Blurred Visions and Blurred Lines
Pictured above: Kwame Nkrumah. First President of independent Ghana and major theorist of Neo-Colonialism
Shaka Shakur 8/24/2021
[This piece was written by Shaka Shakur while still held at Buckingham Correctional Center in Virginia. Shaka has since been moved to Green Rock Correctional also in Virginia. This essay has vital relevance to the problem of Neo-Colonialism in the prison system and beyond]
Today a ranking prisoncrat made the statement to me "you know black folks are their own worst enemy. We got the white folks against Us and then Our own." Not that i haven’t heard that before from a prisoncrat, i usually just dismiss it as playing the race card or trying to be manipulative, but for some reason today i actually sat down and gave it some some thought and when i finished thinking about it, i was a little pissed and irritated by it. Here is why...Coming from Indiana where the klan originated down in Terre Haute, Indiana (you didn’t know that, huh? Look it up) and arriving in Virginia, i was glad to finally be around some black folks. You see parts of Indiana is still stuck in the pre- integration era. The prison i came from had less than 5 black or brown ppl working in the entire prison and i think only one of them was a Sgt, this was at Wabash Valley. In Central and Southern Indiana very few Black folks work in the prisons or have any rank. (In fact in the 80's we had to fight for more diversity and hiring of black folks and during riots and takeovers they were some of the first hostages to be released..ISP "80/81", "83", "86"). There were even episodes and media accounts of Black guards and staff being hazed, harassed or forced out by their white counterparts. Klan literature found on their windshields, etc. So if that is how they treat their co workers, you can just imagine how they treat their New Afrikan prisoners.
So arriving at Nottoway, Va. and seeing so many New Afrikans men and womyn in ranking positions, i mean Captain's, Majors, etc was a little refreshing, even if they were employed by the state. i was tired of racist ass settlers that i had been banging with for the last 30 yrs! Whew! wasn't i in for a rude awakening, a culture shock. i was sent to Sussex 1, Virginia’s version of the Indiana State Prison where one of Ours just killed a Lt. and stabbed up a Sgt during the same incident earlier this year. Point of Clarity: It is my overstanding that most New Afrikans don’t really want to work in a prison, it’s usually strictly for economic reasons, a stepping stone to something better or because one don’t have a college education and its not many jobs available with the benefits that the D.O.C. has to offer far as insurance, medical, dental, etc. This is the seduction and recruitment tool of the state. It becomes either go to the military, take a chance on hustling and end up in prison, or work in one. So when it comes to New Afrikan guards and /or prisoncrats i can see passed the uniform. i understand the larger contradiction, this isn’t to negate the neo-kolonial aspect and how the empire utilizes such to oppress our own people, but i know that many of these same ppl probably got a family member or relative locked up somewhere. So its always been my attitude that i can see passed the uniform as long as you treat me with respect and like a human being, i will reciprocate.
So to arrive at Sussex 1 and hear c.o.'s talk to grown men like we were in a cotton field and they were holding a shotgun on horseback was a culture shock and enraging. To hear New Afrikan womyn, specifically, mostly young womyn talk that talk to grown men, some of whom were old enough to be their father's, " you nigga's act like straight bitches" "Bitch ass nigga lockdown before i shoot yo ass!" was enraging to say the least. To see New Afrikan c.o.'s shooting Us with rubber bullets and other projectiles for a mere fist fight or hand to hand combat or sicking vicious k-9 dogs on Us and allowing them to maim Us was a shock. Here we are in a former slave state, a confederate state, in the 21st century and prisoners are being ate up by k-9 attack dogs handled by black folks like in bull connors Montgomery, Alabama back in the 50's n 60's. How fucking ironic is that?! The conditions and food was terrible, we were constantly locked in our cells, there were no real educational or vocational opportunities and for the few that existed, classes were rarely held (yet the checks continued to flow to those instructors!) and prisoner on prisoner violence and murders were at an all time high. So this brings me back to the original statement made by the prisoncrat that prompted this essay. While here at Buckingham Corr. Center aint no Sussex and is a lower level, it is New Afrikans who have been harassing, victimizing and oppressing one for the most part. It aint white folks, its yo ass/you! Its you with the disrespect, its you with the ratchet, ignorant, ghetto shit and lack of professionalism that set the tone for white folks here to follow. Its you playing with ppl lives and fucking ppl bids up. Its you with the lack of accountability. Its you with the fun and games and manipulations and orchestrations of prisoner on prisoner reactionary violence. It aint white folks, negro its you! So i guess the statement about us being our own worst enemy would ring true.
All the issues ive had at BKCC has come from a small group/element of unprofessional reactionaries that has failed to be held accountable by their superiors and supervisors thus giving rise to a kulture that permeates and saturates BKCC like the stink from that of a rotting corpse. (You can hear our ancestors moans and wails from the graves that this modern day plantation was built upon!!) The other side of that dynamic (and the dialetical aspect),is that ive met a lot of good ppl here such as counselors (not u Ms Hunter who word aint worth a damn as u spend all day gossiping about other inmates while making rounds), good and professional teachers e.g. Mr Johnson, Plumbing Instr. ppl who will go out there way to help you. This is the first prison ive been at in 37yrs where kultural nationalism is both allowed and promoted e.g. Kwanzaa Celebrations, Pan Afrikan Programs, College Courses, etc where there is a certain wokeness, consciousness amongst the staff, where a lot of the staff wear dreads, afrikan prints and yet...Damn!!
This is where the blurred lines and blurred vision come in at. This is the smaller contradiction that speaks to the primary contradiction of National and Neo - Colonial Oppression and Genocide. This speaks to a nation of ppl that has been neo colonized and its own people used to facilitate that national oppression and super exploitation. So instead of a bull connors or a george zimmerman, u got a c.o. Penn or Woodson (f) or capt. McCargo or whatever slave name u can think of who is standing on your back/neck and then playing the black card when you counter attack! Then We all become black!! When the means of production of a ppl has been seized for exploitation leaving you dependent upon someone else to feed you, clothe you, house you, provide water n electricity to you and the only economy left in your community is the drug economy and small businesses and u must sell your labor power to survive, thus becoming a wage slave, then you're a dependent and colonized nation. On the other side of this equation we are abused or oppressed by Our own. New Afrikans that work in these prisons come from the same communities and environment that we do. Therefore they have to also deal with issues of krime, victims of robberies, rape, murders, etc. They have family members who are victims,etc so why would one feel any affinity or identify with those held captive? If you aren’t in touch with your own sense of humanity as a human being, then how can you possibly see my humanity or any in me??
Neo-Colonialism and Imperialism consistently and constantly morphs, changes forms and becomes adaptable to certain realities in order to maintain control and domination over its colonies and peoples. Whether its coopting various Black Lives Matters chapters and 'leaders' or corporations that has fed on the corpses and land of Afrikan folks suddenly getting a 'conscious' and dumping millions in its coffers. This all while making PSA's against racism. Again, misdirection. When u have no sense of self or your identity has been given to you by someone else then u will function against your own best interest, your own people and pledge allegiance to your proven enemy. Again the State/Govt manipulates and seduces and exploits Our oppressive and colonial relationship. When you look at a lot of these kkkop or prison shows like MSNBC Lockdown, etc who do you see mostly working in low budget ass jobs, turning them keys and pushing them buttons? Mostly New Afrikan/Black womyn tryjng to take care of their babies and feed their families but herein belies the contradiction.....In Our struggle -- inside the colonial reality of New Afrika and its struggle to identify itself in the sea of imperialist distortion and neo colonial ignoration which as Ward Churchill points out is deeper than mere ignorance. Ignoration is: ...instead to be informed and then to ignore the information." So, to be ignorant is not to know, but ignoration is to know, but to ignore. Churchill says " there is a vast difference between not knowing and not caring..." (Churchill, p7.). So here we are trying to show that within this New Afrikan Nation there is a class struggle between those who identify themselves as "black" or "African American" and New Afrikans. And further, that those petty bourgeois forces are actually conscious of themselves as go betweens in order to steer the masses wrong (rightward) and serve their class interests and that they deftly employ ignoration. So, when We use "black" here it is to direct attention to this class and their role as collaborators. Like the "negroes" Malcolm called out when first bringing "black" into existence." pg. 33 Stand Up Struggle Forward by Sanyika Shakur.....Some of these ppl know and have made a conscious decision to engage in ignoration. Lines get blurred because all u see is skin and the false concept of race. We struggle to free a Nation. We struggle to Free The Land and Socialist Revolution.
We aren't confused and Our vision isn't blurred.. FREE THE LAND!!