Under Lock & Key

Back in the dayz when Amerikka made their power move on our red brothers (indigenous people) to rob them of their land, one of the many tactics used to conquer these proud peoples was to give them and then sell them "firewater" (alcohol). This disabled many of our red brothers ability to fight for their freedom, thus making it easier for the imperialistic blue coated amerikkkan storm troopers to lead many red families into western concentration camps (reservations).

Now today as I look around me I see many potential revolutionaries and even vanguards for the revolution but they are disabled by a similar poison that disabled our red brothers ability to fight. Whether it be called alcohol, heroin, cocaine, meth, PCP, etc. Poison is poison. For a revolutionary to poison himself is to bring poison to the revolution. Don't get it twisted, you are either a revolutionary or a drug addict. You can't be both.

You can never be a valid asset to the revolution in an altered state of mind. And even if you don't use poison but you sell it to the oppressed people of color for your own profit then you are still not a revolutionary but a death merchant who profits off of the weaknesses and misery of your own peoples. The same law applies here. You are either a drug dealer or a revolutionary. You can't be both.

This strategy to feed us the oppressed nationalities poison is still used today by covert operatives of the united states of amerikkka. Don't believe the hype? The CIA played a key part in introducing crack cocaine to the urban communities of Los Angeles, California. Does the name "Freeway Willie" sound familiar? These meat warehouses called "correctional facilities" are not concerned with how much drugs a prisoner sells or uses, their main concern is that we don't escape, don't commit acts of violence against their plantation keepers and that we don't stack up arms. Their concerns are against the very characteristics which make up a revolutionary.

Revolution starts with our minds. If our minds are altered, there is no revolution. If you are down for the revolution, then poison is not in the equation and can never be. Be clean, strong and sober. Fight to win.

Latin Kings vs. Black Gangsters Disciples, Vice Lords vs. Gangster Disciples, Netas vs. Insectos, Crips vs. Bloods, Surenos vs. Nortenos, MS~13 vs Latin Kings, etc. This senseless and endless beef between us who are in rival street organizations does nothing for the revolution. It does nothing to help the oppressed people of the Third World order.

This message I write today is not for the ignorant amongst us but for the true revolutionaries. When it comes to any cause united we stand and divided we fall. This isn't just a cliche. It's as real as it gets.

To be specific, I address this to all the groups within the U.$. that the imperialistic federal troops have labeled "supergangs."

As rivals I realize that there can never be no real truce between enemies (too much blood spilled and riders buried). However this isn't about kissing and making up for I know that bad blood can't turn good. It's also real that this message won't influence those of us who want to continue banging. However for those of us who have metamorphosed into bona fide revolutionaries and want to make a united stand against injustice, let us use all our influence and power to call a cease fire and turn our focus on the real enemy.

"In unity we can bring any evil system to its knees." The divide and conquer tactic of war has been used by opposing forces for centuries. One out of the many of examples used by the Federal Bureau of Instigation (FBI) to divide and conquer stands out in my mind. The one they employed in the 70s when they tried to cause beef between Fred Hampton, a leader of the Black Panther Party in Chi-town and Jeff Forte, the head of the Black Peace Stones in the same town. (Both komrades were strong and had command over mass riders). The Feds attempted this by sending both groups false information about one another. When the plan failed, the pigs simply rushed komrade Fred's apartment and executed komrade Fred and another Panther komrade Mark Clark, and shot at komrade Fred's pregnant fiancee (she lived). Occasionally security employs this tactic within these modern day concentration camps. If we're busy fighting one another it keeps our minds off of the real oppressors.

We need to start moving as one when it comes to the revolution. If you are strong enough to be a revolutionary, this means you're prolific enough to move the masses within your own organization towards the cause of revolution. If you take roll call of the members we have within the largest street organizations within the U.$. we have what? 1/2 a million members? A million? If we ceasefire and move as one towards revolution we will become a force to be reckoned with. With all our different colors and ideologies we can become a united nations of revolution.

The biggest gang in the united $tates is the police. There are 660,000 police officers below federal level - state and local - 659,000 of them to the man has no trust in the FBI and yet when called upon they work together to oppress us. If they can work together in distrust then we can work as one headed in the same direction for the same goal.

When individual people work together for a common purpose there is power available to the group that isn't available to individuals, union is a fundamental basis of power.

Genghis Khan once stated "one tribe is like a single arrow, easily broken. All tribes together we become unbreakable." Even if you are alone within your group when it comes to revolution, you are armed with the knowledge that all it takes is one resolute revolutionary, one disobedient spirit to turn a flock of sheep into a den of lions. You must truthfully ask yourself are you ready if need be to die for the cause? Then you must truthfully answer yourself. This is important because part of the imperialist's false superiority is their unwillingness to die. On our end I'll repeat Andrew Young who said "it's a blessing to die for a cause, because you can so easily die for nothing."

Once we get started they can't kill a cause. Fighting for a cause is everything, simply believing in a cause is not enough.

I read a lot of articles written to MIM by my fellow komrades in chains that basically add up to "po po whupped my ass" or "these CO pawns/administration are dogging us", what I don't read in those same articles is what did you do or are you going to do or are doing about it? Because if an act of action is not in your makeup and character then that's when you voicing your grievance to MIM is a futile whine.

Fidel Castro once said "a revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past." As I strip down daily and look in the mirror I take notice of the many scars handed down to me by correctional goon squads from my numerous battles with them for standing against their tyranny.

I remember the few komrades who stood side by side with me against the OAK clubs, mace, tasers, etc. And went to the hospital with me after they tortured us for fighting them. There was never enough of us. We were always the minority. We still are the chosen few. Thus I reach out to all street organizations under the banner of revolution. This is a call to arms forsaking all others. Let men and women of courage fall in and under this banner.

The only strategy left for us revolutionaries to use who are still hemmed up within these U.$. luxury concentration camps is 'silence.' Silence is a weapon. As revolutionaries and freedom fighters we need to master the vocabulary of silence.

A worldwide tactic for naval warfare is 'radio silence' especially amongst submarines. When radio silence is initiated, the entire submarine goes silent. Thus the enemy doesn't know where this submarine is at, what its commander is planning next, etc. What do you suppose would happen if every prisoner incarcerated within every prison in Amerikkka stopped talking and refused to talk all at once and at the same time? The eerie silence would oppress the oppressor's pawns (prison guards), it would surely cause panic amongst their ranks.

Unfortunately, for every true revolutionary reading this letter, you must be already aware that the character of players within the game done change. Most 'inmates' confined within the U.$. prison system these days have diarrhea of the mouth. Their tongues wag constantly. Hell it almost seems that some of these 'inmates' tongues wake up before their bodies do in the morning. U.$. prison yards are the gossip centers of amerikkka.

There's a hustler's story that I will use as an analogy in this situation. There was once two pimps just hanging out watching their ladies of the night work the strip. As a couple of their ladies walked by them joking and laughing out loud, one pimp turned to the other and said to him, "You hear that? That's music to my ears." The other pimp asked him "Why's that?" The pimp answered, "Because as long as them hos are laughing and joking they're blind to what their lives really consist of."

In a prison guard's case, an inmate's laughter, joking and constant talking is music to their ears. As a population this would make inmates the Hos. Now to go and move the masses into radio silence, this is what we're up against: hustlers whose only concern is the dollar; users who's only concern, and god, is the dope; cowards; haters; countless informants; and those infected by the Stockholm syndrome. Those are the cold hard facts.

Yet, one resolute revolutionary, one disobedient spirit can turn a flock of sheep into a den of lions. Thus we can commence this revolution of silence against all odds with the knowledge that when individual peoples work together for a common purpose there's power available to the group that isn't available to individuals. We can vanguard this move of silence with the wisdom that union is a fundamental basis of power.

That the unity of a people could bring any corrupt evil system to its knees. Let us as a revolutionary people go on a talking strike. This will for sure shake up the system. Silence makes people uncomfortable. It is psychological warfare. Psychologists employ this tactic when with their patients, as interrogators do with people they're questioning. How many people would still be free if they had just adhered to their Miranda rights, "You have the right to remain silent"? Even the good book of proverbs says "In the multitude of words is foolishness."

The choice is of course yours komrades. However let it not be said of a true revolutionary that we came through a system or life itself without leaving an imprint. The time of talk and half measures are over, it's time for action. Enough said. Go silent.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade brings up an interesting tactic that has been used before. What makes it superior to some other sorts of strikes is that it is harder for the pigs to charge someone with some kind of rule violation for not talking. Of course, Malcolm X spent weeks in the hole for refusing to say his number when he first got to prison. And ultimately they often have the power to punish at will, regardless of the rules.

However, generic calls such as these have limited application. We print this as a discussion of possible tactics, but we cannot just throw ideas out on the wind and hope they catch on. We can never execute an effective strike without on-the-ground organizing. Only as part of an organization can we impose limits on those who wish to oppress us, as this comrade acknowledges.

One last criticism, this proposal is not very clear of its scope of application. To promote silence as a strategy would be suicidal for our movement, because our biggest battle is to spread information and organization. Now, thinking before we speak is a whole other story. A true revolutionary must speak and act in ways that fit in with h overall strategy for creating change. A childish culture of talking shit is a product of the lack of education and consciousness among the oppressed. So, to promote a code of conduct that involves only saying things that fit within our political goals, and knowing what to say when and to whom can only come after a thorough education of the population. There is much work for those isolated revolutionaries out there to do before attempting any type of strike or mass action.

Greetings komrades,

I received ULK July, no. 9 and I disagree with part of your response to the prisoner that wrote on gender. You stated that the prisoner's characterization of women as "very emotional" beings is actually a good example of sexist views.

However this is a topic I have long ago done research in. Medical science in fact states that men think with the left side of their brains which is the logical and reasoning side, and women think with the right side of their brains which is emotional and sentimental. Thus this is not a sexist view but a medical one.

This means if medical science is correct then that would mean that female officers are more emotional than male officers, which of course doesn't make them more dangerous than male officers. Both male and female officers are illogical because the system which they adhere to is illogical. It is also an established fact that some of these hoochies that been dogged one too many times by males on the streets who become guards all of a sudden, because they lack the education to gain better employment, will exercise their piggish authority over male prisoners with a wrath, just because they can.

However that's not to say that male guards don't do the same when they remember that their lunch money was taken away one too many times in high school by thugs, thugs similar to the ones they now have authority over.

To summarize, the job of Gestapo in any U.$. concentration camp sucks, but women guards should never be allowed to work in men's prisons. They're just slightly more useless than their male counterparts. When something serious pops off they all run for cover in fear for their lives. Courage is not a criteria to become a correction pig. "A man who controls his emotions controls his destiny. The one that doesn't is unstable in all his ways."

MIM(Prisons) Responds: Although it may be scientifically too soon for us to say that men and wimmin are completely alike, we must remember that all studies about nature vs. nurture (in this case brain chemistry vs. socialization) are done under hundreds of years of patriarchy. It is impossible to determine how humyns ultimately behave with no outside influence, because we are very deeply affected by the culture we grow up in.

At this point in time under the patriarchy, it is counter productive for revolutionaries to make sweeping proclamations about innate characteristics of men and wimmin. This debate is a distraction from the real issues, and plays into enforcing gender stereotypes. However, this comrade gets it right when he says that "both male and female officers are illogical because the system which they adhere to is illogical." No matter the emotional tendencies of any persyn, they will behave in illogical ways when put in an illogical position. In order to prevent the wrath of any CO, we need to eliminate the illogical job in an illogical society. This can only happen by eliminating capitalism and the profit motive, which will in turn get rid of the prison system.

Our komrades in MIM(Prisons) ask "what role does Hip Hop have to play today?" As a revolutionary culture, that is.

Since rappers are hard core capitalists it's a waste of time for me to even contemplate this question. As revolutionaries we must not waste time or energy on things we know aren't going to change. Let's keep it one hundred on a revolutionary level. Hip Hop has digressed not progressed.

It has come a long way. It's gone from "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy and Cop Killer by Ice T (who ironically enough now plays a pig in one of today's many cop shows) to "You're a Jerk" by the new boyz (the present #1 video on 106th and Park - B.E.T.) and "Throw it in the Bag" by Fabulous featuring The Dream (a shoplifting song).

So you see komrades, what Hip Hop has to do concerning the revolution and what they're doing and continue to do and will always do is on the opposite side of the revolutionary train of thought. I don't knock Hip Hop's hustle. It is what it is. I enjoy Hip Hop as entertainment while disregarding most of their lyrics lest I be tempted to shoplift (humor).

On the real, though, prior to the presidential elections B.E.T. (Black Entertainment Television), the Hip Hop channel, pushed hard for the election of Obama. Almost 24/7. Rappers threw rallies, wore shirts and pins promoting the vote for Obama. What do you think would've happened if this much attention would've been given to Sean Bell when he was murdered by three pigs of the NYPD? What would've happened if every single rapper who was still in the rap game at this time made entire CDs rapping about police brutality? Would it have raised a revolutionary consciousness within our urban youth? What if every CD put out at this time was dedicated to the memory of Sean Bell? What if every CD has the face of Sean Bell on its cover instead of a video girl in a thong bent over a Benz? Yea, that's all we're going to get: what if.

Instead this is the reality check. Michael Vick formerly of the Atlanta Falcons gets sent to prison for fighting some dogs, they're about to send Plexico Burress, formerly of the New York Giants to prison for shooting himself accidentally, and the three pigs who riddled Sean Bell with bullets get sent home to their families. Meanwhile Sean Bell's children have no father. Sean Bell was unarmed.

It's a "bloody" shame too, because the fact is, music in general has always bridged together cultural differences.

Is Hip Hop a vehicle for change? It can be, but it won't be. It will continue to pursue the all mighty dollar. What does the revolutionary culture or revolutionary culture (without the "the") look like? In the Hip Hop culture I don't see it. But if I was a Hip Hop rapper this would be some of my CD titles:

Sean Bell, Blood in my Eye, Police Brutality, Assassins with Badges, Modern Day Gestapo, When will they Murder Me?, Attica 71, It's now or never.

But since I can't rap a lick that ain't gonna happen either. So all we can do is what we can do. If you know how to rap then put it down and bring revolution to the rap game because what's already there is simply a Rapper$ Delight.

MIM(Prisons) replies: While we certainly agree with the points made on the injustice of the Sean Bell murder, we point out that many people still rap about Sean Bell years later. And a whole CD was put out for Oscar Grant, with many others putting out singles in respect to him. Most of them were very critical of the police and their connection to the state including Obama. These don't get as much play as the other crap out there, even crap by the same artists who put out these revolutionary songs.

It costs millions of dollars to make a song "popular." Therefore, if you look at the list of songs that get the most rotation, they're all owned by two corporations: Universal and Sony (occasionally Capitol gets one in). If you aren't sponsored by one of these companies you cannot afford the payola. That is part of the game. So even the big artists who do some songs for the people have to write most of their songs for the money, or else they choose to not be a "big artist." Therefore most of what the people listen to is still crap.

If you check out some of the artists that aren't on BET, in XXL or on for-profit radio stations then there is no doubt that a revolutionary undercurrent to hip hop is still present. What will never happen is hip hop becoming revolutionary for profit. But hip hop is already playing a revolutionary role at the fringes.

Another unarmed person was murdered in cold blood this month of September 2008 in Tucson Arizona by a police officer who believes he has a license to kill anyone in this county that he pleases just because he wears a badge. Police that murder unarmed people in this country are assassins with badges. These public servants who are hired to protect and serve the people of this great country, and are paid by the tax payers, have imposed themselves as judge, jury and executioners. And when they are taken to court and charged with murder they are acquitted by ignorant jurors who have been brainwashed by the ever constant cop shows on TV run by Hollywood on a daily basis. Society in general in this country has been misled to believe these cop shows that the police always tell the truth and that if they murder someone that they had "just cause" to kill.

I can go on and on about the countless murders that the police in this country have gotten away with in the past decade alone. But that would just be like beating a dead horse and expounding on the problem instead of the solution.

What is the solution? Marching like the honorable Martin Luther King Jr did back in the dayz? That worked back then, it won't work today.

How about blowing cops up like the Black Liberation Army did back in the 70s? No. Violence breeds violence. Besides it didn't work back then and it won't work now.

So what is the answer then? Sacrifice, revolution and the propensity for action. It worked in the Attica prison revolt in 1971 (though the system has slowly taken back all the rights given to prisoners since then). Prisoners lost their lives to make that happen. Sacrifice has worked in many instances throughout history.

You know we write to MIM. We talk that talk. Blah, blah, blah. Then we get released and we do nothing to help the oppressed peoples and we get caught up in selfish crimes against ourselves and our own people. It's time to step up. Are u down?

"A man who does not have a cause worth dying for isn't fit to live" - Martin Luther King Jr.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this comrade that now is not the time for violence in Amerika, but not because "violence breeds violence" rather because violence by the oppressed from a position of weakness, and without strategic planning and support of the masses, leads to the destruction of a movement and the oppressed within it. We call this sort of violence focoism and history demonstrates its failure. We would also argue that King's strategy of non-violence did not work in his day - he argued that pacifism and working within the system was the only possible solution, and that too has been proven a failure through history. We know that the imperialists will not give up without a fight, and that they will defend what they control with violence. Where we do agree is with the need for sacrifice and organizing both behind the bars and on the streets. We need to be clear that we are fighting for an end to the imperialist system, but in this country today this is a non-violent phase of the struggle.