SHU Vigil Schedule

Day	Time	In the Solidarity SHU	Outreach and Security 1	Outreach and Security 2	Outreach and Security Extra
Friday, Nov 1, 2002	midnight to 7am	Quetzaoceloacuia, Barrio Defense Committee	Matthew Willis, Uhuru	Dave Reardon, Uhuru
	7am to 9am		Wendy Snyder, African People's Solidarity Committee	NOT COVERED
	9am to 4pm		NOT COVERED	NOT COVERED
	4pm to 6pm		Adrienne, Stanford University student	Khalila, Stanford University student
	6pm to 9pm				Bill Canada, African People's Solidarity
	9pm to midnight		Bill Canada, African People's Solidarity	NOT COVERED
Saturday, Nov 2, 2002	midnight to 2am	Caitlin Funk, African People's Solidarity Committee	Bill Canada, African People's Solidarity	NOT COVERED
	2am to noon		NOT COVERED	NOT COVERED
	noon to 1pm		Sealli Moyenda, International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement	NOT COVERED
	1pm to 3pm				Guadalupe Jimenez, Barrio Defense Committee
	3pm to 4pm		NOT COVERED
	4pm to 7pm		Bakari Olatunji, African People's Socialist Party
	7pm to 8pm			Lisa Burgess, African People's Solidarity Committee
	8pm to 10pm
	10pm to midnight		Richard Lai, Food Not Bombs
Sunday, Nov 3, 2002	midnight to 2am	Matthew Willis, African People's Solidarity Committee	Richard Lai, Food Not Bombs	Lisa Burgess, African People's Solidarity Committee
	2am to 10am			NOT COVERED
	10am to 4pm		hours TBA by Lourdes Duarte, Barrio Defense Committee	NOT COVERED
	4pm to 8pm		Bakari Olatunji, African People's Socialist Party	NOT COVERED
	8pm to 10pm		NOT COVERED	NOT COVERED
	10pm to midnight		Richard Lai, Food Not Bombs	NOT COVERED
Monday, Nov 4, 2002	midnight to 7am	Wendy Snyder	Richard Lai, Food Not Bombs	NOT COVERED
	7am to 10am	NEEDED		NOT COVERED
	10am to 4pm	NEEDED	NOT COVERED	NOT COVERED
	4pm to 10pm	Armando Sanchez, Barrio Defense Committee	NOT COVERED	NOT COVERED
	10pm to midnight		Richard Lai, Food Not Bombs	NOT COVERED
Tuesday, Nov 4, 2002	midnight to 4pm	Armando Sanchez, Barrio Defense Committee	NOT COVERED	NOT COVERED
	4pm to midnight	Bakari Olatunji, African People's Socialist Party	NOT COVERED	NOT COVERED

thanks html wizard. now all we need is less red cells...

it i was on the all night support shift last night and it was a great experience. there are so many people who have been to prison.

mw

Someone should write to this man. If you feel the inclination, do so, because most people seeing this thread won't. This is from a letter to the Prison Literature Project based out of Bound Together books. If you have concerns about using your own address, you can use ours PLP c/o Bound Together Books 1369 Haight St. SF, CA 94117
You can mail books via us, but packages sent by families are usually rejected
6/10/02
To whom it may concern (help!)
I am writing you this letter from prison. I am 21 years old, currently doing a year for failing to report to my parole officer. Right now, I am currently in "the hole" here at Soledad state prison. I was beat down by some southern gangsters, and I refused to 'snitch' on them. Now I'm in a whole world of trouble. As I'm sure you know, prison is basically policed by inmates, according to rate (i.e. whites monitor whites, blacks monitor blacks, and so on). Well, upon my arrival in 'the hole' I was accosted by the 'hard case' whites who reside in the upper echelons of murderous viciousness. Apparently, these 'skinheads' and 'whitepower' types think i'm not 'white enough'.
Why? Well, they asked me to 'put in work"- meaning that I had to beat up or injure any black or nonwhite inmate I come into contact with. As a strident anti-racist, I refused. This blatant refusal bought me a lot of trouble. Now these quote, unquote 'higher ups' of the prison have sent word to the yards of the prison deeming me 'no good', which basically means that I need to be stabbed on site. So, as you might be able to guess - I'm in a lot of danger. The prison hasfailed to provide for my safety and security on two separate occasions, and will probably continue to do so. It's a pretty scary way to have to live my life - waking up every morning wondering if I'm going to die at the hands of racism and those who proliferate it.
And yet, there is nothing I can do. Not only am I locked in a cell, but when they do let me out for recreation, I can't go for fear of my life. All this because I won't robotically conform to the brainwashing techniques of racism.
So, I guess why I'm writing you this letter is because I need help. I used to frequent collective meetings as a bookstore on Haight, and I think the place they held is your store, but I'm not sure. Can you help me? I don't have anyone else to write to out there, and I don't know where to turn. I need the strength that comes with anarchism, but nobody in here understands that. I'm starved for literature, books, and news. If you guys and girls can help me in any way at all, even with just some advice, I'd like that a lot. Any books, or literature would be gratefully accepted. Thank you for your time. Fuck racism
Love and respect
Mike Bailey
#T12323
CTF Central
PO Box 689
Owing/224
Soledad, CA 93960-0689

In the pen, the Negros have a saying, which is this:

"You wasn't crying when you did what you did to get up in this motherfucker."

English translation:

"you're a criminal, and you knew (when you committed that crime) what awaited you if you got caught, so there's little sense in complaining now."

Of course, this doesn't account for stupidity. Many fellahs go to prison for idiocy, pure and simple. For them (they that fail to carefully read the laws they break) I have even less sympathy. And let me just tell you this: if a man (or woman) is in AdSeg, they almost invariably did something that calls for such extreme punishment. In very rare cases is this not so.

"Activists" are amusing folks (who surely have hearts of gold, which is commendable, but who wouldn't want to spend even five minutes in the same room as any "real" convict). Aside from "gladiator games" and those tortures and assassinations that are assisted - in whole or part - by prison administration (typically dirty cops), prison policy is, in general, fair and straight ahead. And even in those extraordinary cases, 50% of the time, the hacks have a good reason (such as the target endangering the lives of many other inmates and cops by threatening to rat off or actually ratting off cops and convicts on this or that conspiracy or wrongdoing).

But I assure you: they that spend any significant time in AdSeg (except for those who use AdSeg as a quasi-protective custody environment) well belong there. "Activists" should investigate what codified acts call for AdSeg. Killing a man is one (where, for whatever reason, prison officials cannot outright prove it happened or provide district attorneys with sufficient evidence to convict the actor in a state court; in those cases, the victim's life is "worth" from 180 days to five years, max [in California, at least]. Now you tell me: for outright, cold-blooded murder, is this - or is it not - a compassionate penalty?)

Misplaced compassion and concern is admirable, perhaps, but misguided. Convicts goof on "activists" and get a great kick out of their activities. Example exchange:

Convict 1: "So, they're gonna rally for you, holmes? What's REALLY going on?"

Convict 2: "Yeah, those crazy motherfuckers. Ain't that a bitch? But I ain't complaining. I might get some action out of this, holmes. Crazy fools. But they're right, eh? I'm a victim of institutional evil. Wahhhh, wahhhh, wahhh. Hahahaha."

Convict 1: "That's fucked up, homeboy. But take it if you can get it. But what about your partners? Can't I get a rally? Or I ain't got nuthin' coming? Come on, man...I'm oppressed too. Throw in a good word for me. Or what? Homey don't ya know me? You ain't got no love for me, I guess."

Convict 2: "You gotta spread your hustle. This is my car, foolio."

Bottom line: when men choose to break the law, they've got what's coming to them. Prison is a vicious society, and if you're not prepared to live inside that universe, don't pull that trigger (or whatever you're planning to do). True, some folks do get railroaded (in other words, some innocent men do lay in prison, and this, I won't dispute), but on the whole, our criminal process presents so many hurdles (in favor of criminals and against the prosecution) that to arrive at prison, most men have performed the requisite deeds. Barring confessions, it's very difficult to convict someone of a major crime. And the feds often parade their 90-96.7% conviction rate, but in cases where no confession (or collaborative testimony of a co-conspirator) arises, their conviction rate plummets (maybe one in six, if that).

In either case, most convicts (not inmates, for a distinction exists there) are well-prepared to handle whatever negative experiences they encounter in the pen. And in most cases, those men belong there. On the mean, I'd say that each "serious" criminal spends (on average) merely 10 days behind bars for every crime they committed (but for which the authorities couldn't muster adequate evidence). That is to say, our justice system often makes fellahs ride "silent" beefs on wrongs that no one will ever prove. Thus, if a man's serving time for a single attempted murder charge, you can be reasonably sure that in his lifetime, he's committed that same crime dozens of times and never got caught. If "activists" should ever be unlucky enough to visit "The House of Many Doors," (which I sincerely hope never befalls them), they would quickly realize this. I'd estimate that 33% of prison discussions focus on such crimes (that are now and will forever remain unsolved).

Short title: idealism is great, but bears little relationship to the truth.

How come the U..S. has incarceration rates not just a few percent higher than other 'first world' countries, and in fact, all nations in the world, but 3-6X higher than european countries plus canada? What's wrong with us? Michael Moore asked the same question in his recent movie, Bowling for Columbine. How come canadians don't lock their doors and have a gun murder rate per capita that is much lower.
Anyway, I was the one printing the letter of that person. Maybe a couple of us, but certainly not most of us have some sort of a distorted picture of the people writing us, and how they must in general be innocent victims. That is not how we think at all. However... think more than 10 seconds about this... only a small fraction of these guys, totalling over 2 million in the US right now (5% of letter writers are women) are going to be in jail for the rest of their live. The others, even if it takes 20 years, will be out again some time. Do you want someone who has been staring at TV w/o any reading material, or has been spending 15-20 years in a totally vicious environment where they have to watch themselves during every second and then absolutely no one outside will want to give them a job, and then they'll be wandering around on the BART train next to you. So sending this person a letter, or a book, is not coddling him or acting like he's a victim. There are lots of victims in prison, still. Black people use drugs at a lower rate than white people and indians, but they tend to be poor and to be street level, obvious, drug possessors, so a huge % end up in prison for what goes on every day in a typical college dorm.

If it's idealistic to want to abolish torture in the prison system, then I'm afflicted with idealism.

Well, Mr. Bailey will likely encounter trouble - and not merely from his own brothers. Like it or not, prison is a decidedly racist [microcosmic] society. Folks that characterize themselves as "antiracists" (no matter what color they are) would doubtless find prison uncomfortable at best. No one, for example, can accurately prognosticate which "side" a champion of "universal brotherhood and love" will stand on or take under extraordinary conditions (and such variables, under pressure-cooker-type conditions, are unacceptable to almost all participants). For these reasons, no matter how fervent their beliefs, antiracists (of any color) should temporarily suspend their activities whilst behind the wall, and declare solidarity with their own. That is to say, on the street, all men do (and should) adhere to their most heartfelt beliefs and act on them, whatever they might be, but inside, men must "normalize" their general outlook to the mean (or if not "normalize," at least widen or expand it to accomodate the rules of the severely regimented society in which they live). In most cases, merely standing silent on racial issues at all (rather than vocally declaring oneself an antiracist) is usually sufficient.

Monday
outside the box 1 person midnight - 10am, 1 or 2 people 9pm - midnight

Tuesday
in box 1 person midnight - 4pm
outside the box 1 person midnight - 10am, 2 people 10am - midnight

All please show up to press conf at 5pm Tuesday.

Show up at Powell and Market anytime to support and sign the petition.

Email uhurureparations [at] yahoo.com to sign up for specific hours of outreach

Thank you Martin for posting the above comment. There just is no web access or internet availability at the corner of Market and Powell where I have been for the last three nights for 12 hours each night at the vigil regarding the SHU.

I just got home.

I will be leaving in a few minutes to bring some East Bay Food Not Bombs food for the Rally at 5:30p today where I will meet you with some food likewise from Food Not Bombs - San Francisco stuffs.

Thank you.