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.
This is a statement of unity issued by Dead Man Incorporated(DMI) to
inform all concerned of our alignment to and full co-operation with the
United Front for Peace in Prisons.
After discussion we have come to the general consensus that a unity
amongst us and other oppressed peoples caught up in the struggle would
best suit all involved in the interest of our common goal of ending the
tyranny of the imperialist states.
The maintaining of the principles of the UFPP are critical and
imperative in our mission. We, as DMI, value Peace, Unity, Growth,
Internationalism and Independence. From henceforth each of us promise to
uphold those principles; mind, body and spirit.
Furthermore, let it be known that We as DMI stand in alliance with
the UNited Struggle from Within.
I’d like to say thank you for your support while we are here behind
these walls, at Prince Daniel Unit in Snyder, Texas. These officers have
it in their mind that we don’t have any rights. They delay my mail and
even send it back to sender. I’ve been grieving this issue, and no
response. Also here you have several C.O.’s who don’t wear their mask.
C.O. Gauna doesn’t wear her mask, and constantly turns on bright lights
while we sleep just to be annoying, and when I complain, her famous
saying is, “You should have never been locked up”. Another C.O. who does
the same, his name is Wilcox. And I’ve written Step 1 and Step 2, with
no good answer.
We are racked up one row and they let two row out sometimes. There
are only 5 people in day room. Showers are not cleaned. If you are an
SSI/Porter, your job is to clean on your hour out and get dirty without
taking a shower and rack up. When you come out on your next hour you
still have to clean. Per Mayor Durben, Capt. Hoover doesn’t have
anything signed by the warden or director of TDCJ about one row, two
row. But we all go to rec and to eat at the same time. I would like a
grievance petition for Texas, so I can share here with my brothers.
So in the Echo it stated that phone visits are $10 for one hour. The
video visit. What about those who can’t afford those visits? Shoot, here
at Prince Daniel Unit prices are going up in commissary and we are
forced to buy what they want us to, because they’re always out of items.
The crazy part is that warehouse is 15 minutes from here, and we have 52
workers who work there and live here on The Unit. I guess you just have
to stay out of trouble to get out. But hell, nobody is making parole.
What can we do? Well brother sorry for the complaining. Until next
time
The Maryland Prison Labor Organization (MPLO) exists for the purpose
of defending and preserving the rights and dignity of the incarcerated
working class men and women, who are confined to correctional facilities
within the State of Maryland.
Maryland’s incarcerated workers contend daily with abusive staff,
inequitable compensation, unsafe or unsanitary working environments,
arbitrary termination, inadequate health care, poor diet, and inhumane
conditions of confinement.
As a collective and as a Class, we find this set of circumstances
unacceptable, therefore our mission is to amend these circumstances by
securing social and economic justice for the thousands of imprisoned
laborers who have been exploited by Maryland’s Department of
Corrections, and who continue to endure such exploitation as a
consequence of the labor arrangement that persists behind the walls of
Maryland’s correctional facilities.
We are conscious of the fact that the labor we provide is critical to
the orderly and efficient functioning of the Department, and as a result
of the aforementioned realities, We, the members of the MPLO, seek the
following changes to the current labor arrangement within the state’s
prisons:
Higher Wages.
Equitable Good Conduct Credit Compensation.
An end to Arbitrary Adjustment & Reclassification.
An end to Oppressive Conditions of Confinement, including
Excessively Restrictive Management Systems, Overcrowding, and Abuse by
Guards & Administration.
An end to malicious social engineering practices that are designed
to cause friction, foment conflict, and incite violence amongst
incarcerated citizens.
An end to collective punishment.
Increased access to economically relevant vocational & technical
skills training, including that which is currently made available by the
DLLR. We also seek access to state sponsored college education.
Increased access to cognitive programs currently available at the
prison.
Higher quality food and more sizeable portions.
For the reasons mentioned herein, the Maryland Prison Labor
Organization is hereby established for the benefit of its members, and
for that of the entire incarcerated working class within the state of
Maryland.
I want to give our readers a brief status update. This is the first
issue in 5 months, and the one before that was about 7 months prior.
Unfortunately, we will be sticking to what we called “plan C” in the
last issue, which was relaunching Under Lock & Key(ULK) on
an irregular basis.
We have went ahead with the new newsprint format, which has reduced
our costs. With this new format, we launched the new logo that was to go
on the new newsletter. Thanks to the USW comrade who drafted, and redrew
the artwork for that. Otherwise, the contents of ULK should
remain about what you are used to.
Before I go on, I want to include one of the appreciative letters we
received from a newer subscriber:
“I want to sincerely thank you all for altering my outlook on the
world and on life in general. Not to mention politics. I don’t know how
to explain it, but just in the relatively short few months that I’ve
been seriously studying the various ULKs and related materials,
I can see and feel so many positive changes in myself, my outlook,
attitude, mindframe, actions, words, thoughts, etc.
“… For example, just navigating the daily struggle in here has become
much easier for me as far as interactions with the guards, etc. I just
feel like I have been equipped with a much more stable mindframe and a
more mature attitude. As I’m writing this I’m actually realizing that
this is probably my reactionary mentality being steadily stripped away
and replaced with knowledge and wisdom of what’s really going on.
“This has even had positive effects on my personal/family life as
well and my ability to express myself and communicate with individuals I
had a difficult time with before. I’m able to control my emotions more
and deal with sense and reason which has produced better results.”
It is letters like this that reinforce the importance of Under
Lock & Key and our determination to keep it going. But we can’t
do so without rallying more support.
Some of the things that go into this one project include: processing
incoming letters to update our mailing list, typing articles, scanning
and editing art, responding to articles, editing, formatting and
proofreading, layout of the newsletter, compiling and processing our
latest mailing list for the USPS, proof reading the laid out newsletter,
folding and packaging the newsletters, bringing them to the post office
for delivery to you, and paying for all that printing and postage. We
know our readers in prison can’t do most of these things. But by
promoting ULK and recruiting others around our work, you can
build the network of support we need.
And many of you can send donations. Thank you to all of you who have
sent in stamps in recent months despite the lack of ULKs. We
are still sending out lots of letters and literature and making good use
of your donations!
In addition to ULK, we are prioritizing responding to
letters, providing resource guides and political literature. We remain
focused on our serve the people Re-Lease on Life program, which has
gained some good experience and seen some setbacks in the last year. And
we are working to develop Anti-Imperialist Prisoner Support, so that we
can expand our work to what it used to be and beyond. Finally, we
continue to put time into engaging with the development of the Maoist
movement here in occupied Turtle Island so that all these programs can
feed into real revolutionary change in the future.
Our readership has always talked about fascism more than the
mainstream because they face some of the most fascistic aspects of
imperialism within U.$. borders. As the dialogue around fascism in
relation to the White House enterslj6 the mainstream, it becomes more
important for us to distinguish our line, and the potential strategies
that follow from that line.(1)
The first draft of an article on the self-determination
of the Lakota people referred repeatedly to the fascism that they
faced. The parallel is certainly justified. As we know Hitler was very
inspired by the Amerikan genocide and colonization of First Nations.
Yet, fascism arose hundreds of years after settlers first came to Turtle
Island. There are many similarities, but also differences, between Nazi
Germany and the early United $tates, and the United $tates today.(2)
Understanding what fascism is is important for fighting it.
Fascism as
Inter-Imperialist Conflict
“Marxist-Leninists eventually argued that fascism is qualitatively
more evil than ordinary imperialism. First, fascism occupied imperialist
countries and exterminated national self-determination in direct ways
that the other imperialists did not. Second, and less important, fascism
is the open dictatorship of the bourgeoisie instead of just the more
masked dictatorship of bourgeois democracy.” MC5, May 1993, “Historical
applications of Line, Strategy and Tactics: The United Front”, MIM
Theory 6: The Stalin Issue, p.76. ($5)
MC5 goes on to say that the principal contradiction during the period
of the rise of fascism was actually that between the socialist and the
imperialist camps. That the Nazis focused so much on the destruction of
the Soviet Union, undermining their own success, demonstrates the role
of fascism as a response to socialism.
Stalin’s strategy in this period was to divide the imperialist camp.
It’s hard to see how the socialist camp today could employ such a
strategy since we are not operating from the base of power that Stalin
was (the USSR actually had the military might to stop the Nazis). But in
his time, Stalin’s strategy proved correct.
A Global Threat or
Bourgeois Politics
Antifa and the unorganized rebellions against the police in cities
across the country have forced anti-fascism into the mainstream. Yet the
mainstream rhetoric has quickly transformed the “battle against fascism”
in the United $tates into a thinly veiled campaign for the Democratic
Party presidential election in November. The likes of Bob Avakian,
Angela Davis and Noam Chomsky have all called on people to vote for Joe
Biden, citing this battle.
Stopping fascism is a lower level goal than ending imperialism or
building socialism. There are times, like World War II, when stopping
fascism is the appropriate focus for communists. At that time fascism
was waging a military assault across Europe and threatening the first
dictatorship of the proletariat.
Presidential candidate Biden has already promised a significant
increase in military spending, and President Trump has increased
military spending during his term, despite his criticisms of the
self-interest of the military industrial complex. Both candidates are
clearly behind continued U.$. militarism to wage war against the
oppressed peoples of the world. Neither candidate has indicated a
rapacious military campaign to conquer and occupy other nations. Between
the two options offered by the U.$. imperialists, we do not yet see the
principal characteristic that led the communists of the COMINTERN to see
fascism as a greater evil than imperialism.
Those who are crying “fascism” in the U.$. today are arguing that
state repression internal to the United $tates is ramping up. So let’s
look at what MC5 called the “less important” distinguishing
characteristic of fascism.
The
Democratic Struggle Against Fascism in the Third World
“The imperialists export fascism to many Third World countries via
puppet governments. And imperialist countries can turn to fascism
themselves. But it is important to note that there is no third choice
for independent fascism in the world: they are either imperialist or
imperialist-puppets. Germany, Spain, Italy and Japan had all reached the
banking stage of capitalism and had a real basis for thinking they could
take over colonies from the British and French. … The vast majority of
the world’s fascist-ruled countries have been U.$. puppets.” – MIM
Congress, “Osama Bin Laden and the Concept of ‘Theocratic Fascism’”,
2004
Strategy varies from place to place. An example of this from the past
is when the Filipinos waged a campaign against the GATT trade agreement.
In the Philippines this was a righteous campaign against imperialist
control over their economy. However, in the United $tates the campaign
against GATT was one focused on protecting Amerikan jobs, which implies
fortifying imperialist borders against labor from other countries. So
you can see how the same campaign can have very different impacts in
different contexts. It is our responsibility to understand our own
context and organize accordingly.
In a previous
article on this same topic, we mentioned the anti-imperialist
rhetoric of the newly elected President Duterte in the Philippines.
After Duterte’s anti-United $tates rhetoric fizzled, the National
Democratic Front in the Philippines have begun campaigning against the
“fascist US-Duterte regime.” This framing is important. The fascism is
coming from the United $tates and being implemented by the puppet
Duterte. This allows for their propaganda to be consumed within the
United $tates without fueling U.$. militarism for an invasion of the
Philippines to rescue them from fascism.
This is in sharp contrast to the rhetoric around “islamo-fascism” in
Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon. This framing was of course propagated by the Pentagon, but
also by many calling themselves “communists.” It fueled anti-Muslim
sentiments in support of U.$. militarism in Central Asia.
The framing of fascism in the form of puppet regimes is useful for
the national democratic movements in the Third World to unite all who
can be united. But these puppet regimes do not signify a shift in the
global balance of power that warrant a strategic re-orientation like the
rise of fascism within an imperialist country would.
Don’t Vote, Build Bases of
Power
Another important point to note is that there is an active People’s
War in the Philippines. The National Democratic Front is led by the
communist party. The united front to get Trump out of office is led by
the Democratic Party, in other words, the imperialists. The imperialists
are not facing the threat of a communist revolution in the United $tates
like they are in the Philippines that would warrant a shift to outright
bourgeois dictatorship.
The imperialists responded to the 9/11 attacks with a series of
changes in law, such as the Patriot Act, which legalized some of the
things Trump has been doing domestically. Initially, MIM was part of the
movement to oppose the Patriot Act. However, they decided to leave that
movement when it was clear it was dominated by libertarians. Other
“communists” tailed this movement with calls to “Drive out the Bush
regime” often referring to Bush as a fascist. These same “communists”
who were effectively campaigning for Obama’s election by offering no
other alternative to Bush, because they have no power, are now openly
endorsing Biden.
When the Soviet Union allied with the United $tates, and the Filipino
communists ally with the bourgeois forces, they do not put down their
guns, or give up their goals of building socialism. To be real players
in the anti-fascist struggle, we must first build power like the Soviet
Union did and the Filipinos are doing. Stalin did bite his tongue about
U.$. imperialism to defeat German fascism. To bite our tongue today
about Joe Biden’s militarism and targeting of oppressed nations with
mass incarceration is to abandon the oppressed nations of the world.
It is good to see those in the imperialist state defending bourgeois
democracy. That is their role. Our role is to build public opinion
against imperialism and build independent institutions of the oppressed.
As Trump attempts to frame Biden/Harris as the radical left, it is
important to demonstrate real revolutionary politics in this country.
And the target of the revolution is imperialism. Imperialism must be
overthrown before we can really begin the task of building a society
without oppression. To put this goal to the side to focus on getting
Trump out of office, especially at a time when more and more people are
looking for systemic change, is to stop representing the international
proletariat. In this era in the United $tates, anti-imperialism is the
radical position, while anti-fascism and anti-racism are the reformist
positions.
Notes: 1. order MIM Theory 5: Diet for a Small Red
Planet ($5) for an in-depth look at the relationship between line,
strategy and tactics 2. order our Fascism and Contemporary Economics
($3) for a deeper look at the history and economic of
fascism
I am sincere and stand by when we say Black lives matter, but I think
we should say and believe that all life matters. I am in a
political/race-driven prison just like in California and Texas. We say
Brown Pride, White Pride, Black Pride, then White Power and Black Power.
We should take all race out of it and be power to the people!
I am 50% Mexican and 50% white and in Juvenile D.O.C. it was mostly
Black and Mexican. My last name is [white-sounding] so I got jumped
every day for years with a couple of the other white kids. If we are to
fight hurt, pain and suffering of being oppressed and rejected. But it’s
hard when we are surrounded by so much hate. I only know my dad on that
side of the family, the Mexican side, hates me and disowns me cuz my mom
and dad was never supposed to happen.
We only admit there’s a problem when it surfaces. I got sprayed by
the cops a couple months ago for no reason, filed my grievance, but
don’t have no help nor know how to take further actions. It sucks that
it takes people to die to get action. …
If each one of us did what was right it would be all good, but you
can’t change the people that want to look at every one else instead of
being a solution. I will be the solution whether anybody is watching cuz
all life matters!
MIM(Prisons) responds: Since the uprisings in
response to the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, we have
received many letters echoing the slogan “All Lives Matter.” Like this
comrade, they are not doing so in opposition to “Black Lives Matter” but
in solidarity based on similar experiences.
We want to commend this comrade for standing with all oppressed
people, and with Black Lives Matter as a movement despite eir experience
being jumped by New Afrikan youths while in juvie. It speaks to the
unity of the oppressed, that ey could see past that experience and not
paint a whole group as eir enemy, when those who have lived much more
privileged lives are quick to paint whole groups based on something they
saw on TV.
In today’s globalized culture it is sometimes hard to have
conversations that are limited to one audience, and as a result other
audiences are often offended.
In case any of our readers are unaware, the phrase “All Lives Matter”
became popular among cops and white nationalists as a rejection of
“Black Lives Matter.” The implication is that “Black Lives Matter”
somehow means Black lives matter more than others, when on the contrary
the slogan was developed by New Afrikans who just wanted their lives to
be given the same respect and value as others, specifically as
euro-Amerikans. The less forgiving implication is that people who say
“All Lives Matter” just want to keep Black lives in a position of less
value.
In contrast to this mainstream narrative, every letter that we’ve got
so far from prisoners who are white or Raza, stating “All Lives Matter”
seem to be coming from a genuine place of respect for all lives. But you
all should know what the implications of the saying can be.
We agree with this comrade that race should not be brought into
politics, as race is a baseless concept. So why do we talk about whites,
and New Afrikans and indigenous and all these other groups of people so
much in our writing? Well, we are talking about nation – a group of
people with a common culture, language, territory and economy. While
integration is greater than previous points in this country’s history,
there are still independent New Afrikan, Chican@ and countless First
Nations within this prisonhouse of nations that is called the United
States. And until these nations are liberated from imperialism, from the
United $tates, there cannot be justice here.
What about euro-Amerikans? In prison, euro-Amerikans will generally
experience life as an oppressed persyn. Certainly there are hierarchies,
and there are white supremacist groups that work with the pigs, etc. But
most of our “white” readers are feeling more oppression than your
average persyn walking down the street in the United $tates. That is why
we see uniting the imprisoned lumpen on a class basis as an important
project that is primary within the prison movement, while recognizing
the national contradiction as primary in this country overall. To
highlight this class unity, we prefer the slogan “Prisoner Lives Matter”
to demonstrate what all of our comrades are facing in the Amerikkkan
gulags, where you can be murdered for nothing like George Floyd was.
The same rotating yard schedule resumes. The only speed bumps added
were down days on Monday & Wednesday and a few more due to feigned
concern about air quality. But health & safety doesn’t seem to be a
factor in decisions affecting the yard program. Lt. Bloise even fired
all Death Row workers. So there’s nobody to disinfect the yards or the
tiers in any meaningful way. Those chores are left to the same
disrespectful sows that refuse to comply with California Health &
Safety Code 113969 Hair Restraints during in-cell food service.
None of that should surprise anyone. SQ’s Acting Warden, Ron
Broomfield, routinely dismisses advice from Public Health Professionals
like Dr. Matthew Willis (see San Francisco Chronicle: Web Edition for
the report by Megan Cassidy called “San Quentin Officials ignored
Coronavirus Guidance from top Marin County Health Officer”). Ever wonder
why the U.$. leads the world in number of people infected with and dead
from COVID-19? The evidence points to the rejection of the science and
the withholding of facts. We see that a lot.
One example of rejecting science is Broomfield dismissing the
recommendations of Dr. Willis. That’s the SQ version of Trump and Fauci
as if existing in a parallel universe, right? No, it’s just one of many
clumps in the same shit box. Saying one thing while doing another proves
to be one creative way SQ withholds facts. One example is given when a
positive COVID test was reported in East Block on 18 September 2020. For
maximum dramatic effect the yard program was shut down about 45 minutes
early. At some point in time the positive prisoner was moved to the
Adjustment Center (The Hole) instead of Donner as was supposed to happen
according to the 4 August 2020 Edition of “The Informed Patient: A San
Quentin Newsletter”. It’s written and published by the “Healthcare and
Leadership Team at San Quentin”. That’s not taught in just any creative
writing class.
Withholding facts also helps control the narrative in the media.
While it has become “common knowledge” prisoners from Chino were
transferred to SQ not having been tested 2 weeks prior; nobody seems to
find it important to determining how or where those transferred
prisoners became infected. It’s just assumed it was brought from Chino.
The actual number of staff cases at SQ prior to the transfer was
successfully minimized by the 27 March 2020, Broomfield/Verdier Memo
which reports: “On Thursday, March 26,2020, we learned that a member of
our staff has tested positive for COVID-19”. Of course, it’s obscured
that up until June all other employees entering San Quentin were only
having symptom checks not COVID tests. Since few then
(and even now) wear masks at all times, asymptomatic spread was imminent
if not rampant.
Exactly how many employees were/are going in and out being
asymptomatic and contagious was/is ignored just like Broomfield was/is
ignoring recommendations of the Public Health Department.
The masks initially provided to prisoners on Death Row were not
capable of protecting the wearer. They were made by PIA from cloth
normally used to produce jumpsuits/prison uniforms. Prisoners on Death
Row didn’t receive N95 masks until over 1000 tested positive, many ended
up in outside hospitals and others were found dead in their cells. We
who survived the first wave are now approaching the 100th day since the
positive test results from 15 June 2020.
According to the current science, antibodies last on average around 4
months (120 days). CDCR at SQ is now in position to repeat the same
experiment. What does the science say about those who expect a different
result? The second wave to hit SQ will be a tsunami. The only thing
different will likely be who the CDCR blames (if history teaches us
anything).
The September 14 newsletter gives itself a pat on the back for a job
well done and blames ignorance of science regarding masks in the
beginning of the pandemic. Their creative newsletter claims “researchers
didn’t think wearing masks would protect people from spreading the
virus”. Did a “researcher” write that or did the writer not know real
scientists (and painters) to know the difference between an N95 mask and
a cloth mask? It sounds like freestyle back pedaling.
According to the newsletter’s “current statistics” there are zero new
cases. There are 2147 said to be “resolved” (but no positive cases
determined by 15 June 2020, test results were ever retested to confirm
this). It says there are 10 “Active” in-custody cases while 186 of 288
confirmed staff cases have also been designated “resolved” and have
returned to work (but without retesting first). That same newsletter
admits they don’t know if such people “may infect other(s)” (page 3 of
issue 12).
Perhaps it’s more scientifically accurate to explain the numbers like
this: There is nobody “new” left to infect so anyone not exhibiting
symptoms now is dead or considered “resolved”. Those who kept testing
negative were positive and actually “resolved” before the 15 June 2020,
testing took place. No retesting for prisoners who tested positive in
June was facilitated asymptomatic spread.
Unfortunately, the most useful part of the SQ newsletters have been
the word search puzzles. Oh yeah, it may be funny to hear somebody tell
one of these disrespectful sows they should put their mask on one leg at
a time since their head is up their ass, but that’s no joke! And this is
no laughing matter. If this paragraph didn’t get edited out, the impact
on the writer’s mental health might seem apparent.
UPDATE: On 21 November 2020, it was reported that an
SQ Death Row Officer on 3rd Watch tested positive for COVID-19. This may
prove to be a repeat of what followed after it was reported via Memo
issued by (a) Warden Broomfield and (a) CEO Verdier that, “On Thursday
March 26, 2020, we learned that a member of our staff tested positive
for COVID-19.”
If you’re familiar with the popularized story attributing the cause
of the outbreak at San Quentin to a transfer of inmates from Chino, be
aware of the omitted facts. Those reports make no mention of the March
27, 2020 Memo quoted above. Perhaps those journalists in the mainstream
don’t even know that memo exists. But their reports claim there were no
COVID cases before the transfer. This means those journalists got it
wrong in part.
That does not mean the CDCR is not responsible for the outbreaks then
or now. In fact, it only demonstrates here what is being seen across the
whole United $tates – selfish individuals who think they’re better than
everyone else refuse to comply with the most basic safety protocols
(wearing a face covering).
I will just hit on the one that seems to echo No. 70: Unity. People
must realize We are inherently the same; when I am hungry I want to eat;
moms in every country around the world love their babies; people want to
live productive, peaceful, happy lives the world over.
Through the five pillars of the United Front, these kinds of
universal needs and wants of people should be stressed with the added
ingredient: I care about you.
Unity is: I care about you, you care about me; We work together for
Our mutual well-being, happiness and development. We are not the same,
yet have fundamentally the same fears, hopes, needs, wants and dreams
and the reality is that We can only achieve them when We live and work
together in Unity. Unity is not being in relationship; it is more being
in fellowship; not just co-workers but comrades.
…
One thing we hear the staff or guards say all the time is “I don’t
care.” All of their actions, policies and procedures prove it is
absolutely true; they do not see us as people any more. This is an
extension of the imperialist view of the rest of the world’s population.
“They don’t care” whether this or those people live or die, have a
decent standard of living, live free of famine or war, or free from
social instability, mass discrimination, incarceration or class
stratification.
They don’t care – the target is not a person with thoughts, feelings,
needs or dreams. It is an insanity that plagues mankind: people treating
others as things, objects, property, chattel or goods; to be used,
abused or destroyed at will.
As the article Individualism
Equals Hunger pointed out greedy people just do not care about
others to the point of allowing millions of people worldwide to either
starve or at the least live malnourished. Especially here in America,
individualism is a key component of “I don’t care.” Even in prisons,
huge amounts of food are thrown away daily, it is really crazy when one
sits back and thinks about it all.
[Abolitionists From Within (AFW) submitted a series of essays leading
up to Black August and hosted their annual poker tournament that is part
of their effort to build the United Front for Peace in Prisons(UFPP).
Below are some of the thoughts they sent us, followed by their report on
September 9.]
Wake up comrades. Evelyn Williams reminds us that all African
American prisoners are political prisoners, whether or not they label
themselves as such. Because of the circumstances that got them into
prison as well as the harshness of sentencing applied to them. Political
prisoners who became politicized inside prison walls and who oriented
their lives around the struggle for social justice and national
liberation include Malcolm X, George Jackson and the Attica warriors.
Many other comrades of yesterday and today’s struggle would be and are
encompassed in the term as political prisoners.
So to all comrades behind enemy lines, we are at war and have been
and we must understand the enemy tactics. Prisons have become the battle
ground in a war of attrition designed to reduce prisoners to a state of
submission, psychological incompetence sufficient to neutralize us as
self-directing antagonists by making us desperate enough to destroy
ourselves for material gains.
So let us not be fooled any longer through our own self-destructive
behaviors. You are the target Black man. Tactics of counterinsurgency
and low-intensity warfare against us. Assassinated, tortured, frame-ups,
imprisonment, control and alter the behavior of people resisting
oppression. And as you know, prison officials will use drugs as a method
of control. …
Damn comrades, ya’ll giving up. These conditions we living in is
temporary. Don’t make it permanent. I see your violent outbursts,
passing out, seizures, suicide attempts and serious mental breakdowns.
Comrade, them symptoms of that synthetic shit. Homies lose touch with
reality and lash out at the one’s who really trying to help them.
One of the comrades pass out standing up. This shit is real bro, that
shit hurt me deep. Because you can tell a lot about a person from the
company he keep. Comrade, you can’t say you with the business and your
actions don’t match. These young warriors not going to respect those
acts on the yard.
I hear the C.O.s making jokes like this shit is a game. Perpetuating
the fight that the prison administration encourages. However, this Black
August and Bloody September we going to continue to organize and apply
the UFPP five principles. So AFW will be putting on a poker tournament
here with all “ethnic” groups with one goal: Peace and awareness of the
prison struggles on these yards and who is the real enemy.
Da struggle continue.
9 September 2020: Black August passed, still
pushing. AFW is still building to continue the good fight on September 9
Day of Peace and Solidarity with all our freedom fighters and conscious
comrades and to commemorate the all the faceless comrades and to never
forget about the Attica uprising and our beloved brother GJ.
I been working out with our comrades, reading, sharing books, etc.
Just building doing this COVID-19 the best we can in solidarity with all
comrades here struggling behind enemy lines. Today, September 9th, I
fast and hit the night yard work out again and count my blessings.
I stress with our comrades to understand who the real enemy is and to
learn the enemy tactics of oppression that keep us oppressed. We have to
continue to push, pull and stride for unity, and the comaraderie among
the brothers and all ethnic groups and continue to put an end to all
hostilities among our brothers with peace on our tongue this September
9th day.
In the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the glaringly ugly nature of
amerikkkan exceptionalism and arrogance has been on full display. The
simple and non-threatening acts of staying home and/or wearing PPE
(masks) have become rallying points for reactionary patriotic elements.
For this reason, occupied Turtle Island has become the world leader in
COVID cases even though the imperialist regime had ample time to prepare
for the virus.
With this understanding, it is only logical that people cannot rely
on parasites and pigs to secure their health. It, like all aspects of
our lives, is most effectively met by the people ourselves.
In May, Republican governor of South Dakota Kristi Noem threatened to
sue the Lakota Nation or rely on the U.$. government to use violence to
take down the Lakota’s Emergency Health Points on their home lands.
Due in part to fear of the negative reaction from Republican
constituents and their mass base, as well as fundamental
capitalist-imperialist unbridled greed, Noem refused to issue
stay-at-home orders. Such ineptitude placed all South Dakota residents
at risk, but especially our First Nation siblings and comrades as
they’re a marginalized people.
In light of this development, and understanding the hystory of
bio-chemical warfare and its role in the genocide of indigenous nations,
the Oglala Lakota Nation pro-actively insulated themselves on the Pine
Ridge Reservation. The Emergency Health Points ensured that outsiders
couldn’t bring the new sickness (COVID-19) to their home.
The Emergency Health Points, allowed no one to come onto or leave
Pine Ridge, unless it was an essential activity. Those going and coming
were made to submit to a health questionnaire at the check points.
The Governor’s ultimatum was rightfully refused and the Lakota gave
an official written statement, “you continuing to interfere in our
efforts to do what science and facts dictate seriously undermine our
ability to protect everyone on the reservation.”
The oppressive nature of imperialism continues to undermine the
self-determination of First Nation peoples and oppressed nations
generally. For this reason, and to work towards the goal of tearing down
the imperialist system, New Afrikans and all oppressed nationalities
within the imperialist centers must unite in the spirit of collective
growth and internationalism, around our shared mission of
self-determination.
Let’s not forget, that it is this same Lakota Nation which has been a
thorn in the side of our shared enemy for almost 200 years. It was the
Lakota, led by Red Cloud, Chief of the Oglala Lakota, who dealt the
United $tates its first military defeat in 1868. In retaliation and due
to ongoing resistance, it was this same nation who the 7th cavalry
massacred at Wounded Knee on 29 December 1890.
Fast forward to the early 1970s with the siege of Wounded Knee and
the following COINTELPRO carried out against the American Indian
Movement and its supporters on and around the Pine Ridge reservation.
This operation led to the political imprisonment of Oglala warrior
Leonard Peltier. (An in-depth study of these events and the
imperialists’ war on the Lakota people can be read in the book
Agents of Repression by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall
available from MIM(Prisons) for $10 or work trade.)
With the understanding of the Lakota’s specific circumstances and
their hystory of resistance against the occupying forces I call on
all revolutionaries and people who respect the
sovereignty of the First Nations of Turtle Island to raise your voices
and shine a light on this issue. Being on reservations, our siblings and
comrades are often hindered from garnering proper media attention or
solidarity support. The mistake of past generations of oppressed nation
fighters was that of failing to support each other’s causes in all
aspects (militarily, economically, socially and politically). We end
that practice now. In the spirit of true proletarian
internationalism.
Clench fist salute to all the First Nation warriors who’ve not sold
out the great War for freedom.
source: 1. The Five Percenter Newspaper, Volume 25.6,
pg.10.