SponsorOrgs

FINAL LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS SPONSORING THE MARCH

Justice 4 Rodney Reed,  
Counter Balance ATX,  
Free Alabama Movement,  
Texas Jail Project,  
Grassroots Leadership,  
ICE Fuera de Austin/ICE Out of Austin,  
Jailhouse Lawyers Speak,  
Alianza Latina Internacional,  
Inmate Lives Matter - Texas Chapter, 
Fight for 15 Texas,  
Prison Justice League, 
Democratic Socialists of American Austin Chapter  
Left Up To Us 
Campaign to End Torture (Chicago, IL)
ACC American Federation of Teachers Local 6249 
Inside Books Project
Prison Abolition Prisoner Support

Speaker List

FINAL LIST TO BE RELEASED ON DAY OF THE EVENT

TENTATIVE LIST

BlAcKjAcK, musical stylings from behind the razor wire

Rose Collins, mother of Jason and Jeremy Hammond, on having both of her twins incarcerated
 
Brad Crowder, Fight for 15, on his experiences while incarcerated in the Bureau of Prisons 

Greg Curry, Amend The 13th: Abolish Legal Slavery in Amerika Movement, speaking from prison in Ohio

Sonia Escobedo,  Prison Abolition Prisoner Support, on being on both sides of the wire

Akwasi Evans, Federation of Former Felons and Editor of Nokoa The Observer on his felony conviction for possession of marijuana
 
Ronnie Goodwin, Prison Abolition Prisoner Support, on not wanting to send his brother's killer to prison

Martina Grifaldo with Alianza Latina Internacional, speaking on Immigrant Detention Centers from the perspective of trafficked women 

Rodrick Reed, of the Reed Justice Initiative and Justice 4 Rodney Reed,  brother of wrongfully incarcerated death row inmate Rodney Reed

Jasmin Patel, Counter Balance ATX

Annette Price, African American woman who served 20 years of her life in prison. Today, she the Intake Specialist for Texas Fair Defense Project, Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable Fellow and an Advocate for criminal justice working toward making systemic changes.

Fredrick Womack, co-founder AMP 360, father, business student at Austin Community College, formerly incarcerated

Millions for Prisoners March on ATX

An action in solidarity with the Millions for Prisoners March on Washington (August 19th #A19 in Washington DC) to #EndSlavery #AbolishThe13th #AmendThe13th .




Co-sponsored by Counter Balance: ATX, Campaign to End Torture (Chicago, IL), Free Alabama Movement, Texas Jail Project, Grassroots Leadership, ICE Fuera de Austin/ICE Out of Austin, Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, Aliana Latina Internacional, Inmate Lives Matter - Texas Chapter, Fight for 15 Texas, Prison Justice League, Prison Abolition Prisoner Support - it is not too late to come on as a co-sponsor!





Most people believed the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, but its actual text is: 

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

In other words, prisoners are legally considered slaves!!! This is a travesty that must be stopped. Join us! 

Who: ANYONE! 
What: Rally
Where: Travis County Jail 500 W 10th St, Austin, TX 78701 
When: Saturday August 12th noon-2pm
How: Please bring school supplies and backpacks for children whose parents are incarcerated.
Why: To Abolish Slavery once and for all! 
 
Activities will include: coloring for the kiddos, speakers, music, and postcard writing 

Can't make the rally? Sign the petition or drop off school supplies 

Confirmed Speakers: 

Rose Collins, mother of Jason and Jeremy Hammond, on having both of her twins incarcerated
Brad Crowder, Fight for 15, on his experiences while incarcerated in the Bureau of Prisons 
Sonia Escobedo and Alysia Duemler of PAPS on their experience in local jail 
Ronnie Goodwin, Prison Abolition Prisoner Support, on not wanting to send his brother's killer to prison
Martina Grifaldo with Alianza Latina Internacional, speaking on Immigrant Detention Centers from the perspective of trafficked women 
Annette Price 
Fredrick Womack, co-founder AMP 360, father, business student at Austin Community College, formerly incarcerated

There will also be some incarcerated speakers across the razor wire, come in person to find out! 

Help Malik

Keith "Malik" Washington has been in administrative segregation since he was charged with inciting a riot for his peaceful part in organizing the April and September 2016 prisoner strikes.

YOU can help Malik by providing him with reading materials:

Here is his wish list:

Wired Magazine

Atlantic Monthly

Ebony Magazine

SLAM Magazine

The Economist

Austin Chronicle

Esquire

ESPN Magazine

Rolling Stone

Austin American Statesman

Houston Chronicle

“any anarchist newspapers/magazines with a special focus on green anarchism and black block* - socialist/communist newspapers"

Keith "Malik" Washington

1487958

Eastham Unit

2665 Prison Rd #1

Lovelady TX 75851

please email us (i heart paps at gmail dot com) if you have any questions, or if you have donated a subscription for Malik from this list and we will cross it off so he doesn't get two. 

Thrown in Solitary for Publisizing Abuses- Written by: Rashid Johnson

Thrown in Solitary for Publisizing Abuses- Written by: Rashid Johnson

On July 14, 2017, I was brought before a Florida Department of Corruptions (FDC) Institutional Classification Team (ICT) for a staged hearing to have me thrown in solitary confinement, euphemistically called Close Management (CM) by the FDC.

As described in my recent article “I’m off to Florida,” the basis for this recommendation was my involvement in publicizing prison abuses in other states where I’d been confined. Florida officials vowed to put a stop to my activities.

Although they admitted these reasons for recommending my confinement in solitary, FDC officials gave another standardized pretext, because FDC policy lists specific grounds for which prisoners may be put in CM. The pretext given was that I am a supposed gang leader.

Upon my FDC assignment they had the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (NABPP), of which I am a member, classified as a gang or STG (Security Threat Group), for the stated purpose of using that false profile to attack my propensity to publicize abuses. They claimed the general public that read my articles and protested the reported abuses are my gang following.

Following being served the first notice of the ICT hearing on July 6, 2017, which I addressed in my article “I’m off to Florida,” I was issued an “amended” notice on July 12, upon which I was heard on July 14.

The second notice differed from the first one in only one respect – instead of using the “gang leader” pretext for my CM recommendation, it claimed my publicizing prison abuses and public complaints somehow constituted actions on my part which resulted in or could have resulted in serious physical injury to someone. This second pretext was even more obviously contrived and absurd than the one it replaced.

Under FDC policy I was entitled to state verbally or in writing my objections to the CM recommendation at the ICT hearing. I gave a written statement outlining the illegalities of the FDC’s and ICT’s actions, which of course had no impact – I was still thrown in solitary.

On July 14, 2017, I was brought before a Florida Department of Corruptions (FDC) Institutional Classification Team (ICT) for a staged hearing to have me thrown in solitary confinement, euphemistically called Close Management (CM) by the FDC.

However, I feel it is of public value to show yet again how lawless prison officials are, even in the face of being confronted with the very laws they are violating and, as executive “law enforcement” officials, they are under duty and oath to obey. In fact, the ICT’s response to my statement was to tell me in antebellum terms that I have no rights.

Here, then, is the written statement I gave to the ICT (slightly edited only to remove technical language and to add subtitles):

Statement for CM Review by Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson

The CM recommendation and supporting comments show that FDC officials are not only lawless, but their actions and intentions against me are racist, politically intolerant and overall unconstitutional.

Bogus STG/gang profile
Foremost, the STG profiling of the NABPP was conspiratorial and premeditated, and done consistent with a long-existing and long-outlawed racial prejudice that has always operated, in the U.S. South especially, to strip and deny New Afrikans/Blacks political representation of our own choice and the right to vote, and to suppress Communist groups which were always repressed because of their opposition to racial prejudice and segregation. This is unconstitutional racial and political discrimination and denial of the right to political expression and association.

The NABPP is an above-ground, Communist, non-violent, anti-racist, predominantly New Afrikan/Black (minority) political party. The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that such “minority dissident groups” have the same First Amendment right to “engage in political expression and association” as do “our two major political parties” (NAACP v. Button, 371 US 415, 431 (1963)). And the Court has long outlawed censorship and discrimination against Communist groups, by government officials (see Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 US 444 (1969)).

The FDC plot of STG/gang-profiling the NABPP, which has neither done nor promoted anything illegal, “hate” nor gang-related simply demonstrates that FDC officials still practice a level of open racism and political intolerance such as was outlawed over a half-century ago when open racism and racial segregation were the norm. In fact, efforts to repress Black political self-representation and voting rights was the very reason the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist terrorist groups were formed following the Civil War, which groups as now have always worked with and within Southern government institutions.

This scheme to suppress the NABPP by “gang”-profiling it is an old racist practice that is well recognized. As Justice Black stated long ago, “History should teach us … that … minority parties and groups which advocate extremely unpopular social or governmental innovations will always be typed as criminal gangs and attempts will be made to drive them out” (Barenblatt v. US, 360 US 109, 150 (1959)).

More telling is that the FDC doesn’t use its selectively applied, vague and overbroad criteria that it uses to STG profile and repress groups it dislikes against either of the two mainstream majority white capitalist political parties, namely the Republicans and Democrats. This is clearly racial and political discrimination, especially where FDC officials are allowed to join and support these parties, and more so where since the 1960s the Republican Party replaced the Democrats as the representative of the Southern white supremacist electorate called the “Silent Majority.” Also this party’s present president, Donald Trump, is a known racist housing discriminator, a habitual sexual assaulter of women, and has neo-Nazis like Steve Bannon as key advisors to his administration.

I should add that I was told on June 22, 2017 – my first day in the FDC – by a Sgt. L. Colon that he and FDC knew nothing about the NABPP except that it was a “Black” group, but he was tasked to STG profile it “for approval by Tallahassee,” which would be used to stop my publicizing prison abuses. I wrote about that to a lawyer who works with the Abolitionist Law Center in Pittsburgh, Penn., in a date-stamped letter on June 23 and, just as was threatened by Sgt. Colon, this is exactly what is being done now.

So, as a threshold matter, the STG profiling of the NABPP and me is unconstitutional per se.
Illegal retaliation for speech

Next up, I am admittedly being targeted for indefinite torturous solitary confinement for my political association, expression and affiliation with the NABPP – a constitutional right as set out above – and my publicizing prison abuses through publishing outlets. This is portrayed as a threat to security.

It is also admitted that the actual reason I’ve been interstate transferred now and in the past is because of my publicizing abuses. This is all again outright illegal.

Prisoners have a First Amendment right to have people post information by and about them online (Death Penalty v. Ryan, 269 F. Supp. 2d  1199, 1201-03 (2003)). In this context, the courts have specifically held that “punishing a prisoner for a complaint about medical care that his mother put on the internet violated the First Amendment” (Cassels v. Sadler, 342 F. Supp. 2d  555 (2004)). Prisoners have a constitutional right to have their writings published (Abu Jamal v. Price, 154 F. 3d 128, 134-36 (1998)). And officials may not retaliate against prisoners for exercising their right to free speech and press (Graham v. Henderson, 395 F. 3d 372 (2002)). “[W]hether the retaliation takes the form of property or privileges does not matter” (DeTamaso v. McGinnis, 970 F. 2d 211, 214 (1992)).

By being thrown in CM, I will be denied both property and privileges enjoyed by general population prisoners.

Vilifying public protest
This recommendation then goes so far as to ridiculously portray as “gang” activity that the general public reads my writings online – actually my articles and art are published in a variety of media, print and online – and have in turn protested the conditions and abuses I’ve reported.

Interestingly, in the minds of FDC officials nothing is wrong with the lawless and inhumane actions of prison officials that I report; rather, their only concern is that it’s being exposed to the public.

The courts have specifically held that prisoners’ right to publicize government conduct through the media to the public to generate protest is part of the First Amendment right to petition the government for the redress of grievances (Guajardo v. Estelle, 580 F. 2d 748, 758 (1978)).

Communicating grievances to government officials via phone calls, the mail, email etc. is the most basic and traditional method of lobbying and voicing public protest against disagreeable government conduct in so-called democratic societies.

It is equally absurd to claim that publicizing my name and address online is revealing confidential information, when the FDC has a public website of its own that provides this same information about all its prisoners to the public.

Apparently, I’m being treated like an “enemy combatant” being secretly renditioned to “Black Site” prisons.

This all shows that FDC officials are perversely and absurdly twisting perfectly legal and constitutionally protected actions on my, the public’s and the media’s parts to speciously rationalize totally illegal designs on their own part.

No harm done, no harm identified
Only a vague and passing reference is made to disciplinary infractions I allegedly incurred in other states. No effort is made nor can it be shown that any of them had anything to do with the NABPP or my role in the Party, nor that these infraction records are even particularly dangerous or serious, especially in comparison with those whose records are far worse but haven’t been bounced from state to state as a result.

And absolutely nothing is even hinted at that shows any actions by me that did or could cause anyone any physical harm at all. Everything I am described to have done is legal and constitutionally protected activity, as I’ve shown above.

Conclusion
The very recommendation for CM assignment is illegal and reveals the most blatantly racist and unconstitutional designs of FDC officials. I should not only not be put in CM, but should be removed immediately from FDC custody, where it is revealed from the outset that the designs of its officials against me are plainly racist and lawless, and the admitted motive is to retaliate against and suppress my exposing prison abuses to the general public, which is my right and the right of the public and the media.

Closing remarks
As stated, the foregoing statement had no bearing on the ICT’s decision to throw me in solitary. In fact, the hearing was only a formality – it had already been decided beforehand by the ICT and FDC’s headquarters officials to put me in CM.

Indeed, as I was being “escorted” from my cell to the hearing by a Sgt. John Nyitray, he asked if my property was already packed or stored in such a way inside my cell that he could quickly put it all into a bag. I asked why, to which he replied I was going to be transferred immediately following the hearing. I’d already been told by various sources that if I was put in CM, I’d likely be sent to Florida State Prison (FSP)’s CM unit, which is less than a 30-minute drive from FDC’s Reception and Medical Center (RMC), where I was then confined.

It was then approaching 5 p.m., and only emergency transfers authorized by FDC’s headquarters in Tallahasee are done at such a late hour. And so it was.

Immediately following the staged “hearing,” where I was told by RMC’s assistant warden Polk that I have no rights, I was returned to my cell, instructed to pack my things, and was then promptly transferred to FSP’s CM unit, where I remain. How much more obvious could a corrupt conspiracy orchestrated at the highest levels of authority be?

How much more blatant could officials be in their designs to suppress and punish the public’s inalienable right to know what a government that professes to be theirs is up to? How much more evident could it be that this government is not theirs and they must therefore rein it in and replace it with one that genuinely is – of the people, by the people, for the people.

Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win!
All Power to the People!

Send our brother some love and light – in fact, flood him with mail so the Florida authorities will 
know the world is watching how they treat him: Kevin Johnson, 158039, FSP, P.O. Box 800, Raiford FL 32083.

Reject Suicide -- Choose Life! And Change the World!

Reject Suicide -- Choose Life! And Change the World!

(We Must Not Be Silent - Series)

By Keith Malik Washington

Peace and blessings sisters and brothers!

A couple of months ago, Net-Flix had a series which shed light on the topic of teenage suicide -- “13 Reasons” or something to that effect.  I read about teenagers in Florida being influenced in a negative manner after watching this Net-Flix series.  Around the same time I was working on the content of Justin and my You-Tube video concerning the genocide in Chicago.  The word that popped into my head was nihilism.

It really hurts me to see young people choose death over life.  I just can’t explain to you the feeling of euphoria I feel when I fight for humyn or civil rights--and win!!  It’s awesome when you sacrifice your time, energy and resources for a cause you believe in and you become the change!!

If anyone should be contemplating suicide it should be me!  I’m in a maximum security prison in one of the most abusive and unjust prison systems in the United States.  Texas prison is horrible!  I’m not just in prison. I’m in solitary confinement for a trumped up and fabricated riot charge.  My cell is infested with roaches, and the heat index regularly reaches 105 degrees fahrenheit plus!  There is no airconditioning!  The water is contaminated and toxic!  I have been the constant target of religious discrimination.  I have been denied parole 5 times in a row--and the prison administration hates my guts!!

Wouldn’t suicide be the easy way out of this screwed-up existence?  But I choose life!  Not only do I choose life, I choose to fight!  And I fight hard as hell!!  Want to know why?

Britney Gulley is a female prisoner in Texas.  She is housed in Ad-Seg, which is solitary confinement in Texas prisons.  A few months ago when Britney was housed at the Lane Murray Unit in Gatesville, TX, she wrote a passionate piece which appeared in the San Francisco Bay View, a National Black Newspaper.  The article she wrote was about the horrible living conditions and treatment of wimmin at the Lane Murray Unit, especially those held in Administrative Segregation.

Britney sent out a plea for a help.  I heard her cry for help and I immediately took action.  There are many strong, intelligent, and influential wimmin who aid me in fighting the ultra-corrupt Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  I know a few successful media correspondents and I even contacted my friend Ollie Jefferson, a humyn rights lawyer who has volunteered to help Texas prisoners like Britney who have become victims of this cruel and inhumane solitary confinement environment Texas maintains.  

I asked my friends and comrades to reach out and help Britney!!  But somehow Britney was forgotten about--there just is not enough help for wimmin in Texas prisons!!  Their voices are ignored and sometimes silenced!!

A few weeks ago, Britney attempted suicide!! She was not successful and she has been sent to a mental health treatment facility called Sky View Unit, located in Rusk, TX.  From Sky View Unit Britney wrote another impassioned article that was published in the July 2017 edition of the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper.  The article is entitled “Why So Many Suicides at Lane Murray Unit, A Texas Women’s Prison?”

Sisters and brothers, something is very wrong at the Lane Murray Unit located in Gatesville, Texas.  I don’t know about you, but those wimmin’s lives matter to Comrade Malik!!

Sisters and brothers, the Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March, which is scheduled for August 19th, 2017 in Washington D.C., provides an excellent opportunity for us to shed a national spotlight on Texas and Lane Murray Unit.  I highly recommend you consider attending this historic event.

In the meantime, I am sending out a call to action for all female media correspondents, activists, and female legislators to contact Lori Davis, the TDCJ-CID Director and demand that Director Davis launch a thorough and fact-finding investigation at the Lane Murray Unit.  I am sending out a plea for help from the United States Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division.  Something is very wrong down here in Texas prisons!!

I am sending out a personal plea to the National Lawyers Guild, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and every feminist in Amerika with a conscience!!  Help me contact Texas legislators!!  We have a special session scheduled for the 85th Texas Legislature to begin July 18th, 2017.

Sisters and brothers, this is an exciting time to live and fight for humyn rights.  Without young people and young voices along with your passion and energy and gifts, the revolution dies!!  Please choose life!!  And as Jesse Jackson would say:  “Keep hope alive!”  

Dare to struggle, dare to win, all power to the people!!

What You Can Do

Sisters and brothers, if you want to help solve this ongoing problem, please call the following Texas legislators and voice your concerns.  Thank you!!

Senator Royce West - (512) 463 0123

Senator John Whitmere - (512) 463 0115

Rep Dr. Alma Allen - (512) 463 0744

Rep Garnet Coleman - (512) 463 0524

Rep Rafael Anchia - (512) 463 0746

Rep Marisa Marquez - (512) 463 0638

Rep Trey Martinez Fischer - (512) 463 0616

Rep Harold Dutton Jr. - (512) 463 0510

Bio

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 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 and write to him directly at:

Keith ‘Comrade Malik’ Washington

TDC#: 1487958

Eastham Unit

2665 Prison Road #1

Lovelady, TX 75851

Addition from PAPS to Malik's original statement: 

You can write Britney, too: 

Britney Gulley 
TDC #1601283
Skyview Unit 
379 FM 2972
Rusk, TX 75785

RASHID JOHNSON - URGENT UPDATE!

We have just received word that Kevin "Rashid" Johnson was picked up by Virginia officials and removed from Clements Unit. He is no longer being held by Texas Department of Criminal Justice. WE DO NOT KNOW WHERE HE IS OR WHERE HE IS BEING TAKEN.

Mr. Terry Glenn, Interstate Compact Supervisor
Virginia Department of Corrections
P.O. Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261-6963
Phone: (804) 887-7866
Fax: (804) 674-3595

Office of the Virginia Attorney General
900 East Main Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: (804) 786-2071

Call Script

I am calling on behalf of Kevin "Rashid" Johnson, Texas inmate number 1859887 Virginia inmate number 1007485. I am a friend of Mr. Johnson's, and am highly concerned for his well-being and safety. I understand that he was recently taken by Virginia Department of Corrections from Clements Unit in Amarillo, TX.

Where is he being taken? Is he being returned to Virginia where his family would be able to visit him?

I demand that Mr. Johnson be moved to Virginia, that ALL of his property, including ALL his legal materials and his typewriter, be given to him upon his new location, and that his transport be safe and humane.

For more information about Rashid, please go to rashidmod.com