Dear comrades,
Friends, family and beloved ones I hope when this letter reaches your hands it finds you in the best possible health physically, mentally and spiritually considering the circumstances. I am writing this letter to every prisoner in Amerikkka currently serving a sentence. I would also like this letter to reach every parolee, ex-prisoner, those on probation all family members of those I have mentioned including everyone and anyone that has been affected by the criminal justice system in any way. I am mailing this letter to as many brothas and sistas behind the walls as I possibly can. I ask that everyone that receives this letter make copies and distribute its contents to as many fellow captives as possible. I ask the same of friends, families and loved ones of prisoners in the free world. Please make as many copies as you possibly can and send this letter to as many captives as possible fully knowing some of the letters will be intercepted by the beast we need to saturate all prison facilities and jails with as many copies as possible.
Being an ex-captive I need you to understand I have been where you are, where you have been or where you are going depending on your current situation. After serving over 13 years in jails, prisons and institutions not to mention an additional 12 years on parole, probation and or I.S.P. (Intense Supervision Programs), I had pretty much had it. I was tired of saying “I ain’t going back” just to be back in prison within months or weeks looking like a fool.
While serving my last prison sentence I decided to try a different approach. I had never tried programing so I decided to try and take advantage of every program that was made available to me. I have to say, aside from A.A., N.A., church and the GED classes, there wasn’t much more but I worked them all the best that I could. Yea like with everything in my life I had to learn the hard way. All that they had to offer in prison as far as programs is all bullshit. It’s useless in every sense of the word. It did feel good to finally acquire my high school diploma but the fact is a fact it’s fucking useless. I even continued my education after my release from prison excelling in college only to be discriminated against for being an ex-felon when I tried to enter the work force. Understand what I am saying here my peoples that even having a college education ex-convicts are pretty much doomed as far as entering the work force at a decent level, which is one of many reasons that I am writing this letter. It is time for us to organize my poor people. It is time for us to organize and to take action.
After hitting a brick wall trying to live the squares life I decided I wanted some answers. Every time I was locked up we (prisoners) talked about how the criminal justice system profited from having us locked up. We talked about how they wanted us to return to prison upon being released and how it was all just a set up and things on those lines. Well once and for all I sought out to find out if anything we prisoners speculated had any truth to it. Well, it didn’t take me very long to find my first piece of evidence. The fact is, you are where you are and in the position you are in because that is where they want you to be. The odds have been strategically stacked against every one of us in order to maintain not only the criminal justice system and not only the prison industrial complex but to maintain the livelihood of the elite and ruling class.
One of the first books I picked up as I searched for answers had something I wish to quote, it said “all prisoners much be reached and made to understand that they are all victims of social injustice” this was written by George L Jackson a prisoner who was assassinated for speaking the very truth I am trying to bring to you all. He also said that we are all economical slaves. Think about that for a good moment. Who do you personally know that is 100% free and INDEPENDENT? If you say you know of at least one person, I will challenge you a liar. A liar or just ignorant as to what being free and independent truly consists of.
To free all of mankind is not my objective at this stage. I am more over focused on the imprisoned population. Understand this, Amerikkka right now has more people in prison, than some countries have within their entire societies such as: Guyana, Iceland, Greenland and plenty more. It’s crazy to think that the land of the free holds an entire population behind bars, an imprisoned population.
For the past 6 years I have been fighting non-stop for prisoners rights, true justice and true liberation of my people. When I say my people I mean poor people, poor people of all colors, and ethnic backgrounds. If you look around you will see when it comes to imprisoning the poor the justice system cares not what color your skin is. Let me tell you, since the very first time I was arrested I knew something was really wrong with our criminal justice system. The picture that was painted in my mind by images on television and what was taught in school as to what police were all about was shattered in a matter of seconds as the nightstick cracked my skull and racial slurs poured from the police officers filthy mouths like the blood poured from my head. I now clearly know why they are called pigs. Because they are vile and filthy animals. In all actuality calling policemen pigs is an insult to the animals.
I am sure many of you like I had sworn to do something about the conditions and the treatment within our jails and prison facilities. From day one I swore to expose the brutality and the treatment of those they claim are “innocent” till proven guilty. Like most though, upon my release I would get side tracked with trying to survive. It always seemed like a set up to me, as if being released was a cruel joke. It felt as though we were just set up to fail and end up back in prison with even more time to serve. Well, that’s exactly what they have done and do. They have purposely stacked up the odds against us to fail. They have purposely set up traps and we fall into every single trap time and time again just as they want us to do like fucking trained monkeys. As I researched and discovered the facts I now have, I first felt like a fool. When I was running the streets I thought I was the smartest mutha fucka in the world. I was out smarting everybody. I was beating the system. Getting caught wouldn’t shake my confidence. I thought I knew it all. I was the fucking man, everyone else, they was just suckas. No, I was the sucka the whole time playing a fucking game that was near impossible to win. I was the one being played.
As I slowly discovered all the true facts about our criminal justice system I became enraged. I wanted nothing less than all out revolution. Many great minds that were born out of prisons such as George L Jackson and Jack Henry Abbott believed bloody revolution to be our only solution to the on going problem within the criminal justice system. I was thinking the same way considering the current state our prisons are in compared to say the 1960’s when the Attica riots jumped off. The same exact demands prisoners made during the riots at Attica are sought out by prisoners today. In some prisons conditions have gotten much worse over the years. If not an all out uprising across the entire country, an all out assault from both sides of the walls, if not all out revolution than what would bring about true change within our criminal justice system? Because prison reform is needed in Amerikkka like oxygen is needed for the world to survive. 2.4 million people in prison, is clear evidence that we need reform.
As much as I would love the opportunity to get back at those that caused my family and me so much pain and suffering I know that a bloody revolution is not our only answer. After giving it a lot of thought I have drawn to the conclusion that if we are to see any real reforms within our prison system in our life time than we need to take matters into our own hands. We have asked for change, begged for it, petitioned, taken legal actions and protested and have gotten nowhere. As I wrote the first draft of this letter, prisoners in the state of Georgia had in protest formed a strike, which has lead to yet another face off with authorities. It is great anytime the silenced make enough noise to be heard in the outside world but will it do any good? Most of the time actions such as in Georgia do more harm than good. Any kind of defiance just gives those in power more approval from citizens that are already under the systems spell when it comes to being programmed to believe being tough on crime is the best solution to all of our problems when being tough on crime is what has made us the worlds leading jailers in the first place do what ever they deem necessary. We need the publics’ opinion on us to turn. We need the publics’ opinion of us to change and that is what this letter is all about.
I am calling for revolution yes, but a revolution in our conduct and how we handle things. Over the years they have cut out educational programs and every other program offering any type of rehabilitation for prisoners. I ask you, how would the public receive it if they were to learn that prisoners across the country have taken it upon themselves to educate and rehabilitate themselves? What is there to stop prisoners from not just educating themselves but from educating each other? Instead of card games and domino games why couldn’t prisoners conduct study groups? I need everyone of you to understand that there are more people than I could have ever imagined fighting for prisoners rights and for prison reform out in the world but, the manner in which brothas and sistas on the inside conduct themselves at times makes it all the more difficult out here to make progress. Now I know that guards and the administrations go out of their way to instigate and provoke but we need to unite and see these situations for what they truly are. They want you to act like animals fighting and killing one another it keeps them in business. They want you to attack and kill guards because they need these types of behavior to stay in business and believe me, the prison industry is big business and it’s booming thanks to us. Every time there is an assault, a killing or any kind of disruption amongst prisoners or within prisons, this gives those in charge more to work with as far as getting the publics approval to continue to do what they are doing. We can change this.
If word got out to the media that a revolution has swept across the country within our prisons in which prisoners have come together and begun to rehabilitate themselves the publics opinion would shift quickly and we would see reform. If prisoners begin to act like the intelligent human beings that I know they are, I think that in turn the guards would be exposed for the animals that they are. As long as we act in the manner they want us too, like animals, no one will sympathize with us at all. Seriously they have fucking hand fulls of TV shows out right now that make us all look like fucking idiots that are getting everything we deserve and that’s bullshit. We are fucking human beings and we deserve to be treated with respect but to get that respect, we first have to respect ourselves.
Now I know many will read this and think I am crazy, think that this is impossible well I wouldn’t believe in the impossible if I haven’t seen the impossible happen in my own life. As difficult as it was living in a very hostile prison environment I began to rehabilitate myself just as Malcolm X did. Malcolm began his rehabilitation by first reading the entire dictionary so to enhance his vocabulary, which lead to him becoming the eloquent speaker he was. I didn’t read the dictionary but I kept one close by as I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. I did not read novels nor any kind of fiction. I read real books talking about real life situations. As hard as good books were to come by I managed to dig up a few self-help books such as Unlimited Power: A Black Choice by: Anthony Robbins, and Tough times don’t last. Tough people do by: Robert H. Schuller. I also got my hands on a number of biographies, which were very inspirational. Malcolm X’s biography of course, Fredrick Douglass’ and Nelson Mandela’s as well. The more I read, the more I learned and the more I learned the more empowered I felt and actually became. I did try to share my new found knowledge and outlook on life with others while on the inside but it was difficult. Most brothas was busy planning their next crime or they were busy doing the same exact thing that got them sentenced to prison in the first place. I did manage to build with a couple of cats on the inside and to my amazement I am still in contact with these brothas and all of us have been able to remain free. Not only that all of us are pretty successful in different areas so I am not just talking out of my ass here.
I cannot draft a step-by-step plan in one letter for many obvious reasons the main one being that situations vary from facility to facility. It would be easier for prisoners to make their own assessments according to their facility and then formulate a plan and execute it. I can and will however give a few ideas as to how one can get this going within their facility and if you have a good contact source, questions can be sent to me and I will do my best to answer them all. Send questions to projectrevolution2010@gmail.com.
First thing to keep in mind is the best way to bring about change, is to first start by looking at and changing yourself. If you whoever is reading this letter right now takes the initiative to make the first move by first working on yourself thus setting an example by which to lead by, that would be a great start. Reading, writing and gathering information should be the most important aspect. I know most prisons I was in, had shit for books and for good reason…they want you to remain ignorant. Back in the day they didn’t want slaves to learn how to read because, they were afraid if they learned to read, they would realize that they were slaves. It is exactly the same today in regards to prisoners. They don’t want to rehabilitate prisoners or have them learn that they are in fact no different than the slaves. The only difference is prisoners don’t pick cotton. Nowadays they don’t need you to pick cotton they just need you to fill a bunk, which they charge taxpayers a lot of money to have you fill. The less amount of money they spend on you out of what they charge, the more they profit. That is not including what they save on having you work to maintain the prison or what they make from enslaving prisoners in the industries. Keeping hostile environments and vile conditions is how they trap us into being willing to work. If we had purpose we wouldn’t be so quick to be open to working for slave wages. So reading and gathering information is vital. If your current facility has shit for books, then you need to work on getting some books into the facility and into circulation. You can also ask friends and family to photocopy some excerpts of books or articles off of the Internet. That would be the only manner for facilities that have banned books entirely.
I know that some facilities will try to stop certain information from entering such as this letter and books by George L Jackson or books about Guerrilla Warfare but by having multiple people sending things in, eventually, it will make in. Once you have a good amount of information and or books and you have been reading and learning is when you then try to recruit others into wanting to learn and to build. Once there are a handful of you, you can look to expand by constantly looking to recruit. You can write to book companies asking for book donations or to universities asking for book donations and you will be surprised at the outcome with a little persistence. If people learn that you are helping yourselves, they will in turn be willing to help trust me on this.
Teach those who struggle with reading how to read. Share incite with those reading on the same level as you. Start to prepare for your inevitable releases now. Exercise your minds, bodies and souls daily with vigor in preparing for your release. Write out your game plan with back up plans as well. Map out your every move for when you get out like a chess game. It was learning about Nelson Mandela that I came to learn of visualization of this sort. Mandela was sentenced to ‘LIFE’ in prison yet he wrote, that the moment he arrived at the prison he began to prepare for his release. I thought this was crazy…a lifer preparing for his release. In his preparing for his release Mandela said he daily visualized himself not only walking out of prison but going on to become the President of South Africa. President? Well I think everyone knows how this played out. It may have taken 27 years to manifest but Nelson Mandela’s visions became realities. Prepare for your releases now my peoples don’t wait till the last minute.
Majorities of the people in the free world have been programmed to believe that prisoners deserve nothing less than the violent, hostile, brutal and inhumane living conditions that are now within Amerikkkan prisons. They have been steered away from the truth in order for those with interests to continue exploiting prisoners and benefiting from their imprisonment. Truth be told, countries such as Norway in Scandinavia, will not extradite prisoners to the US because of the inhumane conditions.
Norway is a great example when it comes to a proper prison system. They have a maximum sentencing of 21 years “No Death Penalty” and their entire focus is on rehabilitation. They have a recidivism rate over 50% lower than the US. That should be our overall goal. To lower the recidivism rate and put these bastards out of business.
Within study groups once they are functioning, housing and employment are two very important issues that need attention in preparing each other for release. As far as employment goes there are two main concepts I would like to share. One would be to write to local businesses in communities where prisoners are to be released asking if they would be willing to give an ex-prisoner an opportunity. A list can be compiled of ex-prisoner friendly businesses that will hire ex-felons. You have to ask in order to receive and then, we cannot fail those who lend us a hand. Having this list can be a big help. Done properly individuals can leave prison with a promise of employment.
The second is a concept I came up with which is simple really. They make us unemployable, so instead we become employers. This would be setting ones focus on starting their own business once released. There are actually hundreds of businesses that can be started for under $500.00 and even more that can be started with only $1000.00. With some research anyone can leave prison and start and maintain ones own business and in turn hire brothas and sistas when they get out. You can ask friends or family members to look up businesses that can be started for under $500.00 on the Internet and send you the lists. You can then request information about whatever business you become interested in so you will know everything there is to know about starting and running your business of choice. Believe you can achieve and you will.
Housing is pretty much the same concept. Compile a list of places that allow ex-felons to move in. Do not depend on the man to do these things for you. We must become independent.
Maintain good communication with one another and build up a tight network. We all need to stick together and support one another. If we support one another nothing can stop us from succeeding. The system banks on us being against one another, fighting each other and killing each other. They used to target just the lowest classes but now they have expanded up into the middle class, which is why out prison system has exploded with over 2.4 million citizens now locked in cages. With a small, organized 1% the elite have ruled and continue to rule Amerikkka, the key being organization, being organized. We need to get organized my people.
If we can manage to reach the media with this revolution, opportunities will be plentiful. They say that success is the best revenge well indeed if this concept I have drawn up was to succeed we would make the prison system look the idiots they really are. We can shut these mutha fuckas down. Once organized we can push for new legislations as well as sentencing reforms and doing away with the death penalty yes we need to beat them at their own game. Stop killing one another and see the real enemies for who they are. Slaves, oppose your masters. Fight them with intelligence and we can and will succeed. Do not let them bring you down, do not let them break you. I say we rise up together once and for all. Hasta La Victoria Siempre.
Capital X
They said the Revolution would not be televised, but you can see it from the Front Lines right here. http://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectRevolutionX
