No matter how many times

February 2, 2011 Dad, No matter how many times, how many ways, I explain the past 37 years of nonfulfillment, you seem to never understand. You did not understand whan I was fifteen when I repeatedly asked for your help. Who advises their child to "hustle harder?" To "get out and get it like you live?" I listened, but you knew better than me the emotional, psychological and social reverberations. But you did not care, or had a peculiar way of showing it. It bothers me knowing my life could have bean different. I had intellectual wares you know. But how could I think of books when rent was due, and I was the only one concerned with meet that obligation? My teachers were so disappointed. They saw in ms back then what I see in myself today. What I am beginning to believe you simply refuse to see--a little Stokely, a little Patrice, and a whole lot of moxie. I do not hold it against you though. But I will not pretend either. Where is the lesson in that? You were not the best of parents. Far from good at all. The lessons I learned in brothels and crack dsns are not the sort of lessons a teenage boy should have been exposed to. And if you were teaching me the best of what you knew, shame on you. Shame on you for neglecting the future, your future, for a few moments of relief. I did have a right to expect something of you. Every boy and young man has a right to expect something from their father. Well, my desk is filled with books to read, correspondence to answer, and several essays with deadlines that are rapidly approaching. I’m assisting others with the many lessons in life that will assist in them avoid places like this. Teaching them how to live. Something you have never done. And may never do. Lacino Darnell Hamilton February 4, 2011 Dr. Fardan, I know I am not suppose to identify so thoroughly with George Oackson, but how can I not? Oust seconds ago some Neanderthal disguised as a corrections officer, who barely passed the Civil Servants test, denied me two sheets of writing paper. Why? Because he could. Because his uniform is grey & black and mine issd blue & orange. Because he has no idea how far I am willing to take things. Actually, I do not think George Backson went far enough. I'm aware that the people who put me here are just symbols, props, agents of a socio-economic order they half understand. I know all to well that the historic processes which caused us to share time and space could neither be predicted or foreseen by him. Still, he bears responsibility for allowing a wage to trump what is fair, and what is right. When a critical mass of pressure is reached, which myself and others are building toward, he will prostrate. And I will show him mercy in kind. I am part of a small contingent that is building a force that will become so excruciating, the State of Michigan will beg me to leave, fhis may be bloody. It may cause incalculable suffering. But it will only be a transition. There may be worse to follow. I hope not though. Lacino Darnell Hamilton mmmmm February 7, 2011 Dr. Fardan Prison not only cheats you out of your freedom, but if you’re politicized it attempts to subdue your voice also. The State of Michigan has been trying to silence me for over a decade: systematic transfers, confiscating my writings, sequestering me in some of the state's most repressive special housing units. Rut I am not the least bit deterred. I'm still in the fray for social justice. Still doing my part to organize with and around a grassroot movement. Prison by definition is a purely totalitarian enclave, that permits no independence of thought. I could be segregated for the correspondence I send to you. There are absolutely no illusions on this end about the nondemocratic temperament of the cartoons that staff this place. F*^k them. I'm willing to take it farther than any place they are prepared to take it. History shows that penalties do not deter people when their consciousness is aroused, and mine has been. tacino Darnell Hamilton February 8, 2011 Mom & Dad, I'm in receipt of your letter and money. I appreciate both, however, in the future your letters are more than enough. Make no financial sacrifices for my benefit. I’m resourceful. One of the skills I retain from my days of making do with thread, when rope was needed. The men here who have shared these cramped quarters with me for almost two decades, who understand what it means to be denied a normal life, do pull together to make certain that I have the materials necessary to continue the work I’m committed to. Many are acquainted with me before capture. They are aware of the identities of those who actually perpetrated this crime. They are aware that when I was arrested it was for the purpose of making me a witness to events I had absolutely no knowledge of. The only people feigning ignorance of this is the police and prosecutor. There are a lot of good people in the world, black and white. Do not measure an entire group of people by the few you have encountered, when you are at the bottom, like many are, rather they recognize it or not, one will pull on anything or anyone near them to get climb out of their rut. Its the system of capitalism that pits us against each other. I mean, do you really think American style economics is the best of all passible social contracts? Having to compete for food, clothes, shelter, education? Well I don’t. I know it is difficult for you to see the success in my plans, when all of your’s have failed, one after another. That is because your premise was flawed. This system is not designed with you in mind. You are part of America,'s permanent underclass. Because you did not understand this, your plans did not include challenging that status. Its never to late. Your son, Lacino Darnell Hamilton February 9, 2011 Dr. Fardan, I received your criticisms. Please understand that prisons and prisoners are part of a larger world. Our problems, while distinctive and special, are not all that unique. We are not the only group of people catching the worse of it. People are being denied basic rights, basic care all over the world. What is a philosophy that pales those matters JLn an international and historical context of the greater world and the course of history. As long as we think of the conditions of prison as unique, we remain isolated. Prison is just another front, another station in which to fight the forces of capitalism. Lacino Hamilton February 1G, 2011 Dr. Fardan, The time for bagging the State of Michigan to correct an obvious injustice has ended. Legal briefs are a useless enterprise. I'm prepared to liberate myself via gaffing hook and ladder, need be. First, it expedites release and a return to the front line where my particular skill set is in demand. Second, and extremely more important, it offers a prodigious jolt to the morale of other prisoners. Liberation from the feeling of being overwhelmed by the power and seemingly invincibility of barbed wire and guard shacks. Evidence that prisons are not impervious to sheer determination. I have felt the power of the State's punches for seventeen years. It's now time for the State to feel mins. A death blow. Most prisoners do not choose this course of action because it is intractable and entails more risks and hardships than arguing legal prscedents--false hope. After conviction we are given those worthless "how to" access the courts guides so that we will not comprehend the complete desperation of confinement. Could you imagine what this place would be like if prisoners knew from day-one that the odds of prevailing on appeal is like the odds of catching lightening in a bottle? Most prisoners would turn to the Assets Shakur model. Being ready to free one's self requires a seismic psychological shift. It requires recognizing no law that stands in between us and wide open spaces. I mean real freedom involves the complete alteration of all institutional substructures that support the State and property relations. Lacino Darnell Hamilton February 22, 2011 Dr. Fardan, I do not wish to burden you with miserable tales of my confinement. I had, however, at least for a short period, flirted with the idea of there being a rogue element within the criminal justice structure, but there isn’t. From arrest to conviction my confinement was deliberate, malicious, virulent. I simply did not possess the resources to compete with the State of Michigan. Prisons are society’s ultimate means of control over people who are actually or potentially disruptive to the social order. There is no place for large numbers of people in tomorrow’s economy. Laws are passed to reflect that reality. If not explicitly, definitely in the ways they are enforced. Incarcerated people know better than most people the sham and corruption, the class and race biases of criminal law enforcement. The assembly-line processing that passes as representation by public defenders. And that prosecutors are political appointments and that judges must raise large sums of money to get and stay on the bench. The logical question then, is who gives them the money? Collectively they are called the donor class, and their vision for the future looks nothing like your’s or mine. Their vision has a need for places like this to be built without end. And it doesn't matter whose in the white house, Democrat or Republican. U.S. prison expansion was at its height during the Clinton administration. When the economy was humming and scalled crime was low. Why are three out of four shows on television cop shows? Its because people are being socialized to accept the emergence of a police state. In years past it was through the FBI’s Counter Intelligence program [fi'tjlNTELPRO] that the public image of those that dared to resist was distorted to legitimize arrest, imprisonment, and the overall scapegoating of working-class and poor people, today it is accomplished through television shows. That is because the forces of repression no longer target individuals, but instead entire classes and groups. No, there was no rogue element at all. I, like tens of thousands of others, just was not prepared to fight. If I'm guilty, of anything, I mean anything at all, its that. Lacino Darnell Hamilton March 22, 2011 Mom & Dad, Must I continue to convey to you that I'm not trying, nor have I ever tried, to folloiij the rules of the Michigan Department of Corrections? Its antithesis to everything I am—a human being. You're going to have to accept that, have to understand that i am not more guilty of this crime than you are. I will not pretend that police and prosecutors did not manufacture this case out of whole cloth, because they did. Police and prosecutors lied because I would not lie on people I did not know. And for that there is a price to pay. I'm not referring to civil suits or remotely anything monetary. That is a very small stage the exonerated play on, Those rewards are fleeting. I'm talking Old Testament. They should pay the price of bitter suffering that I haves paid the last seventeen years of my caged life. Thera is no crime I could ever commit, in pursuit of my freedom, as great as the crime committed by those who deny me my freedom. No crime whatsoever. When I leave, those that kept me all of these years will know in unambiguous terms that I was dissatisfied. That I did everything humanly possible to correct those that play a role in sustaining this dull reality. That is right, the State of Michigan, County of Wayne, city of Detroit mads me an outlaw via false reports and serial witnesses. How is it possible for one person to appear in court every few weeks with tales of another confession? The witness the State brought against me was an opportunist, a product of the prison environment. Which compels lesser men to curry favor at the expense of others. Well, not me. The roots of my discontent go much deeper than any particular prison policy or the reaction of administrators, they are to be found in the factors alluded to above--wrongful incarceration. to bo patient, as you suggest, requires a belief that there is something magical about the passing of time. As if things happen independent of effort. Well, there isn't and they don't. Ijacino Darnell Hamilton April 22, 2011 Mom & Dad, Why would you write me something like that? Alzhemiers? Neurosis? Some form of psychosis? Please tell me that is what it is. Anything but you believe I should passively wait for the state to admit I was wronged. Because that's not going to happen. How many times do I have to share with you never to advise or even hint at "being good" will somehow better my situation? What exactly is that? Following rules that denigrate me as a human being, that treat me like a child, and requires me to surrender my dignity and self-respect? Rules that forbid me from openly questioning the legitimacy of the State's authority to detain ms? rules that severely censor alternative ideas about power? I possess no illusions about the possibilities of radically changing prison simply by staging revolution within the walls. But i do feel strongly that revolutionary organization and action within prison has a place in a broader revolutionary struggle: Wisconsin, Ohio, Lansing, Tunisia, Egypt, Lybia. Revolution is an idea that is inspiring populations all over the world, an idea that is becoming more varied. I do wish you werre on the right side of history. Or at least on my side. I could teach you. You are not too old to contribute in a significant way. That is the beauty about what we are building. Principles trump politics, and people are valued over profit. That hope-starved neighborhood you live in largely bounded hy schools that don’t teach, unemployment and despair will be the next capitol. The options for support will not be limited to what can be hoaxed, cajoled or stole. And you will not have to cede the streets to deviant behavior. I have not been idle all of these years. I have painfully educated myself to the point where my vision is clear and my ability to endure pain is astronomical. I will never again allow the State, or anyone for that matter, to move on me without having second strike capacity. I’m not waiting on some super negro to fly in and save the day. We must save ourselves. I could be sitting in your living room tomorrow if you stop listening to those television evangelist and other frauds. If you would put your faith in me. But I love you just the same. I have nothing, so I have nothing to lose. Your son, liacino Darnell Hamilton P.S. If for some reason I do not make it out alive, do not send for my body, save your money, flowers and tears, my life work is not in vain. What you do not understand, future generations will. Your son. April 28, 2011 Claudia, George Oackson, whom some people say is my alter ego, explained that when a person possesses something complementary to their character, it is virtually impossible for them to hide it, or keep from telling it to people they wish to impress. It is, he says, ’’natural egoism, the need for attention and flattery asserting itself.” I have, by means of diligence and discipline, eradicated the needs. However, I do understand that my immediate future depends on the largesse of others. If people are going to invest in me commensurate to the task of exoneration and release they have to know I’m worth the time, effort and inevitably the resources. Which means I have to acquaint them with the things that enhances my complex of mental and ethical traits. Its not an ego thing at all. Mot all prisoners are experiencing the growth in awareness that I am. It has everything to do with the fact that I am innocent. The fact that I cannot and will not reconcile with the frustrating, oppressive, degrading interruption in my life. Even prisoners that hate this experience as much as I do, on some level accept the legitimacy of their incarceration beause they of some involvement in what they have been sentenced to prison for—not me. My confinement owes its existence to the partiucular political realities of the time rather than to the exigencies of law enforcement. Studying has helped me understand that. Helped me understand that I’m not just another prisoner. I'm honing the necessary skill set to present a bona fide challenge to the criminalization of poor and oppressed people. This is not just a challenge to the criminalization of poor and oppressed people. This isn’t just about a rogue police division, opportunistic prisoners, and prosecutorial complicity. Society has been conditioned to sterotype people who are from the bottom. Who look like, talk like, and express themselves culturally as I do. In short, I just don't have possess the luxury to wait on people to get it on their own. I need help like yesterday, i'm almost two decades in, three away from my earliest release date. I ask that you understand. Sincerely, Lacino Darnell Hamilton May 2, 2011 Mom & Dad, Oust once I mould like to read your letters mlthout experiencing a migraine afterwards. There is no way you can really believe what you wrote: "God put me here for a reason." I»ve never believed in fairy tales. Not even as a child. So please miss me with your mystery spiel. You do not have to lie. It doesn't help me or the bridge I'm trying to build to meet you somewhere in the middle. Between your acceptance of a life plagued by constant setbacks and disappointments, and the life that I'm working toward for all of us. God did not put me here, Detective Dames Fleming and career criminal turned serial witness Oliver Cowan, did. I know who my enemies are, do you? I sometimes think that people Invented the God concept so they could be intellectually lazy, just like you. So that they did not have to taka responsibility for the things happening about them, When has closing your eyes, wishing a problem away, then opeing your eyes ever worked? it hasn't. You do know Shako taught us that is how Afrlka was stolen from the Afrikans, right? When the missionaries came the Afrikans had the land and the missionaries had the bibles. The missionaries taught the Afrikans how to pray with their eyes closed. When they opened them, the missionaries had the land and the Afrikans had the bibles. In order to solve a problem go to the heart of it. A problem clearly envisaged, a point succinctly made, holds the elements of the solution in themselves. Every solution must be susceptible to mathematical expression. For every problem is the result of movement and rhythms that give it form and character. God has not made our lives a living hell. People greedy for profit have. The same people who made ghettos, who re-engineered the chemical components of cocaine and came up with crack, and who eliminated jobs and schools knowing vary wall that people would do crime as a rasult. Shame on you for not giving Ford, Chrysler, Walmart, Exxon, Nestla, Firestone, Colgate, Blackwater, Compuware, Dole, and the rast of the greedy capitalist credit for creating this dull reality. tlearn to know the world in yourself, like I have. And never look for yourself in the world. That would be to project illusions. If god isn't in you, you will find God nowhere. But if God is, you will find God everywhere. Do you follow? You have the power to play more than victim. But first you must believe In yourself, and people like me. You underestimate me, mom and dad. I’m a representative of what we are building: noble, disciplined, heroic, intrepid, audacious, resourceful, indomitable. Actually, all the things you pray for. Your son, liacino Although. I Mould ve,ny muck like to get out o^ ke^ie In aside* to develop a fiew Idea* that have occuaaed to me— Although 1 Mould not like to leave my bone* heae on the hill, l£ It 16 a choice hetMeen that and Autifiendealng the thing* that alloM me to hold my head eaect and unboMed, then the hill can have my bone*. Many time* In the hl*toay o^ oua pa*t-~T *peak oh the Ah^lkan heae In the U.S.— Many time* Me toeae pae*ented Mlth the choice, too many time*, too many oh u* cho*e to live calppled exlAtence oh the neaK man, the halh~man. Well, X don't cane hoM long I live. Oven thl* 1 have no contnol, but I do cane about Mhat kind oh Hh^ 1 live, and I can contnol thl*. I may not live but anothen h^v