Reply ID: dfqa
[black-and-white portrait shot of a man]
Growth
A'Jene Z. Nkrumah/Okera

S/N Joe Valentine - CDCR C-47779 - (B6-108)
P.O. Box 7500 - Crescent City, CA 95532

"Sincerely perfect, I am not! But perfectly sincere, I am!"
Sept 5, 2016

Dear "Brittany",

To being with, I hope and pray that all is well for you and those close to your heart and that oaa-and-all are in salubrious condition. Also, may each of you be in pursuit of those dreams and ambitions which inspires the best.

Well, I'm merely forwarding this brief response to your kind and considerate words in regards to the piece I wrote, "The Silence of The Prison Tombs: Bad Wayz." The depth of compassion in which you displayed towards those of us whom are incarcerated was deeply felt and indeed valued by me. Have you read "The New Jim Crow" by Michell Alexander? What about "Slavery By Another Name" and "Shackled and Chained" by Eugene Puryear?

The reason I inquire of this is because each of those literary works provide excellent analysis as to the matter of explaining the function and actual intent of institutional repression, i.e., these elucidate just what are the POLITICAL-SOCIAL MOTIVES are—in terms of especially Black people being targeted and subjected to implements of control and containment.

In a real sense, "mass incarnation", sista, involves a genocidal program and hence is really a phenomenon which we must take to heart as far as actively resisting it. Feel me? This—your own involvement in the "Prison Abolishment Movement", "Black Lives Matter", et al—can operate to aid not only in giving required contribution, but also in aiding you on the level of coping with the fact that your daughter's father is confronted with this "dead" environment.

Although I embrace and appreciate your prayers, it is imperative that we all go beyond just "faith in God" and become engaged against the repressive forces which are an inherent part of this White Supremacist system of oppression. In other words, our harsh mistreatment is ever an element of this system, and we are wisely and sanely, responsibly, obliged to alter the power dynamics in which constantly embroil our lives. As "my boy" Tupac aptly said, "They don't give ah fuck about us!"

Take care & live radiant in optimism.
P.S. Go to http://betweenthebars.org/blogs/355/ for a recent piece: "Cruel and Unusual Punishment".