Sunday, January 28, 2018

Media Release- Written by: Comrade Malik

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 01/25/2018
Keith 'Comrade Malik' Washington
TDC #1487958
Eastham Unit
2665 Prison Rd. #1
Lovelady, Texas 75851

In Texas Prisons African National employees are the most Honorable and Dedicated!
From Texas Prison insider, workers’ rights and abolition amidst poor conditions and insufficient funding

Lovelady, Texas: Peace and Blessings Sisters and Brothers! It is very rare that you will hear the TRUTH about what is actually happening behind these concrete walls and razor wire. The Public Information Officer for TDCJ Mr. Jason Clark continues on his path of deceptions and lies. In the aftermath of the suicide death of Benjamin Larue at the Eastham Unit in Lovelady, Texas there was a massive upheaval of prison employees from the Highest to the Lowest ranking officers. However, the group that was unfairly targeted the most were the many hard working and dedicated Nigerian and Kenyan officers who work in the Ad-Seg section of Eastham Unit. It is true that the officer working the wing (G-line) when Ben was found dead was a Nigerian National named Asongkeng Ngu. But what is happening in Texas prisons has been going on far too long and it is time we shed a discerning light on the problem!
The upper echelon of TDCJ prison administrators are white men and women. Many of you hear me use the words Racist or White supremacist when I talk about TDCJ administrators but that is not the correct terminology in what we are experiencing here and in so many other units where African Nationals are employed by this Prison Agency. Xenophobia is the operative Word!
Senator John Whitmire was actually very instrumental in bringing the African Nationals to TDCJ in order to bail the agency out of a horrible employee shortage of which it is still suffering from, because of low pay, poor working conditions and low morale. I’ve been to over 18 prison units in the past 10 years and I can tell you that the African National employees who work for this prison agency are some of the most honorable and dedicated workers I’ve ever seen! They rarely ever are involved in smuggling in contraband and they follow the TDCJ rules and policy to the best of their ability! I’m sick and tired of seeing this xenophobic prison agency discriminate against these WORKERS!
There are many overt and covert ways the Prison Agency discriminates against its African National employees. One thing I’ve noticed is the jobs or work assignments given to Africans in respect to the work assignments given to White and Black American Employees. A lot of this is ‘Taboo’ within the Agency and you would be hard pressed to get any employee to be forthcoming and talk about the ‘secret practice’ of discrimination against African employees. What is truly amazing about the African employees is their high level of education. Most, if not ALL, of the Nigerian and Kenyan employees here at Eastham have Advanced Degrees.
We have Civil Engineers, Pharmacists, Doc tors, Biologists and more! However, because of Racism and discrimination in the work environment in Texas and many other States across America, the Africans are hindered from realizing their ‘Dreams’ and forced into servitude to a Prison Agency which treates them as low class citizens!
I am no fan of any prison Agency in America, in fact, I am an abolitionist, but I am a champion of the WORKERS.
A lot of the African Nationals are here on Work Visas and I wonder, does this keep them from getting involved in the Correctional Officers Union!??? Lance Lowry is the President of the Union and I always hear him complaining about employee shortages but I never hear him speak up for the African Nationals who have done an incredible job helping TDCJ weather this storm that has come literally and figuratively. I am talking about two specific things here: 1) The massive budget cuts approved by the 85th Texas Legislature are taking a horrible toll on this Prison Agency.
2) Hurricane Harvey has created a horrible situation for a grossly underfunded agency.
I would like to see Investigative Journalists and Civil Rights Lawyers and Activists to conduct anonymous interviews with some of these hard working and honorable Africans in order to expose what is really going on up in these slave kamps and gulags.
TDCJ spokesperson Jason Clark can continue to tell you that all is well and that the Agency treats all of its employees equally but I promise you as this media release circulates there will be many Africans thanking me for attempting to shed light on the injustices they suffer through every day when they don this confederate army gray prison uniform in Texas. Until next time, I leave you all in Peace.


Keith 'Malik' Washington is a co-founder and chief spokespersyn for the End Prison Slavery in Texas Movement, a proud member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and he is the Deputy Chairman of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Prison Chapter). Malik has been instrumental in calling for the abolition of legalized slavery in Amerika and is very active in the Fight Toxic Prisons campaign. You can view his work at comrademalik.com or you can write him directly at:

Keith 'Comrade Malik' Washington
TDC #1487958
Eastham Unit
2665 Prison Rd. #1
Lovelady, Texas 75851

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