed from the benefits of the economic system. One can’t fully participate in society’s development without literacy, and we need as many people as possible to participate.

We want to do as much as we can now to speed up the transition from capitalism to communism, and reading and writing are essential to this task. Building literacy also fits well into our immature Re-Lease on Life program, so those who are released can have a better chance of success and hopefully also a better chance of staying engaged in political work when on the outside. Even though MIM(Prisons) and United Struggle from Within are on a much smaller scale than a JDPON, or even a single nation-state, we can still contribute to this goal while we build for a society where advanced literacy is taught to everyone systematically.

Douglass is just one individual example of a larger social phenomenon: when higher education meets a lack of opportunity, it produces radicalization and objection to the status quo. We know there is much more we can do to increase the reading and writing skills of oppressed nation lumpen in U.$. prisons, and to foster this politicization. But since MIM(Prisons) can only reach people with written material, we need our comrades behind bars to do the work on the ground. Anyone who is already teaching others basic literacy skills should get in touch with MIM(Prisons) to help us develop this Serve the People program. If you already have a study group, try to think how you can expand it to teach literacy as well. Tell us what materials we can send you to help you teach reading and writing to others. It is one of the ways we can improve the material conditions of our fellow oppressed peoples, and one way we can uphold the legacy of Frederick Douglass.

We’ve been working hard to express the need to end all hostilities amongst all ethnicities. Us New Afrikans here in the belly of the beast known as the Corcoran SHU have just completed a beautiful BAM (Black August Resistance/Memorial) and we came together to struggle today [September 9th] for the purpose of unity. We exercised in a group that consisted of ourselves, a couple southern Hispanics, and a northern Hispanic. Our study habits still consist of revolutionary literature, economics, politics and some history where our cultural and social interactions are similar without division.

We don’t have a short corridor anymore here in this concrete tomb, so with people arriving from the mainline just to do a SHU term we can educate them on the importance of the agreement to end all racial hostilities, and stay on guard because the fascist oppressors will always try to sabotage our collective struggle. A lot of these youngsters who come in here don’t have a clue about the Attica uprising or Black August Memorial, and how could they when all the teachers of New Afrikans struggles are still anguishing behind enemy lines. The importance of us getting out of the SHU is to educate our youth about their history.

Today we had a group study session on the importance of revolutionary internationalism, which is the ideological expression of global revolutionary scientific socialism in service to the oppressed underclass of the world. We feel that revolutionary internationalism is the ideological vanguard of global liberation and source of theoretical development in coordinating disparate national revolutions. Also, keeping the permanent struggle of ideological mental warfare going in order to eradicate backwards and unprincipled thinking, or incompatible ideas or activities, and proving the correctness of the revolutionary party’s views.

This weapon in which we speak is part of the dialectical processes that are ongoing and endless, until the principle contradictions of the oppressed and the oppressor are eliminated. Once this takes place you will see the transformation of the cultural values, practices and relationships of the people prepare and condition themselves for a revolution against the oppressor state. The outcome is uprooting and destroying the old oppressive rationale and mindset of colonial society and bringing into being new values which move the people outside of the colonial mindset and into that of the emerging revolutionary society. We can accomplish this through the agreement to end all hostilities. So we strive to do so. It’s a long out-dated situation that produced no winners, and only losers, and that has also further pushed us into oppression. We realize that now, and since it’s not too late to correct it, we struggle collectively to do so.

[Recently several prisoners wrote in to describe the religious discrimination against Muslims going on in Arkansas prisons. The Supreme Court determined that the prison must allow people to grow facial hair if this is a part of their religious beliefs, but the Delta Regional Unit continues to deny this right. Below, several correspondents explain their struggle.]

Prisoner #1: I am a Muslim and through religious beliefs I should be able to grow and groom neat facial hair. It was proven in the Supreme Court (Holt vs. Hobbs 135 S. CT. 853) that the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) policy was not the least restrictive means of preventing prisoners from hiding contraband and disguising their identities. I went through all proper procedures and paperwork to get a script saying I was able to grow my facial hair through religious beliefs. I was approved by the unit Chaplain for my script, but when it came to the next step of the Warden signing off on it I was denied due to him determining if I was sincere enough. What gives the Warden the right to determine a person’s sincerity about their religious beliefs?

Prisoner #2: I am currently incarcerated at the Delta Regional Unit in Deumott, Arkansas. I have been in my walk of faith (Islam) sincerely for almost three years now. In the beginning I didn’t think that I would suffer from so much ridicule for choosing this way of life, but still, I hold my head high and continue on my walk of faith.

Sometime and somehow, this ridicule and discrimination has to cease. I am ready to come together with a group of fellow prisoner to stand up for our rights as well as the things we believe in.

The current problem that I am having involves the ADC programming policy. A law was recently passed that allows prisoners to grow their hair and/or facial hair for religious purposes only, and Muslims seem to be the majority of those who are being denied their rights, along with me as well. I am currently in the middle of a grievance process because I was denied my script. I think the problem is religious discrimination.

Prisoner #3: Warden James Gibson and the Chaplain Chuck Gladdon are violating the constitutional rights of the Muslims and other prisoners under their care. The supreme court ruled in Holt v. Hobbs that the grooming policy was a substantial burden on prisoners’ religion, by not allowing them to grow facial hair/beards. As to security concerns, the Supreme Court also said it was not the least restrictive means of stopping prisoners from hiding contraband, or disguising their identity.

The procedures are still burdensome because all the Muslims who apply for the right to wear a beard are denied automatically while the white inmates are receiving the right to grow hair or receiving a religious accommodation script from Warden Gibson and Chaplain Gladdon. Even after the Supreme Court made its ruling, this has not changed.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This denial of rights to Muslim prisoners is more than just religious discrimination. Because the majority of Muslims in Amerikkkan prisons are New Afrikan or Arab, targeting Muslims fits in with the overall system of national oppression that is especially acute within the criminal injustice system in the United $tates. Further, Amerikans like to equate Islam with terrorism in a racist attempt to denigrate entire nations. While the cultural practice of growing facial hair is not a particularly revolutionary battle relevant to the Maoist movement, this attack on oppressed nations under the guise of religious expression is important to expose.

Communists are working towards a world where all people are free to express themselves, without restrictions that come from the oppression of groups of people by others. However, we are also working towards a society where all people are provided education and scientific analysis around the false prophets and gods that religion proffers. We do not need faith in higher mystical powers, instead we need humynity to take responsibility for its own destiny and build a society where we can have faith in the ability of people to solve the problems created by people, as well as the problems we face in our material world.

Under socialism, all people will have the freedom to practice whatever religion they choose, but they will not be given the platform to proselytize for their religion and build a broader movement of mysticism. Science and scientific thinking will be the basis of education. Only this scientific method will ensure an end to oppression of all groups of people. For more on how religion was handled in communist China under Mao, ask for our religion study pack.

Memorializing Yogi, his comrade David Johnson called him an “educator” and the “spirit of the prison movement.”(1) Former Black Panther and long-term friend Kiilu Nyasha said the word that came to her mind was “love.”(2) Most of the information in this article comes from Kiilu as well as Yogi’s fellow San Quentin 6 comrades David Johnson and Sundiata Tate.(3) All recounted stories of his immense love, his prominent leadership, his indomitable spirit, his dedication to creating and becoming the “new man” and his role in educating others.

The state of California attacked Hugo Pinell for 50 years, from the time of his imprisonment on a phony charge of raping and kidnapping a white womyn, through to his death this week. He was one of a number of comrades involved in an incident on 21 August 1971, in which George Jackson was killed along with three prison guards and two prisoner trustees. Hugo Pinell was charged and convicted with slashing the throats of two prison guards during this incident, though neither was killed. One of these guards was known to have murdered a New Afrikan prisoner in Soledad and had gone unpunished. Those prisoners charged with crimes for the events of 21 August 1971 became known as the San Quentin 6. It was this incident, and the murder of George Jackson in particular, that triggered the takeover of the Attica Correctional Facility in New York by prisoners of all nationalities in response to the oppressive conditions they had faced there for years. Beginning on 9 September 1971, the prisoners controlled the prison for four days, setting up kitchens, medical support, and communications via collective organizing. Prison guards were treated with respect and given proper food and medical care like everyone else. It all ended on 13 September 1971 when the National Guard invaded the yard, killed 29 prisoners and 9 staff, and tortured hundreds after they regained control. It is the collective organizing for positive change that occurred during those four days that we celebrate on the September 9 Day of Peace and Solidarity in prisons across the United $tates.

The prisoners in Attica acted in the ideals of men like George Jackson and Hugo Pinell who were well-respected leaders of the first wave of the prison movement. Jackson, Pinell and their comrades, many who are still alive and mourning and commemorating Yogi’s death(1, 3), always promoted unity and the interests of all prisoners as a group. The Attica brothers took this same philosophy to a more spectacular level, where they flipped the power structure so that the oppressed were in control. Not long afterward, prisoners at Walpole in Massachusetts won control of that facility as a result of the events at Attica. In both cases prisoners worked together collectively to meet the needs of all, peace prevailed, and spirits rose. Like a dictatorship of the proletariat on a smaller scale, these prisoners proved that when the oppressed are in power conditions for all improve. And it is historicaly examples like these that lead us to believe that is the way to end oppression.

Following the incidents of August and September 1971, the Black Panther Party printed a feature article on Hugo Pinell, who they upheld as “a member in good standing of the Black Panther Party.” It read in part:

“[Prisoners across the United States] began to realize as Comrade George Jackson would say, that they were all a part of the prisoner class. They began to realize that there was no way to survive that special brand of fascism particular to California prison camps, except by beginning to work and struggle together. Divisions, such as this one, like family feuds, often take time to resolve. The common goal of liberation and the desire for freedom helps to make the division itself disappear, and the reason for its existence become clearer and clearer. The prisoner class, especially in California, began to understand the age-old fascist principle: if you can divide, you can conquer.

“There are two men who were chiefly responsible for bringing this idea to the forefront. They helped other comrade inmates to transform the ideas of self-hatred and division into unity and love common to all people fighting to survive and retain dignity. These two Brothers not only set this example in words, but in practice. Comrade George Jackson and Comrade Hugo Pinell, one Black and one Latino, were the living examples of the unity that can and must exist among the prisoner class. These two men were well-known to other inmates as strong defenders of their people. Everyone knew of their love for the people; a love that astounded especially the prison officials of the State. It astounded them so thoroughly that these pigs had to try and portray them as animals, perverts, madmen and criminals, in order to justify their plans to eventually get rid of such men. For when Comrades George and Hugo walked and talked together, the prisoners began to get the message too well.”(4)

Today the prison movement is in another phase of coming together, realizing their common class interests. It is amazing that it is in this new era of coming together that the pigs finally murder Yogi, on the three year anniversary of the announcement of the plans to end all hostilities across the California prisons system to unite for common interests. This timing should be lost on no one.

As a Nicaraguan, Yogi became hated by certain influential Mexicans in the prison system for ignoring their orders not to hang with New Afrikans. While the prison movement over the last half-century has chipped away at such racism, we also know that racism is an idea that is the product of imperialism. Until we eliminate the oppression of nations by other nations, we will not eliminate racism completely. But we work hard to fight it within the oppressed and in particular among prisoners, as Yogi, George and others did 50 years ago.

In the 1950s and 1960s the racism was brutal, with nazis openly working with correctional staff. The state used poor, uneducated whites as the foot soldiers of their brutal system of oppression that is the U.$. injustice system. Tate and Johnson tell stories of being terrorized with the chants of “nigger, nigger, nigger” all night long when they first entered the California prison system as youth.(1, 3) While we don’t agree with George Jackson’s use of the term “fascist” to describe the United $tates in his day, we do see a kernel of truth in that description in the prison system, and the white prisoners were often lining up on the side of the state. But the efforts of courageous leaders broke down that alliance, and leaders of white lumpen organizations joined with the oppressed nation prisoners for their common interests as prisoners at the height of the prison movement in California.

We recognize the national contradiction, between the historically and predominantly white Amerikan nation and the oppressed internal semi-colonies, to be the principal contradiction in the United $tates today. Yet, this is often dampened and more nuanced in the prison system. Our white readership is proportional to the white population in prisons, and we have many strong white supporters. So while we give particular attention to the struggles of prisoners as it relates to national liberation movements, we support the prison movement as a whole to the extent that it aligns itself with the oppressed people of the world against imperialism.

The biggest complaint among would-be prison organizers is usually the “lack of unity.” Any potential unity is deliberately broken down through means of threats, torture and even murder by the state. Control Units exist to keep people like Yogi locked down for four and a half decades. Yet another wave of the prison movement is here. It is embodied in the 30,000 prisoners who acted together on 8 July 2013, and in the 3 years of no hostilities between lumpen organizations in the California prison system. Right now there is nothing more important in California than pushing the continuation of this unity. In the face of threats by individuals to create cracks in that unity, in the face of the murder of an elder of the movement, in order to follow through on the campaign to end the torture of long-term isolation, in order to protect the lives of prisoners throughout the state and end unnecessary killings, there is nothing more important to be doing in California prisons right now than expanding the Agreement to End Hostilities to realize the visions of our elders like Hugo “Yogi Bear” Pinell.

The modern white imperialists say they fought wars to correct their past stench. These pukes say slavery is a thing of the past; that slavery is abolished, and we should “forget it and move forward.”

But after the so-called civil war that allegedly abolished slavery, we find the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed. This amendment reads, in pertinent part: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Are we perceiving a pattern? “All men are created equal” except. “Slavery is abolished except…”

In the nineteenth century cities were burned, courthouses bombed, and Presidents assassinated to bring about an end to most slavery in the united snakes. Is that what it will take to get it through the thick skulls of the modern imperialists that slavery is repugnant under any circumstances: no exceptions!

While this article is not broad enough in scope to compare modern penological practice with nineteenth century slavery, let us note that today’s prisoners and former slaves:

1. Are disenfranchised, forbidden to vote in both federal and state elections.(2)

2. Are not considered persons nor employees, and may be forced to labor without compensation.(3)

3. Do not have any right to wages, nor granted any humane civil protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act or the Federal Minimum Wage Law.(4)

4. Do not have any rights to property in most instances, we are property.(5)

While Amerikkkan slavery was more severe than incarceration in Amerikkka’s gulag today, the overwhelming thrust behind both institutions is a disgusting conviction that one group of humans is somehow superior and has the right to degrade and deprive the other group.

No one would seriously argue that the majority of slaves in kkkolonial Amerikkka was any race other than Afrikan. But what about the prisoners in Amerikkka’s gulag?

It is widely known that the united snakes imprisons more people than any other nation per capita. It is said the United $tates has just 4.4% of the world’s population yet locks about 25% of all the world’s prisoners in its gulags.

As of 31 December 2012, there were 1,570,397 people in bondage in federal and state correctional facilities in the United $tates (not including jails). That year Black males were incarcerated at a rate 610% higher than white males (Blacks 2,841 per 100,000 U.$. residents vs whites 463 per 100,000).(6)

In state facilities at the end of 2011 there were 509,677 Black men and women prisoners which is 38% of the total prisoner population of 1,341,804. By contrast white men and women accounted for only 34.7%. And yet Blacks comprise just 13% of the entire U.$. population whereas whites are 80%.(7) Said another way, of the 41,455,973 Blacks in the united snakes, 509,677 are in a state correctional facility (approximately 1%) serving a prison sentence, but merely 465,180 of the 255,113,682 whites (1/5 of 1%) are in prison. Mathematically five times as much of the Black population is in prison compared to white population.

Does this mean Blacks are more “criminally active” than whites? Let the documents speak. Of the 9,390,473 arrests in 2012, 6,502,919 or 69.3% of the arrestees were white. There were only 2,640,067 Blacks arrested, or 28.1% of all arrestees were Black. So how is it the majority of the prisoners are Black? Because the white imperialist injustice system prosecutes Blacks and crushes them with lengthy prison sentences while the majority of whites have charges dropped, or lowered to lesser offenses, or get probation/pretrial diversion, or have expensive attorneys for trial, etc.

While imperialists do not profit from the labor of prisoners as their forefathers did from slaves, imprisonment keeps Blacks from competing against upper class whites in the job market. The labor aristocracy maintains its white hegemony. Be sure not all white imperialists are Caucasian. Ask President Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Marco Rubio what they think of the 13th Amendment and the deprivation of basic rights to prisoners economically. The next time an imperialist Amerikkkan sings jingoism about the United $tates correcting its addiction to slavery and exploitation, simply say “bullshit.” But soon the people will crush it. Til then let us educate with plans to eradicate.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade makes a solid case for the existence of national oppression within the United $tates today, as evidenced by the disproportionate treatment of New Afrikans compared to whites in the criminial injustice system. And by correctly noting that the imperialists do not profit from the labor of prisoners, this writer also provides the reason why we do not call prisoners, even those forced to work for no wages, slaves. (See ULK 8 for more on the U.$. prison economy). Further, unlike slaves, prisoners can not be bought and sold like property. And so on this point we disagree with the author: we do not call prisoners “property” just like we don’t consider prisoners to be “slaves.”

Every article in ULK 44 is on point! “Baltimore: Contradictions Heightening” leaves me hoping there are boots on the ground to guide the demonstrators into an organized resistance. It seems from historical examples that destruction of property and forcible removal of merchandise gets results, e.g. Rodney King, whereas candles and prayer obtain imperialistic praise, e.g. Trayvon Martin in Florida. When a kkkapitalist suffers economic harm, imperialist forces will crush a few of their own thug enforcers to restore the facade of calm. Destroy the property of the bourgeoisie and the killers of oppressed citizens get arrested.

Loco1’s article on the sovereign citizen movement does much to dispel myth and urban legend. But often the hope of fallacy is stronger than the cold fist of truth. Recently a rumor has spread that prisoners may file a 42 USC 1983 petition for just $35 if they tell the clerk to “file it in the green file without the protection of admiralty law.” Even though I’ve shown men an order from a magistrate judge, and a letter from the court clerk, both stating $400 is the filing fee ($350 if in forma pauperis is granted), prisoners still insist they only have to pay $35. I even showed them an order denying a prisoner’s request to “file his petition for $35.”

As for the sovereign citizen rubbish, it is historical fact that even when a legal remedy does provide liberation, the supreme court of the united snakes devises methods to make it inapplicable to the oppressed. Look up Dred Scott. Consider that “a prison inmate … is not an employee within the meaning of the [Federal Labor Standards Act].”(1) Does anyone honestly believe that an imperialist court of pig justices would uphold the sovereign citizen argument? Even if the argument was rooted in sound legal principles (and your articles shows it is not), the imperialist powers in the court are not going to say the government that empowered them is a fraud and void.

And Rashid is incorrect, especially on the subject of the labor aristocracy. First, MIM’s definition can be validated by simply engaging in discussion with prison staff, including teachers. Those people do not identify with the workers in other nations. Recently a teacher told me that his gas prices should be lower because “Iraq owes us their oil in exchange for our blood in liberating them.” When I replied that I don’t recall any Iraqis ever asking us to invade their country and plunge it into civil war, he said, “You only hear what you want to hear.” I was also informed it is fair for a factory worker in India to earn 46 cents an hour because “Amerikkka and England built that country for them.” Really? And second, just because members of revolutionary groups are possibly from bourgeois or aristocratic backgrounds, it does NOT mean those groups as a whole will support revolution. But neither does it automatically exclude one from the fight. There were Germans who fought against the nazis. And Americans who fought for the bastards.

The protected, favored race here at Belmont Correctional Institution in St. Clairsville, Ohio is black, especially Muslims. Racism is against whites, light-skinned Hispanics, Jews, etc. A large part of the reason for this unusual situation is the rural nature of the prison and thus the staff employed by the prison. The catchment area for employees is 97% white, encompassing rural Belmont and surrounding Ohio counties and the bordering WV county visible from the prison yard. While it is counter-intuitive that an overwhelming white staff favors black inmates, it is easily explained: they are scared of dark skin, of people with whom they have had little or no interaction other than in the prison. The mainstream media’s portrayal of blacks terrifies them. Because of this fear, blacks get a “pass” on behaviors quickly causing disciplinary action for whites, light-skinned Hispanics, etc. The few black staff overtly favor blacks as well. Due to this, and the inadequate socialization and education of the overwhelming majority of blacks here, has led them to become oppressors of these same “white boys” groups by the black majority. Official prison policy is “equalization” of blacks amongst the eight kennels of 272 per kennel, that insures this oppression in every kennel. (We also have the same dog program as in the “Prison Dog Rehab Program Underscores Inhumynity to Humyns” article of in ULK 44, and yes, the dogs are better treated than inmates.)

This leads me to address the racism in ULK 44, that clearly contradicts point #3, “We promote a united front with all who oppose imperialism.” An example is contained in the response from MIM(Prisons) on the article “Ohio Guards Instigate Beating, Lock Down Prisoners as Punishment”: “a systematic oppression of certain nations (New Afrikan, Chican@, First Nations) by the nation in power (the white nation).” This is overtly racist, incorrect and divisive! Power being defined in terms of political, social and economic power, that exploits the national and international proletariat, the oppressors are not all white. A thorough look at the exploitation of non-whites by non-whites in the First World, especially in the United States, Western and Eastern Europe and Asia can be elaborated upon in a full article within any upcoming issue of Under Lock & Key. Though where it would fit in the listed themes for issues 45-48 is a question, I could do so if MIM(Prisons) would be agreeable to my becoming a ULK Field Correspondent.

Incorrectly defining the oppressor class as white disenfranchises 100’s of millions of the oppressed “majority” in the U.S. and Europe from the struggle rather than being inclusive. In Dialectical Materialism, Mao said, “Because the oppressed class [an economic class, not racial groups] fails when it adopts the wrong plans and succeeds by correcting its plans…” The wrong plans are to divide the proletariat along racial lines, causing the exact divisions necessary for oppression. The correct plans include all the proletariat; white, brown, black, yellow or purple. Only then, in unity, can there be the equality necessary to end oppression.

MIM(Prisons) responds: MIM(Prisons) distinguishes ourselves from other groups on six key points and this writer cites our point #3, promoting a united front with all who oppose imperialism, but then ignores point #4 which clearly states that we disagree that there is a proletariat in the First World, especially within the white nation:

“A parasitic class dominates the First World countries. As Marx, Engels and Lenin formulated and MIM Thought has reiterated through materialist analysis, imperialism extracts super-profits from the Third World and in part uses this wealth to buy off whole populations of so-called workers. These so-called workers bought off by imperialism form a new petty-bourgeoisie called the labor aristocracy; they are not a vehicle for Maoism. Those who work in the economic interests of the First World labor aristocracy form the mass base for imperialism’s tightening death-grip on the Third World.”

The quote above about systematic oppression is not “overtly racist,” rather it is specifically addressing nation and not race. Certainly “white” is a racially loaded term, and one could argue that “Euro-Amerikan” is preferable. Yet, “white” remains a term that people can relate to and that often has more negative connotations among the oppressed. We want to stress the negative and encourage the oppressed to not identify with Amerikanism, which is the number one enemy of the world’s people. We are not encouraging people to be anti-white because of some racial attributes (racism) but rather we are opposing the reality of the white nation oppressing other nations (national oppression).

This letter is from a first-time reader, so the above is old hat to our regular readers. But what made this letter more interesting to us was within the context of other things going on in Ohio. We can say with certainty that what the writer above reports is the exception to the rule in both Ohio and throughout the United $tates prison system. While this could just be one persyn’s subjective experience, it is feasible enough that we will assume for now that what s/he says about New Afrikans playing the oppressor role in Belmont is true at this time. Now let’s look at a report from a USW organizer in a different Ohio prison:

“A lot of the individuals professing white supremacist beliefs also contain some underlying socialist views. Whether enough of a test to be an indicator of ‘all’ or not, i’ve decided to halt attempts at developing their consciousness at this time. i’ve opened up my study group to more than a few of them, usually after they’ve continued to join in open conversations over the range. However, once they see materials that expose Amerika as an oppressor nation they go ‘subjective’ on me, getting extremely defensive and also protective in claiming the united $tates as their rightful possession.”

Our comrades at this prison have decided to focus on single-nation organizing due to their experiences. We want to commend both their efforts to be open to all potential allies, as well as their scientific approach to the situation. Taking a scientific approach requires dealing in probability. This comrade acknowledges that h limited experience does not prove that all white supremacists are pro-imperialism, but that combined with our theory of the labor aristocracy it supports a practice of focusing on organizing New Afrikans. Clearly this single-nation strategy is not coming from a racist political line, but a scientific assessment of national alliances in practice. This practice will ultimately prove more successful than if these comrades had hidden their critique of Amerika in an effort to unite with these white supremacists, which is why this is a dividing-line question for us.

In some writings on the First World lumpen we’ve specified that we are talking about the oppressed nation lumpen only. This is because we see nation as the principal contradiction, leading to the vast majority of whites allying with imperialism, even at the lowest economic classes. In other writings we talk about uniting the imprisoned lumpen as a whole. This is because the conditions of imprisonment put all nationalities in the same position, living side-by-side, where there is greater potential for them to recognize their common plight. And there is history of this being true in Ohio itself during the Lucasville uprising, as well as in California. In both cases, it was not just white prisoners, but the Aryan Brotherhood who stood with oppressed nation lumpen organizations to demand concessions from the state. It is for this reason that in point #3 we say, “Even imperialist nation classes can be allies in the united front under certain conditions.”

On the other hand there are countless examples of oppressed nation lumpen organizations working against the people, even playing the role of organizing violence in alliance with the state, as the first writer above alludes to. This is the dual nature of the lumpen class overall that makes it a potentially dangerous and revolutionary class. Yet, the national contradiction in the United $tates favors the revolutionary potential for oppressed nation lumpen in the long run, while making it more likely for white lumpen to become the foot soldiers fighting for a fascist state to rise. At the same time, we believe the probability of anti-imperialism to develop among white prisoners to be higher than white Amerikans in general. It is not that black=good and white=bad in an absolute sense. It is about percentages. And as our USW comrade found while putting h theories into practice, while there is a high percentage chance of white prisoners opposing the state, and even favoring seemingly socialist ideals, there is a very low percentage chance of them opposing Amerikan exceptionalism and hegemony. Such people are allies in the prison reform struggle, but rarely in the anti-imperialist struggle.

I would like to give props to Loco1 of USW for the article in ULK 38, “Lasting Impressions.” It eloquently expressed the realistic truth of non-whites rising into Amerikkkan political poverty and oppression, but ultimately becoming part of the Amerikkkan imperialist machine, and therefore part of the problem. They undeniably dance to the same tune as the kapitalist oppressors, which is the only way they can get elected into office in the first place. The oppression they become co-conspirators of far outweighs any good they may be trying to contribute to cultural progress, the revolutionary movement, or even reformism. President Obama’s black face on the white-Amerikkkan agenda does very little to counter the injustices he inflicts upon the less fortunate. His priority is to please white-Amerikkka and contribute to kapitalism. Everything else is secondary.

Revolutionary minds can learn from Loco1’s political view. However, it draws concern when Loco1 talks of redistributing the lands fairly: “you get what you need. Nothing more, nothing less.” Subsequently following a successful revolution this act alone would shift the possession of land for one colonizer to another at the expense and exploitation of the indigenous peoples. Very little of what I’ve read from the MIM organization has ever gotten to the heart of land claims, which should first and foremost be redistributed back to the First Nation original owners. Many indigenous will be part of the revolution. Non-natives seem to think they are entitled to this land as spoils of war, with complete disregard to the First Nations’ claims. Communism is supposed to eliminate oppression. This act would contribute to it, but with power shifting to the hands of a different ethnic and political class.

A complete overthrow of Amerikkkan power should give the land back to those it’s belonged to since the beginning of time. This soil is the Redman’s tribal ancestral roots and the creator’s gift to our people. This includes Mexicanos. Whatever land, if any, is eventually “redistributed fairly” should be at the sole discretion of its tribal owners. Period. (And it’s important that non-natives understand this.) Land would be distributed considerately and compassionately as they feel necessary and see fit. Unless, of course, the communist victors then choose to redirect their war towards the First Nation peoples with the intent of keeping them on reservations and stealing the land by force. That would make them no different than this current Amerikkkan imperialist swine.

In the article Loco1 spoke with the voice of New Afrikans but I think he should rethink his ideas for land grab from the indigenous point of view, who have suffered the biggest atrocities and injustices in history.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a letter that we forwarded to Loco1 for comment. Having not received a response we will address this question now. It seems we have great unity with the writer above, and we appreciate this point and inquiry. While Loco1’s original point was more about combatting Amerikkkan exceptionalism, which justifies Amerikans having more than everyone else, the lack of mention of First Nations land claims is certainly a valid critique. It is an ultra-left error in that it is looking towards the ideal future of communism (from each according to their ability, to each according to their need), before addressing the more immediate task of national liberation.

This is an issue that comrades address in our new book, Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán. Though Chican@s themselves are indigenous to this land, claiming all of the southwest United $tates could be seen as a threat to First Nations, including the largest reservation in the United $tates of the Navajo nation. MIM has long been friendly to the Blackbelt Thesis as well, and has printed maps showing both of these territories. We agree with revolutionary Chican@ and New Afrikan movements that land is central to the question of national liberation. As nations within what is today the United $tates, a failure to claim and liberate their own territory is a failure to liberate these oppressed nations. The same is true for all First Nations.

The drawing of new boundaries today is more of an agitational exercise than an actual political reality, except for most First Nations. So we expect First Nations to continue to be at the forefront of determining future border issues. Their weakness, of course, is in their numbers. So it is an important warning that the comrade above issues to ensure that a national program of one oppressed nation does not impose itself onto that of another. Not only is this necessary for building a just world, it will be necessary for a successful anti-imperialist project. Any efforts by an internal semi-colony to liberate itself without regard for and cooperation with the efforts of the others will lead to no true liberation and will end in it being a puppet to the imperialists rather than being free of them.

There must be a united front of the internal semi-colonies against U.$. imperialism. And once imperialism is overthrown, in imperialist nations there will need to be a joint dictatorship of the proletariat of the oppressed nations to take power and determine how society can best be run in the interests of the formerly oppressed of the world. Exactly how they address the land question between themselves, as well as with the existing oppressor nation on this land, will be determined in the evolution of that struggle, which will certainly bring about many more changes in the process.

In 2014, former professor of sociology at Portland State University, Randall Evan Blazak, and current professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, Pete Simi, went to the SPLC headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama. They travelled there to meet with SPLC pundit and media hound Mark Potok, at a meeting that included a few other academics and freelance investigative reporter Bill Morlin.

The SPLC wants to use universities and academics to “study, research and report” on activities of “hate groups” under the direction of the SPLC without using or even mentioning that the SPLC is involved. Mark Potok openly stated that when groups or individuals find out the SPLC is involved, they “quit talking” and “coverup”. The SPLC is doing whatever it can to obtain information on the people’s revolutionary organizations. Evidently they now look at these organizations as one of the main sources of racial terror.

Beware of any academic “studies” or research organizations attempting to contact anyone under academic auspices. They amount to nothing more than spies for the SPLC. Our business is our business – and none of theirs. Back in 2000, I forced then Professor Randall Blazak out of the organization we co-founded named the Oregon Spotlight for turning local anti-racists in to the FBI and SPLC.

All of us, no matter our creed or methods must come together and secure our information. Please alert everyone you are able. The SPLC works closely with all pigs and acts as a clearinghouse of information. As a private organization they are not subject to “Red Scare” laws and can act under the cover of U.$. law.

I am fighting this from prison. I hope others join in. We do not need a “fifth column” amongst our ranks.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We can’t speak to the specifics of Blazak or other professors’ specific work but in general what this comrade reports is true. First, the FBI lists them right on their website stating, “The FBI has forged partnerships nationally and locally with many civil rights organizations to establish rapport, share information, address concerns, and cooperate in solving problems. These groups include such organizations as the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, the National Organization for Women, the Human Rights Campaign, and the National Disability Rights Network.”(1) Second, the Southern Poverty Law Center has incorporated into its “hate group” work the fight against what they call “Black separatists” and included among the groups they target are the Nation of Islam, the Black Riders Liberation Party and the New Black Panther Party.(2) This approach to identifying racism by pretending to be color blind makes clear the failings of the concept of race. It is national oppression that underlies the system of one nation dominating another that is inherent to imperialism. Racism is the ideology that arises from national oppression to identify certain groups of people as inferior based on supposed biological differences. When an oppressed nation fights back against this system they do not have the power to oppress other nations, and so calling them out for “racism” or “reverse racism” is missing the importance of power in oppression. By taking on the task of identifying racism among the oppressed the SPLC are focusing their battle on the people instead of focusing on the oppressor. This objectively hinders the struggle of the oppressed and aids the imperialists.

Within the people’s movement we should always be vigilant in pointing out incorrect political line and practicing criticism and self-criticism, but we should not make broad declarations equating the oppressed people’s organizations fight against national oppression with the racism of the oppressor nation fascist groups.

Finally, we want to echo this comrade’s words of caution for interacting with academics, and include any media or any unknown people for that matter. We should engage with others on our terms and not open our doors to open-ended research, interviews and investigations.