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.
Enclosed is a clipping from the Austin American-Statesman (2018
May 3) I thought pertinent and might be of interest.
Not having first-hand knowledge of the University of Texas (UT) course
“MasculinUT,” I found it interesting that the reactionary philistines
again attacked academia for addressing patriarchal oppression. As far as
I’m concerned, conventional notions of masculinity are a societal
conditioning of the psyche, ergo, much like a Black persyn ensnared in a
eurocentric society, a mind fuck. So, yeah, maybe the yahoos are correct
that traditional concepts of what masculinity entails (e.g., violence
against wimmin) is a mental health issue, and as such, men need to be
subjected to re-conditioning via communist transition. Maybe, like the
bourgeoisie under socialism, men will be repressed. Maybe, hell!
MIM(Prisons) responds: The article enclosed, from the
Statesman, talks about the UT masculinity education program,
which is an awareness campaign formerly run by the University’s
Counseling and Mental Health Center. Conservatives attacked the program,
claiming it treats masculinity as a mental health problem.
In response, the MasculinUT program was moved to Dean of Students, and,
in a statement from its website, “the program’s original steering
committee was reconvened and expanded to provide recommendations and
feedback to ensure that the program’s mission is clearly defined and
fully aligned with its original intent of reducing sexual assault and
interpersonal violence.”
We’re with this comrade in thinking it might not be so bad to think
about masculinity as a mental health issue. As long as we’re clear that
this and many other mental health issues are a product of the capitalist
patriarchy. People aren’t born being sexist idiots. They are trained to
believe that wimmin don’t know what they want, to see wimmin as objects,
and to view maleness as a sign of superiority. People will need a lot of
retraining to overcome a lifetime of patriarchal education.
We don’t know what’s involved in the UT program so we can’t comment on
it. But we can say that after the imperialist patriarchy is overthrown
we’ll have a long period of cultural revolution where we need to
re-invent humyn culture and re-educate everyone to see all people as
equal. This is about the patriarchy, but also about the oppression of
all groups of people over other groups, across the strands of oppression
of nation, class and gender. This involve forcibly repressing
patriarchal culture and institutions. We hope that forcible repression
of half the population (men) will not be necessary, but there will need
to be active promotion of feminists into positions of power, and a
careful re-consideration of the appropriate interactions between all
humyns.
by a New York prisoner September 2018 permalink
Click here to download a PDF of the New York grievance petition
Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are
experiencing issues with their grievance procedure. Send them extra
copies to share! For more info on this campaign,
click
here.
Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the
addresses listed on the petition, and below. Supporters should send
letters on behalf of prisoners.
Acting Commissioner, Anthony J. Annucci<br>
The Harriman State Campus <br>
1220 Washington Ave<br>
Albany, NY 12226-2050<br><br>
New York State Commission of Corrections<br>
80 Wolf Rd, 4th Floor<br>
Albany, NY 12205<br><br>
United States Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division<br>
Special Litigation Section<br>
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, PHB<br>
Washington, D.C. 20530<br><br>
Office of Inspector General<br>
HOTLINE<br>
P.O. Box 9778<br>
Arlington, Virginia 22219<br><br></blockquote>
And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!
MIM(Prisons), USW PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140
Being a recent student participant of an on-site college program, I
heard about Grit via my psychology professor, who really sold the
book as “the best work of its kind” in his lifetime. He was an
abnormally straight shooter, and over the spring semester he gained a
high level of respect from me and several Gods attending his classes.
That being said when I read the title I became ecstatically interested
in reading it. To make things 1000% better ULK sent a request
that asked me to direct a selected few ideas from the book’s chapters,
repurpose the information in a way that makes it useful for prisoners
and prisoner movements.
Taking Grit to the cipher those last days of Ramadan provided the
forum that I used to gain opinions from the Gods here. First it was
introduced and the purpose was established as to what I was planning to
do within our cipher with regards to the book. It was agreed that we
would give light to its reading, our interpretation of the book
knowledge as it regards the prisoner movements (meaning unified actions
of prisoners between different lumpen orgs, religious orgs, racial
groups and at times including sexually non-conformist groups).
Once that was the base of our collective understanding, we read the very
first part out loud in its entirety, without stop. This was done in
order to gain a clear mental picture of what the author, Dr. Angela
Duckworth, wanted us to know: How she defined “grit.” Her purpose for
writing this book. How this information could be used (individually, as
a group, systematically, as a tool of help or to exploit). Lastly we
brainstormed on whether the subject was new, unique or reminiscent of
other books any of us read.
This was all done on day one. It included reading the preface along with
chapters 1-5, checking the dictionary and thesaurus for words we either
didn’t understand or had different definitions for. This was to ensure
we all stayed on the same page until a full grasp of the work was gained
(or as we say, the who, what, when, where, how and why). Once that’s
gained then each God can go back to the cell and reflect on what is
being said versus what the author’s voice is trying to persuade the
reader of. Because of lockdowns we didn’t come back together again for
some time. In that time I made 6 copies of the book and hand delivered
the copies to each member of the cipher. I read ahead because of these
time restraints for my response for ULK to be ready for this 63rd
issue.
The subjects that I found applicable to the prisoners and prisoners’
movement’s need to develop grittier comrades on the front lines are from
the Part II chapters: Interest, Practice, and Purpose.
Using “the grit test” [a questionnaire measuring someone’s passion and
perseverence - ULK Editor], we can discriminate in positive ways to
create better recruiting methods when it comes to bringing individuals
into the inner communal cipher or cadre. This will change the qualities
that community leadership uses to identify like-minded soldiers. Though
most will have to use interview methods instead of written
questionnaires, and questions will have to be asked again and again in
different ways before confirmation can be made.
The study habits and increasing interest in each member’s confidence
in sharing these interpretations of studied materials must become the
job of all in leadership, with little to no critique at first and high
praises to study habits and being able to communicate ideas in their own
voice.
Standing up to injustice must be celebrated. Especially in times they
are made to suffer by the authorities for doing the righteous and
self-respecting thing – which is the institution’s systematic way of
pushing said prisoner to believe they are powerless. This is the
creation of the passive prisoner who just puts up with all levels of
abuse from authority. To fight this mental bullying the leadership must
celebrate the comrade’s actions openly with high energy. Leadership must
show and prove they are willing to suffer some loss if and when making a
stand causes such losses – a united front plus true knowledge of where
the cadre stands on issues by actions, not just theory or talk-based
instruction.
Grit is made of both passion and perseverance, creating and maintaining,
stick-wit-it-ness, evolving interest and deep commitment. As opposed to
natural skill, know-how or raw talent which may or may not assist in
being a success. Comrades, being grittier means overcoming obstacles,
learning from defeats and setbacks, and never allowing them to define
who you are nor the movement. Remembering effort is worth twice as much
as talent.
Example: Recently myself and eleven other political prisoners attempted
to establish a self-introspection help program. At the beginning the
administration acted positively about allowing the program to have a
pilot try, yet once we got a free body volunteer to facilitate our group
the administration changed its decision. This forced me to educate
myself on group creation, rules of submittal and how to get sponsored
state-wide, which I’m currently in the process of doing. The lesson is:
don’t stop at the first (or second or third…) signs of resistance.
Interest
This chapter was organizational gold when clearly understood. Leaders
please pay close attention to each comrade’s passions within your cadre
or cipher, with even more emphasis on possible new members in relation
to the struggles the cadre is immersed in. Understand what each person
is passionate about, issues they will be more able to persevere through
any pushback or reprisal.
Besides that, knowing each person’s passions and convictions helps to
know what position everyone is good at and areas they need assistance
developing, which can be introduced in creative, fun ways, then
incentivized through recognition and praise for gradual growth in areas
of difficulty.
Example: Say a comrade is uncomfortable communicating their ideas
publicly. This problem is amplified when the COs are involved to the
point this comrade doesn’t assert his legal rights nor is he respected
as a man in the righteous way. Leadership must cultivate these skills in
members who have difficulties related to these identifiable areas. The
“you spoke really well” type or “the way you used those descriptors in
the last essay was golden, so please continue to develop those skills”
type of recognition and praise. I call it fanning the flames of passion,
then directing the flames of progress and confidence among comrades.
Practice
Practice is something all gritty people have in common. You’ve heard the
saying “practice builds perfection.” Well after reading this chapter I
must take it even further. Without practice as a united front executing
plans in concert, you don’t know how to work as one body. This will
create the “big me and little yous,” or followers resentment. Learn to
practice making decisions together by hearing everyone involved out,
allow each person the opportunity to lead in every activity. Practice
writing write-ups, working out as a group, being inclusive as much as
possible. This will make the cadre able to operate even when separated.
The author’s research shows that this kind of practice must be done in
association with a positive state of mind related to the balance of
quantity and quality of time spent in skill development. We must also
seek out new creative ways of practice in direct relation to the
top-level goal. Formal repetition and fun activities loosely associated
to goals are also useful tools.
Examples: Getting our comrades to rap in the cipher, incorporating
subjects, words, ideas related to the group’s mission may help them
develop a public speaking style, confidence in speaking these opinions,
and help them be more connected to positive public communication as a
way to handle issues. Another more formal method is reading and
discussing essays with the group, both on the yard and in closed room
settings.
Purpose
ULK readers this may be the most important thing to learn about
in this whole book with regards to prisoner movements and issues that
create the necessity for a more inclusive united front. This author
makes the definition of “purpose” more than the passion of the moment.
Purpose is also the intention to contribute to the well-being of others.
The balance of both is what is needed in these occasions and is found in
all the grittiest revolutionaries.
The comrades that feel they were born to live and die for the people are
of such destiny-driven molds where this quality is found, manifested and
acted out. These people are rare and even when they reach the stage of
public awareness they are usually murdered by one of the system’s arms
of imperial aggression. Purposeful Revolutionaries must be supported by
the people and understood by their peers as the magnetic all-inspiring
super-motivation-drivers that they are. When unity is necessary these
forces of nature will bring organization.
Example: Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the BPP was placed inside prison
for a shootout with the police, and he was railroaded the first trial.
The whole country polarized over this miscarriage of injustice creating
one of the most supported appeals California had ever seen. “Free Huey”
was the call, Black Power was the purpose, and the results are
revolutionary history and the thing of legends.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Thanks to this comrade for reviewing
Grit from the perspective of a revolutionary anti-imperialist
prisoner organizer. We also studied the book and found lessons we can
draw from it for our own work. We can’t summarize them all here, but
will respond to some points in the review above and emphasize what we
see as the most important points from the book. (Grit is
available from MIM(Prisons) for $10 or equivalent work-trade.)
We are hesitant to take any of the studies in Grit as
representing humyn nature itself. As with all bourgeois psychology, the
studies were conducted under conditions of imperialism. So we don’t know
if they’re absolute representations of how humyns’ minds work. But since
we’re also organizing under imperialist conditions, the studies do apply
to our present conditions.
Throughout Grit, the author uses scientific studies and also case
studies of “paragons of grit” – people who have reached pinnacles of
performance in their jobs. This is one place where Duckworth’s bourgeois
perspective shines brightly. The book opens with a study of the most
elite forces in the U.$. military, and jumps from athletes to musicians
to chemists. The only mention of a socialist hero is when Duckworth puts
Joseph Stalin’s name right next to Adolf Hitler’s. Ey admits Stalin had
grit, but also that ey was “misguided” and “prove[s] that the idea of
purpose can be perverted.” In our communist version of Grit we
would include case studies of not only Stalin, but also Mao Zedong,
George Jackson, Stanley Tookie Williams, Assata Shakur, and the tens of
thousands of people who participated in the over-5,000-mile Long March
in China in the 1930s.
Regarding the grit test, we caution against using it as a measure of who
should be allowed into our movement. It can be a tool for assessing
where people need development, and how much we could count on them to
follow through in this moment. But Duckworth emphasizes strongly
that grit can grow. In fact, Chapter 5 is titled “Grit Grows,” Part II
is titled “Growing Grit from the Inside Out” and Part III is titled
“Growing Grit from the Outside In.” There are many interventions we can
use to increase the grit of our cadre. And building our own and our
comrades’ committment and perserverence should be our focus. The grit
test may be useful for measuring if we’re improving our abilities to
build grit in others, but should not be limiting who can participate.
USW7 outlines above the importance of group practice, and we also want
to add the importance of individual development for improvement.
Elsewhere in this issue of ULK we lay out the guidelines for
deliberate practice. The group mentality is important, but we can’t rely
on it for our development. Kevin Durant summarizes the ratio by saying
ey spends 70% of eir time practicing alone. Both are necessary.
Besides our ability to grow grit, one of the most important points
Duckworth makes in Grit is that effort counts twice.
Duckworth warns us against being distracted by talent, or assuming that
one’s skills are dictated by talent. Talent plays a part, but without
effort, one’s talent won’t develop into skill. And without
effort, one’s skill won’t develop into achievement. People who
have less talent certainly surpass those with more talent in their
achievements. They do this with effort. The ability to put in
effort even in spite of repression, setbacks, failures… that is
grit.
Within prisons we find ourselves confronted with multiple obstacles to
organizing efforts. Obstacles spanning from legal and material to
psychological and physical. Before we can even engage in political
activities we must confront these various road blocks, what I call
“walls” (barriers against activism and organizing).
Psychological walls manifest in two primary ways: 1) lack of receptivity
in conversations; and 2) perspectives of hopelessness. For prisoner
activists these are Goliathan problems. In the first instance you find
yourself talking to a brick wall. In the second your points may be
acknowledged as valid but still dismissed as useless opposition. A most
frustrating situation, because one – your words can not make an
impression; and two – your arguments prove valid but produce no effect.
In both cases real victories (read demonstrations) proving the validity
of arguments and feasibility of proposed actions is the surest method of
overcoming such obstacles. In the former, a prisoner sees the validity.
In the latter, a prisoner gains motivation. Even a small victory – a
granted grievance – is capable of advancing organizational efforts to be
heard and considered.
Material walls are next formidable in line. Including almost every
privilege extended to a prisoner and their financial security. Following
capitalist society, prisons use these privileges and financial control
to maintain leverage over prisoners’ behavior/thought. Furthermore, as
most prisoners are stuck in parasitic thinking in pursuit of a
capitalistic existence, such advantage creates a strong disinclination
towards jeopardizing them, even if it is in their best interests. As
with capitalism in general, there is no convenient nor easy answer that
can be applied with certainty. All prisoners’ privileges and financial
interests intensify identification with classism (antagonistic) and
capitalist priorities. Considering this, no general rules of approach
can be established as each’s interests influence differs. Fortunately,
every answer that can be applied can be approached on first, an
individual, then, group or demographic level, expanding in concentric
circles.
Legal and physical walls are less conspicuous; most prisoners view
political activity as futile. Still once activism gains momentum and
organizing becomes realistic, these last walls spring up. Within prisons
these signify various administrative “conveniences” (e.g., Ad-Seg, SHU,
MCU, punitive segregation, out-of-state transfer, and varied
movement/privilege/property/financial/communication restrictions or
other arbitrary sanctions). Outside of prisons, many courts conspire to
create so many legal formalities, exorbitant fees, byzantine procedures
and lopsided laws that most trained lawyers are bemused and at a loss.
For the prisoner who does survive such a crucible, pride is only the
beginning of the prize.
All in all these many walls constitute the primary, secondary and such
obstacles to organization behind bars. These difficulties should not be
taken as reasons to dissuade political action but rather, as motivation
to pursue these endeavors. Why else would there be so many protective
measures if activism and organizing were indeed useless? Once the
prisoner understands their interests in the matter these insurmountable
walls become merely constant annoyances necessary for progress and
material dialectical processes. Nothing worthy of having ever comes
easy. With greater obstacles comes a greater and more valuable prize.
Rise to such challenges, allowing your hunger for real equality to
increase along and as much as difficulties faced; if not more so.
Just arrived at the Ad-Seg unit @ Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) on a
charge for conspiracy to assault C.O.s on a particular facility, drag
for “Administration wants you out of here.” I get to the cell and the
first voice I hear coming through the adjacent HVAC duct is the voice of
a Southern California Chican@, who is my neighbor asking, “Ey homes, are
you active?” inquiring as to whether I am housed with California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) as a General
Population prisoner or a Sensitive Needs Yard (SNY) prisoner. Because I
do not engage in the police agenda of separating and segregating
California prisons based on racial disparities, I replied, “I’m a
konvict!”
To say the least this lost child of Aztlán continued to press down on
myself the hellish investigative tactics so often applied under the
prison politic culture. As a New Afrikan leader under the strict
guidance of the L1 cell of USW, I know the difference between Politics
and Politrix. And the California prison system is saturated in Politrix,
most practiced by the prisoners themselves. I relieved the lost child of
their fears and went to the bunk area and began opening my Prisoners
Legal Clinic Accounting System. I was called by another set of prisoners
who were housed on an SNY facility and were members of a lumpen group.
These individuals sent me their lock-up orders and asked to review mine
in order that we could engage in a confidential dialogue in relation to
current feuds between Chican@ lumpen factions and a new born faction of
Blacks. This brings me to the titling of this report, “Checking
Paperwork v Checking Ourselves.”
Here it is. I, a leader of the New Afrikan revolutionary nationalist
identity is sitting in Ad-Seg unit after being kidnapped from a previous
prison to fill “Black bed space” at Kern Valley State Prison; space
created by racial altercations orchestrated by the C.O.s. I’ve been shot
in the arm and gassed by the pigs with no reports or medical attention
administered. I’ve had a Sergeant threaten to fuck (rape) me because of
my involvement in a case witnessing pigs apply unnecessary force, while
the anti-intelligence agents (ISU/IGI) do everything they can to keep my
voice as an activist for the “Prison Rape Elimination Act” silent. I’ve
been used to carry out acts of violence on other prisoners, in a
mafia-like way by CDCR and KVSP officers. Officers who then doctor their
reports to justify removing the targeted prisoner. All this done against
my will and yet when I pull up, the lost children of Aztlán ask me am I
active.
We need to re-evaluate what it means to be active. In these last hours
it means less what the person’s p.work says and more to what one’s
actions say. As a member of the USW-L1 cell I stand on the principle of
unity as described by the United Front for Peace in Prisons. For New
Afrika, UMOJA brings about UHURU as a five letter word equal to the five
point star, and/or square that is Planet Earth. Whether we are visitors
or make prison our deathbed, prisoners must begin addressing our
problems amongst one another using investigation methods based in true
information. Not hearsay or gossip shared with us by the pigs. We must
not determine who is active or who isn’t solely on a housing status,
because when the tables are turned you might be the one de-activated.
In struggle and solidarity.
MIM(Prisons) adds: It is easy for the state to create paperwork,
and phoney documents have been a known tactic in CDCR for a long time.
This is similar to
our
discussion around sex offenders, who are regularly ostracized and
even attacked based on cases that the imperialist state has put on them.
We know there are many who snitch in prison, just as there are many who
committed sexual crimes against the people to get there. But we will
echo the comrade above, that we must base our judgments on peoples’
actions.
14 JUNE 2018 – Uhuru! As of today’s mathematics, 14 June 2018, prisoners
are being violently pent against one another in a last attempt to
interfere with current demands by both the people of California and the
federal government to release its ridiculously large prison population.
CDCR, at prisons like the Substance Abuse Tratment Facility (SATF) and
Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP), has begun engaging in policy changes
that manufacture hostilities between the prison populations. One
particular change involves rehousing what is called “mainline” prisoners
on yards that are considered Protective Custody (P.C.) yards by force.
Now these are not P.C. yards by the standards of the law, Protective
Custody. Instead they are Sensitive Needs Yards (SNY). These yards house
a combination of offenders/prisoners, including prison gang organization
defectors called “drop outs”, prisoners with sexual offenses, prison sex
victims, victims of exploitation by other prisoners and a wide range of
other types.
There are offenders who were/are members of street gangs/organizations
whose particular gang has been targeted by the larger gang alliances
like the Mexican Mafia. Then there are those individuals who are members
of left wing political organizations who struggle against corruption and
blow the whistle against crooked cops and politicians in office. Though
it has been promoted that all who are housed at SNY facilities are child
molesters, police informants, gang traders, etc., this is a lie spread
by the police pigs in order to establish the chaos that is being born
across California in prisons, CDCR.
Prisons have begun rehousing small numbers of mainline prisoners who are
considered the “actives” on facilities that have been established as SNY
facilities amongst those who are often mis-construed as “non-active.”
Because these facilities are not what CDCR claim them to be; an
environment with no gang activity and very little criminal violence,
these facilities are a melting pot for chaos. There are possibly more
STGs on the SNY than on the mainline, as the 2012 Pelican Bay SHU
Agreement to End Hostilities was designed to cease gang hostilities and
stem criminal behavior for all mainliners. (Mainliners are prisoners who
were until recently housed at General Population (G.P.) facilities, but
now SNY facilities are considered mainline, as there are more SNY
facilities than G.P.)
Let the authorities that be take notice: There are those of us who will
not participate in wars against ourselves but instead will bare arms
against the agents of oppression, where ever they be. And we know all of
you. You who see what is happening but do nothing to protect those of us
unable to protect ourselves. Trust that justice will be done on the yard
as so in the streets. Your time is no more!
[NOTE: The author is among a group of New Afrikan and Chican@ leaders of
the United Struggle from Within (USW). Ey was among 40 prisoners
transferred to Kern Valley State Prison D-facility after a riot between
SNY gangs united against New Afrikans and Chican@s refusing to endorse
gang culture and hostilities amongst prisoners, working the police
agenda. The author was transferred from a lower level institution less
hostile to growth amongst prisoners, and placed into an environment that
would definitely invite conflict between them and corrections officers.]
As we come closer and closer to September 9th, Day of Peace &
Solidarity, covered in the shadows of Black August, Bloody July, and
Blue June, the members of United Struggle from Within(USW) under
guidance of the Comrade Loco1 have begun to suffer attacks by the state
at the local prison level of Kern Valley State Prisons(KVSP). As we of
the common collective refer to it, “Killer Kern”, it has been a long
time coming this day that members of the MIM(Prisons) guided mass
organization came under direct line of fire, but the time has come.
As of late June of 2018, members and supporters of the USW have been on
the ground establishing the
five
principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons(UFPP) where
there has been hostilities between racial factions of the Chican@ nation
groups and a particular New Afrikan social group. The hostilities have
resulted in riots between both nations that have caught in the line of
fire: elderly, crippled, and mentally ill. Members of USW took the lead
and waged a strong campaign for the establishment of a Peace Protocol
that introduced both Chican@ and New Afrikan prisoners to the UFPP.
USW Loco1, and a key supporter of the UFPP, Silent Israel of The Mafia
Alliance(TMA) begun organizing peace talks with various Chican@ nation
group leaders on the behalf of the New Afrikans at this local level.
Where the pigs had established a culture of turning a blind eye, and
even instigating violence against New Afrikans, who are out numbered by
the Chican@ factions by far. USW immediately went into overdrive on the
consciousness of the masses, which included particularly a call for all
convicts to cease in what appears to be radical hostilities driven by
police provocations and programming to keep the masses at war and
distracted of the rising sun of September 9th. These local leaders put
themselves on the chopping block by holding open dialogues with the
masses addressing issues like “Racial Segregation” used by the pigs to
divide the lumpen, stripping prisoners of the power of uniting. Keeping
prisoners in a state of powerlessness.
Loco1 began to spread information about the September 9th commemoration
of Attica State Prison, the year 1971, as a means of demonstrating the
sort of power prisoners possess if only they’d cease in the war games
between themselves and concentrate on the true sell outs, baby killers,
sexual predators and traders of national loyalties. The police that is.
This instantly made USW and its leader at this local level a target.
When prisoner leaderships agreed to cease its hostilities and instead
develop a communications system between the two nations, the pigs took
it as a personal attack against their false economic interest by Loco1
and immediately orchestrated a plot to have the USW leadership removed
and placed into solitary confinement.
As Loco1 and the rising USW supporting committee began gearing up to
face off with the pig administration as to its position on a local
boycott of KVSP systems and fraud services, in solidarity with the
National Prisoners Boycott led by members of the Freedom and Justice
Movement, the pigs launched a full frontal agitation campaign to
instigate hostilities between themselves and all New Afrikans. What with
the New Afrikans leading the way on issues at the local level with: pigs
applying excessive force, failing to protect, ignoring prisoner safety
concerns, orchestrating a gladiator program, pitting prisoners against
one another, etc. Who better to concentrate on? And when New Afrikans
failed to bite on their agitation, pigs finally revealed that Loco1 is
hatching a conspiracy that involves prisoners repeating history,
September 9th, 1971. So to all members of the United Front for Peace in
Prisons, USW needs you to pick up the slack and act on your five
principles, that these USW comrades do not stand alone in isolation.
A USW comrade adds: I am one of the 40 prisoners who along with
Supreme was part of a CDCR plan staged by SATF Corcoran and Kern Valley
to remove from the lower level 270 design to a hostile 180 design in
order to build numbers for Africans so that the race wars amongst
Hispanics and Africans that was instigated by correction corrupt
officers and its administration as a last call to prolong releases of
nonviolent offenders. It was expected we would come and continue the
race conflict. However, I and Supreme came and established a peace
between the both sides and now that CDCR see that, CDCR has found other
ways to continue to frustrate the peace process such as placing
informant Africans in the D yard block 5 & 6 to collect intel or
perhaps cause chaos such as a buffoon who they sent in the block yelling
racial slurs to the Mexicans while at the same time claiming he’s Black
Mafia.
The corrupt officers sent him there to attempt to cause a new storm that
had been calmed. When neither the Blacks or Browns fell for it! They yet
did it again, this time with a Brown who was mentally ill who began
yelling nigger at Blacks until finally a Mexican removed him.
So here we see two attempts that failed. Now CDCR sent an informant name
XXXX with the promise of a job to give intel on us to remove comrades to
Ad-Seg units. This so that there would be no peace keepers. Well they
removed Supreme to Ad-Seg due to the snitch’s alleged claim that Supreme
was staging assaults on staff. Myself now being left to keep the peace
alone has now become the target of jealous Israelite Africans seeking
position rather than appreciating the Moses of their time. We all know
the story of Moses who came to his people’s aid and then was told by one
slave: Who made you ruler over us? You gonna do to me what you did to
the Egyptian who mistreated the other one of us yesterday. (Exodus 2:
11-14).
Today Kern Valley is refusing yard to prisoners and showers. The prison
administration is keeping the prisoners locked down in violation of
federal and state laws. Officers are doing all sorts of trickery under
administration in order to create conflict with prisoners. The inhuman
treatment is beyond being fixed by its own. CDCR can’t police itself and
this is demonstrated. I spoke with several righteous officers who don’t
agree with what is going on and they are feeling that they too are being
pent against prisoners in order to feed their family. I come from an
alliance of all races, we come and try to bring peace and harmony
wherever chaos exist and put it to death. We as USW must begin to
understand the facts! This is the facts! Either jump aboard or jump off
board. Everybody got choices. To my cousin Master K.G. Supreme, you are
not alone, I feel your spirit brotha. “One Love”
Revolutionary greetings to all comrades persevering in the struggle.
This article is in reference to the recent rulings in the district
courts within the Fifth Circuit, as well as the rulings by the Fifth
circuit itself favorable to prisoners. We should seize upon this time to
obtain relief for as many comrades as possible within our circuit.
We must exercise caution not to lead any comrades astray into believing
that we will ever throw the yoke of oppression by way of the Amerikan
nation injustice system and their courts. We can however utilize legal
battles in an effort to bring in others from the fringes over to our
cause by encouraging and promoting political education and unity,
fostering growth and development while continuing to build our strength
so that we are able and ready to seize power for the people when that
time comes.
With that in mind I now turn to the most recent ruling by the Fifth
circuit in August 2017 whereby they confirmed a ruling by the S.D. of
Texas in a case on extreme heat. This case: Cole V. Collier, 868 F.3d
354; 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 15847-No. 16-20505 - an appeal from Cole v.
Livingston, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77435 (S.D. Tex. June 14, 20166); is
another example that can be emulated by others to obtain relief.
In that case the plaintiffs utilized Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 (a) in order to
receive certification of a general inmate class, a heat-sensitive
subclass, and a disability subclass; thereby containing a claim for
relief for all prisoners in the TDCJ Wallace Pack Unit.
This case follows on the heels of a similar case: Ball V. LeBlanc, 792
F. 3d 584, in which the three prisoners in Angola’s Death Row building
obtained relief tailored to them due to the restrictions of the PLRA to
extend no further than necessary to correct the violation as to the
particular plaintiffs. The plaintiffs at the Wallace Pack Unit however
gained an advantage by using Fed. Civ. Rule 23 to obtain a class
certification.
In conclusion I would like to encourage all comrades with the ability,
to take advantage of these rulings and comb through these cases and the
opinions of the judges to address any specific needs so as to obtain
relief for their own units where possible. And as for those already
engaged in litigation individually to encourage and aid when possible
others to be that “Plaintiff” or “Plaintiffs” as I stated in a previous
article. As for my own suits against the conditions and extreme heat
here at David Wade Concentration Camp I will update my comrades as to
any favorable progress. I am currently awaiting a preliminary injunction
order to install temperature gauges such as was done in the Ball Case to
prove the triple-digit temps. I also want to state that I have just
returned here to D.W.C.C. after several transfers that were attempts to
frustrate my legal mail and most of my suits. One of these transfers
placed me at Camp F on D-tier in Angola’s Death Row building where I was
personally able to see the relief provided to the three plaintiffs Ball,
Code, and Magree who are housed on C-tier.
To see the full extent of relief provided see: Ball v. LeBlanc, 233 F.
Supp. 3d 529; 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177911.
DARE TO STRUGGLE. DARE TO WIN. ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
While reading a comrade’s April 2017 SF Bay View, National Black
Newspaper, I cam across an ad regarding the Texas prisoners’ boycott of
the prison commissary injustice.
This ad helped me realize that the unarmed robbery of the loved-ones of
prisoners is not only a Florida atrocity, but a national occurrence.
Prisoners in Texas and other states are being used as a means of robbing
not only tax payers, but loved-ones of prisoners, who are constantly
being punished for supporting prisoners financially and emotionally. The
imperialist monopolizers are making hundreds of millions annually
through the commissary system. I can’t help but confirm and echo the
main points of the Texas prisoners’ ad:
Sub-par and poor quality food items.
Faulty electronics that regularly break (after short use).
Tennis shoes which tear up after a week of use.
Inflated prices and price gouging tactics.
Abuse and disrespect from employees of commissaries.
All of the above mentioned is nothing but the truth to which I would
love to add more. In Florida, specifically Charlotte Correctional
Institution, there exists a staff canteen menu and a prisoner canteen
menu. The double standard and financial discrimination can’t help but be
realized once both menus are compared. Prisoners are paying twice as
much as staff for the same food items. Some of the most popular food
items are listed below for your own concluding.
Charlotte CI staff canteen menu prices and Prisoner Canteen menu
prices:
Item
Staff price
Prisoner price
sodas
.56
.99
honey buns
.70
1.35
chips
.5
.99-1.49
candy bars
.75
1.39
water
.5
.99
oatmeal
.23
.53
poptarts
.56
1.18
soups
.56
.70
ice cream
.93
2.19
danishes
.7
1.28
nutty bars
.47
1.00
saltines
.7
.88 per sleeve
trail mix
.47
1.00-1.28
BBQ sandwich
1.64
3.49
Pizzas
1.64
2.98
Tuna
1.87
2.47
The above list does not mention hygiene items. However, prisoners are
paying exorbitantly for hygiene items that are clearly not worth their
price. For example, the $4 deodorant from prescription care and
Oraline-Seccure (meant for indigent prisoners) leaves prisoners musty in
just a matter of hours. The $2.85 prescription care lotion is so generic
it dries the skin quick as it moistens it. And it’s definitely not meant
for Black people. The $1.12 prescription care shampoo does not lather up
and causes more dried scalp and itching than the state soap. There is
99-cent soap claiming to be anti-bacterial and 50-cent soap, both made
by Silk. Neither of these soaps are worth even being given away for
free.
Prisoners do not want these canteen items. They complain amongst each
other but are too cowardly to write grievances or stop buying from
canteen. We all know that it is our loved ones who are being attacked by
the state. We all know our families who support us are being extorted,
but the needle is just too deep in our veins. Florida only has one
canteen vendor (Trinity) leaving us without options or other places to
shop. We are simply victims of a monopoly and we are contributing to our
own victimization.
It is quite clear that the canteen profits only benefit Trinity and
high-ranking members of the state prison system. It is clear that the
profits are being used against prisoners rather than for their welfare
and genuine rehabilitation programs.
Even in the visiting park, freeworld citizens visiting their loved-ones
are forced to pay prisoner canteen prices. This price-gouging is a war
against the innocent citizens who support prisoners. It also results in
the isolation of prisoners from the outside world and leaves prisoners
dependent and vulnerable against the state.
One is left with no choice but the question: where is all the profit
from the unarmed robbery of prisoners’ loved ones? What is being done
with these millions of dollars in profit? This matter must be
investigated and objectively challenged. We prisoners surely need to
stop perpetuating our own victimization by the state of Florida DOC.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer exposes one of the many ways
that companies and individuals are making money from the prison system
in this country. While overall the prisons are run at a financial loss,
subsidized for most of their costs by state and federal funds
(i.e. taxpayer money), lots of people are still making money off the
operation of prisons.
Obviously the prisons’ employees (COs, administrators, etc.) are earning
a good salary and have an interest in keeping the system going. In some
prisons medical is contracted out, and then there are the many companies
that sell prisons all the stuff they need to run: from clothing to food
to furniture to security equipment. Most of this is funded by a subsidy
from the government.
But canteen is a case of the costs falling on prisoners’ families. And
this is just one of many costs borne by families of prisoners. As we
exposed in an article in ULK 60
“MIM(Prisons)
on U.$. Prison Economy - 2018 Update,” mass incarceration costs
families and the community $400 billion per year.
Throughout the numerous issues of Under Lock & Key (ULK), we
have read countless articles detailing the unjust and inhumyn conditions
of imprisonment across U.$. prisons and jails. Many of these stories,
and the compelling analyses they entail, help shape and develop our
political consciousness. From the hunger strikes in California to the
rampant humyn rights’ violations in Texas on to the USW-led countrywide
grievance campaign, through the pages of ULK, we have shared our
organizing struggles, the successes and setbacks. As a result, our
clarity regarding the illegitimacy of the U.$. criminal (in)justice
system has sharpened tremendously.
And yet, there are some political and economic dimensions of our
imprisonment that seem to evade our critical gaze. It is not enough that
we become familiar with each others’ stories behind the walls. At some
point, we must move toward relating our collective organizing
experiences in prison to much broader struggles beyond prison. To this
end, the anti-prison movement(1) is but a necessary phase of national
liberation struggles that has serious implications for anti-imperialism.
And in order for the anti-prison movement to advance we must analyze all
sides of the mass incarceration question.
Many of us already understand that prisons function as tools of social
control. We also recognize that U.$. prisons are disproportionately
packed with oppressed nation lumpen, ostensibly because these groups
organized and led national liberation movements during the late-1960s to
mid-70s. After these movements succumbed to repression from U.$.
reactionary forces (COINTELPRO), the U.$. prison population rose
dramatically and then exploded, resulting in what we know today as mass
incarceration.(2) Thus, we see, in a very narrow way, the basis for why
U.$. prisons serve in neutralizing the existential threat posed by
oppressed nation lumpen.
But understanding the hystorical basis of mass incarceration is only one
part of the question. The other part is determining how the systematic
imprisonment of oppressed nation lumpen has developed over time, and
exploring its impact throughout that process. Because while the question
of mass incarceration may seem as formulaic as “national oppression
makes necessary the institutions of social control,” the reality is this
question is a bit more involved than mere physical imprisonment.
The latter point in no way opposes the analysis that the primary purpose
of mass incarceration is to deter oppressed nation lumpen from
revolutionary organizing. In fact, the political and economic dimensions
of mass incarceration described and analyzed later in this article
function in the same capacity as prison bars – in some instances, the
bonds of poverty and systemic marginalization, or the racist and
white-supremacist ideology that criminalizes and stigmatizes oppressed
nation lumpen are just as strong as the physical bonds of imprisonment.
If oppressed nation communities, particularly lumpen communities, are
kept in a perpetual state of destabilization, disorganization, and
distraction, then these groups will find it that much harder to
effectively organize against a status quo that oppresses them.
The point of this article is thus to widen the panorama of our
understanding, to take in those political and economic dimensions of
mass incarceration that too often go unnoticed and unexamined, but are
nonetheless important in determining the line and strategy necessary to
advance the anti-prison movement.
Partial Integration Set the Table for Mass Incarceration
As pointed out above, mass incarceration deters oppressed nation lumpen
from revolutionary organizing. But what does this analysis really mean
in today’s context of the national question? How does the prevention of
oppressed nation lumpen from organizing for national liberation impact
the national contradiction; that is, the contradiction between the
Euro-Amerikan oppressor nation-state and the U.$. internal oppressed
nations and semi-colonies?
The lumpen-driven liberation movements of past were, in part, strong
rebukes against the integrationist Civil Rights movement (which of
course was led by the bourgeoisie/petty-bourgeoisie of oppressed
nations). Thus we see the partial integration agenda as an alliance and
compromise between the Euro-Amerikan oppressor nation-state (its ruling
class) and the comprador bourgeoisie of oppressed nations. It is meant
to answer the national question set forth by the earlier protest
movements (revolutionary and progressive) of oppressed nations, on one
hand, and to ease tensions inherent in the national contradiction, on
the other hand.
In exchange for open access to political power and persynal wealth, the
comprador bourgeoisie was tasked with keeping their lumpen communities
in check. To this point, it was thought that if Black and Brown faces
ruled over Black and Brown places, then much of the radical protest and
unrest that characterized the period between the mid-60s to mid-70s
would be quelled.
This is the very premise of identity politics, and, as
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor aptly notes: electing leaders of oppressed
nations into political office does not change the dire material and
socioeconomic circumstances of the communities they represent.(3) In eir
book, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, Taylor goes on
to describe the failure of partial integration (and identity politics)
with respect to the New Afrikan nation,(4) contending:
“The pursuit of Black electoral power became one of the principal
strategies that emerged from the Black Power era. Clearly it has been
successful for some. But the continuing crises for Black people, from
under-resourced schools to police murder, expose the extreme limitations
of that strategy. The ascendance of Black electoral politics also
dramatizes how class differences can lead to different political
strategies in the fight for Black liberation. There have always been
class differences among [New Afrikans], but this is the first time those
class differences have been expressed in the form of a minority of
Blacks wielding significant political power and authority over the
majority of Black lives.”(5)
Here we see Taylor describes the inability of partial integration to
remedy the plight of the entire New Afrikan nation and its communities.
Ey also articulates very precisely the internal class divisions of New
Afrika brought to light by such an opportunistic agenda, which serves to
enforce and maintain semi-colonialism. There is a reason why the
Euro-Amerikan oppressor nation-state allied with the comprador
bourgeoisie, as their interests were (and are) clearly more aligned than
conflicting, given the circumstances. Where the
bourgeois/petty-bourgeois integrationists wanted access to capitalist
society, the lumpen and some sections of the working class of oppressed
nations saw their future in their liberation from U.$. imperialist
society – two very different “political strategies” reflective of
somewhat contentious “class differences.”
Furthermore, Taylor highlights the moral bankruptcy of partial
integration (and identity politics) with the contemporary lesson of
Freddie Gray’s tragic murder and the Baltimore uprising that followed.
Ey explains, “when a Black mayor, governing a largely Black city, aids
in the mobilization of a military unit led by a Black woman to suppress
a Black rebellion, we are in a new period of the Black freedom
struggle.”(6) This “new period” that Taylor speaks of is nothing more
than good-ole neo-colonialism.
To elaborate further, an understanding of the Baltimore uprising, for
example, cannot be reduced down to a single incident of police murder.
Let’s be clear, New Afrikan lumpen (and youth) took to the streets of
Baltimore in protest and frustration of conditions that had been
festering for years – conditions that have only grown worse since the
end of the “Black Power era.” Obviously, the political strategy of
identity politics (i.e. “the pursuit of Black electoral power”) has not
led to “Black liberation.” Instead it has resulted in an intensification
of class tensions internal to the U.$. oppressed nation (in this case,
New Afrika), as well as increased state repression of oppressed nation
lumpen.
This latter point is evidenced by the support of policies from the
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) that target, disrupt, and imprison
oppressed nation communities (lumpen communities).(7) At the same time
that these communities struggled under the weight of economic divestment
and merciless marginalization, conditions which in many respects
worsened under the political leadership of the comprador bourgeoisie,
the drug trade opened up, providing a precarious means of survival.
Predictably, as “crime”(8) increased so too did the creation and
implementation of criminal civil legislation that fueled mass
incarceration. To really get a sense of the true interests of the
comprador bourgeoisie of oppressed nations, we only need to look at the
positions taken by the CBC, the so-called champions of freedom,
equality, and justice, which “cosponsored conservative law-and-order
politics out of not political weakness but entrenchment in Beltway
politics.”(9) It is clear that partial integration has been “successful
for some,” but it is equally apparent who the victims of this
opportunistic agenda have been.
What is often missed in any serious and sober analysis of the CBC (or
any other political org. representative of the comprador bourgeoisie) is
the legitimacy it bestows upon the prison house of nations: U.$.
imperialist society. This legitimacy isn’t some figment of imagination,
but a material reality expressed primarily in the class-nation alliance
signified by the partial integration agenda. Dialectically, while the
comprador bourgeoisie is granted the privileges of “whiteness,” access
to political and economic power, the lumpen and some sections of the
working class of oppressed nations are deemed superfluous (not
necessary) for the production and reproduction of U.$. imperialist
society. Of course, the election of more members of oppressed nations
into office goes a long way in maintaining the facade that the United
$tates is a free and open society that respects and upholds the rights
and liberties of its citizenry. However, identity politics will never
obscure the sacrificial zones within U.$. society -– South and Westside
Chicago, Eastside Baltimore, Compton and South Central and East Los
Angeles, and many more deprived urban lumpen areas –- maintained and, in
many cases, made worse by partial integration.
Unfortunately, this is where we find the oppressed nation lumpen today
on the national question, held hostage by a set of identity politics
complicit in its further marginalization and oppression.
Politics of Mass Incarceration
In discussing the failure of partial integration to effectively improve
the material and socioeconomic life of the entire oppressed nation, we
can better appreciate the extreme limitations of such an anemic
political strategy that is identity politics. But if the legitimacy that
partial integration (and identity politics) provides U.$. society can
only go so far in actually pacifying oppressed nation lumpen, then by
what other means and methods are these superfluous groups controlled? In
the next two sections, we will explore and analyze this question.
Racism and white supremacy are constant ideological threads woven
throughout the founding and development of U.$. society. In each era, be
it slavery, segregation, or mass incarceration today, the primary
function of this political ideology is to rationalize and legitimate the
oppression and/or exploitation of colonized peoples, which throughout
these different eras invariably involved employing particular methods of
social control against these peoples or specific groups thereof.
Now, of course, we cannot compare the fundamental nature of slavery with
that of mass incarceration. And to be clear, this is not the point of
this particular section. It should be obvious to the casual ULK
reader that where the slave performed an essential economic role and was
therein exploited and oppressed, oppressed nation lumpen have no role
within the current socioeconomic order of U.$. society, as it is
systematically denied access to it. The point, however, is to show how
the ideological forces of racism and white supremacy, while they have
assumed different forms depending on the historical era, are mobilized
in service of the status quo. It is in this sense that political
motivations underpin the system of mass incarceration. And as we will
see in this section, these motivations are hystorically tied to the
oppression and/or exploitation of U.$. internal oppressed nations and
semi-colonies.
To be sure, the need to control oppressed nations has always been a
paramount concern of the oppressor (settler) nation since
settler-colonialism. During the era of slavery, slave codes were
implemented to ensure that slaves were held in check, while slave
patrols were formed to enforce these measures. We see here the emergence
of the modern U.$. criminal (in)justice system in its nascent form, with
its proto-police and proto-criminal laws. But it wasn’t until after the
abolition of slavery that we find express political motivations to
criminalize oppressed nations. For Angela Y. Davis,
“Race [nation] has always played a central role in constructing
presumptions of criminality … former slave states passed new legislation
revising the slave codes in order to regulate the behavior of free
blacks in ways similar to those that had existed during slavery. The new
Black Codes proscribed a range of actions … that were criminalized only
when the person charged was black.”(10)
While the Black Codes were created in large part to control New Afrikan
labor for continued exploitation, we are able to see the formation of
policies and policing designed for the specific purpose of repressing
oppressed nations. As a side note, irony doesn’t begin to describe the
enactment of the Thirteenth Amendment, meant to abolish slavery, to
disestablish one system of oppression only to provide for the legal and
political basis for another system of oppression -– convict lease labor.
Furthermore, Davis observes that, “The racialization of crime – the
tendency to ‘impute crime to color’ … did not wither away as the country
became increasingly removed from slavery. Proof that crime continues to
be imputed to color resides in the many evocations of ‘racial profiling’
in our time.”(11) In this sense, oppressed nation lumpen criminality
under conditions of mass incarceration is analogous to Afrikan
“inferiority” or First Nation “savagery” under conditions of
settler-colonialism. In both instances, there are narratives, informed
by racism and white supremacy, which serve the continued functioning of
the status quo.
Given that the criminalization of oppressed nations is not some modern
phenomenon, but one that originated in the hystorical oppression and
exploitation of oppressed nations, we now have a different angle from
which to view mass incarceration. Part of this view involves recognizing
that the criminal (in)justice system, law enforcement, and legislators
are not neutral arbiters of justice or “law and order.” These people and
institutions are infected by racism and white supremacy and thus
function to carry out ideological and political aims.
Therefore, it is important that we remain diligent in uncovering the
many guises under which racism and white supremacy lurk and hide. This
is no less significant today as it is in the cultural arena where
reactionary ideas and ideologies are propagated and traded. To be more
clear, when trying to rationalize why oppressed nation lumpen are
imprisoned at disproportionate rates relative to similarly-situated
Euro-Amerikans, arguments about lack of responsibility and no work ethic
are tossed around as explanations. Mainstream media go even further by
portraying and projecting stereotypes about oppressed nation lumpen (and
youth), that is to say, stereotyping the dress, talk, and actions, which
is really a subtle but sophisticated way of stigmatizing. Of course,
this stigmatization goes on to construct a criminal archetype, which
many of us see today in nearly every facet of U.$. media life.
All of these factors, taken into consideration together, shape the
public conscience on “crime” and criminality, laying the groundwork for
rationalizing the great disparities characteristic of the current
criminal (in)justice system. Unsurprisingly, this propaganda has worked
so effectively that even oppressed nation members find it hard to
ignore. So where there should be unity on issues/incidences of national
oppression, none exists, because the oppressed nation is divided,
usually along class lines. Taylor strikes at the heart of the
matter:
“Blaming Black culture not only deflects investigation into the systemic
causes of Black inequality but has also been widely absorbed by [New
Afrikans] as well. Their acceptance of the dominant narrative that
blames Blacks for their own oppression is one explanation for the delay
in the development of a new Black movement.”(12)
This is certainly the plan of partial integration, to divide the
oppressed nation against itself and thereby legitimize the
marginalization and oppression of oppressed nation lumpen in the
process. Naturally, this paralyzes the oppressed nation from acting on
its right to self-determination, from pursuing liberation.
To frame this point another way, take a Chican@ business owner. This
persyn has a business in a predominantly Chican@ lumpen community,
despite residing in the suburbs. This business owner sees Chican@ youth
hang out and skip school. Ey sees them engaged in questionable, possibly
criminal activity. Add in the scenario that local media frames crime as
a virtue of Chican@ lumpen youth on a nightly basis. And then say one
day one of those Chican@ kids is killed by the police. How will the
Chican@ business owner respond?
Before the era of mass incarceration, the overwhelming majority of the
oppressed nation would have viewed this scenario for what it was: a
police murder. Today, we cannot be so sure.
To sum up, the current criminal (in)justice system, law enforcements,
etc. are unfair and unjust not because these institutions are biased
against oppressed nations, but because the fundamental nature of
society, the basis upon which these institutions are built and set in
motion, is founded on the oppression of non-white peoples. We must
remember that slavery was legal and segregation was held up as
permissible by the highest courts in this stolen land. For us to view
mass incarceration solely from the social control perspective undermines
any appreciation for the urgency of anti-imperialism, for the need for a
reinvigoration of U.$. national liberation struggles. We need to be more
nuanced in our analysis because the system is nuanced in its
marginalization and oppression of oppressed nation lumpen.
Economics of Mass Incarceration
This nuance mentioned above is primarily played out on an economic
plane. And there are many economic dimensions and impacts of mass
incarceration that maintain a strangle hold on oppressed nation lumpen
and communities.
We can explore how contact with the criminal (in)justice system can
leave an oppressed nation member and eir family destitute, through fees,
fines, and other forms of financial obligations. We can look at the
impact of prisons located in rural communities, providing employment
opportunities and economic stimulus. We could even investigate prison
industries and how prisoner labor is utilized to offset the costs of
incarceration. However, the point here is that there are many things to
analyze, all of which, taken as a whole, disadvantage oppressed nation
lumpen and their communities.
The most consequential impact of mass incarceration is how it feeds the
cycle of poverty and marginalization characteristic of lumpen
communities. Basically, the criminalization / stigmatization of lumpen
reinforces its material deprivation, which in turn nurtures conditions
of criminal activity as a means of survival, further unleashing the
repressive forces of the criminal (in)justice system, which proves or
validates the criminalization / stigmatization of oppressed nation
lumpen in the first place. Thus, oppressed nation lumpen are inarguably
subjected doubly to the poverty and marginalization, on one hand, and to
the relentless blows of national oppression, on the other hand.
Todd Clear, provost of Rutgers University – Newark, who specializes
in the study of criminal justice, draws a stark picture of this cycle of
crime and poverty that lumpen are subjected to:
“A number of the men are gone at any time; they’re locked up. And then
the men that are there are not able to produce income, to support
families, to support children, to buy goods, to make the neighborhood
have economic activity, to support businesses … the net effect of rates
of incarceration is that the neighborhood has trouble adjusting.
Neighborhoods where there’s limited economic activity around the
legitimate market are neighborhoods where you have a ripeness to grow
illegitimate markets.”(13)
What Clear is depicting is not so much the fact that crimes take place
in lumpen communities. Clear is emphasizing that criminogenic factors
(factors that strongly tend to lead to criminal activity/inclination)
are really a reflection of the lack of socioeconomic opportunities to
social upward mobility. This is the essence that fuels the dynamic
relationship between crime and poverty. What Clear fails to mention is
that there are Euro-Amerikans who are in similarly-situated
circumstances as oppressed nation lumpen but are more likely to escape
them where oppressed nation lumpen are trapped. This is so for reasons
already mentioned in the above sections.
Furthermore, not everyone in lumpen communities are imprisoned; in fact,
most likely never see the inside of a jail or prison. But enough people
do go away and stay away for a considerable period of time that the
community is destabilized, and familial bonds are ruptured. When free,
the imprisoned persyn from the lumpen community represented some sort of
income, and not a liability weighing down a family, financially,
morally, etc, already struggling to make ends meet. Enough of these
families are part of the lumpen community that the cycle mentioned above
seems to be unbreakable. Kids growing up in broken homes, forced to
assume adult roles, only to make kid mistakes that come with adult
consequences; and the cycle continues.
To be sure, this cycle has been in force with respect to oppressed
nations since the end of slavery. It has just become necessary over time
to enact laws and policies that now target and disrupt these
communities. Both the politics and economics of mass incarceration work
to keep lumpen communities from organizing for national liberation as
was done during the late-60s.
Conclusion
Part of any strategy related to our anti-prison movement is first
recognizing these dimensions of mass incarceration, and taking into
account that we live in enemy society where enemy consciousness
prevails, even amongst much of the oppressed nations. We have to also
recognize that the interests of oppressed nation lumpen are not the same
as the other classes of the oppressed nation. There are some members of
the oppressed nations who have bought the bill of goods sold by partial
integration. They are fully immersed in the delusions of identity
politics, subtly sacrificing their true identity for the trinkets of
“whiteness.”
Understanding and recognizing these points means we can focus our
organizing efforts on building public opinion and independent
institutions, on a concrete class/nation analysis and not because
someone is Black or Brown. We need to be patient with lumpen communities
as they are in that day-to-day grind of survival and may not (or cannot)
see the merit in our movement. Ultimately, we need to step up and be
those leaders of the movement, so when we do touch we hit the ground
running.