Under Lock & Key

I would like our community of revolutionaries to know what is going on in the confines of Preston Smith Unit. The gang intelligence officer took all of my property, saying that I was trying to recruit a feline pen pal into the ALKQN. When my property was returned to me I was missing people’s birthday dates, the names of people getting married, and all my addresses and phone numbers.

The reason that was given was “dangerous contraband.” I don’t know when such things became “dangerous,” none of the people have tried to break me out of prison or smuggle in contraband. I have been incarcerated for a little over eleven years, I have had the gang intelligence take my property several times. At no time have they tried to take my addresses, they have taken pictures, names and numbers of inmates and even raps. At no time have they gone this far.

I have no way to contact anyone that I know and it is infuriating. The gang intelligence has cut me off form society and I still have a little over seven years before I see parole.

The grievance system is a joke, here are people who are chummy with those who we “write up.” Do we actually think that we will get results? Of course not. That is a fallacy that only novice prisoners might believe in. The truth of the matter is, the injustice system gets away with so much due to those who are outside of it, not doing anything to assist those who are inside.

This [Under Lock and Key] is a forum, sort of a think thank. We know far more collectively than we do individually. All that needs to be done is to set the stage for a movement. That’s why they really took all my addresses, they fear my mind and power to build.

It is time to unify into one, we must set objectives that we reach on a deadline. How beautiful it would be to have 7,000 people call and write letters about one issue at a time.

There is a lot of talk about John McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska. A female on the Republican ticket does not mean any more than a female on the Democratic ticket. We should not be fighting for greater access for wimmin to positions of imperialist power in Amerika. Some wimmin have already achieved these positions, but having even more will not change the global situation of gender oppression or imperialist oppression in any way.

Hillary Clinton is part of the imperialist government as Senator from New York, and Sarah Palin as Governor of Alaska - wimmin in the Supreme Court and in leadership positions in the Amerikan government have done their part to further the militarist hegemony of Amerikan imperialism. In spite of all this, it is interesting that the Republican’s will have a woman on the ticket while the democrats will not when Hillary Clinton’s candidacy played up the gender issue. This seems to be a clear attempt to grab the vote of Clinton supporters who were in it just for the question of gender.

Some people are calling Palin a “pro-life feminist”. The pro-life label is great irony for any Amerikan who supports (and even promotes) imperialist militarism. Countless people are killed by Amerikan intervention (covert and overt) and the products of Amerikan foreign policy. People who are truly pro-life fight Amerikan imperialism to stop the mass global murder by imperialism. At the same time, the label of “feminist” for Palin is as contradictory as the “pro-life” label. Feminism should mean fighting for an end to gender oppression. Just because she enjoys wealth and privilege doesn’t mean Palin can’t participate in this battle, but her political line is definitely not feminist. Palin is a part of the gender aristocracy in Amerika, and she is a part of the fight for greater gender privileges for oppressor nation men and wimmin, this is most definitely not feminism.

It’s important to recognize that gender privilege in Amerika is enjoyed by oppressor nation biological wimmin as well as men. For years MIM has put forward the clear line that gender oppression is not just a question of biology. In imperialist Amerika, biological wimmin enjoy gender privilege relative to Third World wimmin and men. We call this group the gender aristocracy. This is not to say wimmin in Amerika are equal to men. In fact there is still a differential in earnings, and certainly a differential in representation in government in Amerika with only 16% of congresspeople being wimmin. But this relative difference between white nation biological wimmin and men is nothing compared to the differential between the oppressed and oppressor nations. Overall gender oppression is suffered by both men and wimmin of oppressed nations and gender privilege is enjoyed by both men and wimmin of oppressor nations.

Amerika has a long history of gender oppression of Black men who were lynched for rumors that they raped white wimmin (707 of the 2,060 lynchings in the u$ from 1882 to 1903 were for rape related accusations).(1) The theory of gender aristocracy is also clearly demonstrated when we think about contraceptive testing on Third World wimmin and men, to benefit Amerikan wimmin. Access to new and better contraceptives for Amerikans has repeatedly come at the expense of Third World people.

And on this topic of contraception, much of the discussion of Palin initially focused on her family and questions of so-called ethics. Palin’s 17-year-old unwed daughter is pregnant, somewhat ironic as Palin is a supporter of abstinence education rather than contraception. Fortunately for Palin (who is staunchly anti-abortion), her daughter has decided to keep the baby and marry the father. In reality, those in the Republican party who say people should not talk about Palin’s children are right - we have plenty of other more important topics to discuss. We need to tackle imperialism as a system, and part of this is talking about the hypocrisy of a womyn who fights to deny young people real education about reproduction, a practice that has been demonstrated to lead to more unwanted pregnancies.(2)

Palin has a lot of dumb Amerikan views about education, many which she shares with others in the government. She wants to teach religious creationism and so-called “intelligent design” alongside evolution in Amerikan schools, presumably presenting fantasy as science. It is fantasy that assumes we can teach youth about abstinence and ignore the increasing pregnancy rates and spread of STDs, so maybe this position should not be a surprise. In another fantasy, Palin also believes that global warming is not a product of humyn activity (though at least she’s ahead of some politicians in admitting that it exists).

In the end Palin is just another imperialist candidate for an imperialist government who will perpetuate imperialist policies that lead to oppression, exploitation and death of Third World peoples. The difference with Palin is that she further demonstrates the power of the gender aristocracy in Amerika.

Notes:
(1) Marable, Manning. How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America. Southend Press, 2000. p. 117.
(2) Contraception v Abstinence Education, December 12, 2006 review of studies published at stats.org

Revolutionary greetings to all. I’m back one again to report the activities here at Killa Kern for the week. To start it off, we’re still dealing with the same problems of the prices on canteen items risen. And the Arsenic poison being fed throughout our prison’s plumbing system.

Now on the count of California’s Governor failing to come up with a way to break bread and relieve its paper pushers of this cash crisis. I gotta give it (the rise of canteen prices) to the Dept of Corrections. They’re doing their thang, and not getting any criticism about it. The people ain’t trippin, cause the soldiers ain’t trippin. So what the hell! Let ’em do them which is a feeling that can be understood by a person who understands).

But when the war becomes physical, and the effect goes from psychological and financial, to actually harming ones internal organs, somebody has to stand up and shut it down. These folks here at Killa Kern (named that by me for the way they’re killing their prison population mentally, spiritually, financially, and physically) have already released data that shows a long consumption of this tainted water over a period of time could cause respiratory problems that could lead to cancer. But they say “it’s no emergency, it’s no biggy, we’ll have the problem fixed within 13 months. There’s no need to bring in an outside source of water. Just keep drinking the arsenic water. We’ll get around to it.”

With this sort of response by this prison and its agents, one should be able to see the reason for my naming it Killa Kern. I mean truthfully, how long is too long of a consumption? Three years, four years, or five? Shit, maybe it’s a decade.

I have been at this death chamber for over half a year, and I’ve been heavily drinking the water since my arrival. I work out a lot so I have to stay hydrated. But look what I have to stay hydrated to: Arsenic Lead. This is some shit I wouldn’t even let my hogs drink. And they’re said to be the nastiest animal of them all. This lead that they have us drinking is a weapon of modern day human destruction, and it’s killing us slowly.

I haven’t yet been able to obtain the scientific data needed to enlighten the convict body here, or those who read MIM(Prisons), if anyone reading can add facts of researched data on the damages and long term effects that Arsenic lead can cause to the body, please contact me with the info.

We need them to correct Kern Valley’s water problem now. If this can’t be done, they need to bring in a secondary outside water source for us to drink.

It is the exposure of the capitalistic heart, and the imperialistic mind,
that has me fine with the destruction of its total system.
Fill up the clip for my gun and place its barrel in its rectum.
The revolutionary trigger is pulled, and at best there’s a mess,
For its original insides will no longer exist
No longer resist,
The strong temptation to fin a deep dug black hole like a rabbit confined.
Hide in it like a snake on decline
From the troops on their fast paced way to demolish your lines
Class struggle with submission to time.
Off the break when admitting the crime?
Hell no!
I’ve committed the mind, and have purchased a nine for your conviction.
No Petition.
You are found guilty and will visit a mortician.
Get out the kitchen.
The people have spoke and for this is their mission.
Death to the oppressor and all its ways of oppression.

Inraged by the blaze that’s been set by the states.
I have ingraved a personal aid in the fight against the snakes.
Yes against the Fakes and all its stragglers of the game.
I pledge the help of all myself from feet to full round brain.
Although Id like to skip the range and go straight to the field,
To skip the class would be my ass and that’s just keeping it real.
How can one dismantle the tank when one can’t assemble a gun?
I must learn true strategy, before attending true made fun.
A rise and true made revolution is destined in this land
As the turning of a power where the peasants take command
The winds blow a sharpness clearing smoke from Peoples War
with the sun high and smiling full of knowledge of what’s in store.
Nations come together baring arms to feed the starved
While also giving up the shots to cure all AIDS scared
No more injustice killings, or the kiling of true troops
No more miseducating or the raping of our youth
For I have inlisted

As always I extend my revolutionary love and respect to the comrades of your staff. As things here at KVSP have changed once again like the seasons, I write in to briefly report my captors’ activity.

After taking advantage of the economic crises here in the states and boosting all of its institution commissary store product prices sky high, the administrators are taking another path of destruction.

Recently there’s been talks of California’s budget crises and its effect on its massive prison population. But now ’ol Arnold is letting actions speak louder than words. With a so-called job cut for prisons Correction Officers, prisoners are seeing our little bit of program go down the drain with Amerikkka’s stranglehold of the world’s bottom class. They have come up with what they call “down days,” in regards to a total of four days out of the week where there will be no program at all, due to the so-called lack of staff. This means no yard for most, along with any other program or activity that has to do with one being outside his cell and not working for the prison.

Now I know that by U.$. law these folks are required to give us a certain amount of hours a week for recreational purposes, but with this new budget crisis (or whatever you want to call it) the judge is going to say their arguments of shortness of staff are valid. And to sum it up, they did that just like they took the weights and the family visits for lifers. Hell, they did that just like this prison is feeding its population “arsenic lead” through its plumbing system. They’ve had a memo on the issue floating around for almost eight months now, but its like the taste only gets stronger. They’ve admitted that it’s there (I guess as a warning) but have done nothing to change it, and we have no choice but to drink it. How about those apples?

August is one of the hottest months in many ways. Many of the great New Afrikan slave rebellions, including Gabriel Prosser’s and Nat Turner’s were planned for August. It is the month of the birth of the great Pan-Africanist and Black Nationalist leader, Marcus Garvey, and also of our New African freedom fighter Dr. Mutulu Shakur. New Afrikans took to the street in rebellions in Watts CA in August 1965. On August 18, 1971 in Jackson Mississippi, the official residence of the Republic of New Afrika was raided by Mississippi police and FBI agents.

August 1989 marked the 10th anniversary of Black August commemorations. The promotion of a conscious, non-sectarian mass based New Afrikan resistance culture, both inside and outside the prison walls all across the U.S. Empire. Black August originally started among the brothers in the California Penal System to honor three fallen comrades and to promote a Black culture of resistance and revolutionary development.

The first brother, Jonathan Jackson, a 17 year old man child was gunned down August 17, 1970 outside a Marin County California courthouse in an armed attempt to liberate three imprisoned Black Liberation Fighters (James McClain, William Christmans and Ruchell Magee). Ruchell Magee is the sole survivor. George Jackson, Jonathan’s older brother and comrade, a great Black revolutionary theoretician and leader was assassinated August 21, 1971 by guards during a Black prison rebellion at San Quentin. In an unsuccessful effort to cover up the state’s pre-planned assassination of comrade George. The third brother, Khatari Gaulden, was victimized by the blatant assassination of capitalist corporate medical politics in prison August 1, 1978.

MIM(Prisons) adds: The original Black August Organizing Committee still commemorates this holiday each year. The group works to maintain the original focus of the commemoration on the ongoing war on oppressed nations in the united $tates. Over 40 people came together to form the BAOC in 1979 after a united front of New Afrikan prisoners formed in 1978 following Khatari’s murder. This year’s commemoration featured New Afrikan, Native and Asian cultural acts intermixed with the political presentations with a focus on promoting community.

MIM(Prisons) brought to the attention of the audience that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) considers the celebration a “gang activity.” That was how the Institutional Gang Investigation unit justified withholding mail from a comrade to a prisoner that mentioned Black August. They don’t try hard to hide he fact that their repression and their so-called war on “gangs” is really about keeping the oppressed in their place. Members of Black August face persecution by the CDCR on the streets as well as in prison.

Meanwhile, a local weekly in Oakland ran a smear piece on Black August following the CDCR line. The article bad mouths Black Panthers George Jackson (falsely accusing him of being a convicted murderer) and Basheer Hameed (who just died this past week).

These are two prisons that have designated cells where prisoners are in solitary confinement for at least 22 hours a day with no congregate dining, exercise or other services.

1. Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, Secure Confinement Unit, PO Box 111 Carlisle, IN 47838

2. Maximum Control Facility, PO Box 557, Westville, IN 46391

I have been in both and the following statistics apply to both prisons:

There are around 250-330 prisoners
It is around 48% white and 48% Black and 2% Latino
The units opened 15-20 years ago
Prisoners have been abused physically by offers in the past
Prisoners are regularly subject to humiliation and refusal of showers

I am writing because I parole soon for the first time since I was 21 and have no employable skills, and was hoping I could get some trade, vocational, engineering, or even how-to cooking or baking books I could study to develop some. Where I parole there are a lot of restaurants.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is the sad state of supposed “rehabilitation” in Amerika’s prisons, where people spend their young adulthood locked up, only to be released to the streets with no way to support themselves. This is just one of many reasons why prisons are very clearly nothing more than a tool for social control for this imperialist government.

I’m still hoping that Imperialism and Class Structure in 1997 shows up. These people here have gotten so audacious that they don’t even bother to follow their own regulations. One, there’s absolutely nothing whatsoever that “threatens the safety or security of the institution” regarding this piece of economics. Two, they’re illegally blanketing censorship of all materials from you without even looking at them. And three, they have a procedure that they’re supposed to follow, i.e. send the prisoner a rejection of mail form, stating why it’s being rejected, and give the prisoner an opportunity to send it back, destroy it, or challenge it via a 602 form.