MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
www.prisoncensorship.info is a media institution run by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons. Here we collect and publicize reports of conditions behind the bars in U.$. prisons. Information about these incidents rarely makes it out of the prison, and when it does it is extremely rare that the reports are taken seriously and published. This historical record is important for documenting patterns of abuse, and also for informing people on the streets about what goes on behind the bars.
I want to share with you and the other ULK readers the response
to the 602 petition I sent to the Secretary of CDCR, and to the
Ombudsman Sarah Malone. There was no response from the Ombudsman’s
office. But Matthew Cates forwarded my petition to Warden Paramo who in
turn delegated it down to Associate Warden Straton, who came to
interview me in person.
Associate Warden Straton did not make any excuses. He said, “You’re
absolutely right, the 602 appeals system is severely screwed up,
however, we just forced appeals coordinator Cobb to retire early, and we
replaced him with Mr. Olson who is approximately 6 to 8 weeks behind in
processing our 602s. Just try to be patient as we try to straighten this
mess out.”
I do believe Associate Warden Straton is being sincere, but only time
will tell for sure. I just had a family member file a citizen’s
complaint on my behalf, which all ULK readers should have their
family do because, by law the Warden must send a response to anyone who
files a citizen’s complaint, even if it’s just in the form of a letter.
My plan is to create a paper trail using the Form 22 as a verification
that I’ve placed my 602 appeals in the metal 602 box in my housing unit.
Then once the Warden sends my family his response I’ll have the proof I
need for court to show that he was made aware of the problem but failed
to correct it.
We did get 75 copies of the grievance petitions made, but the program
worker who was making them got busted on the second set and lost his
job. But 75 made it to Sacramento successfully.
Also I just wanted to thank you for that article in ULK about
us
SNYs being part of the greater whole. Just because we came to this
side doesn’t mean we’re not fighters for the greater good. In fact,
that’s one of the reasons I came to this side, to avoid the petty
politics and work towards better living conditions for all.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade is making good use of the
California
grievance petition which addresses the mishandling of 602s
(grievances) in California prisons. Inspired by California, this
campaign has spread to many other states, with petitions now customized
for Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina,
Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas. We don’t expect big changes to come
from this petition; we know this is a battle for small reforms within a
fundamentally corrupt system. But the grievance system is the primary
way that prisoners can legally fight for their limited rights, and often
these rights are tied up with survival and freedom to organize and
educate others. We must defend these rights as a key tactical battle in
building the anti-imperialist movement within the criminal injustice
system.
Occupied America: A History of Chicanos 7th Edition by Rodolfo F
Acuña
A well read book in its 7th edition, “Occupied America” is a history
book for the Chican@ nation. This book has been a leading text for
Chican@ studies for decades. It is an in depth analysis of Chican@
history. It is also important to note that Occupied America was
one of the books banned in 2012 in Arizona and has since been a hot item
for the libro trafficantes (book traffickers) who have been defying
Arizona and smuggling this book back into Arizona and into the hands of
Chican@ youth.
It’s clear uncut content about Amerika’s treatment of Chican@s along
with accurate history of Chican@s rising up in resistance has Amerika
scrambling to censor this work.
Occupied America was first published in 1972, emerging from a
peak in national liberation struggles in the United $tates. In 1981 the
second edition was released and Acuña wrote in the preface:
The first edition of Occupied America followed the current
of the times, adopting the internal colonial model that was popular
during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The works of Frantz Fanon greatly
influenced the tone and direction of the book. Since then, just like the
Chicano movement itself, I have undergone dramatic changes. I have
reevaluated the internal colonial model and set it aside as a useful
paradigm relevant to the nineteenth century but not to the twentieth. …I
decided to return to the basics and collect historical data.
This quote would lead us to believe that we would have more unity with
the political line put forth in the first edition. Though more recent
editions will have more updated information, and would likely be more
valuable references for that reason. It seems that the changes between
editions 2 through 7 are mostly in factual content, with an attempt to
avoid polemics.
So what gets the white supremacists so disturbed about Occupied
America? I chose to find out and decided to read it again.
Acuña starts the 7th edition of his book in the pre-Columbian times when
civilization first started on this continent going back 50,000 years.
One learns of the Aztecs, Olmecs, Zapotecs, Mayans, Incas and other
natives. This naturally leads to the European invaders and the
beginnings of the forging of the Mexican and then the Chican@ nation.
With the Spanish occupation and genocide that soon followed their
arrival in North America, Acuña takes you through the social relations
of the natives at the hands of the church.
The quest for more gold and silver and thus the mines soon led to a
decimation of the native population and with this process came the
resistance. But there was development as well in the economic arena. In
the states that comprised “northern New Spain” at the time, like
California, the Spaniards had Mestizos and natives working and so these
oppressed peoples were, as Acuña explains on pg 33, the “vaqueros, soap
makers, tanners, shoemakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, bakers, cooks,
servants, pages, fishermen, farmers as well as a host of other
occupations.”
And so on the one hand the people were worked sometimes to death but on
the other hand they developed economically across the region, which is a
precursor to nationhood.
Acuña takes us into the Mexican revolution of 1810 when Mexico won its
independence from Spain which was a great event but didn’t bring
socialism to Mexican@s and so the exploitation would soon return. Acuña
explains the theft of Texas which was spearheaded by the white
supremacist Stephen Austin starting in the 1820s. This is where the 2nd
edition of the book opens up, leaving out the history above.
The myth of the Alamo is cleared up by Acuña on pg 41 where he states:
“Probably the most widely circulated story was that of the last stand of
the aging Davy Crocket, who fell ‘fighting like a tiger’ killing
Mexicans with his bare hands. The truth: seven of the defenders
surrendered, and Crockett was among them. The Mexican force executed
them, and, one man, Louis Rose, escaped.”
This book explains the myth of the oppressor nation propaganda that
consumes the “history books” we read in public schools.
The U.$. war on Mexico of 1848 is explained very well and one sees the
birth of the Chican@ nation in these pages. Along with this birth the
layers of state propaganda are peeled back and Acuña highlights the
resistance in the Chican@ nation, people like Juan “Cheno” Cantina,
Francisco “Chico” Barela and Gregorio Cortez are discussed and one sees
how they rose up in militias as revolutionary groups to fight yankee
imperialism.
Groups like Las Gorras Blancas (the white caps) came together to defend
the people with arms from white supremacy and oppression. In
Occupied America we read of the early Chican@ proletariat and
the militant Chican@-Mexican@ labor struggles. The ‘Plan of San Diego’
is discussed which was the basis of a revolutionary group that fought
the U.$. government in Texas around 1915 with the goal of establishing
an independent Chican@ nation, Black nation and First Nations upon
victory.
We also learn of how the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo was signed and
Amerika stole what is now called the “Southwest.” We learn that “the
depression” for Amerika was normal program for Chican@-Mexican@s. Our conditions did not change
and when the “New Deal” came post-depression and Amerikans were put to
work on public work projects, because Chican@-Mexican@s were not allowed to
participate in the “New Deal.” At the time of the New Deal, the
Communist International was criticizing social democracy in Europe as
social fascism for appealing to the labor aristocracy interests in line
with the rising fascist powers. In North America the fascist forces were
not well developed, but social democracy still served to benefit the
labor aristocracy to the exclusion of the oppressed nations.
The book explains the 1960s and the eruption of a new generation of
Chican@s that brought the Chican@ movement on the scene. All the Chican@
groups are discussed: Masa, Mecha, Brown Berets, Black Berets, Mayo,
Umas, Alianza, Crusade for Justice and many more. These fiery groups
along with the many Chican@ publications that are mentioned show the
times of this period and the heightened political consciousness in
Aztlan.
The “teatro campesino,” plays and improvised theater by and for
farmworkers out in the fields, showed that Chican@-Mexican@s taking on agribusiness added
to the times and Chican@ culture.
Although he provides tons of data and information on the entire history
of Chican@s, the colonization process, the early development of Chican@s
as a nation, and Chican@s resistance, where Acuña falls short is in this
book is in failing to point out a correct path forward on how Chican@s
should liberate ourselves. Oddly he only provides a short paragraph on
communism and only to discuss how the state blamed communists for
Chican@ activism. And so Acuña leads Chican@s to the edge of the cliff
but does not tell the people how to proceed and what will liberate us.
Aztlan will only be liberated in a socialist society, when socialist
revolution arrives we will finally taste freedoms. Any struggles short
of this will only lead to a bourgeois revolution and a continuation of
oppression, only under a new management, as happened to Mexico after the
Mexican revolution.
Learning one’s history is a necessary step towards liberation but once
we are conscious we must then grasp how to move forward and Occupied
America leaves this most important element out of the book.
Occupied America has been required reading in Chicano studies college
courses in many schools across the United $tates for many decades and
will continue in most schools for some time, it has a wealth of
information that will continue to awaken and educate Chican@ youth and
as a Chican@ historian Acuña has helped the nation in learning our
history. Anyone else who wants to learn about the development of
Chican@s will also enjoy this book. It is clear why the oppressor nation
is so scared of this book - because it’s truth!
I was glad to see petitions available concerning the grievance process
here in California. Please send me one of those in the self-addressed
stamped envelope I’ve enclosed. I’d also like to say a few words on the
grievance process here in California.
The main problem with the grievance process is at the informal level,
when a prisoner has to get two responses from staff on a CDCR 22 form.
Unless you’re challenging something out of the Title 15, the CDCR 22
must be filled out. That’s very hard to do, considering most staff just
throw them away. The CDCR 22 is designed so that officers can sign it at
the door, verifying that it was sent, and give the prisoner a receipt.
However, even with the receipt, if the prisoner does not have two staff
responses, the appeals coordinator will reject the grievance. The Title
15 Section 3084.3 (b), (c), and Section 3086 (e)(2) allow them to do
that.
What we should do is file a grievance on those three Title 15 sections I
just listed, requesting that they be changed to state: “One or two
signed CDCR 22 receipts requesting remedy or supporting documents that
also show that the staff member to whom the CDCR 22 was mailed did not
respond within the time limits detailed in Section 3086 (f)(4) and (h)
shall be receipted in lieu of requested supporting documents pursuant to
Section 3084.3.” The legal argument for this is the 14th Amendment
(access to courts) and Title 15 Section 3084.1 (right to appeal).
Just jump through the hoops until the grievance is exhausted. Then,
write the Prison Law Office and the ACLU and tell them you’d like their
help in filing a §1983 suit. Since it’s a major issue, a prisoner
advocate group will probably pick it up, and the petition distributed by
MIM(Prisons) could be used as evidence.
Another good grievance would challenge the Title 15 Section 3123 (b),
which gives CDCR the power to limit the law library hours to whatever it
wants. Here at Kern Valley State Prison, the law library is open 2 days
a week. The Title 15 should be amended to say: “Each law library shall
remain open five days a week, for not less than six hours per day.” The
14th Amendment should also be cited for that grievance.
MIM(Prisons) responds: CDCR Form 22 is a reform to the CDCR
grievance system that was rolled out December 2010 in response to the
campaign to End the High Desert State Prison Z-Unit Zoo.(1) Participants
of this campaign sent petitions to CDCR administrators and legal
protection groups such as the Prison Law Office and the U.S. Department
of Justice. An investigation was conducted, prisoners were interviewed,
and even some of their demands were met.(2)
But this contributor shows how our struggles for reforms, and even our
victories, will be met with more and more red tape under the current
power structure. Form 22 was supposedly designed “so that our requests
may be answered in a timely fashion by COs, with a receipt. Now we have
a clearer paper trail to use should K9s decide to implement their
underground rules.”(1) But still, there’s nothing stopping the COs from
simply throwing Form 22s away.
This contributor’s suggestion to change some of the language of Title 15
may be an improvement on the current grievance system in California. But
until COs and prison administrators acquire a proletarian morality that
values the well-being of all people, they will figure out ways
to continue to oppress those who they deem as unworthy of basic humyn
necessities, and their higher-ups will cover for them. This proletarian
morality doesn’t develop from procedural changes in prison operations,
no matter what documents we amend. Material conditions shape our
worldview, and until the material conditions that support national
oppression are abolished, the oppressors will continue to justify their
sick behaviors.
While we fight for reforms to improve our current conditions, we must
accept the necessity of total social change, namely the change from
capitalism to socialism. Until then there will always be a trade-off;
where one group gains, another loses. We must allow our own acquired
proletarian morality to infect our political work and inform the
orientation of all the battles we take on.
If you’re in a lockdown prison, that is if you are confined to your cell
21 hours a day unless you are attending a school program or a work
assignment, there are still ways available that facilitate organizing
efforts.
First, put together a collection of prisoner/prison literature and
related legal issues, and anti-imperialist publications. Ask anyone and
everyone you have contact with if they’re interested in reading about
these subjects. If they say yes, let them read your publications. After
a while, encourage them to obtain their own publications and to
“circulate to educate, educate to liberate.”
Second, try to obtain a program/work assignment in any one of the
following areas: teacher’s aid, housing area porter, food service, or
law library clerk. Teacher’s aids have daily contact with lots of
prisoners, the same goes for food service workers. Housing area porters
have daily access to all prisoners in the housing area, and law library
clerks have daily contact with prisoners from all over the prison plus
they usually have access to a photocopy machine operated by prisoners.
“Without struggle there is no progress” - Frederick Douglass
MIM(Prisons) adds: This is good advice, it’s important that
everyone do what they can within their conditions. And in prison you
have to be creative about what’s possible. We also offer prisoners on
lockdown (and others) the opportunity to study when they are locked in
the cell, by joining our study groups. Cell time should be study time,
whether it’s part of our study group through the mail or studying
material on your own. And there are many other productive activities you
can do from your cell: writing articles, creating art, translating into
Spanish, and writing poetry are just a few examples. Write to us with
your own ideas and we’ll help you get involved.
The campaign for proper handling of grievances, started in California,
keeps spreading! This time it touched down in Florida, where Under
Lock & Key is regularly censored across the board.
Mail the petition to your loved ones inside who are experiencing issues
with the 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 below, which are also on the petition itself. Supporters
should send letters of support on behalf of prisoners.
Warden (specific to your facility)
Office of General Counsel, Secretary FDOC 501 S. Calhoun
St. Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500
Inspector General, FDOC 501 S. Calhoun St. Tallahassee, FL
32399-2500
Governor Rick Scott The Capitol Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
U.S. Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division Special Litigation
Section 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, PHB, Washington, DC 20530
Office of Inspector General HOTLINE PO Box 9778 Arlington,
VA 22219
And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!
MIM(Prisons), USW PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140
On August 30, 2012, a day after I mailed a document to the Florida ACLU,
Department of Justice, FL Justice Institute, and James Casey of the FBI
in Jacksonville FL, concerning pigs beating and slamming captives to the
concrete head first while in handcuffs, I was placed under investigation
for conspiracy. This was a response to a thesis I penned and distributed
amongst the captive population entitled “Guan Suwannee Mo Bay.” Somehow
the pigs got a copy of Guan Suwannee Mo Bay and I became public enemy
focus. I guess their 21 day investigation revealed that I had not in
fact violated any laws, but I was not to be allowed back in to general
population. So they started hitting me up with fabricated disciplinary
reports to keep me in confinement.
On September 18th, they delivered a DR (disciplinary report) for a
violation (I-4) disrespect to Official, fabricated by a classification
officer Mr. F.P. Freihofer, who claimed that he was conducting a check
of the housing unit when I stopped him and said “y’all got me in here on
some bogus shit, when are you crackers going to finish this pussy shit?”
Then he said, he ordered me to cease my disrespectful behavior to which
I replied, “it’s just bullshit to be locked up for no reason.” Of course
you know I didn’t say any of this, doing such would have gotten me
lynched (gassed) on the spot. This is just the result of a retaliation
campaign to keep me in confinement to stop the spread of Guan Suwannee
Mo Bay, my publication amongst the captives.
On September 19th, I received another DR, this one charged me with
extortion. The classification officer, Miss Rogers, claimed that I
attempted to extort $200 and some winter clothes from my cellie, by
writing his mother a letter telling her to send her son $200 and order
him some winter clothes. I was just helping my cellie write his mother;
he is brand new in the system, missing three fingers on his right hand,
and can barely write and spell, so he asked me to write the letter
explaining to his mother that he had not been in prison 24 hours and he
got beaten by the pigs at RMC, the Reception and Medical Center that is
right down the street from his house. The pig who beat him is related to
the victim in his case. He also asked me to explain to her how to call
DOC, how to use the electronic depositing to send him $200, and how to
go online to FL packages and order him winter clothes. I explained to
her how she must use his DC # in order for him to receive anything, his
DC# was on the letter not mine.
Classification claimed that she received a call from my celly’s mother
concerned that he was being extorted. Did classification refer the case
to the inspector for investigation? No. Did she even simply just ask my
cellie (whom by then had left my cell for DC confinement) if I was
extorting him? No. And even though my cellie issued a statement in
writing that I did not extort him and only gave him help that he
requested, they still found me guilty and sentenced me to 90 days.
They are planning to bury me on closed management (CM) instead of
cleaning up their Mis-justice, they’re trying to cover it up. This is
all retaliation for political educating and organizing!
MIM(Prisons) adds: Educating prisoners is one of our principal
tasks in the fight against the criminal injustice system. But all too
often we face repression and retaliation for this entirely legal work.
This retaliation comes in the form of direct physical violence and
torture for individual prisoners, and broader
censorship for
MIM(Prisons) mail and publications. All of this is a form of
censoring voices speaking out against the injustice system. We must
continue to expose these abuses, and fight for our limited right to
speech under capitalism until we can establish a system where speech by
the oppressed is valued.
Both fliers are double sided featuring the 5 principles of the United
Front for Peace in Prisons. The first one is two fliers per 8.5”x11”
piece of paper and is recruiting students to volunteer with us. The
other is just the 5 pts and is four fliers per 8.5”x11” paper as quarter
sheets.
On September 4, 2012 the Democratic convention was held, almost every TV
channel was broadcasting this. Like the Republican convention, the
Democrats had speakers come out to make a short speech on why you should
vote for their candidate. These conventions are a classic ‘good cop, bad
cop’ game meant to hoodwink the oppressed.
This year’s democratic keynote speaker at the convention was Julian
Castro the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. Castro is running for congress
and is seen as an up and coming Democrat. Although he merely adds to the
rest of the numerous defenders of imperialism, what is different and
thus dangerous about someone like Castro is that he is a Chicano
bourgeois politician who is now being propped up to fool the Brown
masses, just as Obama was used against the Black masses.
Castro’s background is similar to many Chicanos today. His grandmother
migrated to the United $tates in the first wave of migration after the
Mexican Revolution in 1920. His mother was born in Texas and was
actively a part of the Chicano movement of the 60s and 70s. As a first
generation college student she joined the Raza Unida Party (RUP) and
became one of its leaders.
La Raza Unida Party came about from the leadership of Crusade for
Justice another Chicano organization of that time. It was in 1970 that
Corky Gonzalez announced the formation of RUP. The Crusade for Justice
was actively leading many Chicano struggles of this time period. At one
point as Acuña described, “The Crusade for Justice leadership also
wanted to form the ‘Congress de Aztlan’, which would build a Chicano
nation.”(1) The RUP meant to uplift the Raza’s consciousness, take
community control of social services in the Barrios, taking control of
schools and development (building homes, parks, etc.) which all seems
cool and “progressive.” But without completely breaking with the
oppressors politics these efforts were simply spinning wheels, like
trying to ride a bike with no chain; you can turn the pedals all you
want but the bike stays in the same spot.
The RUP had a left wing and a right wing, like all phenomenon there were
internal contradictions that pulled this group in different directions,
and without a clear path for liberation RUP was doomed from the
beginning. The biggest error in RUP’s program was in attempting to work
within the framework of Amerikan bourgeois politics. RUP naively thought
Amerika would stand by and allow a historically oppressed people, an
internal semi-colony, to build a political party in the barrios, even
though it attempted to do so within Amerika’s political system. The
state would not allow this, as organizing the oppressed for any
progressive political activity poses a real potential threat. Once
organized and educated this force can easily make a leap from working
within the current system to working against the system. This is why
people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were assassinated even
though they were not calling for socialism and pretty much worked within
the confines of the Amerikan laws. They still had influence and the
potential was too much, the threat assessment told the state what must
be done.
RUP was heavily surveilled by the CIA (1) and so all the Cointelpro
tactics were used to destroy this party. And ultimately RUP suffered
from believing Chicanos could be liberated via Amerika’s bourgeois
politics or through reforms. The fault also lies in those more
revolutionary elements within RUP for not steering RUP on a more
revolutionary approach that sought the liberation of the Chicano nation
by building for a socialist revolution on these shores.
So this is where Julian Castro comes from and thus this bourgeois
nationalism is what shaped his ideas and lead him down the road to Brown
capitalism or outright defender of imperialism. His assimilationist
stance shined forth in his speech with statements like “[we need to] do
our part as one community, as one United States of Amerika.” This is
typical language of a comprador who’s job is to bring the other
oppressed into the fold of the oppressor. His/her job is always to quell
or smother the burning embers of resistance in a people and keep things
as they are. The slave of old who lived in the massa’s house would go
out to the slave shacks and talk about how good the massa is, how good
the slaves got it, maybe even given them a piece of bacon or the good
meat with a promise for more so long as they hang on and be content or
say some prayers. This is the approach Castro took in his speech, his
focus - like the rest of the Democrats was on the “middle class,” and at
one point his petit bourgeois colors intensified as he yelled: “The
middle class the engine of our economic growth!” The Brown bourgeoisie
must have soiled themselves with excitement at hearing this parasite
babble on.
Castro’s interests are stripped of the more progressive aspects of 1970s
political line of his mother, Rosie Castro, which he branded as outdated
in an interview on Pacifica Radio. As misguided as the RUP may have been
in their approach, they never spoke of leaving Raza behind, nor were
they reduced to telling Raza to ‘Pull themselves up by the bootstraps.’
Rather they sought to include even the poorest Raza living in shacks and
fought to better their conditions while Julian Castro has aligned with
imperialism as he stated: “we know in our free market economy some
people will prosper more than others.” The idea that in a society there
will be the haves and the have nots is not something we can accept. But
Castro sends the message to the ruling class that he is okay with this
and thus is not intending to threaten or challenge this status quo. This
buys his seat in the imperialist shuttle of Amerikan politics.
The use of Julian Castro is just the latest attempt to get Chicanos and
other Raza to become part of Amerika. But many Raza still remember the
oppression we have faced, it is still too much for many to side with the
enemy. According to the 2010 U.S. Census about 2.3 million businesses
are owned by Latinos. Yet when it comes to voting in bourgeois elections
only 60 percent of adult Latino citizens vote compared to 70 percent of
Black adults who vote and 74 percent of whites who vote. At the same
time approximately 500,000 Latino youth will turn 18 every year for the
next 20 years. So I believe Julian Castro is the tip of the iceberg
where Amerika will begin courting Latinos much more than they ever have
in history, and not just any Latinos but preferably those with family
history of activism as Julian Castro and his mother in an attempt to
paint these parasites as “legitimate” in the eyes of the Chicano nation.
But these Brown faces in high places will never be legitimate so long as
they support the super parasites. Those who we see as legitimate are
those working to liberate our nation, those working to neutralize the
super parasite.
We see Amerika’s open repression reaching fascist proportions in Aztlán,
especially in prisons and on the “border.” Most recently we saw along
the Texas/Mexico “border” the U.$. instillation of a “mini navy” (4)
where speed boats with high powered weapons are guarding the Rio Bravo
and have recently baptized these new boats in Mexicano blood when they
shot and killed a Mexican citizen on the Mexican side who was barbecuing
in a picnic area with his family right on the river. Footage on the
Amerikan corporate media this week shows families and children as the
border patrol speeds off while cries erupt in this park. This open war
on Raza comes without a peep from bourgeois politicians like Julian
Castro, who, rather than condemn this repression in his speech, instead
declares “Amerika will prevail” in his speech to massa.
We must also learn from the lessons of the past. We are not free to
create our own political parties that struggle for our nations, look at
what happened to the RUP and Panthers and others. In Amerika although
parties of the internal semi-colonies are not publicly banned, they are
certainly banned behind closed doors in Langly, in Washington DC, and
their other hideaways. We know this is true when we learn about
Cointelpro and other operations to infiltrate and disrupt peoples
parties or groups. And so we refuse to be fed snake oil from the
imperialists or their allies and hasten the day when Aztlán and the
other internal semi-colonies can be liberated from attacks by Amerika!
In the past month, I’ve witnessed more prisoner-on-prisoner assaults
than grievances filed on the unjust conditions of confinement here at
Bowie County Corruptions Center. One week alone had at least three
fights with two resulting in serious injuries that sent prisoners to the
hospital.
Often these assaults take place when corruptions officers are not
present at their assigned stations. These very officers who neglect
their duties are also forced or coerced into writing false infractions
with forged and falsified statements that make it appear as if they were
on their assigned stations during these altercations. It’s a lose-lose
situation for the prisoner because the prisoners who receive the
injuries are usually coerced into pressing charges against the prisoners
who assaulted them.
For example, on 21 September, a prisoner-on-prisoner assault took place
which resulted in one prisoner being slightly injured. When the
assaulted prisoner demanded that ey be removed from the housing unit, it
was discovered that ey was in an altercation. But the officer who was
assigned to the station was asked about information concerning the
altercation and eir whereabouts, and nothing could be said.
According to the injured prisoner, ey was “jumped” by several prisoners.
One of the accused prisoners even confronted corruptions officers asking
where was the officer assigned to that station? That officer laughed -
knowing that ey was not on eir station. The prisoners were threatened
with felony assault charges and later received disciplinary infractions.
The prisoners were even found guilty on the infractions after thirteen
other prisoners wrote statements for the accused.
There have also been officer-on-prisoner assaults such as one prisoner
having his collarbone broken and his hip broken. When the prisoner
initiated his 42 USC $1983 Civil Rights Complaint, Ad-Mini-$nake$
(administrators) bribed or attempted to bribe the prisoner by ordering
that ey be released from their custody while ey was in the hospital. The
prisoner still pursued eir complaint.
The majority of problems here at the Bowie County Corruptions Center
generate from falsified infractions that officers write when there
exists no officers on their assigned sections, therefore, resulting in a
rise of tension amongst prisoners.
Though this practice is common in the corruptions system, we must all
stay strong in this struggle together and let these situations and
conditions be known to those charged with the responsibility and duties
to operate these facilities. If nothing can be done on the
administrative level and all remedies have been exhausted, seek relief
from the courts and write letters to the media and organizations who may
be able to help. Eventually justice shall prevail.
MIM(Prisons) adds: While we agree that eventually justice will
prevail, we know that reform tactics such as grievances and court cases
will only win temporary or small victories for the oppressed. The
criminal injustice system will be willing to adjust its tactics of
oppression, but it won’t be fundamentally altered through legal battles.
We need to undertake these legal battles to win some breathing space
from the repression in prison for our comrades, but we can not lose
sight of the larger battle against the criminal injustice system
overall.
To take on the injustice system more broadly, and end the
prisoner-on-prisoner assaults that happen daily, we must take up
organizing prisoners for unity and peace. Prisoners ultimately can
control prisoner-on-prisoner violence, regardless of what the guards do
to encourage it. We must build the
United Front
for Peace in Prisons to truly end the violence. The first principle
of this United Front, Peace, addresses directly the problem this writerr
talks about above: “WE organize to end the needless conflicts and
violence within the U.$. prison environment. The oppressors use divide
and conquer strategies so that we fight each other instead of them. We
will stand together and defend ourselves from oppression.”
Recently Mayor Annise Parker of Houston, Texas enacted a City Ordinance
which makes it against the law to feed more than 5 hungry homeless
people at a time. Many may remember that mayor Parker made national
headlines by becoming the first openly gay/lesbian womyn to be elected
mayor to a major u.s. city. One would think that of all people Mayor
Parker would be sensitive to the needs of the oppressed and the poor. Of
course this mode of thinking is pathetically idealistic and goes against
our scientific method for analyzing and solving problems.
I did a concrete analysis of Mayor Parker’s actions since she has been
in office, and time and time again she has strategically proposed
ordinances which promote a “war” on the poor and homeless. Houston is an
international imperialist strong hold. The war profiteers Halliburton
and Kellog, Brown, and Root have offices in Houston. There are countless
oil companies based in Houston. These companies literally rob and
exploit the natural resources of many poor and under-developed Third
World countries. Mayor Parker is nothing more than an “agent” for these
money hungry imperialists. In Mayor Parker’s eyes, the poor hungry
masses in Houston are an “eyesore” and more importantly, bad for
bu$ine$$!
There are many activists who have balked at this new ordinance. They
include an incredibly diverse group of individuals. Socialists, Black
Panthers, Anarchists, Christians, Right wingers, and Left wingers, the
public at large simply does not like this new ordinance. The benevolent
“snake” Mayor Parker told the activists that if they could come up with
20,000 signatures of citizens who do not approve of the ordinance she
would consider rescinding it. The activists came up with 34,000
signatures to put the issue on the ballot. Mayor Parker and City Council
members conspired to sabotage the activist’s ability to be heard and
acknowledged at a recent city council meeting. A local judge, named Bill
Harris determined that the activists submitted their petition too late!
Police terrorism is alive and well in Houston. The homeless who reside
downtown are favorite targets of the abusive Houston Police Department
officers. The fine for feeding more than 5 homeless people at a time is
$2000 and/or jail! People who usually bring food to feed the homeless
are afraid.
More than ever we are in dire need of a revolution that overthrows this
wicked and corrupt imperialist system that exploits and takes advantage
of the “have nots” of society. It is going to take people who are
willing to fight and not negotiate with the enemy.
Notes: KPFT Radio 90.1 FM. S.O.S. Radio show with Brother Zinn, 12
September 2012. Facebook.com/KPFT Houston.