MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
If the wallz of prison life could talk I wonder what they’d say. From overseer to officer, from predator to prey. Solitary confinement, oppressive and inhuman, involuntary servitude Psychologically still in chains - Prison Boom! when it rains it pours. Price gouging and extortion, bleeding our families with inmate store. A revolving door, crippled from the lack of education Under Lock & Key, agitated and pacing, hoping and waiting, Political devil in disguise. Drug-infested prisons, breeds chemical suicide Pleading for a way out of this bottomless pit, Another murder covered up. Prison guard orchestrated the hit. Violent prison stabbings, dry tazed to death Poor ventilation, heat exhaustion, claimed his last breath. The ultimate test is to stand firm and bear witness, Because these wallz are speaking volumes, and if you’re wise, Listen…..
Rhetorical Rhetoric composed in a symphony of tactical swears of Infamy, Musik filling idle Hands of youthful Revolutionaries, inducing Rebellion and Civil disobedience, against the Systematic Repression of Authorities, as we’re defiantly resisting political ploys of distraction targeting us in silent wars, with Ruses of Fake News, as the media glorifies Police as Heroes while they Kill the innocent without consequence or Justice, they’re the Evil we strive against, with every ounce of our beings, they’re straw dogs and paper tigers, a gang costumed behind authority we don’t recognize, for the only authority is God, the only one to Judge us, Enemies of the POLICE State, who demand allegiance to Arbitrary capricious laws by Riflepoint for Farcical Freedom that Does Not Exist in Enslaved Minds of Ignorance, Miss Me with the pitch of Nationalistic Propaganda for WE THE PEOPLE exist to Resist control tactics with self-determination and Freewill, A Resistance Refusing conformity to mainstream idealisms of a Government that does not represent us, or our constitutional Rights, we Are P.O.W’s, Prisoner’s of War, waged with law, which we must wield as Arms we Bear; fighting for freedom in these Modern-Day Concentration Camps, for if we Are ignorant of our Rights and laws that govern us we are powerless and Dead to rights, Authorities rather distract us, with devices of our own destruction perpetuating intolerance and fueling fires of prejudice that weaken our resolve of unity to Rise against their system of control, generating Revenue to keep the cell full in their Monopoly of Incarceration, while we complacently standby as their Human degradation oppresses our generations stealing our time, let Rebellion enter our Mind STATE, since we Are left Dead to Rights without any Alternatives, we Must beat the Drum of Anarchy, or we will never see freedom, nor will our children, one word wielded as war weapons at a time, Empowering the Mind’s of Masses united by common grievances that call us to fight side by side, putting aside differences, for the enemy of my enemy is my friend, sedition charismatically spoken by a leader inspires our Movement, one of counter-culture Activists cutting strings of delusion attached to our souls, by belief systems that no longer serve our interests, No longer will we obey as puppets dancing for malevolent puppeteers of Governments we no longer recognize; ones who rendered us Enemies of The STATE, with usurpation of our inalienable constitutional Rights, so there’s Nothing left but determined defiance, using their own plots, ploys, contrived Artifice and stratagem tactics as our own against them, in suits of Individual Capacity to Levy their Assets since their Immunity is an illusion, one we must mercilessly exploit, battling the system systemically, making us all wealthy, taking back what’s ours, they illegality makes them easy targets in the court, with Civil Rights suits, we hunt the Leviathan of the Prison Industry, that made us slaves and commodities on the market of Incarceration, with warrior Minds we can pry open the blinded eyes of injustice; Lex Talionis, Eye for an Eye, the solution of Revolution Kids, as Partisans of propaganda by deeds, “Gazavat” our sacred struggle, against State Entities of Oppression in the color of Law, we are Freedom Fighters, patriots, Guerrillas in concrete jungles refreshing the Tree of Liberty with our Blood.
MIM(Prisons) notes: We thought these lyrics fit well with the theme of Under Lock & Key 83. However, we of course measure our correctness through action with the international proletariat as the ultimate judges of how we performed.
The blackest pupils you’ve ever seen Es mi hermano A man who wore his emotions on his sleeve Angu ndugu i’ve only touched his finger tips & even that violated the policy of no human contact But it’s mi hermano … i’ve never seen a grown man cry That’s how I remember those blackest eyes i literally sob at the feet of the giant his mattress rolled up at the front of the cage & me sitting cross-legged on the tier it’s how I spent my hour, every hour I was ever allowed to be out my cell. Had to beg the officer, almost like saying yesa massah At least that’s how I felt it to me But at that moment there’s no place in the world i’d rather be than with mi hermano His enemies think they got the last laugh & you should’ve seen how the badges danced … The captive told the captor that’s a captive that’s better off dead But it’s mi hermano & this is something i never will forgive!
I hear white privilege being spoken of by people, I’ve never known anyone graced by that steeple, Me and mine came up from the gutters where it’s dark. Shunned as no good white trash from the trailer park Yet supposedly cause of my color I’m a ruler of this earth, Never mind the fact that I’ve been dirty and broke since birth, Powdered milk and government cheese that don’t melt, Holes in all my clothes impoverished is all I’ve felt, People miss the point when they blame race, Last I checked me and mine are with you in the same damn place, It’s about class these days money and property, The rich on top then us on bottom in poverty, It ain’t about the color of skin anyone may hold, It’s about that beautiful equality in communism to uphold, Misdirected anger can make a wise man a fool, Don’t let the rich subtle tactics make you a tool, I don’t care how you look on the yard my brother, Raise that communist flag high for that ideal don’t see no color.
MIM(Prisons) resonds: We agree with the author when ey writes, “People miss the point when they blame race,” but we disagree that therefore it is just about class. The idea of “not seeing color” is common among the conservative bourgeoisie protecting white power, but it is also common among the general population in this country, of all nationalities. That’s why the bourgeoisie uses it, it resonates with many and it sounds righteous. It sounds kind of like opposing racism, and for some it really is.
Yet we challenge the Minnesota prisoner to see beyond eir individual experience to take on a sociological understanding of the world we live in. We do not challenge the facts written in the comrade’s poem about how ey came up, and we agree that in prison, in most cases, prisoners are one class facing the same oppressor. But the poem ignores the reality that there is an historically European-descended nation of people that on the whole are living a privileged life off the backs of the world’s majority who are the exploited. One must put on blinders to the majority of the world to talk about Amerikans as the poor and exploited – and this is a type of blindness that we must combat.
Forced to face a foreign decision,
Forced to embrace a foreign religion
Black and white begets a foreign collision
That’s unprecedented destroying our vision
Forced to pledge allegiance
While praising the dead,
Ignoring the living and only free
In the head,
Independent thinking is the
thing that they dread,
Death or freedom is the
Reason they fled.
North Atlantic ocean created
The distance,
Accompanied by an ideology
That made us defenseless,
Proving them wrong
And making the difference
Ancestral pain created resistance.
For removal of chains
Charge them a fee,
Shackle their minds
Convince them they’re free,
Felony conviction
Is slavery for lease,
As the murder of kins
Was the removal of peace.
New rap songs
Spiritual potion
Internal revolution is the only resolution,
Read the constitution and it’s void of a solution,
No black inclusion, so freedom’s a delusion
No black inclusion, so freedom’s a delusion
Wut Good Is A Mind Without Knowledge?
It’z Equivalent To Packin’ An Empty Gun
If We’re Speakin’ In Symbolics.
Glock 40 Filled Wit’ Dummy Roundz.
Been Lied To So Long Don’t Even Kno How
Tha Truth Soundz.
Bein’ Taught To Hate Ourselvez!
Tha Poor Killin’ Tha Poor, But Seem To Ignore
Tha Onez Who Take Our Wealth.
Kan’t Ovastand If You Fall Fa Propaganda.
Quit Chasin’ Easta Bunnies, No Mo Milk And
Kookies Fa Santa.
Spendin’ Our Whole Life Savins On Theze
Pagan Celebrationz.
Then Tha next Year Slavin’ Sufferin Ekonomik
Depreivationz.
Perplexed By Our Situation, Constrained By
Lack Of Ovastandin’.
And So Easily Pacified By Simplistical
Demandin’s.
Sayin; All I Eva Wanted Wuz Some Jordanz
And A Gold Chain
Even The Scarecrow Had Enuf Sense To
Try And Find Himself A Brain.
So Who’s To Blame Fa Tha Perpetuation Of
Diz Mental Genocide?
If I Dies We Lose 2 Livez Brotherly Bound
Together Like We Were Geminiz.
From A Nation Of Great Mindz Supreme
Mathmatikz And Masta Buildinz.
But Look At Us Now, Our Math Iz Division
And All We Masta Iz Destruction And Killinz.
And Wut About Our Children We’ve
Entrusted Wit Our Future.
Who Are Afraid To Go To School In Tha
Dayz Of Mass Shootaz.
Stricta Gun Lawz Won’t Help Because
Shootaz Recordz They Are All Clean.
So Fuck Ya Background Check!! Give Me
Dat AR-15.
Wut Hunta Needz An Assault Rifle? You
Shootin’ Deer Or You Huntin’ Man??
Anotha Attempt To Control Tha Population,
When Will Diz Nation Ovastand???
Can equal justice really be counted upon, or will it be another Black shot dead on the front lawn?
Police suffocating Blacks with their knees Is the new hanging, All this yelling, marching and burning things down But ain’t nothing changing. The list of Black youth being killed by police grew longer, but the memory of George Floyd in Minneapolis grew stronger.
We need to start recognizing, humanizing, and see the unrequited injustice, never forget the Declaration of Independence ain’t no fate and irony in this, we need to fight for Dred Scott And the dead forgot for emancipation, we should know a universal equality will never get passed in this nation.
A cry from the heart, can’t echo through the cracks, until the litany end what it do to Blacks.
Let’s put an end to the painfully gradual process, If we can shrink the blue foot print, we can make an actual progress.
We know reform isn’t enough We need heart and power in their voices, because only aftermath tears of justice will see rejoices.
Ain’t got no time for that Jamaa drama, let’s squash the squabble, squabble, and fight for more Black Power. Wasn’t Huey & the Panthers a perfect example? I guess not cause it’s still Black on Black in this very hour. We suppose to be brova’s, showing mad love to one another, know what I mean Kaka? But instead i’m emptying this four-five, all in ya head wit nuffin but lead “Bye-Bye”! I guess we said fuck the movement, HUH? let’s keep on adding to Black problems. But didn’t George say to the people a promise? I guess most of you saying promises are meant to be broken. George, Jonathan and for Bobby all day in vain, haven’t you caused enough heartache and pain we all should be a damn shame, but never mind all that, let’s remind the younger mwenzi’s why Jamaa came.
We Black and we Brown Don’t back down! Whatever happens to the people
Will come back around, Our roots one day Will plant the ground, Smile to
the world Dont accept that frown.
1st Verse:
We revolutionary Native people holding glory. We come from poverty
Considered the majority, Jah and Allah know We are panthers and lions.
We take a stance And raise our hands against violence. We Black and we
Brown And won’t back down. Whatever happens to the people Will come back
around. We all want justice and equality No more immigration. No more
blood, sweat, and tears Of border intimidation. We are Zulu warriors And
Latin Kings. Freedom Asylum Our everlasting dreams. My people African
descentdant And Puerto Rican. Peace and harmony Is what we seeking. This
for the La Raza Haitians And nation of Ghana. For Jah we blazin This
marijuanna. We just want to torch the flame. For liberty We just want to
live the same. With dignity.
Chorus X3:
We Black and we Brown Don’t back down! Whatever happens to the people
Will come back around, Our roots one day Will plant the ground, Smile to
the world Dont accept that frown.
2nd Verse:
We native spirit And Latin-x. Our plan is to take back The land next.
Free the refugees And prisoners. This for the semitic village Visioners.
We just want to fly high In the sky like the birds. We chanting for
freedom Don’t you hear these words. This for the continent of Africa. My
Cuban brother And those left in Attica. We forever freedom fighters For
George, Jonathan, and Khatari. My people died for this land Rastafari.
The dread blood shed For black, green, yellow, and red. This for emperor
Sellassie And the pharoahs dead. We celebrating Juneteenth And Cesar
Chavez. Our Independece Day To live on the rez. No longer shall we live
To be racial profiled. Before we die in hell We will go exile.
Chorus X3:
We Black and we Brown Don’t back down! Whatever happens to the people
Will come back around, Our roots one day Will plant the ground, Smile to
the world Dont accept that frown.
Life’s purpose works us unmercifully.
The first degree is knowledge of self.
The repressed anger dangers everyone around.
The compound is stilled, lockdown!
The wild sounds in between their ears
Are quieted by a cell.
The hell in the mind tortures through silence
The obvious is far fetched till it hits home
The zone of protection lies in the hands of another,
My brother.
Gun in hand,
He stands for a heavy hand of justice
But homie its just–us.
The price of fame is to become lost.
To lose myself is to gain.
I stand here today for my life’s purpose.
The words hurt more than any sword.
No guard or judge can protect you from life.
No strife or burden can protect you from your heart.
From now till your ending,
Are you living your life’s purpose?
