Transcript
Revolutionary Greetings! This letter is for Doran Larson or any associate of his. After reading my S.F. Bayview May issue I came across your article that I read and couldn't help but want to also express my thoughts on this paper so you can use this brief notation as another archive project you can share with others. Please! Be mindful that I'm a SHU (security housing unit) inmate and even though I don't have life without, 22 years in solitary confinement can and does drive some insane, but us who have made an effort to remain unbroken do so we can leave a smooth path of resistance for others who walk behind us. In California, the prison system has stated that all of us who are oppressed and come from the inner city's where that oppression is rampant, we are considered gang members, especially if we practice nationalism or read the literature of black revolutionaries and teach others their history of what it means to be black in America. The reason we feel they do this, and by they I mean the fascists capitalist who oppress us, is because if we'd of learned the truth in our history in school we wouldn't have allowed the drugs and guns to enter into our communities to begin with. We would've also strived to be better providers for our family and wouldn've learned how to keep the fight going that our elders started in the 50's, 60's, and 70's with the civil rights movement and Black Panthers Party, instead of falling victim to the monstrosities that plagued us. We glorified the gangster mentality, the pimp and the hustler and once that caused us to break a man made law, we ended up in prison where our elders are and have been languishing behind enemy lines since the cointelpro (counter intelligence program) that put them there, but their teachings caused us to adapt a revolutionary mentality instead of the gangster mentality, and that change is what the fascist don't like, because they can't control us. We want something better for ourselves and our family, so we challenge the oppressor to give us better education programs so we can get the jobs that'll allow us to progress in society like they do. We have learned how to read and write and know how to write our congressman and legislature's when we have a grievance that needs to be heard because our community depends on us to get things done. We now know the importance of organizing around the needs of the oppressed people and stand in solidarity with those of other ethnicities in this same struggle because our unity moves the masses to action, in a positive way, peaceful, not violent or negative. The truth is, we are no longer slaves to the system that wants to continue to keep us under foot. We have rose to the task of changing that and that makes us a threat to the status quo. We won't falter though, and continue to stand firm until all oppressed are free. Thank you all for listening to this voice which could be voiceless without you. In true revolutionary struggle Ajamu Watu a servant of the people.
