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.
In order to prescribe the Marxist ideology to our Maoist thought much
needs to be understood. I believe there is a contradiction that exist
that’s unspoken here: race. There seems to be a strong emphasis
embraced on race as a “white” verses all other “non-white” races. The
contradictions that exist here are that the “white” race is the only
oppressor race. There is a huge historical analysis missing here if
MIM(Prisons) is going to promote such race politics in what is
fundamentally a human attribute that exists in all races of homo
sapiens. To include such a factor in any discussion that involves a
dialectical materialistic view of economy and government is destructive
to the revolution.
The revolution is to promote equality. Ideally I believe to my
understanding, an equality based on, “…each one according to their
needs.” With that understanding my question becomes, what is the
standard of equality on an international scale and how do we get
there?
“Race” has nothing to do with our dialectical materialistic analysis
because capitalism is based on only one color right now, green. The
color of the Amerikan dollar which is the world’s reserve currency! So
if MIM(Prisons) comrades are going to discuss economy, based on
capitalism, socialism, and communism through Maoist thought then speak
from the perspective of an economist. Or if it is government, then I
guess the contradictions need to be explored to define the nation
MIM(Prisons) looks to build because as a comrade I feel alienated based
on “race.”
Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) responds: You’ll be
hard-pressed to find MIM(Prisons) talking about race, since, as this
comrade points out, race is not real. The problem is, we talk about the
New Afrikan nation, or the Chican@ nation, and our readers think we’re
just using fancy words to talk about race.
Perhaps this is an example of us getting a bit ahead of the masses
here leading to miscommunication. Another comrade recently submitted a
long paper explaining what the New Afrikan nation was because they felt
new readers of ULK were confused by it. It’s interesting, since
we
adopted the term New Afrikan from the prison movement. But
goes to show how things have changed. We will be utilizing this feedback
to consider how we can improve ULK. But New Afrika is already
well-defined in our pamphlet Power to New Afrika, which our New
York comrade above has read.
Another source of confusion is that the imperialists will always try
to deny the nationality of the oppressed. It’d be hard to find someone
who doesn’t recognize Haiti
as a nation, because they fought and won their liberation in 1804.
Like New Afrika, they are a nation of people from all over the African
continent, with a sprinkling of Europeans, that were merged by force to
form a new nation. New Afrika has not yet won it’s liberation, so it
gets less recognition than Haiti does.
We agree with our comrade above that capitalism is motivated by
profits. Racism, and the idea of race itself, arose with the system of
capitalism. Though there were certainly other systems of caste and class
before. The United $tates of Amerika project was central to the
development of race theory. In fact, the internal semi-colony of New
Afrika would not exist without racial ideology that separated the first
slaves based on what continent they came from. So we may be one of the
last places to rid ourselves of this backwards way of thinking, it was
so important to what this project is about.
The comrade also asks about our vision for the future. Well we’d
suggest reading Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism
and other works by V.I. Lenin on the national question for background.
Because imperialism is a system of oppression/exploitation of most
nations by a few, we see the most important source of change, towards a
world of equality, to be found in national liberation struggles that
challenge that system; from Palestine to Aztlán. Decades
ago MIM put forth the theory of the Joint Dictatorship of the
Proletariat of the Oppressed Nations (JDPON) as a vision for how
socialism can be imposed on Amerika itself. This is because we don’t
believe a majority of Amerikans will support socialism at this stage.
This idea is also found in Lenin and in Chinese Maoist thought. At the
time MIM was discussing the carving up of what is now the United $tates
territory into a New Afrikan Black Belt, Aztlán for the Chican@ nation,
various First Nation territories. MIM also suggested that Amerika and
Kanada were one oppressor nation. Some of these ideas seem much closer
to reality today with Amerikan imperialism looking to incorporate
Canada, and California looking for separate trade deals with China with
popular support.
We have readers who say we’re anti-Black
for citing Marx, and readers who say we’re anti-white for applying
the ideas of Lenin. The reality is, all of these critics are too
brainwashed by the “white man” to see things beyond this racial lens.
Yes, the New York prisoner above we’re talking to you as well, you are
the one too stuck thinking in racial ideas, not us.
Now to be fair, this is the dominant thinking of our society. So we
must learn to speak Marxist truths that people stuck in imperialist,
racist thinking will understand. We also recognize that the oppressed
nations are more likely to be led to the truth. So we cannot avoid
alienating people who identify as “white” and generally should not try
to. These forces are either enemies of the revolution, enemies of
equality, enemies of communism, or will have to be won over in a later
stage of struggle. This is true because of their racial identities,
which are the subjective reflections of their material reality as
exploiters. Race is divisive – that’s why the imperialists have used it
for hundreds of years.
My intentions here isn’t to give a dialectical and historical context
of the relationship between today’s Lumpen Organizations (gangs) and
past revolutionary movements, although there is an inextricable link
between the two. The origins of today’s Lumpen Organizations (L.O.s)
were strongly influenced by the original Black Panther Party (BPP) and
other similar organizations. They were formed to uplift and protect
their communities from outside threats, threats that were typically
imposed by law enforcement and the U.S. government.
With the destruction of the BPP, combined with the influx of drugs
and firearms within their already oppressed communities, members of
these organizations were lured into “gang-bangin’” against each other
and a fratricidal and suicidal criminal lifestyle that resulted in the
abandonment of the ideals and principles that were brought forth and
established by the organizations’ founders. Ideals and principles that
were often influenced by those of the BPP and the Black Liberation Army
(BLA). Today there are a limited few who diligently impress upon their
“homies” the importance of espousing the organizations founding ideals
and principles. Overall, a majority have been derailed from the
organizations initial revolutionary path, which has been detrimental to
the youth who romanticize today’s “gang” culture and their communities.
Moreover, the absence of these ideals and principles has engendered a
culture of disunity, violent competition, and the romanticizing of the
“gang-banging” mentality, which renders us incapable of redressing the
conditions we find ourselves subjected to within these razor-wire
plantations.
There is no silver bullet or magic wand that can be used to magically
expedite the transformation that must be made. Transforming the criminal
mentality into a revolutionary mentality is a protracted process that
demands accountability and rigorous educating.
i am dedicated to assisting with this transformation any way that i
can. One way is to shed some light on the draconian policies and
procedures that governs those of us who have been labeled “gang
members,” labels known as Security Risk Group (SRG) or Security Threat
Group (STG), so we can begin to seek redress to said policies and
procedures.
Gang Validation Process
Those of us who have been validated as SRG/STG often suffer
significant unfair prejudices due to the officers who are responsible
for the validating opinions often basing these opinions on sweeping
generalizations and stereotypes about “gang members” generally,
unreliable methodology, and/or the officer’s racial bias.
Here in North Carolina the Department of Adult Corrections (DAC) has
“certified” twenty-one alleged prison gangs as Security Risk Groups.
Prisoners are validated as members of SRG’s by Prison Intelligence
Officers (PIO) who are usually white, whose discretion reigns supreme in
determining who is validated as SRG members and who isn’t. These
subjective decisions lead to disproportionate validations of New Afrikan
prisoners and those from other oppressed nations. A stark example of the
racially uneven application of SRG validations is evident in the
percentage of “white” prisoners who have been validated compared to New
Afrikan prisoners. White prisoners make up 1.9% of the prisoners
validated in NC prisons.
Around the world gangs are studied by those with specialized training
in areas such as ethnography, anthropology, and psychology. In these
fields, researchers are often subjected to ethical standards that warn
against manipulating data to advance their personal objectives and
required to employ social science field research best practices in
relation to data collection, analysis, and interpretation. The officers
responsible for validating prisoners are not held to any such ethical
standards and lack the fundamental knowledge to determine if a prisoner
is actually a SRG member or not.
The degree of specialized knowledge for these officers to be
qualified as “gang-experts” is particularly lacking. An officer can be
qualified as a “gang-expert” after having only a couple months on the
job, as long as they have some formalized training. You would think
these “gang officers” would be required to demonstrate a basic
overstanding of the complicated dynamics at issue where gang membership
and behavior are concerned beyond stereotypes and prototypes, being that
these validations subject prisoners to indefinite sanctions and
restrictions that not only affect the lives of the prisoners but also
the lives of the prisoners’ families.
These “gang officers” employ a worksheet which lists seventeen
criteria for determining gang involvement, each of which is assigned a
point value. Prisoners may be labeled as “suspects/associates” or
“members”. A qualifying score is not difficult to achieve: prisoners
bearing tattoos “thought” to signify gang affiliation and who socialize
with “confirmed” gang-members may be regarded as members themselves.
False positives are likely to arise under this criteria, because
while they may indicate a correlation with gang membership, they do not
establish causation. Because gang membership cannot be reliably inferred
from the factors aforementioned, these “gang officers” should not be
allowed to opine about gang membership based on these factors alone.
Completed validation worksheets are forwarded to the NCDAC’s Chief of
Special Operations, Daryll Vann, who reviews the worksheet, confirms
that “relevant” documentation is attached, and validates the
identifications. Prisoners who wish to contest the validation are not
afforded the opportunity to do so. Prisoners receive no notice of their
validation, no procedural due process, nor a periodic review that would
enable the prisoner to have the validation removed. Therefore, prisoners
who have been validated, remain validated for the duration of their
incarceration and irrevocably are subject to SRG policy
deprivations.
There are only two ways to have the SRG validation removed. There is
a SRG program that’s accessible to a limited number of prisoners. It is
a 9-month program at Foothills Correctional, a prison located in the
rural mountainous region of Western NC. The staff employed there are
exclusively white, live in race segregated communities and are out of
touch with the cultures of the prisoners they oversee.
When these “gang officers” walk through the doors of the prison, many
of them, knowingly or unknowingly, hold negative biases towards those
who have been validated and those who don’t look like them.
The media perpetuates inaccurate narratives of violence, criminality,
and dishonesty among racial minorities that many of these “gang
officers” unknowingly internalize. It shows in how they interact and
deal with the prisoners.
The DAC describes this program as being a program that “targets those
beliefs (cognitions) that support criminal behavior ….” and seeks to
shift the thinking that supports these beliefs. Prisoners who complete
this program must undergo a debriefing and renounce their affiliation,
if any, before the validation is removed. This program is not available
to prisoners who have been labeled problematic.
The other way to have the validation removed is to complete your
prison sentence and be discharged from NCDAC custody. Of the 1,343
prisoners released from NCDAC’s custody last year, 564 were alleged SRG
members.
Draconian Gang Policies
& Procedures
The ostensible purpose of the DAC’s SRG policies and procedures is to
avoid prison disturbances supposedly fomented by gangs. Nonetheless it
is obvious these policies and procedures have the effect of
incapacitating significant numbers of prisoners and has cultivated an
environment opposite from what prison officials claim to be “safer”.
Those who have been validated find themselves subjected to draconian
sanctions and restrictions, such as being prohibited from receiving
visits from anyone beyond immediate family. This excludes aunts, uncles,
cousins, and the mother of your child(ren). If you have no immediate
family members to accompany your child(ren) to visitation you will not
be allowed to visit with them. Our childrens’ interests are not, as a
matter of right, factored into SRG validation determinations. The fact
that parent-child visitation can help children overcome the challenges
of parental separation and reduce recidivism rates is well-documented.
However, prison officials find it plausible to implement such a policy
that prevents parent-child visits.
As with the prisoners who have been validated, New Afrikan children
are the ones greatly affected by this policy. NCDAC has implemented this
policy without any cognizance that such a restriction may implicate the
parent-child relationship, which is typically subject to extraordinary
protection by the courts. But yet this policy goes unchecked.
During my incarceration i’ve been unable to visit with my daughter
due to me having no immediate family willing to accompany her. This has
prevented her and i from developing a meaningful relationship. This is
something that a majority of us are experiencing.
Moreover, this policy has an outsized impact on New Afrikan families
and other members of marginalized communities who bear the brunt of mass
incarceration.
Limiting a prisoner’s visitors to immediate family only effectively
cuts a prisoner off from family members who may have raised them. As we
know in marginalized communities there are an overwhelming amount of
fractured families, where grandparents and others play the mother-father
role.
Then there are the prisoners who were raised in foster care, who have
never had the opportunity to meet their immediate family. There is no
exception for foster care parents.
Although these restrictions are sometimes justified, they are being
used indiscriminately without individual analysis.
On 19 February 2019, a policy was implemented that prohibited
validated prisoners from receiving monetary support from anyone who
wasn’t an approved visitor.
Prison officials claimed that this was done to curtail “Black Market”
activities and strong arming. It’s not difficult to see how such a
policy would increase said activities and, moreover, would create an
environment where those who do have means of receiving financial support
become victims of strong arming and other acts of violence.
This policy was implemented 8 months prior to now-retired Director of
Prisons Kenneth Lassiter requesting more funding for security and
control weapons. During these 8 months, violence amongst prisoners
drastically increased, i know because a majority of the close-custody
facilities were placed on lockdown due to the increased violence.
Validated prisoners are prohibited from attending all
educational/vocational programs, compelled to serve idle prison
sentences. They are locked in their cells virtually all of the time and
otherwise maintained in extremely harsh conditions. Unable to have their
custody level reduced to medium or minimum security. And job
opportunities are non-existent. Common sense would tell prison officials
that there are many reasons to believe that these policies and
restrictions will produce unfortunate results both inside and outside of
prison.
The Ramifications of these
Policies
Motivated by an inaccurate conception of gangs and how they operate,
the NCDAC has adopted policies that have enhanced group cohesiveness and
the identities of gang-affiliated prisoners. These policies have
promoted new gang connections for prisoners who, due to the difficulties
inherent in gang identification, inadequate procedures and racial
stereotyping, are misidentified. The validated prisoner tells emself
“they think i’m a gang member, i might as well be one”. Of course these
policies raise obvious moral and ethical questions. However, i would
like to focus on how these policies make no sense from a correctional
perspective. Even if these “gang officers” are creating or enhancing
gang identities, why does it matter? Validated prisoners maintained in
these locked down blocks, after all, are effectively disabled from
committing acts of misconduct when locked in their cells.
Validated prisoners are denied access to visitation, financial
support, transfers to medium or minimum custody, as well as parole. They
have nothing more to lose so they are not deterred by any threat of
punishment, what else can be taken from them? They have no incentive to
refrain from gang involvement?
Aside from prison concerns, the impact of these policies’
ramifications will be felt most profoundly on the streets and
communities to which these prisoners will return. As i pointed out, 564
of the 1,343 prisoners released from NCDAC’s custody last year were
alleged gang members. In general, 96% of all prisoners return to
society. There are recidivism studies focusing on gang affiliated prison
releases, that show that gang members may retain their gang identity
upon their release. (see: Salvador Buentello et. al, “Prison Gang
Development: A Theoretical Model”, The Prison Journal,
Fall-Winter 1991, at 3.8.) Thus, these policies not only fail to enhance
prison security, they also undermine public safety.
We Have A Responsibility
All across the United $tates, prisoners themselves are subjected to
similar sanctions and restrictions under the guide of enhancing prison
security. i’ve revealed how these policies target New Afrikan prisoners
and others of the oppressed nations and how they affect not only the
prison but their families and communities as well. We have the numbers,
we have the capability and we have the know how to bring about change.
But as Komrade George Jackson expressed:
“We all seem to be in the grip of some terrible quandary. Our enemies
have so confused us that we seem to have been rendered incapable of the
smallest responsibility. I see this irresponsibility, or mediocrity at
best[, as] disloyalty, self-hatred, cowardice, competition between
themselves, resentment of any who may have excelled in anything….”
Because of the inexorable nature of our overseers, nationwide
demonstrations on the outside and within these walls is presently
necessary if we are to correct the correctors.
We have united fronts such as the United Front For Peace in Prisons,
the United Struggle Within (USW) and Prison Lives Matter (PLM). PLM is a
united front for political prisoners, prisoners of war, politicized
individuals behind the walls of these razor-wire plantations and their
organizations, as well as any outside formations in union with the
struggles of prisoners, that has made it possible for us to address and
redress the inhumane living conditions we find ourselves subjected to.
It’s on us to initiate the process, it’s on us to communicate and
network with one another, to get on the same page, so we can unite a
page in the history books.
A Call to Action
As we grapple with an expanding and increasingly repressive prison
system here in North Carolina, any hope for change lays in perfecting
ourselves – our physical care, intellectual acumen, and cultural
proficiency – while simultaneously confronting our overseers. And as i
aforesaid, “There is no silver bullet or magic wand that can be used to
expedite the transformation that must be made.” We have a personal
responsibility to contribute to the confronting that must be done.
Some of us don’t seem to know what side we’re on. We’re obsessed with
near-sighted disputes based on race, gang affiliation and so on. We
expend our energies despising and distrusting each other. All of this is
helping the NCDAC. We permit them to keep us at each others throats. i
am calling for unity. We outnumber them. Wake up!!! Put your prejudices,
biases, and gang affiliation aside for the purpose of OUR fight with the
NCDAC. i’m asking we start by submitting a grievance concerning NCDAC’s
SRG policies and procedures (an example has been provided below).
Of course i’m not expecting any redress from submitting grievances.
NCDAC’s Administrative Remedy Procedure process is ineffective and
honestly a waste of time if you are seeking redress. However, i’ve not
asked you to submit said grievance with hopes that NCDAC officials will
correct their wrongs.
i’m currently in the middle of litigating a civil suit against NCDAC
on behalf of all prisoners who have been validated as a SRG member. By
submitting a grievance you will be supporting the claims i have made.
Thusly i entrust you take the time and submit the following grievance
(and send a copy to MIM(Prisons) if you can):
“Ash: The solid residue left when material is thoroughly burned or
oxidized by chemical means; The last traces of something: ruins.”
“Land: The solid part of the surface of the Earth; realm,
domain.”
The above definitions from the Merriam-Webster school dictionary
describe the reality that prisoners here at Federal Correctional
Institution - Ashland are forced to contend with on a daily basis.
With all of the illusions of criminal justice reform being propagated
by law makers, as well as the President of the United $tate$, to secure
votes and appease their constituents, the reality here at ground zero
tells a very different story.
Created in the 1940’s as part boy’s reformatory and part pig and
horse farm, FCI Ashland is now a place where a basket of society’s
deplorables (to borrow a phrase from Hillary Clinton) can come to work,
and with impunity, exercise their politically repressive tactics,
racism, and white supremacist ideology over New Afrikans (black people)
and other people of color.
Even poor whites who maintain a spiritual or political comaraderie
with New Afrikans find themselves subjected to harsher treatment than
their European counterparts who hold the line of white supremacy.
Since my incarceration, I have not received one conduct infraction!
So in June of this year, after completing more than 15 programs, my
security level was reduced from a medium to a low security.
At that time, I was told by the administration that I had to transfer
to a low security institution. I requested to go to USP Atlanta since it
is now a low security, plus I live in GA. However, completely against
the language written in the First Step Act of 2018, I was transferred
here to FCI Ashland, KY over 500 miles from my home.
Since I have been here, I have not personally been attacked
in any way. But I’m sure by the time this article hits press, all that
will change. Because that’s how the administration operates here. The
“good ol’ boy” network is alive and well here, and anyone who dares to
speak out against the injustices taking place in this land of ruin is
retaliated against in a number of ways. But I am a war correspondent
behind enemy lines, and must brief comrades and the masses on what’s
happening so we can create this opportunity for systemic change through
national unity and action.
Different Uniform, Same
Mentality
There are about 60-80 correctional officers and other administrative
staff working at this prison. However, only 3 are black, 2 are Hispanic,
and 1 is Asian. This presents a very antagonistic atmosphere as this
super majority white prison staff oppressively police their majority
black and brown kkkolonized nationals by openly expressing their
“Trumpian” views; ransacking their living quarters and destroying their
private property by pouring out “hot sauce” and “Asian sauce” all over
their books, legal work and pictures, and opening up sealed items like
potato chips and dumping them all over their floor.
They falsify statements and manufacture conduct infractions against
prisoners who are not afraid to file grievances on them and expose these
injustices. Like one brother who would help brothers beat these false
conduct reports, as well as those filed against him. In retaliation for
this, and for him refusing to withdraw his civil suit he filed against
them, they manufactured false allegations that he “attempted to escape”,
had him placed in the SHU (Secure Housing Unit - Lock Up) and he has
since been shipped to another prison! This brother is at least 400 lbs
and can barely get around, let alone try to escape!
I have personally witnessed white officers call an elder New Afrikan
“stupid ass” because he was walking with one of his shoes untied! I’ve
also observed as a white officer harassed a white prisoner about his
locs telling him “you need to stop trying to be one of THEM and be who
you were born to be.” And about a month ago, while attending the Moorish
Science Studies Class in the Chapel, a brother began having breathing
problems as we were leaving the building. The Chaplain called for
support while a couple brothers stood beside him to make sure he was ok.
About 5 C.O.’s showed up, and one officer B. Ross took it upon himself
to begin yelling “get the fuck out! Go on, get!” None of the other
officers that were present even attempted to correct his unnecessary and
belligerent conduct. Instead, they just stood with him, with angry
demeanors as if we had done something wrong and they were prepared for
war.
I, and the world renown militia commander of NFAC comrade Grand
Master Jay, who had just finished teaching the class, just looked at
each other and shook our heads and left. As this is what we were already
in the process of doing anyway. We refused to allow them to provoke us
into any response, as it was obvious that this is what they were trying
to do.
Here at FCI Ashland, members of the KKK have obviously traded in
their white hoods and robes for correctional officer uniforms but the
mindset is still prevalent. There isn’t any black counselor or case
manager, and there is only one Hispanic case manager, so people of color
constantly are being denied institutional transfers to prisons closer to
their release address or that offer FSA rehabilitative programs that
meet their needs assessment(s) when they absolutely qualify for it. And
white prisoners are constantly being transferred when they absolutely do
not meet the criteria. White prisoners get all the benefit of the First
Step Act.
I have personally been told by the counselor that he would not even
consider me for an institutional transfer until I have been 18 months
misconduct free in General Population. Well, I have been in General
Population for almost 8 years, misconduct free! Along with many
accomplishments as I stated earlier. Meanwhile, a white nationalist
prisoner, who has wigged out on K2 at least 4 times since I’ve been
here, and sent to the SHU each time, was just approved to go to a
“camp”, which is a lesser security level than a “low”!
These racist practices go on on a weekly basis as far as these
transfers go. There is no one here that represents our best interests!
When New Afrikans and other people of color complain about these issues,
they are retaliated against by having a “management variable” placed on
them for alleged “population control”, which forces them to have to stay
on this yard a mandatory 18 months, no matter how long they’ve been at
this prison, or a counselor or a caseworker will suddenly show up at
your living quarters and add points to your classification sheet for
“inadequate living conditions.” Then when you go to your 6 month unit
term review, you get denied a transfer for 18 months. For you who have
studied my brief autobiography, “Our Struggle Goes On”, which can be
purchased on Amazon, already know how this is bound to turn out if there
is no systemic change in our conditions. History is our best
teacher.
Health Concerns
There are absolutely NO certified medical doctors on this yard. There
are several RN’s, but that’s it. The prison is completely understaffed
and prisoners are routinely turned away from medical because there is no
one available to address their health concerns. I know of several New
Afrikans who are having kidney and/or liver issues and have been placed
on the waiting list for a year until they can be seen! They have all
filed grievances but their medical issues persist, and they have since
filed complaints in Washington DC to the central office.
There are only 2 dorms out of 12 units, HA and HB, that have an air
conditioner! These same number of dorms also have inadequate
ventilation. Several prisoners on the SHU and throughout the prison have
fainted and received severe injuries over the extremely hot summer
months. At least 1 out of every 5 men here are coughing and/or sneezing
throughout the day, myself included. Probably due to all the mold
throughout each unit. R-unit, which I was in for 2 months when I got
here, is the biggest dorm on the yard, is actually an old movie theater
which now holds over 130 prisoners stacked on top of each other in bunk
beds. It looks more like the hulls of slave ships trying to cross the
middle passage. Therefore absolutely no space for prisoners to even walk
around without constantly bumping into one another.
Asbestos fills the ceiling of the unit, while underneath it is the
prison’s kitchen, which presents an extremely dangerous fire hazard. On
top of the heat coming up from the kitchen adding to an already
extremely hot environment, prisoners are essentially sleeping in a
crematory, because if the kitchen were to ever catch fire they would all
burn alive in a matter of seconds!
Conclusion
I could go on and on about conditions and corrupt practices going on
at Ashland, like how members of the “Proud Boys” who just came to this
yard after trying to overturn the 2020 election results have already
been awarded and rewarded with the best strategic and tactical jobs at
the yard. While New Afrikans who have literally been here for months are
told no jobs or programs will be available until mid 2024!!! Except for
a kitchen job of course. They don’t mind New Afrikans being cooks or
cleaning. But if I continued on this it would easily become a book. So
let me conclude with this:
We are asking you to write to the office(s) at the bottom of this
message and DEMAND and inquire into the racist practices taking place
here at FCI Ashland. DEMAND to know why so many people of color are
having management variables placed on them compared to their European
counterparts. DEMAND to know why so many black and Hispanic families are
turned away from their visits because of their clothing when white
families have on the same clothing or something completely unauthorized.
Ashland is located in the mountains, surrounded by an all white
community on the border of West Virginia. It is totally unsafe for black
families to travel here, and although we can purchase tablets on
commissary, we are not allowed video visits. So if black people can’t
get visits, they will go years without any contact with the outside
world, which leads to a host of mental and emotional issues.
As I stated from the outset of this communique, this institution used
to house animals. The dorm I’m in, “JA”, as well as “K” across from me
is still called by the administration, “The Barns”. I’m literally living
in a barn, like my enslaved ancestors, with bunk beds in it. Sometimes
when it gets really hot in here, you can still smell the residue of the
livestock that occupied the space. We are treated like animals, and
without your DEMANDS for change, we will continue to be subjected to
these inhumane conditions. And by all means, check up on me and make
sure that after almost 8 years of incarceration there is not a “sudden
change” in the quality of my living conditions. Remember, all that is
necessary for evil to prevail is for men and women to do nothing.
Federal BOP
Office of Inspector General, Internal Affairs
Central Office RM 600
320 First St NW
Washington DC 20534
Federal BOP
South Central Regional Office
U.S. Armed Forces Reserve Complex
344 Marine Forces Drive
Grand Prairie, TX 75051
For all it’s self-proclaimed enlightened ways, U.$. imperialism continues to uphold the myth of race in everything it does. Enter the Supreme Court with their historic decision to end affirmative action in higher education. While the “race-conscious” policy did benefit (some in the) oppressed nations, the framework of race, created by the oppressor, continues to setback the progress of the oppressed.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority position, “Many universities have for too long… concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin… Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”
We are not in the game of integrating oppressed people into the oppressor nation, but affirmative action based on “race” did prove an effective way to do that. Ending it will mean less oppressed nation people in higher education as recent history in California has shown.(1)
However, the racial statistics used to tout the success of affirmative action can be misleading. Because “race” and not income, or zip code, or cultural background are used in many of these statistics, what looks like perfect representation by skin color may be doing nothing to benefit the New Afrikan masses. Extrapolating from some broad statistics, one author estimates that maybe 7 or 8 of 154 “Black” freshman (5%) at Harvard in 2020 were from families defined in the U.$. as impoverished. Whereas, in the general population, 30% of New Afrikan youth are from impoverished households. This article also cites anecdotes saying the vast majority of black faces at Harvard are from bourgeois African families or had one Euro-Amerikan parent. Again, indicating affirmative action was not really benefiting the New Afrikan nation at Harvard anyway.(2)
The passage of the U.$. Civil Rights Act in 1964, which preceded the “affirmative action” practices we know today, was a comprehensive act to outlaw discrimination in what had been a segregated country. This was not just a result of the organizing of the oppressed within U.$. borders, but the pressure from the Soviet Union (though at that time they’d taken up the capitalist road) and China and the broader national liberation movement taking place across Africa, Asia and Latin America. And while progressive changes took place in the United $tates in the 1960s it did not quell the upsurge of national liberation struggles within U.$. borders because it never addressed the national question like the Soviet Union and China did. Rather it continued to institutionalize the concept of race through the new civil rights laws being passed.
By never addressing the national question, things like affirmative action, or Under Lock & Key can be attacked by the imperialist state as “racist.” To the imperialists the oppressed nations don’t exist, so when we talk about New Afrikans or Chican@s or Euro-Amerikans, they censor our literature for “racism.”
We must identify the principal contradiction to keep our eyes on the prize and not get distracted into dead-end politics. The principal contradiction we see under imperialism is nation, as well within the United $tates we say it is nation. This does not mean everyone from an oppressed nation is an ally. We must think in terms of percentages, not in black and white.
In discussing racism in political repression, Triumphant talks about the neo-colonial era. And we echo this sentiment that “skinfolk ain’t necessarily kinfolk.” That Black bourgeoisie are often playing significant enemy roles, in defense of U.$. imperialism.
However, just because neo-colonialism exists, it does not mean that nation is erased and class is all that matters. Neo-colonialism is still national oppression, it’s just a smarter form.
In reality, not seeing race at all is impossible for us in this racist society. Even when speaking of nations, we use phenotypes to classify people; we are still stuck in this model handed down by the European settlers who created “whiteness.” We must develop a political analysis to guide us that is beyond the myth of race and bloodlines, that instead operates in the material reality of nation, which J.V. Stalin defined as " a historically evolved, stable community of language, territory, economic life, and psychological make up manifested in a community of culture."
Comrade USW36 wrote on this topic:
i too, no longer use “Black” and “White” to define people. i’m a “New Afrikan”, Black is “created” by European settlers to enforce their new “white” identity rule. i hope all Rev Nats study Fanon (and Yaki’s “Meditations”), New Afrika, Native Amerika, and New Aztlan can be freed. We can be united and create a true North Amerikan Revolutionary Nationalist United Front to decolonize and delink from this imperialist juggernaut. Black and White identities won’t help us free any of the NA nations (i’d like also to salute New Asian Pacific Islanders).
If Amerika is the “prison house of nations”, if our aim is to weaken it from the inside, if revolutionary nationalism is viable then this isn’t just a path for New Afrikans it’s for us all, even European-settlers if they commit class-suicide. New Afrika isn’t just descendants of Afrika. It’s a scattered and potentially solidified nation with all sorts of “ethnicities”, and too, anyone can be a New Afrikan; shaming people ’cause they’re not “Black” enough or not at all is bourgeois bullshit. Someone like the Euro-Amerikan teacher Rachel Dolezal shouldn’t have been discarded like trash if she lied about her ethnicity; that could be corrected by self-criticism but if she consciously was willing to fight for the liberation of “New Afrika” then she’s a “New Afrikan” it’s that fucken simple. But we all need to wrestle with these contradictions here in the heart of empire.
A better example than Rachel Dolezal is Yuri Kochiyama, who was actually a citizen of the Republic of New Afrika (RNA), joining at its founding in 1968 along with a 17 year-old Mutulu Shakur. Kochiyama was a close comrade of el Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X when they met). As a child of Japanese descent she spent years in a U.$. concentration camp during WWII. The RNA continues to serve as a model for how to address oppression from within the empire. Armed with Maoism, revolutionary nationalism within the belly of the beast can lead us to a world with out racism.
For the past 30 years of my life I thought that I was somewhat assimilated into the urban culture simply because I vibe to rap music and grew up around Black folks.
But reality has hit me. I’m a racist white male. I’ve unconsciously struggled thru life with a white privilege card. And honestly, I’m disgusted with not only myself but also my white racist peers.
There is NO EXCUSE that it took me 30 years to realize the reality that I’m racist. But now that I have become conscious of my racist tendencies within me. I have reached out to multiple prison support groups/organizations (i.e. ATL/ABC,blackbird publishing, MIM, etc.) to educate myself and have been very fortunate to run into a revolutionary prisoner who makes it his duty to edify the ignorant racist white prisoners.
I know that right now a lot of people are scratching their head saying “is this dude serious”? But YES I’m serious and until we can admit our faults we cannot call ourselves revolutionaries. Just because you’re not screaming racist words or in some Aryan cult doesn’t mean you’re not racist. There are different kinds of racism.
You have AVERSIVE racism, which means that even though you might not ‘hate’ black folks you still have tendencies to avoid black folks due to your uneasiness, fear, and disgust of them.
You also have MODERN racism, that means you ignore that racism is even real. You’re so comfortable with the way the ‘ruling class’ wants to segregate us that you just go with the flow and became ignorant to the fact that humans just like us are being abused and oppressed just because of their skin color. I have to admit, this is what happened to me. Taking the easy way out in life.
Admitting to being racist is a bitter pill to swallow. Everything I thought I stood for stands on a shaky foundation. It’s hard to even look myself in the eye in my mirror now. I’ll break down knowing that I’ve allowed corruption and brainwashing to make me think I’m better than other humans just because of my skin color.
I speak to my fellow racist white peers, it dwells deep within you. It’s there. And embrace that. It’s time to start over and relearn the history you thought you knew, it’s artificial to hide the truth. That you’re not superior to NO ONE. It’s time to embrace the struggle. Because it’s time to truly struggle with ourselves.
Don’t just READ but STUDY revolutionary material and other books that have been written by people of color. Try to visualize the world as they see it and even though it is not humanly possible for a white person to feel the pain and the oppression that black folks have been subjected to for over 400 years. Try to feel their pain. I do it daily now. And one day I will not be racist. But it’s a hard road to travel. Trust me, cuz I’m on it. I won’t stop. I can’t stop. Too much blood has been shed due to this way of thinking. NO MORE EASY WAY OUT!
MIM(Prisons) responds: We welcome this self-criticism from a new subscriber. It is true that we must constantly be examining ourselves and how the oppressive system impacts the way we think and believe. As materialists, we understand we are products of our material conditions. As such, we should refrain from becoming self-flagellating in our examination of self (a religious approach to one’s faults that focuses on the self). It can be a painful and shocking experience as this comrade describes. But the resolution comes through better revolutionary practice in the anti-imperialist movement. We focus inward to better focus and act outward.
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.
A USW comrade in New York sent a critique of the claim in Power to New Afrika that Malcolm X was not killed by racism:
“Is it then a coincidence that Blacks who seek Black power are killed/imprisoned by said”corrupt power structure" at a disproportionate rate than any other race… If white people kill/imprison Black people who seek Black power for themselves in order to maintain white power for themselves, what could this pattern be symbolic to other than anything but racism?"
Triumphant of United Struggle from Within responds:
No, it is not a coincidence, but neither is “racism” an exact description of the actual social, political, and economic components of Our national oppression. The State/power is going to kill/imprison, disproportionately, any and all threats or perceived threats, or perceived disposable populations. This is to preserve power, self-preservation of the status quote. In the period you’re speaking on when a large amount of Blacks who were imprisoned were politically active or politicized, the Black colony was the most actively radical populace in the empire. Therefore, its numbers in prison reflected such. In more recent times, and without the guidance of mass social-political movements, this would-be active elements have largely succumbed to criminality and gangsterism, a common thread in colonized population groups around the world. So to answer the second half of your above question, the other thing that the pattern could symbolize is common and routine government oppression, the wielding of power. It is what empire does to any historically oppressed and dynamic social force.
History shows that New Afrikans have been the key to opening social, economic, and political doors that have been shut in various times of Amerikan history. By being suppressed at the bottom of the social ladder, Our advancement, in its various forms, has always led to the advancement of the society as a whole, and due to the law of contradictions those advances that we often take for granted these days, have and will always come at a severe price. It will always come at a sacrifice, of mass struggle, and each time we’ve advanced despite it. It is the power structure’s role to maintain as much power and resources in its hands as possible, only conceding when forced or coerced to do so. That is another explanation of the phenomena you’ve mentioned.
Should oppressive exploitative power be evenly distributed against all and not disproportionately to one group? The power, again, represses those who resist, or threaten its power. This is irregardless of color. Case in point, during the high tide of revolutionary struggle, what made it a high tide? The same thing that has made recent years noteworthy, because all colors have been involved in struggle, one way or another. In the 1960s-70s era, there were a more or less proportionate number of PP/POW to the rate of participation by nationality. There were fewer Amerikan comrades, because Amerikans are the oppressor nation and not oppressed. However, all the groups that were active in the ways that most advanced Black revolutionaries were active were attacked and repressed the same. Many of them were co-defendants of each other.
I’m talking about: Marilyn Buck, Susan Rosenberg, Tim Blunk, Barbara and Jaan Laaman, David Gilbert, Richard Williams, Silvia Baraldini, Carol and Tom Manning, Oscar Lopez-Rivera, Alan Berkman, Jaime Delgado, Raymond Levasseur, Linda Evans, Laura Whitehorn, and many others.
We hurt ourselves by not sharing the full stories of those times. The BPP, BLA, RNA, SNCC, RAM, and others were not attacked and repressed because they were Black organizations. It wasn’t because they were Black political organizations. They were attacked because of the type of Black politics they organized around. The proof of this statement lies in the fact of people they worked with (Black, white, brown, male, female, heterosexual, non-heterosexual). These weren’t racial movements in the strict sense, and their actions show that for those who have eyes to see. Take an incident that gets a lot of hype, like Assata Shakur’s escape. The BLA did not liberate alone. In fact, those alleged to have been involved with it were majority non-Black. And they and their organizations were attacked, imprisoned, along with the Black revolutionaries they were in solidarity with.
My point? When people choose the revolutionary path and act it out, they become targets for repression and extinction, irregardless of color.
…Your notion that “white people imprison/kill Black people at disproportionate rates” is flawed and not in accordance with reality. Why? Because it is not white people who imprison/kill. In most cases it is representatives of the system (police, prosecutors, judges, jurors, C.O.s, etc) and in other cases it isn’t system reps at all. In fact, studies show we lose more Black lives to self-destruction than anything else. And since the early 1970s, colonialism has transitioned into neo-colonialism (mass integration into the social, political,economic and cultural apparatus of USA). So now when we talk about the system, or power structure, and other politicians are helping to invest in police forces in places like New York, Chicago, Houston, and elsewhere. Therefore the old notion of a simplistic black/white; white power/Black power worldview is overly simplistic and keeps us missing the mark in our analysis and in our subsequent practice in our organizing.
…You correctly say, “political power in all societal cases will always be the most efficient first step on a pathway to freedom for any race or people,” and because the power structure knows and agrees with this is why Malcolm and others were killed and/or jailed. And as far as you saying the power structure, despite their intentions “effected racism, by oppressing, exploiting and killing the futures and politics of the predominantly Black supporters he represented.” Now here is why we must really deconstruct “race” as a useful social construct in our spaces, because it confuses us as a people. What we’ve been bred to refer to as races are in actuality nations and nationalities of people who’ve developed organically and historically within the social realities of 400 years in North America. The assassination wasn’t merely to win the war for ideologies as you said, but to win, before it even began in earnest, the full scale actual war (of national liberation). These weren’t acts of racism, but much more! These were acts of national oppression, acts of warfare designed to do as you said, oppress, exploit, and kill the future of our politics. What is that then? Genocide? Colonial suppression/domination? National oppression designed to keep an oppressed and colonized social group in its place. This isn’t racism and calling it that limits our actions in correcting it. This is Warfare, the same war that began Black August 1619. It has always, despite intentions on either side, had the effect of national oppression. They implement the continued political, economic, social, and cultural inability to develop independently, or without being dictated to by the empire. Therefore, national liberation, is to enforce the opposite relationship, to dictate our own affairs. In other words, it isn’t a white/black thing, it’s a power struggle, hence the title, Power to New Afrika.
Re-Build
^Power to New Afrika is available for $3 to prisoners, or work trade through our Free Political Books Program, and free on our website.^
Your last three mailings were denied by the mail room. The Last one,
received on 5/25/22 stated “Denied: one letter. Content inciting a
disturbance. DRC – non appealable list (offender cannot appeal).” The
next two denials arrived on the same day (6/6/22): “One newsletter and
one packet. Contains content inciting a disturbance.” I did appeal these
last two decisions.
Apparently, when a prisoner attempts to assert his rights, the mail
room calls it “inciting a disturbance!?” These are the same racist dogs
who can get away with denying me a photograph of my ten-year old nephew
who was innocently posing while making some silly hand signs, calling
that “gang related.” The kids are being kids and their hand signs have
absolutely nothing to do with gangs! Had it been white kids posing in
similar fashion, instead of calling it “gang-related,” these racist mail
room employees would’ve called the photograph “cute.”
These are the same racist muthafuckers who loved it – and applauded –
when that comic figure (D. Trump) was separating all the kids from their
parents at the border, you know, that as long as it is not their kids
who are being treated so inhumanely, they obviously do not care about
our kids, right!? And what’s so fucked up is that when the white ‘lady’
who delivers the denial papers arrives to our cell, she pretends like
she’s really upset that I would even want to receive these MIM
publications. She practically turns her back on me as if I were being so
un-American, or something!
But I have news for her, and anyone else of her ilk. I don’t want
part of anysystem that snatches babies out of the
arms of their mothers, or a system that allows their police forces to
murder people of color with impunity, while these same fuckin’ cowards
refuse to enter a school where kids are being massacred! And while the
trigger-happy cowards are quick to murder unarmed civilians,
none of the recent sick and deranged school shooters (or other
mass murderers) have been killed by police! Why not? Because the
cowardly police officers were “too scared” and chickenshit to engage the
“active shooters.” Plain and simple. And each time these police officers
take the stand at someone’s trial, where they will lie and perjure
themselves (as they are wont to do), they will recite their “highly
trained” credentials, but where are all these “highly trained”
credentials when the little kids in a school are being massacred and
need help?
And their “exceptional training,” without fail, goes out the window
when these same police officers take the stand, not only do they
(conveniently) “forget” vital details during vital parts of their trial
testimony, they lie about who handled what piece of evidence, whether or
not they used gloves to handle the evidence un-dated and un-sworn
“supplemental reports” appear out of nowhere to “assist” these liars and
“refreshen their memories” etc. And as the famous attorney Gerry Spence
once remarked (an attorney who has practiced law for over 50 years), he
has never been involved in a case where police did not lie or
plant evidence, or engage in some other illegalities, in other words,
like me, he has never met an honest cop! And like me, he’s not saying
they’re not out there, I just haven’t ever met one.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Outside supporters, please join our
campaign to protest censorship in Allred RHU. This censorship has ramped
up in response to prisoner organizing. This is politically-motivated
repression and it is illegal. You can call,
write a letter, or better yet print out our postcards and get others
to sign them to let them know what’s going on in Texas prisons!
This is the question of our time.
It’s the struggle that people go through when they’ve been wrongfully
convicted of crimes.
It’s the outrage over Black men dying and our race being marginalized by
this capitalist society.
We’re targeted by fascist forces of white faces in high places who push
the agenda of these racist polices.
Which perpetuates poverty and inflicts us with pain;
we’re steady searching for the sunshine but all we seem to find is the
thunder and rain.
In order for there to be justice, first there needs to be a
change.
To abolish the system that views a Black man as a cold-hearted killer or
a member of an organized gang.
It’s a damn shame how they view our people as animals who needs to be
tamed.
When they can’t even seem to control these fascist forces of pigs who
really needs to be trained.
Honestly, they really need to be slain for trapping our black bodies in
chains,
and for killing our brothers in the streets every day like it’s all
apart of the game.
Justice is insane!
It’s a process full of heartache and pain.
It’s like the government is the Devil and we just caught in the
flames.
Yankee politics are to blame for causing another Brother to be
slain.
“I can’t breath! Officer please” was his claim.
So to overthrow the capitalist reign, we ain’t gone let that Brother die
in vain.
What’s his name? What’s his name?
George Floyd! George Floyd!
And to all the other Brothers and Sisters that we lost to this racist
system.
The People have become conscious;
the revolution hasn’t quelled!
On 12 August 2015, Hugo “Yogi Bear” Pinell was murdered on the yard at
California State Prison – Sacramento in Represa, also known as New
Folsom Prison. Yogi was in solitary confinement a week prior to his
murder, having spent 46 years in solitary confinement. Yet somehow
someone on the yard had enough beef with him to murder the 71-year-old
man in cold blood? Not possible. Yogi’s blood is on the hands of the
state officials in charge of CSP-Sacramento.
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.