Redistributing the pain 2018: Shut ‘em down!

by Keith ‘Malik” Washington, Chief Spokesperson, End Slavery in Texas Movement, and IWOC member

“The Black Panther Party is a revolutionary nationalist group and we see a major contradiction between capitalism in this country and our interests. We realize that this country became very rich upon slavery and that slavery is capitalism in the extreme. We have two evils to fight, capitalism and racism. We must destroy both racism and capitalism.” – Dr. Huey P. Newton

Prison-garden-slave-labor, Redistributing the pain 2018: Shut ‘em down!, Abolition Now!
In Texas, Sara Burrows reports in Return to Now, prison work is mandatory and unpaid – the literal definition of slave labor. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, prisoners start their day with a 3:30 a.m. wake-up call and are served breakfast at 4:30 a.m. All prisoners who are physically able are required to report to their work assignments by 6 a.m. About 2,500 of them work in the Texas prison system’s own “agribusiness department,” where they factory-farm 10,000 beef cattle, 20,000 pigs and a quarter million egg-laying hens. The prisoners also produce 74 million pounds of livestock feed per year, 300,000 cases of canned vegetables and enough cotton to clothe themselves and presumably others. They also work at meat packaging plants, where they process 14 million pounds of beef and 10 million pounds of pork per year. While one of the department’s stated goals is to reduce operational costs by having prisoners produce their own food, the prison system admittedly earns revenue from “sales of surplus agricultural production.” Prisoners who refuse to work are placed in solitary confinement. Does anyone know the significance of the flag being carried in the photo?

Many try to separate anti-imperialism from our Prison Abolition Movement. They avoid talking about capitalism and how it relates to “legalized” slavery or mass incarceration in the United States.

I won’t be making that mistake.

The capitalist oppressor who operates and oversees the prison industrial slave complex is only “moved” by profits or, more accurately stated, the lack of profits!

Let me make something perfectly clear to the exploited lumpen prisoners in Amerika and our free-world supporters: The only time these folks give a damn about what happens in these slave kamps is when the slavery business ceases to be profitable or beneficial to the oppressor.

Contaminated water does not move them! Deaths from deadly extreme heat does not move them! Not even the ever rising number of prisoner suicides pricks the conscience of the oppressor.

But let the prisoners in Amerika wake up tomorrow morning “with it on they mind!” I’m talking about one mind and one determined purpose.

Let those prisoners rise up collectively and say: “We refuse to work any more and help maintain a system which degrades, dehumanizes and exploits us!” We Want Free!!

Oh, all of a sudden “the game” will change. I promise you it will change FAST!

Florida is just the beginning!

We won’t be telegraphing every move we make. Now sit back and ponder on that, capitalist pigs!

In 2018, it’s time to redistribute the pain. This is a national call to action to all prisoners in Amerika and the United Kingdom. Withdraw your free labor and shut ‘em down!

Dare to struggle! Dare to win!

All Power to the People!

Send our brother some love and light: Keith Washington, 1487958, Eastham Unit, 2665 Prison Rd 1, Lovelady TX 75851.