By Brennan MacLean

Racism in prison. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It sucks. I hate it. I hate it probably just as fiercely as those convicts hate each other. I’m an anti-racist agitator disgusted by the present prison predicament. Just imagine seeing thousands of people divided into fascist factions constantly fighting one another. Constantly proving Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ theory everyday in a bloody war-zone. It’s relentless. So I was greatly relieved one day last summer to hear that the California Department of Corrections was preparing to obey a mediation agreement from the Supreme Court to desegregate cells. I viewed this as a perfect opportunity for us as convicts to maybe, just maybe, begin breaking some of these foolish barriers. So in the past several months, I’ve embarked on an intense anti-racist mission, in which I’ve met massive resistance. Not only from the imprisoned class, but from these officials as well. The latter see integration as an inherently counterproductive strategy; for, when it is implemented it has the power to unite, thus ruining their divided and conquer plan. The former see it as a threat to their pride, their safety, and their supposed supremacy.

The resistance is comprehensive, but still altogether illogical. It keeps people enslaved and oppressed. Hateful and bitter. I believe that the racist resistance on behalf of these fascist officials and oppressed inmates, therefore, needs to be met with anti-racist direct confrontation, agitation, and education in order for it to extinguish and conceivably become extinct.

For starters, I’ve found confrontation to be an essential component for the simple fact that if I don’t outwardly oppose racism how am I supposed to fight it? I can’t. I have to face it and question it. At times this has proved to be risky it not down right dangerous. Whatever the case, I still face the challenge. For example, I’ve recently joined forces with a group of soldiers with similar aims. Known as Modesto Anarcho, they’ve become one with me in this struggle.

About two months ago, I got the green light from them to go forward with plans to post a flyer promoting their distro right here in the combat zone. Excited, I drew it up and then posted it in our dayroom on our bulletin board. I then waited and watched. Within hours, as I stood behind my cell door, half believing my eyes half-denying them, I witnessed an individual – not a cop, but an inmate, dismantling the flyer! I quickly responded to this outrageous violation by calling the said individual to my door so that I could ask him just exactly who the hell he thought he was. As he approached my door, flyer in hand, I recognized him as the building clerk. Upon arrival, I questioned his intentions. I demanded an answer in which he responded by saying that the flyer was “garbage.” “Why is it garbage,” my celly yelled, “because you don’t agree with it?” I began to explain to him that the flyer was posted on ‘our’ bulletin board and not ‘his.’ That I had a right to post any goddamn thing I wanted to post as long as it didn’t infringe on anybody else’s right to post.

All said and done, he then reacted by handing me back the flyer before walking away speechless. Minutes later my direct confrontation obviously took hold because he returned requesting the flyer. He went back, surprisingly, and posted it back up like a good boy.

On the flipside, my approach in administering direct confrontation to these officials has come to be expressed in the most blatant of ways: cell me up with another race, period! The brass have recently started interviewing inmates, as they did me, as part of the integration process. Here they ask whether the inmate would be willing to cell up with someone of another race. In my interview, I was not only willing but wanting. And let me be clear by saying that I cannot urge the imprisoned class enough to volunteer as well. The SHV awaits you if you don’t. That equates to more time; more oppression; more playing into their hands. Besides, I confronted and spoke to a cop about this issue recently and this is what he had to say: “[T]he more integration there is, the more power [inmates] will have. The less we’ll be able to pit ya’ll against each other, the less we’ll be able to control.” They’re not looking forward to integration and that’s precisely why we should be.

As my second strategy, I’ve chosen to agitate for a less violent and hateful environment. It’s challenging, as I’m sure you can imagine, because I’m surrounded by racist resistance on all sides. The imprisoned class consists of various sets and gangs. These include but are not limited to, Neo-Nazi skinheads, Nortenos and Surenos, Bloods and Crips et al who all believe to some degree in racial division. Although, hate groups are not limited to just prison. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are 888 hate groups operating currently in this country. In the State of California 21 skinhead groups have been identified. Out of these 21 groups the majority of members are currently behind bars. On several occasions I have been targeted and invited to prospect for these horribly ignorant and distraught individuals. They tried to agitate manipulate, provoke and lure me and other young recruits into their ranks. For me, though, I always knew that my whiteness wasn’t something to exalt or exploit especially if it meant oppressing and hating others in the process. So instead of joining them, I took their strategy of agitating and began using it to my advantage.

Now, I run around talking excitedly and earnestly about anti-racist principles. When I find myself in a group of other whites and racist speech takes center stage I attempt to stir up the conversation by offering alternatives to racism, like harmony. I ask things like, “Why don’t we go over there and play ball with them blacks?” Or, “let’s go over and offer those Nortenos a cup of joe and see if they want to play a game of chess.” To date, I’ve gotten written up for mutual combat six times over it. It’s no puzzle that my ideals are highly controversial if not downright treasonous in the eyes of many. I’ve noticed though, that by just putting myself on the line for the sake of instilling different perspectives and inspiring public discussion, I’ve definitely ignited a spark. There have been several people thus far that have abandoned their resistance, if just for a second, in order to listen and sometimes embrace what I have to say. In cases like this, where my agitation takes hold, I pounce on the opportunity to offer zines and other literature to the homies who just might stray away from the racist trap.

Which brings me to my third and final strategy of education. I’ve found this to be one of, if not the most potent weapon to use when attempting to combat racist resistance. Let me begin by saying that there are many insurrectionary distros out there who have played such a pivotal role in contributing to my mission and also in helping me to analyze the world in which we live. Without them I truly believe I’d still be stuck in an ignorant rut. For instance, I used to feel horrible and ever so guilty about being prison. The state dubbed me a violent felon; a dangerous desperado; a piece of shit junkie. I knew these things weren’t true, but still I did not have the knowledge to articulate myself or my actions for what they really were. It wasn’t until I started creating contacts with collectives like So. Chicago, Shoelacetown ABC, and Modesto Anarcho that it dawned on me, “wait, my actions and ideals are actually collectively congruent and apart of something much bigger.”

As a result, I stopped judging myself by society’s standards. I woke the fuck up and started to critique and understand my incarceration, my role in society, and most importantly myself. I found our that these collectives all run a free literature program for prisoners. Which means that convicts are able to educate themselves with zines and other literature that promote things like freedom, mutual aid, collective cooperation, autonomy, and of course anti-racist ideals. I believe that we owe it to ourselves to seek out the truth. And once we find ourselves on the path of truism we owe it to everyone around us to spread the knowledge, collectively, that we have learned. I myself with the aid of the MAC* have been able to effectively and successfully distribute anti-racist literature into the hands of the most needy. The ones that are about to join that skinhead clique, or Mexican set. The ones who are fed up with existing inside the confining walls of their resistance. The ones who are wanting to break the barriers not for a whiter and brighter world but for a more harmonious one. One without divisions and disunity. Enslavement and fear.

In closing, this mission is no easy feat. The odds are stacked against me. The direct confrontation calls for constant conflict. Agitation entails intense conversations that, more times than not, end in consequential combat. Education in the form of zines and other literature that literally opposes everything prison thrives on is dangerous to distribute. But that’s okay; for, I know that my only safety is in danger.

Send literature and letters to:
Brennan MacLean
V83025 D5-221
PO Box 5007
Calipatria, CA 92233

Get the PDF of MA #8 at: geocities.com/anarcho209
Email: anarcho209[at]yahoo[dot]com
Write for copies:
Modesto Anarcho
PO Box 3027
Modesto, CA 95353

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