Originally published: Black Agenda Report by Max Rameau and Netfa Freeman (June 10, 2020) Defunding the police might end the armed and uniformed force as we know it, but the ruling class will then hire mercenaries to protect their wealth and enforce their will. The intensity and scope of the mass rebellion that has gripped the U.S. and expanded internationally has shaken global white supremacist capitalist patriarchy to its knees. The people have tasted a real sense of their own power and as a result some very unexpected developments have emerged. Among them is the demand to “defund the police,” . . .
Prison Abolition
Ride For Justice For Steven Taylor
Originally Posted by the Anti Police-Terror Project At the end of April, Anti Police-Terror Project’s Ride for Justice for Steven Taylor drew hundreds. Steven Taylor, a 33-year-old Black father of three, was shot to death by a San Leandro police officer as he struggled with a mental health crisis in a local Walmart. Demonstrators practiced social distancing from their vehicles adorned with signs that read “Justice for Steven” and “Compassion Not Cops” as they caravanned, circling the Walmart parking lot chanting and honking horns. Afterward, they headed to San Leandro Police Department—cars spanned the distance of several blocks in front . . .
The Vulnerability of Prisoners amidst a Global Health Crisis
Prison medical units aren’t prepared to respond to an outbreak of covid-19. Lets take the preventative measure of ensuring we don’t contract or pass on this virus. . . .
Let My People Go!
Under existing circumstances, COVID-19 would become a pandemic of the worse sort inside U.S. prisons, which only compounds the injustice and inhumanity inherent in the Amerikan so-called criminal justice process. . . .
Keith Davis Jr and The Convenience of Criminality
The case against Keith Davis Jr. is entangled in Baltimore politics and political allegiances. What has happened in these last five years has been on par with the neoliberal democratic misleadership engulfing the city. Keith Davis Jr. should not have survived on the morning of June 7th, 2015. Assumed to be a hack thief, a case of mistaken identity led four Baltimore police officers to corner Davis Jr. into a dark garage after an on-foot chase in West Baltimore. Those four officers let off up to 44 rounds of bullets in that garage, resulting in Davis Jr. being shot . . .
Living for the Oppressed: A Journal Entry
Living for the Oppressed: A Journal Entry (2011) December 9, 2011 | Filed under: Articles, News and Updates and tagged with: Red Onion State Prison Conditions/News *This “article” is an entry made into a journal I was keeping in 2011 – a sort of prison diary – which only lasted a couple of weeks. A typical day. Had a good one-on-one exchange with KB today. Although he’s housed in the cell next to me, we hadn’t talked for about a week. He expressed frustration with me. Feeling years in segregation has affected my mind – negatively – in that . . .
Jailhouse Lawyers Speak “general open” membership for prisoners
Revolutionary greetings to all freedom fighters and supporters for prisoners human rights: On a southern plantation (prison) JLS was founded in 2015 amongst a group of Jailhouse Lawyers who were already in unity as a cadre-based upon the studies of George L. Jackson. This original group of comrades makes up the current central committee. Today, Jailhouse Lawyers Speak (JLS) is a national collective of imprisoned persons who fight for human rights, by providing other prisoners with access to legal education, resources, and assistance. Our focus is on challenging laws that are dehumanizing prisoners and educating prisoners about these laws. We . . .
Abolition Beyond The Binary
“The prison, therefore, functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities from which prisoners are drawn in such disproportionate numbers. This is the ideological work that the prison performs—it relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.” Angela Y. Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the American criminal justice system currently holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal prisons, 1,772 . . .