Abolition Now!

For many months here in Texas, Comrade Rashid, our minister of defense, and I have struggled hard to shed light on the heinous acts of barbaric violence perpetrated by Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees against prisoners of every race, nation and creed. If it was not for Dr. Willie and Sister Mary Ratcliff, publisher and editor of the San Francisco Bay View, revolutionary voices might never be heard by the public at large.

It truly is a beautiful thing seeing you all from outside of the real belly of the beast, enjoying the natural rays of the sun, long walks around a sizable track, embracing the many new faces that have been waiting decades for this opportunity. I can see you all as we speak and I smile because I can feel what you feel. With that I truly look forward to the next phase in our struggle, because there’s still a lot of work to do.

As the U.S. Department of Justice has so far failed to pursue action by way of a lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Corrections, those who have confined loved ones argue that their inaction is proof that the DOJ does not believe incarcerated individuals in the ADOC are worth protecting. This mobilization demonstrates that those directly impacted by incarceration, and those fighting for change on the inside, will continue to make their own voices heard.

Sometime in the early 19th century, former United States President Thomas Jefferson stated, “Unchecked power twisted white men’s characters.” Since he was a slave owner and an oppressor, he should know what he speaks about! Here in the early 21st century, it still seems that within the hands of America’s criminal justice system as a whole, unchecked power has indeed “twisted” certain white people’s characters.

Greetings, fellow supporters of Kenny Zulu Whitmore. We apologize that it has been so long since we have given you all an update on our beloved brother and comrade Zulu, but we were bound by legal counsel from shining the light on our warrior brother’s plight. Here we are nevertheless, with some amazing news about our Brother Zulu. On Nov. 16, 2015, Zulu, who was then the prisoner longest held in solitary confinement after Albert Woodfox, was released to general population.

It is ridiculous and insulting for IGI to call a numeral of the great Mayan civilization that facilitated its advanced mathematics and architecture a gang symbol. The number 13 has great importance in my religion and my indigenous race, Mexical. To punish me for the use of this sacred religious number is in direct violation of my First Amendment rights, which include freedom of religion.

In 2007, after serving 24 years in the Security Housing Unit (SHU), I became eligible for release, but the Office of Correctional Safety (OCS) and the Institutional Gang Investigation Unit (IGI) denied my release solely based on my political writings and activities. I am now going on my 30th year in solitary confinement.

He was born David Rice and, in his youth, he joined an offshoot of the Black Panther Party, a decision that would change his life’s trajectory. For, when he and another young man, Edward Poindexter, joined the National Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF), they walked into the crosshairs of the state. Political prisoner Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa died March 11 at the maximum-security Nebraska State Penitentiary.

Since the beginning of 2018, four people in ADOC custody – three in solitary confinement and one on death row – have died by suicide. The suicide rate in Alabama prisons is one of the highest in the country. In June 2017, U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson declared the mental health system in Alabama prisons “horrendously inadequate,” an unconstitutional failure that led to what Thompson called a “skyrocketing suicide rate” among prisoners.

As was once said to me by a fellow Muslim brother when I embraced Islam, “If you can take that same intensity that was applied to gangbanging and apply it to Islam, you will become a great Muslim.” Well, it’s the same for this fight we have on our hands induced by this modern day slavery in Texas. NOW, people, is the time to break these chains. We as a people who are aware must spread the word to the unaware and awaken society on what’s taking place in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Had the CDCR been doing what it should have been doing all along, we would not even be facing this problem. And if rehabilitation and substance abuse treatment had been made widely available years ago, we would not have the numbers in prison that we do. CDCR, however, was intent on investing its money in expanding the prison population, not reducing it.

More and more political leaders are speaking out as dozens of California prisoners complete six weeks of a hunger strike and others are working behind the scenes to urge Gov. Brown to negotiate before more men die. It shouldn’t take a hunger strike to bring an end to the current over-reliance on the use of solitary confinement in California prisons.

I observe the following: Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) is run by an organized gang of white supremacist custodial, medical and psychiatric staff and their unconscionable non-white accomplices. I shall only cite the following examples of the willful denial of medical treatment by MCSP medical staff, as they shall allow me to die if my life depends on their saving it. I am severely ill due to the long term denial of genuine medical treatment.

Brie and I both have mental health issues and we helped one another in various ways. We kept to ourselves, encouraged one another and were always there to listen to one another. We both ended up in MSU, I on suicide watch and Brie on psych observation. Upon my release from MSU, I was told “go ahead and kill yourself because you will never be housed with Morris again. In fact, you need to do your time on your own because any friend you make will be moved away from you.”

When danger to the white supremacist, capitalist, imperialist prison system is perceived, state sanctioned fear and terror are unleashed on defenseless Black prisoners.

On Oct. 15, 2017, Prisoners United in Glenn Dyer Detention Center courageously led the way in a hunger strike that will span across two counties and four jails. Santa Rita Jail, Santa Clara County Main Jail and Elmwood D.O.C. will continue the strike in solidarity on Oct. 22. We are calling for support from families and the community to contact the Alameda County Sheriff administration, at 510-272-6878, and Alameda County Board of Supervisors, at 510-272-6347, to meet our demands.

Reginald “Neli” Latson is a wrongfully convicted 19-year-old autistic young man. This case has raised concerns about how law enforcement deals with the developmentally or mentally disabled. Latson had done nothing wrong and acted completely within his rights.

These 16 brave and selfless activists imprisoned in Central Prison are taking a stand, by way of a hunger strike, for those in Unit One who are mentally incapable of making these demands. This is a humanitarian display of unity for those inside who face injustice by the very same people who face injustices enslaved right there with them.

After a combined total of over 65 years in the SHU, our brothers Zaharibu, Heshima and Kambui, after surviving decades of unprovoked torture, have been released to general population. This is in fact proof that through agitation, small victories can be won. It is not by mere coincidence that the administration all of a sudden decided to release all of us freedom fighters to GP so abruptly after the assassination of our beloved Hugo Pinell on Aug. 12.

Stories in the Bay View about figures historically associated with prisoner issues, such as George Jackson, comprise a large percentage of the stories that the CDCR deems to pose threats to prison security and, in the hands of African-American prisoners, as indicia of gang affiliation. In other cases, the CDCR seizes the Bay View without referencing any particular article, the inference being that the newspaper itself is a threat to security, the mere possession of which is an indicator of gang association.