From: SF Bay View
April 26,
2013
Statement from the Pelikan Bay
Human Rights Movement First Amendment Campaign
by Abdul Olugbala Shakur, Sondai Kamdibe
Dumisani, Abasi Ganda, Ifoma Modibo Kambon, Dadisi Yero, Askari Joka, Mutope
Duguma, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, Baridi Yero, Kijana Tashiri Askari, Yafeu I-Yapo
Preamble: Fascist
repression can only flourish when the voices of its victims have been brutally
silenced and isolated within the concrete confines of a man-made construct
where the scrutiny of the media cannot transcend the walls. Those walls are
erected by legislative venality and deprive humanity of an eyewitness account
of how captured human minds, spirits and bodies are being disfigured by the
instrument of officially sanctioned evil that plagues this vortex of torture
they call Pelikan Bay.
Drawing by Michael Russell, C-90473, PBSP SHU D7-217, P.O. Box 7500,
Crescent City CA 95532
But contrary to the fascist intent, the voices of resistance reverberated
within the depths of this concrete hell as New Afrikan revolutionary prisoners
since our arrival have refused to remain silent and have waged a continuous
campaign to put an end to this racial injustice. And for over 20 years the San
Francisco Bay View has played a critical role in allowing our voices to be
heard.
As a result they themselves have become a target for the CDCR (California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) agents of repression, such as the
Office of Correctional Safety (OCS), Institutional Gang Investigations (IGI) and
Investigations Services Unit (ISU). The confiscation of the March [and, since
this was written on April 5, also the April] issue of the Bay View is a clear
indication of the agents of fascist repression escalating their attacks against
the Bay View.
It is imperative for all of us to understand that the Bay View is part of
us. Mary and Willie Ratcliff is our sista and brotha and they have sacrificed
much to help us and serve our communities. We must now go beyond rhetoric and
lip service in support for the Bay View.
We now present the following statement: The San Francisco Bay View is a national Black newspaper that serves the
interests of the New Afrikan communities inside Amerikkka. Its objective is to
always bring attention to the injustice that occurs against New Afrikan people
by speaking out against the injustices handed down by the state and federal
government, who systematically abuse their authority in order to suppress the
voices of the oppressed.
For over 20 years the San Francisco Bay View has played
a critical role in allowing our voices to be heard.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is supposed to protect our
freedom of speech, but time after time we see that the state officials tend to
resort back to the Dred Scott v. Stanford Supreme Court case, where it was said
that New Afrikan people “had no rights which the white man was bound to
respect.”
These are the words that Warden G.D. Lewis, C.D.W. Ducart, A.W. Swift, ISU
Capt. Barneburg, IGI Lt. Frisk and their subordinates live by when it comes to
New Afrikans’ freedom of speech – even after several court victories in respect
to our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, in which the court clearly
stipulated in their many rulings that the prison officials were in violation of
our First Amendment rights.
Brad Ford, a prisoner in the federal system, uses his meager earnings to
buy subscriptions for younger prisoners he mentors. The Bay View, denied for
three of the last four months to subscribers at Pelican Bay State Prison in
California, is currently being allowed in to federal and state prisons around
the country and throughout California, except for Pelican Bay.
These same officials continue to defy the courts in order to violate our
First Amendment rights. These officials have chosen a course of action where
they themselves have not only violated our First Amendment rights continuously
but have conspired to use their positions as state officials with the power to
deprive us prisoners of our procedural due process rights. The March issue,
Vol. 38, No. 3, of the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper, of
which Mary Ratcliff and Willie Ratcliff are editor and publisher, was denied
[to subscribers at Pelican Bay] per CCR Title15, Section 3006(c)(3): “Except as
authorized by the institution head, inmates shall not possess or have under
their control any matter which contains or concerns any of the following: …
(3)
Plans to disrupt the order or breach the security of any facility” and CCR
Title 15, Section 3315(a)(2)(C): A serious disruption of facility operations.
Yet the officials chose not to provide us a clear 1819 form per CCR Title 15
3136(a), disapproval of inmate mail per each mail item incoming or outgoing.
The officials’ actions are calculating and malicious because they
deliberately withheld the Bay View paper from the prisoners who actually had
been consistent in their litigation against the blatant violations of our First
Amendment rights. It was each of us who were not provided the CDCR 1819 forms
which we have to have in order to file a 602 appeal grievance form for that
which is having an adverse effect on us. In this case, it’s our First Amendment
violation governing our incoming mail.
By not issuing us our CDCR 1819 form, the CDCR/PBSP (Pelican Bay State
Prison) officials are not only denying us our procedural due process but our
right to file a civil lawsuit and petition of writ of habeas corpus to the
courts for violations of our First Amendment rights. So the CDCR/PBSP official
actions are arbitrarily insidious racist attacks on New Afrikan prisoners
exclusively and the only New Afrikan newspaper that has chosen to stand up
against the CDCR/PBSP’s deliberate threats and power in the interest of the
oppressed prison class held in CDCR custody.
We also want to say that CDCR/PBSP officials literally ran a test run when
they confiscated the 25 Bay View issues in January 2013 from those lone
subscribers while giving everyone else their subscription. Only through
progressive litigation can we beat back these arbitrarily insidious racist
attacks by prison officials who should have never been given authority to run
no prison, let alone human beings.
We will aggressively continue to attack these actions against our freedom
of speech! It is worth noting we have over 15 lawsuits pending in the federal
court. Brotha Abdul Shakur has a lawsuit pending specifically pertaining to the
confiscation of an article he had attempted to send to the Bay View. The judge
in this matter recently ordered the defendants, IGI and ISU, via the attorney
general to respond to Brotha Abdul’s lawsuit. He also has a similar petition
being reviewed by the California Supreme Court, so we are aggressively
challenging the CDCR/PBSP campaign of repression.
People, we are all in this battle together. We cannot fight this battle by
ourselves, especially from within solitary confinement. We must launch a
coordinated effort in our endeavors to protect our First Amendment rights and
defend the Bay View against any and all attempts to sabotage its functional capacity
and impede their free speech.
We will aggressively continue to attack these actions
against our freedom of speech! Your support is imperative to our success.
Our First Amendment campaign is calling on all people, especially the
prison rights movement, to do the following:
- contact Warden Greg Lewis via email or phone and
demand that IGI and ISU put an end to censoring the Bay View and release
the March issue [and April issue] of the Bay View to the prisoners housed
within the PBSP Security Housing Unit;
- contact Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell. Inform her
how Pelican Bay State Prison Institutional Gang Investigation Unit (IGI)
and Investigative Services Unit (ISU) are attempting to censor the Bay
View newspaper because of their reporting on the hunger strikes, the five
core demands, end to hostilities, sensory deprivation, torture and
long-term solitary confinement;
- actively help to organize support for the Bay
View. This will discourage the fascist agents of repression in their
endeavors to ban and isolate the Bay View. Subscriptions are imperative
towards the Bay View’s longevity and stability. Brotha Abdul Shakur
suggested that activists should organize a Bay View subscribers’ party
where attendants pledge to subscribe to the Bay View in support of our ongoing
campaign to defend and protect our free speech;
- establish communication with the primary
coordinators for our First Amendment campaign. We are all involved in
litigation. Brotha Abdul Shakur has seven active cases presently pending,
five Section 1983 civil suits in the federal courts, one in the local
superior court, and one under review in the California Supreme Court.
Your support is imperative to our success.
Send our brothers some love and light:
- Abdul Olugbala Shakur (s/n J. Harvey) C-48884,
D1-119 (SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa (s/n R. Dewberry) C-35671,
D1-117 (SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Mutope Duguma (s/n J. Crawford) D-05996, D1-117
(SHU) , P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Sondai Kamdibe Dumisani (s/n R. Elllis) C-68764,
D1-223 (SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Baridi Yero (s/n J. Williamson) D-34288, D4-107
(SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Ifoma Modibo Kambon (s/n D. Burnett) B-60892,
D4-103 (SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Kijana Tashiri Askari (s/n M. Harrison) H-54077,
D3-123 (SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Yafeu I-Yapo (s/n L. Alexander) B-72288, D3-119
(SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Abasi Ganda (s/n E. Jackson) C-33559, D2-107
(SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532;
- Dadisi Yero (s/n L. Benton) B-85066, D1-101
(SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Askari Joka (s/n J. Franklin) C-08543, D2-207
(SHU), P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
Response from the Bay View
We are deeply grateful to the Pelican Bay Human Rights Movement First
Amendment Campaign and will do all in our power to support them in defending
the First Amendment rights of us all. “The degree of civilization in a society
can be judged by entering its prisons,” wrote the Russian revolutionary Fyodor
Dostoyevsky, who served four years hard labor in Siberia. That truth is
beginning to manifest to the U.S. public nationwide and especially in
California in a recent flood of mainstream news stories critical of prison
policy and practice and the politicians responsible for it.
Pelican Bay is on the wrong side of history. Its officials’ fear of the
upcoming July 8 hunger strike and work stoppage, a reaction to their refusal to
negotiate in good faith over the prisoners’ Five Core Demands issued two years
ago, is apparent in their current violations of the laws and regulations that
are supposed to govern them.
The Bay View has yet to receive any official notification from Pelican Bay
State Prison saying why and from whom the March and April issues were withheld.
Numerous subscribers, however, have written to say they did not receive their
papers. All but one had not been issued the 1819 mail disapproval form, which
is prerequisite to their filing a 602 appeal.
We want to thank those prisoners who did receive their papers for sharing
them with those who did not. If any subscriber who was denied his paper is not
located where he can share another subscriber’s paper, write to us and we will
send a copy with the pages cited by Pelican Bay officials removed. – Willie
and Mary Ratcliff
