Reply ID: Fenn August 9-10-11-20

Good greetings TenzinTenzin,

First off, my most sincere apologies for this response taking so long to get to the blog. It takes a minute for the company BTB to collect the recent responses that come in and mail them out to us. You commented on July 5. My mail being distributed to me her at the prison also may have taken extra long due to all the extra COVID-19 red tape. Thank you for your comments. It is very refreshing to hear a well-informed opinion. I am not currently able to get enough intelligent discourse here. You have some revealing insights and I am inspired by your solution to police brutality. I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, I've said for years that an officer of the law should be held to a higher standard, not a lesser one. Indeed for a ruling that turns to be murder or even for an assault, a loss of employment, pension and benefits is appropriate, and should become the norm.

I was recently watching 'OJ25'. I hadn't been able to see it back in the 90's. I finally saw and heard Detective Mark Furman. It is Episode 21 and 22. It reminds me of the unjust and unfair trial that I had in 1990 for years by the OJ Simpson case. Detective Mark Furman said that he routinely beat and abused black men, lied on them and manufactured stuff to get them locked-up, because they were 'niggers'. No justice for black men was the order of the day. But, I must tell you that I believe in the inevitability of justice and righteousness finally coming into their own. I believe that there will always remain an element of chaos, evil, if you will, that needs someone to look down on and subjugate if it can. Yet, there was a time when it was inconceivable that slavery was Al Sharpton, Herman Cain and Ben Carson (Republicans), and there was a black woman way back named Shirley Chisolm. I never believed that they would actually elect an African-American to be President of the USA until Barack Obama won. I am a new convert to the way you use the term USA and not the more generic term 'America'. You are so right. From now on, I'll refer to this country as the USA. Earlier, on this blog, I was lit up like a Christmas tree for the Arab Spring. Unfortunately, the USA swore support that didn't arrive and allowed Syrian resistance to go up against Bashar Assad by themselves for about 5 years by Russia. The USA began to use Syria as a proxy war.

People do have 'short attention spans' and as you say a 'what's in it for me attitude'. That is why I am so impressed with how the protests continue and all the acknowledgement and associates social change. I saw 'Black Lives Matter' painted in giant letters on the basketball court of a televised game today. Rodger Gooel acknowledging that Colin Kapernick was right and was cut ahead of the curve. I believe that the culmination of all this media attention will be foundational and lead to permanent gains. We, as a society, will not return to business as usual; nor will we accept the old standard behavior that was commonly swept under the rug. I think, believe and hope the culture will be changed for good.

You are correct about the separation of the 'races' in prison. There is a long way to go as far as coming together. But it is a lot better than it used to be. Here in California, there was a plan to integrate the system by assigning each new arrival to the next available bed-space regardless of race/ ethnicity etc. But they didn't follow them. Of course, it is not in their interest to do so. Actually, back in 2013, there was a massive hunger-strike amongst the population that yielded positive results. I am glad that you are 'cautiously optimistic' about the future, at least. Maybe your cautious optimism and my relentless tenacity and faith together will sustain the spark to continually reign the fire of revolution anytime it goes cold.

Change is painful at first. But we can all look back and know that it is good we didn't continue to nurse at the breast of our childhood and instead learned to chew our grown-up food. I want you to know that this is exactly the exchange I was hoping to find. This is what we call 'steel sharpening steel'. We're both preaching to the choir also. In other words, the woke speaking to the woke. It is beautiful that you have found your counterpart for this earth journey in another whose skin, religion and culture are of a differing color. And the wonder of all that you are melding in your children. That is the natural, mystical magic of the universe and i title that energy 'God'.

You mention the baton being dropped after the assassinations in the 1960's. I agree that no 'leader' of that caliber has emerged or Henry Louis Gates did a series on PBS on Great African Civilizations. I think it should be mandatory screening for everybody everywhere. It helps to rectify the damage done by all the lies and harm done psychologically to Africans and African-Americans. It's the any that truly instills pride; the kind that will overcome a lot of handicaps. The lack of this knowledge is the reason for the dearth of strong leadership as well as the need for leaders.

It is 8-11-20 now and I started this response a few days ago. But one obstacle and delay after another got in my way. So, the giant explosion in Lebanon has occurred and the resignation of their government, Several more police shootings. But they are being protested. I wish I could see some Dave Chappelle in here. No internet access or cable TV. Please read by blog in its entirety if you get the time. I definitely do appreciate the communication and i will continue to post what I can and put pen to paper. If you know of anybody interested in meeting a decent guy who happens to be in prison, please send them my way. Hope to hear from you soon. Best of everything in the world to you.

Peace and Revolution

Michael Lloyd Young E95993
CSP-CORCORAN 3A01-117
PO BOX 3461
CORCORAN, CA 93212