[Note: An important conference call was held in response to the action proposal made by Carl Dix.]
There were 18 people on the call, including people from Southern California, Northern California, Chicago, North Carolina, the Washington DC area, Connecticut and NYC. In opening the conference call, Carl Dix spoke to the urgency of acting in a more powerful and determined way against the slow genocide of mass incarceration and all its consequences. He also underscored what was at stake in this fight, that if we stepped out boldly now and built support for the struggle to end torture in the prison, we could tap into the desire of many people who suffer under this genocide to resist it, and the sense of people from other sections of society that they don’t want to live in a world where people suffer this kind of abuse. And through doing that, we could build a fight that could win. But if we failed to seize the opportunity to do this, it would leave those bearing the brunt of all this alone in the fight and leave people to surrender to the conventional wisdom that there’s nothing we can do to about the abuse the authorities inflict on so many. Finally, Carl set out an orientation we needed to take of striving to build the kind of resistance that could contribute to forcing the authorities to accept the 5 core demands advanced by the people imprisoned in long term solitary confinement in prison in California. And if we fell short of that, it would put us in the best possible position to continue to build broader support to end torture in prison.
People felt the need to spread as widely as possible the inhumanity of the very real torture that is being inflicted on tens of thousands of people in US prisons. And to spread widely the humanity of the people being subjected to these conditions and challenging people to find their own humanity by opposing this torture. People talked about the heroic example the people in prison were making by putting their lives on the line to say no more to the injustice they face. The inspiring example of them issuing a call for racial unity in the prisons and outside the prisons was also noted. The people held in long term segregation in prison, who are condemned as the worst of the worst, are standing up to resist injustice and, in this society which is sharply divided by race, are calling for racial unity. As part of doing this, it was noted that the Stop Mass Incarceration Network web site had added a page on developments around the hunger strike and that this page will need to be further developed so that people looking for news on this effort and materials to enlist in it can go to that site and find what they need.
It was recognized that in doing this we will have to overcome negative sentiment towards incarcerated people that is widely held in US society. It was felt that a key to doing this was to use the voices of those incarcerated, speaking about the conditions they face and how they are asserting their humanity in standing up to resist.
We set “National Days of Solidarity to Stop Torture in US Prisons” on June 21st and 22nd. On these days, we will work to involve people in many different parts of the country in holding many different kinds of activities to highlight the reality that this torture is being inflicted on tens of thousands of people imprisoned in this country and to build broader opposition to it. These activities would include protests, cultural events, saturation of both social media and other kinds of media, evenings of conscience, etc. Carl and Jim from NYC volunteered to work on a call for the National Days of Solidarity.
We also discussed holding a “Tribunal on Torture in US Prisons” in California. This Tribunal would bring feature testimony from people with direct experience of this torture (formerly incarcerated people, family members of currently incarcerated people, letters from prison) and from people from different backgrounds who have researched and exposed this torture (attorneys, academics, religious people, mental health professionals, etc.). This Tribunal could make the case that this torture is widespread. It would need to be done in a way to have impact throughout US society, through getting the Tribunal into the media in the lead up to it and in its aftermath. It was also suggested that it be recorded and live streamed to maximize its impact.
It was acknowledged that an effort like this would be a major challenge to pull off on the level needed to have impact society wide. It was decided that the area to do it in would be Southern California. Keith and Deletha from Los Angeles and D’Andre from the San Francisco/Oakland are volunteered to be on a working group. This group would explore what was necessary to pull this kind of Tribunal off and begin right away doing the outreach necessary to assemble the forces it will require. We didn’t set a date for it, but we did launch the work to make it happen.
The other things that came up in the part of the call focused on fighting torture in the prisons were ideas from Carl about drafting up a “Pledge of Resistance to Torture in Prison” and a possible “Statement of Conscience Condemning Torture in US Prisons.” Neither of these was decided on.
We also discussed the upcoming trial of George Zimmerman, the vigilante who murdered Trayvon Martin. This trial is scheduled to begin on June 10th, and, given that it took national outpourings to force Florida to even put Zimmerman on trial, it was felt that continued national outpourings would be a key part of having even a chance to get justice for this murder. The ideas discussed were to call for protests and other actions on the opening of the trial and coming up with a form that youth could take up to express their outrage at the way Black youth are targeted in this society.
Keith said that they got a good response to a sticker that read: “We Are All Trayvon! The Whole Dammed System Is Guilty!” At all the high schools in LA where they took it, youth grabbed up the stickers and wore them prominently. The problem was they could only physically get to a few schools. The key obstacle we have to figure out how to get over is how to make something like this, a sticker or a button with a slogan that captures people’s imagination, widely accessible. This will require an on line campaign with an emphasis on social media. Solomon is going to enlist a student he works with in trying to conceive of what this campaign should look like. [Anyone who has ideas on this—what the slogan should be or how to spread it on line — or wants to be part of this effort to saturate social media around Trayvon’s case, should contact the Stop Mass Incarceration Network at: [email protected].]
Carl posed the need to figure out how to give the movement to stop mass incarceration a cultural expression, thru having a recognizable symbol or logo, similar to how the Stop “Stop-and-Frisk” button has symbolized the work around that issue in NYC. And to look to involve artists in contributing ideas for this symbol and to encourage them to address mass incarceration in their art, including doing concerts to support this struggle. He also posed the need to explore having a major hip-hop concert around mass incarceration in the Fall. But we didn’t have time on the call to discuss this. We also didn’t get to talk about looking to mount more massive outpourings in the 1000’s on Oct 22, 2013, the 18th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation!
The next conference call was set for Tuesday, May 7th, at 7 PM east coast time, which will be 4 PM on the west coast.
There were 18 people on the call, including people from Southern California, Northern California, Chicago, North Carolina, the Washington DC area, Connecticut and NYC. In opening the conference call, Carl Dix spoke to the urgency of acting in a more powerful and determined way against the slow genocide of mass incarceration and all its consequences. He also underscored what was at stake in this fight, that if we stepped out boldly now and built support for the struggle to end torture in the prison, we could tap into the desire of many people who suffer under this genocide to resist it, and the sense of people from other sections of society that they don’t want to live in a world where people suffer this kind of abuse. And through doing that, we could build a fight that could win. But if we failed to seize the opportunity to do this, it would leave those bearing the brunt of all this alone in the fight and leave people to surrender to the conventional wisdom that there’s nothing we can do to about the abuse the authorities inflict on so many. Finally, Carl set out an orientation we needed to take of striving to build the kind of resistance that could contribute to forcing the authorities to accept the 5 core demands advanced by the people imprisoned in long term solitary confinement in prison in California. And if we fell short of that, it would put us in the best possible position to continue to build broader support to end torture in prison.
People felt the need to spread as widely as possible the inhumanity of the very real torture that is being inflicted on tens of thousands of people in US prisons. And to spread widely the humanity of the people being subjected to these conditions and challenging people to find their own humanity by opposing this torture. People talked about the heroic example the people in prison were making by putting their lives on the line to say no more to the injustice they face. The inspiring example of them issuing a call for racial unity in the prisons and outside the prisons was also noted. The people held in long term segregation in prison, who are condemned as the worst of the worst, are standing up to resist injustice and, in this society which is sharply divided by race, are calling for racial unity. As part of doing this, it was noted that the Stop Mass Incarceration Network web site had added a page on developments around the hunger strike and that this page will need to be further developed so that people looking for news on this effort and materials to enlist in it can go to that site and find what they need.
It was recognized that in doing this we will have to overcome negative sentiment towards incarcerated people that is widely held in US society. It was felt that a key to doing this was to use the voices of those incarcerated, speaking about the conditions they face and how they are asserting their humanity in standing up to resist.
We set “National Days of Solidarity to Stop Torture in US Prisons” on June 21st and 22nd. On these days, we will work to involve people in many different parts of the country in holding many different kinds of activities to highlight the reality that this torture is being inflicted on tens of thousands of people imprisoned in this country and to build broader opposition to it. These activities would include protests, cultural events, saturation of both social media and other kinds of media, evenings of conscience, etc. Carl and Jim from NYC volunteered to work on a call for the National Days of Solidarity.
We also discussed holding a “Tribunal on Torture in US Prisons” in California. This Tribunal would bring feature testimony from people with direct experience of this torture (formerly incarcerated people, family members of currently incarcerated people, letters from prison) and from people from different backgrounds who have researched and exposed this torture (attorneys, academics, religious people, mental health professionals, etc.). This Tribunal could make the case that this torture is widespread. It would need to be done in a way to have impact throughout US society, through getting the Tribunal into the media in the lead up to it and in its aftermath. It was also suggested that it be recorded and live streamed to maximize its impact.
It was acknowledged that an effort like this would be a major challenge to pull off on the level needed to have impact society wide. It was decided that the area to do it in would be Southern California. Keith and Deletha from Los Angeles and D’Andre from the San Francisco/Oakland are volunteered to be on a working group. This group would explore what was necessary to pull this kind of Tribunal off and begin right away doing the outreach necessary to assemble the forces it will require. We didn’t set a date for it, but we did launch the work to make it happen.
The other things that came up in the part of the call focused on fighting torture in the prisons were ideas from Carl about drafting up a “Pledge of Resistance to Torture in Prison” and a possible “Statement of Conscience Condemning Torture in US Prisons.” Neither of these was decided on.
We also discussed the upcoming trial of George Zimmerman, the vigilante who murdered Trayvon Martin. This trial is scheduled to begin on June 10th, and, given that it took national outpourings to force Florida to even put Zimmerman on trial, it was felt that continued national outpourings would be a key part of having even a chance to get justice for this murder. The ideas discussed were to call for protests and other actions on the opening of the trial and coming up with a form that youth could take up to express their outrage at the way Black youth are targeted in this society.
Keith said that they got a good response to a sticker that read: “We Are All Trayvon! The Whole Dammed System Is Guilty!” At all the high schools in LA where they took it, youth grabbed up the stickers and wore them prominently. The problem was they could only physically get to a few schools. The key obstacle we have to figure out how to get over is how to make something like this, a sticker or a button with a slogan that captures people’s imagination, widely accessible. This will require an on line campaign with an emphasis on social media. Solomon is going to enlist a student he works with in trying to conceive of what this campaign should look like. [Anyone who has ideas on this—what the slogan should be or how to spread it on line — or wants to be part of this effort to saturate social media around Trayvon’s case, should contact the Stop Mass Incarceration Network at: [email protected].]
Carl posed the need to figure out how to give the movement to stop mass incarceration a cultural expression, thru having a recognizable symbol or logo, similar to how the Stop “Stop-and-Frisk” button has symbolized the work around that issue in NYC. And to look to involve artists in contributing ideas for this symbol and to encourage them to address mass incarceration in their art, including doing concerts to support this struggle. He also posed the need to explore having a major hip-hop concert around mass incarceration in the Fall. But we didn’t have time on the call to discuss this. We also didn’t get to talk about looking to mount more massive outpourings in the 1000’s on Oct 22, 2013, the 18th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation!
The next conference call was set for Tuesday, May 7th, at 7 PM east coast time, which will be 4 PM on the west coast.
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