by Keith ‘Malik’ Washington, Liberate the Caged Voices
“Black Men born in the U.S. and fortunate enough to live past the age of 18 are conditioned to accept the inevitability of prison. For most of us, it simply is the next phase in a sequence of humiliations. Being born a slave in a captive society and never experiencing any objective basis for expectation had the effect of preparing me for the progressively traumatic misfortune that lead so many black men to the prison gate. I was prepared for prison. It required only minor psychic adjustments.” – Comrade George L. Jackson
Revolutionary Greetings, Comrades!
We Black men and women in Amerika know exactly how to “do prison.” But today I am wanting to “do freedom.” My pursuit of freedom is not just for myself but for every prisoner trapped in a cage all across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, which includes my Palestinian sisters and brothers trapped in Israeli gulags.
My personal struggle for freedom has been aided and assisted by a “rainbow coalition” of comrades from all over the U.S. and Europe as well as Canada. Shout out to Karl Kersplebedeb!
I am so very grateful for the successful Re-entry Fundraiser organized and supported by my beautiful fiancée and partner in struggle, Nube Brown. I would be remiss if I did not mention the incredible love and support I continue to receive from the distinguished Comrade Malik Support Team, which includes the compassionate, driven and dedicated publisher and editor of the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper, Brother and Sister Dr. Willie and Mary Ratcliff. Thank you for supporting me and believing in me.
Thus far we have received donations from anarchists, socialists, progressives and freedom fighters from all over the place. Right now, many of our comrades are engaged in revolutionary struggles as we speak. Just turn on the TV.
. . . we are living during the last stages of White Supremacy in Amerika.
Our comrades are confronting paramilitary shock troops on the streets of Amerika. Now it is time that I speak plainly about what is happening.
The Black Lives Matter movement is an expansive and broad based multi-racial and multi-gender civil and human rights movement. The Trump administration has tasked the U.S. Attorney General’s Office to break the back of the movement by sending federal officers and agents to attack our comrades who are protesting in the streets.
I’ve been receiving reports from all over the United States where comrades describe abuse, mass arrests – with little if any probable cause – as well as hostile and violent environments being created by federal shock troops.
Our struggle is for an egalitarian society where there will be equal justice and equal opportunities for ALL THE PEOPLE.
We must come to the realization and understanding that we are living during the last stages of White Supremacy in Amerika. There are those currently in positions of power who are aware of this fact. These oppressive individuals and groups who subscribe to the white supremacist ideology have a death grip on the reins of power in Amerika and they are determined not to let go without a fight.
The oppressors are sitting around large conference tables in Washington, D.C., making plans and plotting just how far they can push the envelope in regard to silencing our voice of protest and break our resolve. We must plot, plan and strategize also.
The struggle for prisoner human rights is not going to go away. We are engaged in a protracted struggle. Now in this defining moment in Amerikan history our free-world comrades need our support. Our comrades are making sacrifices so that the future will be brighter and more secure for our children and our children’s children.
This Black August I want to honor the unsung heroes of the movement. The women, men and transgender sisters and brothers who are confronting the paramilitary shock troops in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York City, Atlanta, Richmond, Virginia, and Oakland, California, and my comrades in my new home of San Francisco, California.
Comrades, I don’t have to be long winded this Black August for you to understand where I am coming from. Texas stand up! Shout out to our imprisoned comrades at the Allred Unit in Iowa Park, Texas, where 140+ prisoners held a hunger strike from July 4-23 and now await response to their demands. I see y’all!
Keith “Malik” Washington is assistant editor of the Bay View, studying and preparing to serve as editor after his release in September 2020. He is also co-founder and chief spokesperson for the End Prison Slavery in Texas Movement, a proud member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and an activist in the Fight Toxic Prisons campaign and Liberate the Caged Voices. Visit his website at ComradeMalik.com. Send our brother some love and light: Keith “Malik” Washington, 34481-037, USP Pollock, P.O. Box 2099, Pollock LA 71467.