Security Threat Group

by [redacted] s/n Joe Valentine (Okera)

"Laws and governments may be considered in this, and indeed, in every case as a combination of the rich to oppress the poor, and preserve to themselves the inequality of the goods which would otherwise be soon destroyed by the attacks of the poor, who if not hindered by the government would soon reduce the others to an equality with themselves." - Adam Smith, "The Wealth of Nations"

Two important points must be made as to the above quote:

1. There's nothing wrong with the poor destroying a system that is based upon an "inequality of goods" which on an ultimate and basic plane derive from Mother Nature and human labor power, which logically is thus actually wealth, required for communal development.
2. We clearly discern that the intended and principal function of those who comprise the state - e.g., police, prison officials and guards, FBI, CIA - is to uphold and enforce laws and governments aimed "to oppress the poor", so as to preserve communal wealth as private property of the ruling class in order that they might continue to be rich.

The question to now be seriously considered and answered is just which groups are the actual THREATS to the majority's SECURITY on the socio-economic and political levels, i.e., which GANGS serve to protect and advance the system of exploitative inequality in which we live? Characteristic of power structures, there is a peculiar development afoot in the Department of Corrections (DOC = Dogs of Capital) as regards policy formulation and implementation of programs based upon what prison officials (i.e., the state) define and treat as "Security Threat Groups", i.e., gangs.

Those in positions of authority - e.g., prison officials, politicians, "experts" etc. - who themselves comprise distinct interests, groups - i.e., so-called "stake-holders", which, as is typical, does not include members of our poor communities - are employing poisonous and loaded terminology with the deliberate intent to "demonize" entire categories of oppressed poor folks.

As history confirms, epithets such as "heathen", "witch", "injun", "nigger", "commie", "jap", "gook", "terrorist", etc. were designed as a method to effectively dehumanize and thus justify repressive practices via the state. By this shrewd method of "labeling", it becomes irrelevant whether or not so-called "terrorists" are purely motivated to attack the U.S. government, Pentagon, CIA, corporate America et al., due to their people experiencing years of exploitation and repressive practices via this country's imperialist policies since the ruling class has cultivated the fertile soil in which to mold the minds - minds drenched in racism - of the mass-body via LIES and FEAR into blindly accepting their definitions, concept and projections of what supposedly "reality" is, i.e., "truth", is ever based upon and motivated by the ruling class' ideo-philosophical outlook and serve as their partial narrative of events in total conformity with their geo-political and economic interests, PERIOD!

There's a saying that captures the clear ideological motivations and strategic interests of those whom constitute the power structure and their subservients of the various para-military agencies (e.g., police, FBI, CIA, DEA, ATF, prison officials, et al.) as regard to their aim in employing epithets like the "worst of the worst", "contaminates", "security threat group", "terrorist", "gang", etc. and that saying is: "he whom defines reality has the power."

For example, the White racist power structure of the U.S. define(d) New Afrikans (i.e., a colonized nation) as "inferior", "lazy", "criminal", "violent", etc. These racist ideas have been projected upon our folks for centuries, with the aim of fostering a climate to whereby we are effectively dehumanized and portrayed as "social pariahs" deserving of brutal repression, i.e., White mob-lynching, police brutality, summary judicial execution, targeted imprisonment, stop-and-frisk, containment in ghetto-hells, etc. etc. The fact that the power structure succeeds in defining and portraying New Afrikans as "inferior" - even as our people's intellectual treasures gave the world civilization and justice-motivated ethical systems via dynamic religions - "lazy", even as it is from our enslaved labor and our energies and skills today that much of this country's development and power is based, "criminal", even as the true and greatest crimes were/are committed by the ruling class, and "violent", even in the face of genocide, global wars of racist colonial carnage, the dropping of atomic bombs, et al., is proof-positive of just how effective their "labeling" tactics truly are on the psycho-emotional level.

We are given a very instructive and powerful example of the malicious aim of the labeling process by the movie "Roots", where the slavemaster (i.e., White power structure or exploitative gang of criminals) mercilessly beat brotha Kunta Kinte for defiantly refusing to submit to total domination by passively accepting an alien-imposed definition of whom he supposedly was, i.e., "Toby". Exactly what was the psycho-emotional and practical value which could be gained by the slavemaster forcing Kunta Kinte to submit to his definition? The answer to this question is simple: TOTAL POWER. Total power over Kunta not simply on a physical level but significantly, total power effectuated upon the realization of a program of psycho-emotional control in deep capitulation, i.e., to ever think and act as dictated by alien force on the basis of the master's interests.

On a similar level, this is precisely what the aim is as regards the power structure labeling of groups as "terrorist", "STGs", "gangs", "thugs", "disruptive groups", et al., since by employing such explosive terms they're made able to define reality, [redacted] particularly in the case of the general society, along the line of a narrative which supports and promotes their socio-economic and political interests, i.e., they're able to manipulate the hearts and minds of the mass body so as to get them to perceive the have-nots in the ghetto-hells and prison cells as the criminal plague in which to fear as opposed to themselves or those major crooks whom are bailed out by policies called "too big to fail".

What's that old saying that "for most people perception is reality." So, the key or trick is to control perception via fashioning narratives which best reinforce and advance those at the top of the food chain power and material interests. By this correct understanding as to the actual intent of the labeling process (i.e., defining reality so as to deceive) we're able to discern that this is exactly at play in the case of the DOC's deployment of explosive terms such as the "worst of the worst", "security threat group", "scumbags", etc. as applied to prisoners whom in the main comprise have-not and poor working classes, i.e., those who due to economic deprivation rooted in the capitalist system are ever on the radar of law enforcement for being forced to survive via the "underground economy".

Let's here and now establish a basic fact which is that if those of the BADGE truly stand for "justice" and against "crime", they'd recognize that it is their ethical duty to arrest this inherently criminal system and target for punishment the rulers of Wall Street whom for most of humanity are the true "security threat group" as it is they whom destroy global economies, remove millions from the security of their foreclosed homes, impose killing austerity measures for the sake of their profit returns, pursue murderous wars for oil, eliminate social services, et al. However, as it wasn't slavery nor Jim Crow in which the enforcers of these brutal systems was against, neither is it "crime" that is their real concern or reason for existing. Instead, it is the definite protection and advancement of their own social privileges, political leverage and financial interests which on an ultimate plane is their primary motivation as made perfectly clear by prison officials' own engagement in criminal conduct from the 1971 Attica massacre to their involvement in targeted murders of brothas in San Quentin, Old Folsom, Soledad, etc. for daring to demand their human rights. Yep, let us never forget the murder of Preston Tate and others at the hands of "Corcoran's finest", i.e., their criminal gladiator games.

"My boy", Tupac, said it best when he said: "They don't give ah F*** about us!"

"More than 300 people have been killed by police in the U.S. in the first 9 months of the year. Annually, police report more than 400 'justifiable homicides' by law enforcement. As reported in the last issue of 'Turning the Tide', in a study by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, looking at Black people alone, every 36 hours one is the target of an 'extra-judicial' killing by law enforcement, private security, vigilantes and organized racists...'"
(Michael Novick, Turning the Tide, p. 1, Oct-Dec 2012).

Tupac also said to those who'd dare to go hard: "HOLLA IF YA HEAR ME." Their modus operandi is the same from the Tombs to Watts, Brooklyn, Newark, Georgia to South Afrika as prison officials and police are mainly driven to pursue and defend their "gangs", i.e., a peculiar subculture sharing defined interests in the realm of values, outlook and class status. Recall that after the New Orleans police were investigated for murdering a number of our folks during Hurricane Katrina a "brotha" declared what his identity is and where his loyalty stands when he stated on a "60 Minutes" interview that: "I'm not Black... I'm Blue", i.e., those of the badge are his community or people. How many more of "our" folks think and feel the same way upon being thoroughly orientated by these traditionally White male-dominated law enforcement institutions?

In terms of the label "Security Threat Group", it's most obvious whose social privileges, political leverage and financial interests are being advanced and secured. Like the label "terrorist", which plays a profound role in the promotion and sustainment of the social privileges, political leverage and financial interests of the military industrial complex, so, too, is the case as regards the label "Security Threat Group" for the prison racist industrial complex, i.e, from the ground up to top positions all are engaged in a matrix of oppression and domination on the basis of projecting their distinct class interests to our peril. Is it not true that warriors like Crazy Horse, Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, etc. were labeled "blood thirsty savages", "terrorists", "criminals", etc. to delegitimize their cause for freedom and justice?

Even Nelson Mandela and the reformist-capitalist ANC were labeled "terrorists" (i.e., demonized) by the U.S. government and CIA for fighting for democracy and against White supremacy. Yep, the original revolutionary Black Panther Party, SNCC, SCLC, NAACP, NOI, RNA, BLA, et al. were all labeled negatively by the White male power structure. Yep, even Rev. King and Medgar Evers were treated as members of a "security threat group" and in truth Amerika (recall what Mr. Tricky Dick said about "Black people being the problem") has ever perceived and treated our folks as a "security threat group", i.e., threatening to their exploitative status quo.

Prison officials claim and want intelligent people to believe that they (IGI, SSU, OCS et al.) really have the safety or interests of our communities - communities which most of them don't reside nor help to build - at heart, even as it is their unions around the country that makes it impossible for poor and working class communities to receive social services such as quality education, healthcare, etc., due to their inordinate percentage of state budgetary expenditures. In truth, prison officials and soldier-cops' real function, especially with regard to our neo-colonial reality, is to create the conditions for management and containment via identification of those tribes/individuals which based on their intelligence networks have been determined to be potential (i.e. evolving) or actual threats towards the agendas and interests of those at the apex of this brutal capitalist-imperialist beast.

Think about it for a moment: what would be your reaction after observing a potential revolutionary force of New Afrikan and Mexican groups during the '92 L.A. Rebellion? This is what their "threat assessment" is truly about and the alleged concern for our communities is a smokescreen and pretext designed to give legitimacy and to support their repressive program. In other words, their sole motivation is forever "political", i.e., control over poor folks.

"Among the most powerful unions today are the guards' union. The California Corrections Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) wields so much political power it practically decides who governs the State. Moreover, its members get the state's biggest payouts, according to the L.A. Times. 'More than 1600 officers' earnings exceeded legislators' 2007 salaries of $113,098.' Base pay for 6,000 guards earning $100,000 or more totaled $453 million with overtime adding another $220 million to wages. One lieutenant guard earned more than any other state officials, including the Governor, or $252,570" (Kiilu Nyasha, California Prison Focus, 2012, No. 38).

Why aren't those of the ruling class who rob the world, exploit the earth and humans, cause global warming, exterminate people by the millions by wars, murder elected leaders, cause economic recessions that destroy lives, kill children by drones, invade nations, et al. defined and targeted as the "security threat group" that they certainly are? Historically speaking, this has never been how matters are approached as far as relations of power since the basic fact is those whom dominate the land, minerals, food sources, et al, impose laws which give themselves or activities "legitimacy", i.e., their criminal program is protected and promoted.

At any rate, the radical of us must be sagacious enough to realize that of course in revolutionary struggle we can ever anticipate an intensely repressive reaction from this system of oligarchal fascism. Normally, I'd say it is "natural" for our class/national enemies to negatively react to our socio-economic, cultural and political endeavors. Yet, upon deeper reflection I'm of the perspective that would logically imply that we're somehow confronted with a "natural" system, i.e. a spiritual-rational order. In reality, what we're dealing with is a pathological cultural matrix and/or an unnatural morbid civilization (sic).

The sayings of the "Belly of the Beast" and "Babylon" does more than operate as pure metaphors or as symbolic renderings of something which equates with political systems of the past as the fact is these sayings involve an accurate descriptive analysis of political units such as the United States.

"As the leasing system phased out, a new, even more brutal exploitation dehumanizing cruelty - the chain gang. An extremely dehumanizing cruelty that chained men, and later women, together in groups of five, it was originated to build extensive roads and highways..."

"Georgia's chain-gang conditions were particularly brutal. Men were put out to work swinging 12-lb. sledgehammers for 16 hours a day, malnourished and shackled together, unable to move their legs a full stride. Wounds from metal shackles often became infected, leading to illness and death. Prisoners who could not keep up with the grueling pace were whipped or shut in a sweatbox or tied to a hitching post, a stationary metal rail. Chained to the post with hands raised high over his head, the prisoner remained tethered in that position in the Alabama heat for many hours without water or bathroom breaks" (Kiilu Nyasha, quoting from Human Rights Watch World Report 1998).

I don't know about you all but my damn blood boils when I reflect on brutal things like the above and I find it ever absurd and impossible to "make peace" with a country which engages in such barbaric repression. To my mind, it is foolhardy for New Afrikans to speak about "how great" and "free" this country supposedly is in the face of our history of ongoing oppressive domination. Too many of our people desire so much to believe in the "Amerikan Dream", that they swim in illusions born of desperation to "belong" while the majority of us endure the wrath of the real USA. We all know in advance just who were the majority subjected to the chain-gang torture - NEW AFRIKANS. And yet, we still allow our lives to be controlled by a system (i.e., people) that is fundamentally against our interests. SHAME ON US ALL!

From its very inception this country's law enforcement agencies (sheriffs, marshals, police, judicial machine, etc.) have played a key role in upholding and perpetuating the privileges, wealth and power of the White male supremacist ruling class (e.g., land barons, industrialists, bankers, mine owners, etc.) based upon strategic and political calculations, i.e., to assure by the force of the state - e.g., organized terror campaigns, bullets, courts, armies, et al. - that exploitation via oppressive domination in whatever form remained secure so that the "Amerikan Way of Life" could go on free of potential threats to their program and this is the reason why poor folks like Billy the Kid and Bonnie and Clyde were labeled "outlaws" since they targeted the property and wealth of the real "security threat group" of this nation... i.e., ruling class who are "public enemy no. 1".

Finally, as far as whether or not any group in our social context fall into the category of or can be said to qualify as a "threat to our group's security" (i.e., ghetto-hells, 'hoods, etc.) all I'll say to that is that if your group has an agenda and program which negatively impacts our people, then it is y'all's responsibility to take ethical stock and without rationalization nor excuse CEASE aiding and abetting the ruling class gang in our communities' sustained destruction, i.e., FIND OTHER LEGITIMATE MEANS OF SURVIVAL AND STOP THE DUMB "GANG" BLOOD DEATH FEUDS.

"A warrior is born to bring justice and to defend the people at all cost!"

Send our brother some love and light: Joe (Okera) Valentine, C-47779, SHU D4-212, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532.

Due to "Prison Stamp" covering of words of the piece - "Security Threat Group" - I have written those words that are difficult to make out in paragraphs (A thru I) for you to include as you read...