Under Lock & Key

It seems I have become a target of the oppressors and their trained pigs. On Tuesday, October 2, 2012 the SouthEast Corruption Center, located in Charleston Missouri, conducted a mass lock-up where 72 people (including myself) were locked up for nothing at all. Prior to this, the SouthEast Corruption Center was already on lockdown due to pigs being assaulted. Sadly, there was also a prisoner-on-prisoner assault. All this took place in a two week time frame.

So on the above date, while still on lockdown, around 1pm E-squad went throughout the KKKamp with a list of 72 people’s names. These pigs came to my assigned cell, told me to pack my property, then stripped me out, placed me in handcuffs and escorted me to the hole. When I arrived in the segregation unit, I was placed on a bench with another brother who was part of this massive lockup. I was then informed by a pig that they were clearing out the bedspace wing that they have here due to overcrowding and making room for us.

After they cleared out the bedspace wing, me and the other brother on the bench were taken to housing unit two D, the bedspace wing now converted to an Administrative Segregation (Ad-Seg) wing. And this is when I realized the seriousness of the situation. They locked up 72 people from all walks of life; I do not say this to create barriers or separation. We are all oppressed and victims of this system. So we all have a common enemy.

But out of the 72 people locked up, there were 10 caucasians, one Arab and 61 New Afrikans. The 72 was a variety of Crips, Bloods, GDs, Five Percenters, homosexuals, Moslems, Christians, white pride gangs and revolutionaries. Again, I do not say this to show separation, only to point out those targeted on this massive lock up. We were told we were the shot callers on the yard and had the power and influence. I can assure you I am not a shot caller and have no power and influence on the yard, because if I did, there would never be a prisoner-on-prisoner assault, that’s a promise.

We were placed on Ad-Seg, locked down and treated as if we were on disciplinary action. We were denied showers for almost a week, denied recreation for two weeks, denied phone calls for a month and denied medical sick call. When a nurse came in the wing to give people their daily medication, she told us that they were told not to do sick call for that wing.

When our TASC property was brought to us, nobody had paper, envelopes or stamps which was previously in our property. They deliberately made sure we could not reach out to anyone outside. But brothers from the other wings helped out a whole lot and for that, I am forever grateful.

Not one brother out the 72 had broken any rules, or had any violations. So they did not have probable cause to lock us up. Our temporary Ad-Seg confinement form stated: confinement is ordered on the basis of the following criteria: “There is an immediate security risk involved. For the security and good order of the institution.” Statement of facts in support of TASC/comments: “inmate represents a threat to institutional safety and security.” And then it states why they are a threat. Which were are all things people did in the past, from years ago. This included things like drugs, assaults on pigs, assaults on prisoners, and gang activity.

We saw the Ad-Seg committee on October 9th, 2012 and everybody was given a 30 day review; even though nobody had any violations and they had no rights to lock us up. Half were scheduled to see them on November the 6th and the other half on November the 8th. On Nov 6, 36 people went up to see them, 8 were let go and everyone else received anywhere from a 30 to 90 day review.

But on Nov 7 the Southeast Corruption Center did another mass movement where 50 people were transferred, and it was not even a transfer day. Transfers are done on Tuesdays and Thursdays, this was a Wednesday. Out of the 72 brothers locked up for being a threat to the safety and security of the institution, only 10 were transferred. You would think, if 72 shot callers in one prison (with all the power and influence on the yard) were that much of a threat to the institution, the institution would break them up and spread them out by sending them to different prisons, but this was not the case.

The other 36 brothers (including myself) went up and saw them on Nov 8 and 9 more brothers were released back to the yard. The rest received anywhere from 30 to 90 days review. I myself received 90 days.

They thoroughly inventoried our property. They inventoried it so thoroughly we did not get a copy of the inventory form for 2-3 weeks. Then we were informed that they had confiscated some of our belongings. I myself was missing all my revolutionary material (literature, artwork, books), hot pot, extension cord for my TV, and a lot of my pictures.

This is not their first time attacking me for my political beliefs, and I’m 100% sure it is not their last time. But they cannot break what was not built to be broken.

All the other 72 brothers were placed under Security Threat Group (STG) for their past history in prison. The TASC form says they pose a threat to the institution, gang group activities, drugs, assaults on pigs or assaults on inmates. All mine says is “Inmate represents a threat to institutional safety and security due to creating disturbance.” I am the only one down here for representing a threat to the institution due to creating a disturbance. I have not broken any rules, I have not caught any violations and they cannot produce any evidence to show that I need to be in the hole because I’m a threat to the safety and security of the institution.

We’ve had our family call here and they get the run around and lies. They were told that we were involved in an incident, and even said we all requested PC on the same day.

We have filed Informal Resolution Request Forms (IRA) and some have come up missing, including my celly’s and mine. So we have asked for another which we are in the process of filing.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This common story of targeting politically active prisoners for repression is a demonstration of what the injustice system really sees as a threat. Prisoner’s with an ability to organize and educate others are the foundation of a successful unity among the lumpen behind bars. These comrades will be the backbone building the United Front for Peace in Prisons.

In late September of this year, in a fight between a few prisoners, a prisoner was killed and another prisoner was seriously wounded and is still in critical condition. The incident happened at Lanesboro Correctional Institution and we have been on lockdown since it occurred. The administration discontinued visitation for regular population and segregated inmates, cut telephone privileges for everyone, and regular population was limited to ordering only five items, three times a week, and three showers a week. Recreation was taken from regular population indefinitely, which caused them to remain in their rooms for 24 hours a day for days at a time.

The strange thing about this entire event is when Superintendent Parsons was questioned on the Channel 9 news based in Charlotte, North Carolina, about what exactly happened, he responded by saying 148 prisoners had a “brawl” in which a prisoner was killed. The media then debased the prisoner who was killed and devoted the entire segment to discussing how he was shot by police in 1999 in an attempted escape. Nothing was said about why this prisoner-on-prisoner stabbing occurred, or about the dozens of other stabbings that happened throughout this year. Nor did they mention the illegal and inhumane “dry cells” that were mandated by the administration, leaving almost 100 prisoners in rooms with feces covering the entire dorm.

As of now, all of the questionable events are being investigated by the State Bureau Investigation Unit and Laneseboro Correctional Institution may be looking at grave consequences. But why did these events end so brutally? Why did it take a prisoner losing his life for the administration, the Governor, and law enforcement to get involved? First let’s take a look at what led up to these times we are in.

At the start of the year, the prison administration promoted the idea that gang violence was the cause of dozens of stabbings occurring statewide which put several close custody camps on lockdown for weeks and even months. Here at Lanesboro, that soon subsided and things were back to “normal.” Then early June, the Prison Emergency Response Team (PERT) raided the prison, where nearly 100 prisoners were placed in “dry cells” where we were in our cells 24 hours a day for a week. PERT officers weren’t allowing us to flush our toilets, which caused them to become clogged. aIn protest we threw our feces out into the dayroom, leaving the entire dorm in a heap of feces. Prisoners were forced to eat, clean our bodies, and sleep in this stench. Also prisoners were forced to have x-rays to find drugs, cell phones or weapons. This led to many lawsuits being filed.

What happened next indicates how much the Lanesboro administration cares about prison life. A stabbing had occurred in which one prisoner’s neck was cut. A prisoner involved was placed in segregation along with the prisoner who had his throat cut. The administration then released the assaulted prisoner into regular population after one week and placed him in the same pod as his enemies. This set off four consecutive stabbings in less than two hours around the prison.

They momentarily locked us down. When we came off, two days later a prisoner was killed. Another strange thing is the prisoners who did the killing didn’t live in the dorm where the killing occurred, and neither did the prisoner who was killed. This means the officers had to let these prisoners into a dorm where they didn’t live.

So we see the perpetuation of violence by the Lanesboro administration who place known enemies in the same dorm. Obviously they’re not trying to stop the violence. This perpetuation of violence results in lockdowns where they take all of the prisoners “privileges” in an attempt to further control us. It’s obvious these lockdowns did not halt the violence. In fact, evidence shows that violence in prisons across the country increases after a lock down (see the documentary Unlock the Box). But the puzzling part is when they take away our “privileges,” we gladly accept it instead of resisting. There were only a few people filing grievances, filing lawsuits, taking progressive actions against the beast, but there were many complaining.

Why do these violent acts continue to occur? To understand the simple answer you just have to look at conditions here. We have to wait 90 days to receive a job, even unit jobs. They’re denying some of us from even enrolling in school or extra-curricular activities. They barely even offer any extra-curricular activities. All we have to occupy our time is TV, yard and gym. Prisoners have no activities to engage in, and so just hang around the dorms. With the state building medium custody facilities right beside the close custody facilities, the administration says all “good” jobs (kitchen workers and other important jobs) will be taken by medium custody prisoners. This will ultimately have more of us in our dorms unable to work, and so prevented from getting gain time and being shipped to a “better” facility. It will destroy morale and cause some to lash out and perpetuate the prisoner-on-prisoner violence.

So why do these events continue to happen? Because the administration wants it to! They perpetuate violence. They don’t care about prisoners’ lives, and they are never going to solve the true problems. Therefore, it is up to us to remedy our own situations by uniting and never splitting. We need to take the rebellious actions against these oppressors and force them to recognize their policies aren’t working. We must come together and get an understanding and peace with one another so they won’t have to enforce any policies anyway.

We don’t want them to do their jobs because their jobs are to repress, suppress and oppress us, to hinder us from uniting and fighting the true injustice. As superintendent Parsons lied to the public media, they lie to us as well. And we have to show them we won’t tolerate it any longer. Unite and resist and our conditions will get better because “We” will make them better!

I am writing to follow up on the problems we’ve been experiencing with our appeals system as it relates to the mass complaint form that at least 85 of us sent to Sacramento. I went a step further and had my sister draft a “citizen’s complaint letter” to the Warden of RJ Donvan. He’s required by law to investigate and respond to this letter within 30 days. This puts more pressure on the Warden’s office due to the time and resources involved to send out responses. So, if your readers have friends and family who can draft and submit the citizen’s complaint en masse, I believe it can have a greater impact.

MIM(Prisons) adds: As previously reported, this comrade is making good use of the grievance petition and taking on this battle creatively through the legal and administrative system. Write to us to get involved in this campaign. We can send you a copy of the grievance petition for your state, or a generic version you can customize to create one for states that do not yet have one.

In May of 2012, when I was at my previous prison, the “Prison Emergency Response Team” (PERT team) did a full facility shake down. These are regular corrections officers who have been certified to be a member of this “special” group. They wear black t-shirts with “PERT” spelled on the front breast and upper back, with camouflage pants that are tucked into black military boots. They have no name tags, so there is absolutely no way of identifying any officer.

They make you strip naked, squat and cough. Then, in nothing but your white boxers, they handcuff you, and escort you through a metal detector, while other officer tears your cell apart looking for any form of “contraband.” If you return to your cell before the search is complete they make you stand facing your cell door. You cannot watch them search your cell! If you try to watch, your get verbally assaulted and/or sometimes physically man handled to the position they want you in.

During the search of my cell a personal property item of mine (electric shaver with trimmers) was broken into 3 pieces. When I asked for the names of the officers involved in the cell search, I was told it was “none of you fucking business.” So, I filed a grievance. The first response was that I did not list the names of the officers involved, and there was no proof of the condition of my shaver. (Though they had current paperwork of the personal property that I had and what condition it was in.)

I appealed this response. The second response said that the first response answered my grievance. I had no names of officers, and no proof of the condition of my property before the search. “No further action is needed.” I once again appealed the response. The last and final response I received was: “This examiner has reviewed this grievance and the response given by staff in the DC-410A response. My review of this grievance reveals no violation of applicable division of prisons policy nor does it show any evidence of disrespect or abuse of authority by staff. Therefore, this grievance is dismissed for lack of supporting evidence.” So my grievance was turned down because I had no names of the officials that changed my property. But there is no way that I could have gotten their names in the first place!

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is yet another example of the failure of the prison grievance system to address abuses and legal violations by prison staff. Grievances are little more than a formality where the very people violating policies and laws are the same ones reviewing the complaints. They back each other up and dismiss grievances based on criteria that they know are impossible for prisoners to meet. This is why the grievance campaign is spreading across the country. North Carolina has a grievance petition customized for that state, as do many others. Write to us for a copy of the petition for your state, or for a generic petition that you can customize if we don’t have one already.

The oppressor class will always sell high dreams and prospective futures to the oppressed to gain their vote. For instance Obama and the Democratic Party only recently proposed “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA). DACA pretends to offer non-citizens who arrived in the U.$. as children the opportunity for legal residence. But lets look at it for what it is. DACA is not actually a law but an executive order that can be revoked at any time by whoever is president. The qualifications for DACA are narrow and for those qualified they will only receive a temporary work permit. What about the others who applied and were rejected for one reason or another? Well they willingly gave up their information along with that of their families and will now be in the “ICE database” and could be rounded up and deported. It is a re-election tactic the Obama administration utilized as a ploy to get the Latino vote. But this is not in the interests of the undocumented.

“People always were and always will be the foolish victims of deceit and self-deceit in politics until they learn to discover the interests of some class or other behind all moral, religious, political and social phrases declarations and promises. The supporters of reforms and improvements will always be fooled by the defenders of the old order until they realize that every old institution, however barbarous and rotten it may appear to be, is maintained by the forces of some ruling class and there is only one way of smashing the resistance of these classes and that is to find, in the very society which surrounds us, and to enlighten and organize for the struggle the forces which can - and owing to their social positions must - constitute the power capable of sweeping away the old and creating the new.” - VI Lenin On the Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism

The electoral system is not nor will it ever be the means to bringing real change, as long as there is an imperialist as president there will be no progress for the oppressed. There are those who say Obama is a better choice than Romney because Romney is a racist Mormon and his extreme conservative policies will bring further devastation to Amerika or wage more wars. But weren’t these the sentiments towards the end of the Bush administration? People got fed up with Bush’s deportation of immigrants and warmongering agenda. They had hope in the first Black president. But we have seen Obama has gone farther than Bush in violating people’s fundamental rights in “the war on terrorism.” His 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) law gives the president full authority to detain anyone who the government deems a terrorist indefinitely, without charges or a trial, and the terrorist label can be vague and will more than likely be thrown around like candy.

Obama has deported more immigrants than Bush, he also ordered more drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Afghanistan than Bush. Obama’s warmongering resulted in 284 drone strikes on Pakistan alone. And under Obama’s leadership the United $tates., along with Israel, threatens imminent war on Iran. Let’s face reality, Obama and Romney will only serve the interests of the big bourgeoisie and maintain the status quo.

As prisoners we need to consciously participate in politics that serve our interests. In ULK 28 someone mentioned the penal system in Nevada; a prisoner anticipated reprisals by fellow prisoners for exposing the warden for culinary and laundry violations to the health department. These prisoners acting on behalf of the prison administration to attack this prisoner is counter and reactionary to what he was trying to do by bettering the quality of food and laundry for the prison population. This goes to show what Mao Zedong once said about lumpen: “brave fighters but apt to be destructive. They can become a revolutionary force if given proper guidance.” We all know doing favors for the pigs like that mentioned above is going a little too far and would merit a negative reaction from the prison population.

Looking at it from a bigger picture, under Obama/Romney mass incarcerations will continue. The U.$. has the highest incarceration rate in the world today and let’s not forget the police brutality that has swelled across the country since Obama’s been in the office.

Our action of not voting for one oppressor over another should be consciously voiced. When I explained this to a fellow prisoner he responded: “well who else is going to be your representative nationally?” My answer to that was simple: “we can represent ourselves, we don’t need yankee representatives!” The oppressed nationalities need their own independent representatives who will serve their interests, not sell them out, and institutions that help them rather than strip them of their identity and culture. Reforms or amendments will never bring about genuine change for the oppressed nations, only communism will.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The author above originally quoted Karl Marx as saying:

“Every few years the oppressed are authorized to decide which members of the oppressor class will represent and crush them in parliament.”

However, this does not accurately represent the conditions in the United $tates where the oppressor nation has the majority say in who represents the government that oppresses and kills more people worldwide than any other country [UPDATE: white Amerikans ended up being 72% of the voters in the 2012 national election]. The people most oppressed by U.$. imperialism have no say in these elections that affect them very deeply.

Rather than encouraging prisoners to organize in their own interests, we challenge them to think more broadly, in the interests of the oppressed people of the world. This is important because the imperialist system has stolen tremendous wealth and brought it home to Amerika where all the citizens share in the spoils. While prisoners are clearly oppressed, they share in the Amerikan mentality of looking out for their own wealth at the expense of the world’s people.

Because of my activism and revolutionary actions I have become a target. My mail is being delayed, and recently these prisoncrats have been denying recreation, not just to me but our entire block - E-wing High Security (Estelle).

Two days ago I watched a white male sergeant named Curtis Jordan pull a Mexican male out of his cell violently and slam his head against a wall, and continue to smash his head against the wall and he looked up at my cell where I was watching and said “Tell that, Bitch!” I wrote a detailed affidavit to Senior Warden Cody Ginsel of Estelle Unit requesting that he review the video. This was an unprovoked use of force! Believe it or not, major David M. Forrest ordered the brutality against this innocent Mexican prisoner, who has some mental health issues. These racists target the weak, elderly, and mentally ill prisoners who can’t fight back.

Comrades, I need your help in exposing these swine. Here is a list of the “Clique.” My goal is to break this “good ole boy” clique up and possibly improve the living conditions in this slave pen of oppression for all.

1. Assistant Warden Steven T. Miller, in charge of the High Security Unit at Estelle – extremely vindictive, and promotes inhumane treatment of prisoners.
   
2. Major David M. Forrest – Eight years ago was a Senior Warden, was demoted to Lieutenant after being involved in the murder of a prisoner. This is our Chief KKK grand wizard! We must destroy him!
   
3. Lieutenant James H. Kent – His father is a Deputy Directory. In the past six months the prison watchdog service, con-care service, received 16 prisoner complaints from prisoners housed at this High Security Unit. Kent was a main actor in five of the 16 complaints. He is cocky, arrogant and believes he is invincible.
   
4. Lieutenant Deward Demoss – Big racist. Made a death threat against me in May 2012. I filed a complaint with DOJ.
   
5. Sergeant Curtis Jordan – An unapologetic racist. He will tell you to your face “I hate niggers and wetbacks. I’m a redneck.” Too many wrongs to list.
   
6. We have two house negroes on the payroll. They are flunkies and dupes:
   A. Sergeant Terell Beverly – A sado-masochist with a history of abuse aimed at prisoners.
   B. Sergeant Brooks (“the snake”) – A young Black man who is so wicked and brainwashed it sickens me.

I know that there is no specific race or ethnicity associated with oppressors, and it is a huge mistake to think if we traded all these white men in for “brothers” all problems would cease. That is idealistic bullshit.

Unit Grievance Investigator Allen Hartley is the Senior Grievance Investigator. He is super corrupt and in league with these racists. The grievance system is so broken. The main problem is the grievance staff do not practice objectivity or operate with any integrity. There just isn’t any incentive for them to mete out justice and render fair decisions. People have been killed because they fail to do their job properly. Hartley’s modus operandi is cronyism, nepotism, misplaced comradery, and obstruction of justice.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Exposing structural relationships like this highlights the continuing importance and need for national liberation of the internal semi-colonies. As this comrade points out, replacing all the white men with Black men (integrationism) would not change anything. Similarly, replacing them with more progressive-minded people in general would not lead to significant change because the fundamental problem is the criminal injustice system. It is set up so that police, courts, and prisons serve as tools of social control, and the individuals working within the system can do little to change that.

This is why we must put our battles against individual oppressors and policies in the context of the fight against imperialism as a system. Without liberating the oppressed nations from imperialist oppression we will never make fundamental change to the criminal injustice system that attacks us. So we must take up these smaller battles as agitational tools to mobilize the oppressed and as battles to exert the will of the oppressed in small ways that benefit our ability to educate and organize together.

For the past 6 months I have been attempting to shed light on injustices perpetrated by Texas Department of Criminal Justice correctional officers and administrators against prisoners housed at the high security unit on Estelle Unit located in Huntsville, TX. I have written numerous Step 1 grievances, however, the same Unit Grievance Investigator (UGI) continues to impede, obstruct, and sabotage my quest for justice.

Estelle Unit UGI Mr. Allen Hartley has operated from the stance of nepotism, cronyism, and misplaced comradery. Instead of establishing an objective stance in his handling of my grievances, he has actually entered into a collusive and conspiratorial relationship with prison staff and administration in order to minimize, marginalize, and downplay my claims of injustice.

This is nothing new, comrades in Texas and California have been reporting on this type of behavior for years. MIM(prisons), USW, and some extremely dedicated comrades have come up with a weapon and strategy to combat these corrupt individuals. The grievance petition crafted by a USW comrade in California has been also adopted and utilized by Texas prisoners. I personally have sent a copy of the petition to the Texas state legislature.

The legislative session starts the 2nd week of January 2013. I encourage all comrades in Texas to write the legislature and request that all UGIs in the Texas prison system are fired and that a new streamlined, efficient, and fair grievance department be created. This new system should be managed by the Office of the Inspector General and oversight should be provided by the ACLU of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP).

The point of the matter is this: the grievance procedure in Texas prisons is a farce and a sham. Unit Grievance Investigators are stealing tax payer dollars and violating the public’s trust. Comrades are being degraded, humiliated, and abused in Texas every day and no-one is being held accountable for their actions except prisoners! Time and time again I have watched as TDCJ employees commit every crime against humanity you can think of, including murder, and nothing is done. This is bullshit! Please join USW and help get rid of these authors of obstruction.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade is proposing an interesting change to the grievance system in Texas, with oversight from independent organizations (ACLU and TCRP). Leaving the grievance process in the hands of the government means it will never truly serve the needs of prisoners, while establishing independent oversight would certainly lead to more accountability and less ease at outright fraud and lies serving the prison employees.

Although fighting for grievances to be addressed is only a reform to gain more livable conditions and organizing space for comrades in prison, it is a campaign that can demonstrate to others our ability to come together to fight for the rights of prisoners. No reform of the grievance system will end the injustice of the prison system in Amerika. These are just the early steps in building a movement for humyn rights in U.$. prisons.

I was taken out of my cell one day and brought to the Security Threat Group (STG) Officer (AKA the gang officer). He tried everything to get me to give him some gang information, and when I would not he got mad and told me he was going to validate me as a STG member for a gang tattoo I was written up for in 2008. Since I would not give this man some gang information and put my life on the line for him, he is going to STG me. I have not had a gang charge in over three years, and as I said the charge for the tattoo was four years ago. This is crazy and it needs to stop now!

Comrades, keep your heads up and don’t stop fighting these pigs and this oppression. One day it will end! MIM(Prisons), thanks for all you do!

MIM(Prisons) responds: This is just one example of a common occurrence that exposes the emptiness of the term “Security Threat.” The “STG” label is a tool of national oppression, nothing more.

This comrade also wrote us about the censorship of MIM Theory 13: Revolutionary Culture and Under Lock & Key 27, which he appealed to no avail. The administration justified it by saying the literature encouraged “disruption of operations.” We wonder if that can be construed as a bad thing given how they operate.

I would like to bring your attention to something that’s going on here in Texas. There are repeated staff attacks of prisoners in Ad-Seg, and prison staff seem to always get away with this.

On October 16 I was on the rec yard where you can see inside to section 4 day room. A prisoner with a mental illness for which he takes meds was inside the day room. He was sitting at the table and two officers walked inside. He didn’t get up from the table, and the officers walked on both sides of the table where the prisoner was sitting down and both of them rushed the prisoner and took him to the floor of the day room beating him, punching him with handcuffs, and using the food slot bar to hit him in the head. They ended up with blood on them from the beating of this prisoner. He lay on the floor and they dragged him from the dayroom in handcuffs and called on the radio that they just had a use of force on a prisoner.

There are many cells that saw this incident in addition to people in the rec yard; a total of 18 people witnessed the beating. But only two people wrote a witness statement. When I asked the two officers why they did this, they told me that this has nothing to do with me, and that the prisoner had this coming.

I write grievances to stand up to staff who hurt people, but the grievances just go right to the ranking officers and they call the officer to invite a statement and the staff just deny it. So the grievance comes back with the staff denying any misconduct and that’s the end of it. I talked with other prisoners and told them that the only way to stop this is coming together as one and standing up.

MIM(Prisons) responds: It is ironic that this prison claims that MIM(Prisons) and our USW comrades behind bars are a threat to the safety and security of the institution while violence is carried out by those supposedly ensuring this safety and security. We know that the entire criminal injustice system is set up to defend the actions of guards like those described by this comrade, and it will never be easy to take them down through grievances or lawsuits. Even if we win, it is only to replace one oppressor with another. But we cannot stop fighting the oppression because battles like this one are a good opportunity to educate and organize against systematic brutality. Mass consciousness and mass organizing is the only way to win against oppression. United Struggle from Within comrades across the country fearlessly take on these battles even while knowing that they may face brutal retaliation themselves for standing up for their fellow prisoners. This is truly fighting for peace. As the first principal of the United Front for Peace in Prisons states: We organize to end the needless conflicts and violence within the U.$. prison environment. The oppressors use divide and conquer strategies so that we fight each other instead of them. We will stand together and defend ourselves from oppression.

El 20 de Agusto 2012 salió un articulo alegando que el Richard Aoki un Japonés y también unos de los primeros miembros del “Black Panther Party” (BPP) era una rata del FBI, esta declaración esta hecha por el periodista y autor Seth Rosenfeld en su libro titulado: subversivos. La guerra del FBI contra estudiantes radicales y el crecimiento del poder de Reagan, que estuvo disponible convenientemente el 21 de Agusto. También el 7 Septiembre 2012 Rosenfeld publicó un artículo consecutivo con 221 paginas de documentos recién liberados del FBI los cuales él cree que implican mas a Aoki como agente del FBI.(1)

Pero hay que empezar con la perspectiva política de Rosenfelds porque todos sabemos que no existe un periodista imparcial. La opinión de Rosenfeld sobre las luchas liberativas es revelada en su caracterización del frente de liberación del tercer mundo (TWLF) en el cual Aoki se enredó era un movimiento estudiantil violento (2). El le echa la culpa a los huelguistas del TWLF por la violencia en 1968-69 en los colegios universitarios en la área Bay, y no a los puercos. Aunque los estudiantes nunca iniciaron la violencia y de hecho fueron rociados con tanto gas lacrimógeno por los puercos que los arboles en la plaza Proul dentro la Universidad de California en Berkeley todavía molestaban los ojos de los estudiantes hasta el próximo año de escuela. Asi mirando las cosas de esta perspectiva debemos poner en cuestión la estimación que hizo Rosenfeld de el FBI.

Richard Aoki influenció el partido mucho al principio y es famoso por conseguir las primeras pistolas para el BPP de acuerdo con su biografía Aoki ayudo a construir la ideología tremprana de los panteras Bobby Seale y Huey Newton mediante su relación colegio Merritt y por su sugestión con literatura material y político debates con ellos.(3) Ademas del con ellos en el trabajo por la frente liberativa Tercer Mundial vía la política alianza - Americano Asiatico, Aoki se quedo cometido político y revolucionario hasta su muerte en 2009, sorpresivamente señor Rosenfeld es de San Francisco y estuvo investigando para su libro desde 1982 pero apenas en 2002 o 2003 se entero de Richard Aoki.

La demanda de Rosenfeld inició mucho debate por la internet y el radio si será verdar o falso, aunque nosotros reconocemos que siempre esta presente la posibilidad que cualquier persona puede ser agentes del estado pero MIM(Prisiones) prefiere estar de acuerdo con los que vienen a concluir con evidencia reales antes de denunciar al legado de Aoki al estado, viendo objetivamente la evidencia siguiendo la demanda es inconcluyente porque el articulo original estaba muy sensacional, vago y con mal cotizaciones de la entrevista con Aoki en 2007 por cual el autor entremete como su admisión. Además de estas distorsiones la única otras evidencias son los documentos del FBI por cual son ambiguos con cotizaciones diciendo que Aoki proporciono información “única” pero no esta al disponible por otros recursos y el testimonio de los ex-agentos FBI de por cual abra nomas uno que conoció a Aoki también esta muerto.(4) Pero todavía ningunos de los documentos dicen cual tipo de información Aoki proporciono al FBI porque todo estuvo borrado. En el programa de radio Apex Express un amigo cercano de Aoki, Harvey Dong ofreció a los escuchadores una lectura de las partes pertinentes de los documentos del FBI, citados por Rosenfeld (y también excertas de los papeles de colegio de Aoki) (2). La única información que alegan que vino de Aoki en los primeros documentos del FBI es supuestamente de el mismo Aoki y podiar ser obtenido usando intersepciones telefónicas o un agente dando información de Aoki, soponer que los documentos liberados por el FBI son real, los que fueron liberados el 7 Septiembre si establecen que Aoki estaba dando información al FBI desde 1961 hasta 1977 pero muy poco de la relación esta revelado.

El hecho de que el FBI borró todos los nombres de las personas y organizaciones que alegan Aoki proporciono información hace imposible el especular su asunto y enredo con el bureau el articulo consecutivo de Rosenfeld usa muchas citas de las 221 paginas/documentos indicando que Aoki dio información valorosa pero cualquier detalles que pueden soportar esta demanda están asbestos o borrados y aunque salieron las publicaciones de estos nuevos documentos todavía no hay ninguna información por cual el tipo de inteligencia que dicen que el dio al FBI del BPP u otros grupos, aunque nosotros siempre tenemos que estar trucha por la posibilidad que un camarada puede ser un agente, pero primero tenemos que ver evidencia de sus males hechos contra el movimiento antes de condenarlo especialmente si hizo mucho para avanzar la causa.

Es muy probable que el FBI esta dandole la imagen de rata al Aoki para quitarle su crédito como tercer mundial activista y revolucionario, quitarle crédito a los pantheros como peones por el FBI y mas simple para vender copias del nuevo libro de Rosenfeld. Una lección que aprendimos con los Pantheros y otros movimientos políticos de los 1960s es la importancia de seguridad. Los ataques del cointelpro contra los Pantheros ayudó a MIM construirse como una organización semi-clandestino por cual practicamos nuestros relaciones como camaradas alrededor de asuntos políticos y no de relaciones personales. Lo más interesante es en 20 Agosto el FBI todavía tenia que liberar 4,000 más páginas de documentos que tenía contra Richard Aoki, pero estaban diciendo que no tenían un archivo del Aoki, esto no pueder ser la verdad porque él éra muy activo políticamente. Rosenfeld y otros miraron el FBI retener los documentos como implicación de Aoki como rata soponer que estos reportes eran proporciones de Aoki dentro el tiempo de 20 Agosto y 7 Septiembre.

La FBI liberó 221 paginas de documentos que tenio de Richard Aoki y adentro del debate nosotros vemos que la FBI seleccionó un tiempo tan oportunistico para liberar estos documentos por lo cual llegamos a cuestionar su legitimidad ¿porqué la FBI liberó documentación que dice Aoki no ha proporcionado información con valor? Esta controversa esta jugando con sus agendas para socavar activistas revolucionarios y sus movimientos… La desconfianza que vino al resultado de esta demanda es en un clásico ejemplo perfecto en cual el BPP siempre citó al Mao por decir “no hay derecho de hablar, sin investigación, este escandalo en contra de Aoki debe servirlos como un recuerdo como el dar la imagen de rata a uno puede impactar nuestro movimiento anti-imperialista y especialmente nuestro organización dentro prisiones porque unos de los principales del frente unidos por la paz en prisiones es”unidad.” Nosotros luchamos para unir a los mismos que luchan por nuestros mismos intereses y para mantener la unidad, nosotros debemos que tener una linea abierta de comunicación, cadenas y asegurar resolver cualquier situación con hechos reales, esto es una necesidad, porque asi como los puercos usan tácticos como rumores, ratas, y falseamiento para dividir los oprimidos, los puercos miran a nuestra unidad como el fin de su reinado(5).

Desgraciadamente esta es una lección que vamos aprender cada tiempo como la demanda que todos en las yardas SNY o custodia protectiva son rata y rumores en la yarda no significa nada si esta ausente la evidencia suficiente para llamar alguien más como un agente del estado, algunos veces recibimos sugestiones de otros camaradas que debemos pedir papeles y archivos del estado correccional vía los camaradas antes de aceptarlos en USW para determinar si están bien por sus cargos y dónde y cúal yarda estaban en sus pasados, esto es como decir que debemos preguntarle al estado a quién debemos dejar entrar al USW. Esto no nadamas suena ridículo en teoría, porque sabemos de un caso donde una rata le dieron falsos papeles y lo dejaron salir a la población general para ser un lugar teniente en un LO en California.

El estado siempre va poner energía para hacernos suspechar a uno de otras, como revolucionarios compañeros nosotros no debemos de hacer las cosas mas fácil para ellos, al reverso nosotros debemos comunicarlo directo si pensamos que algo esta mal porque nuestra lucha es muy importante para enredarlos en lo sectario y rumores. Aunque salga evidencia en el futuro que pruebe Aoki proporciono información al FBI y les ayudo atacar la lucha liberativa todavía no vamos estar devastados y también no estamos de acuerdo con Fred Ho’s método subjetivo en defender a Aoki aunque si estamos de acuerdo con las consecuencias por las alegaciones si sale real si es verdad que Aoki era un agente, qué importa? Porque sí es era un pobre agente, porque hizo mas para el movimiento que para destruirlo (6) Mirandolo así es correcto y junto a nuestra mirada como mantener seguridad dentro el movimiento prisionero - anti-imperialista, nunca hay que darle al puerco oportunidad a destruirnos más - dando más información de la que se debe saber y aplicando altos estados de nivel diferentes a los miembros nos va ayudar a asegurar que de gente más por la causa que al enemigo.