Contact
As for doing time in the Control Unit, my suggestions are to establish and maintain contact with activists out there; use the time productively, by studying law, theology; reading; exercising and working to improve your mind and body.
Maintaining outside contacts is very important - without such contacts, the prisoncrats will abuse prisoners, knowing they don't have anyone to answer to. Unity is also important since prisoners are often pitted against others, by design. It's a bad environment, both mentally and physically, so you need to set a program for yourself to try and maintain any form of sanity. Long term isolation causes Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as well, so those in contact with prisoners should always work to keep them in touch with reality. I know for years I was in the Us v. Them mode, where it was the feeling you're at war, which in reality you are, since the whole purpose of the control unit is to break your spirit - but you have to keep a semblance of future goals in mind too, or you can self-destruct. It's important for everyone out there to send as much literature as possible, and try to establish one-on-one contact with those in the control units. Outside support should be a priority, as well as an emergency response network for crises.
John W. Perotti
Ohio
A Revolutionary Statement on SurvivalI was asked by a friend, what is the difference for someone who maintains strength and others who often cave in?
My response was simple: "I use history as my guide." Afrikans have a "historical obligation" and duty to carry on the legacy and struggle of our ancestors. The terms upon which we exist here have always been that of a slave in service of the master.
The entire fabric of Amerikan society is riddled with racism and enforced via its institutions which ensure that Afrikans/Blacks will not succeed or be given an opportunity to carve out a meaningful existence or make an honest living by which to support one's family unless one is willing to part with his/her cultural identity and awareness.
To be revolutionary calls for the ability to practice revolution as a religion - meaning you must study it to understand its principles, just as you would your Bible or Koran, etc. You must dig deep down within yourself and remove any impurities instilled by a diseased society. Just as you would when asking God to forgive your sins, one must be equally committed to destroying within oneself all the vestiges of that society which he/she desires to change. This means eliminating the values of the ruling class of that society and the petty aspirations of wanting to be like that class. If an individual was a liar and a cheat prior to embracing the revolutionary ideal, then a deep critical self-examination would be in order so as to purge all vestiges of that lie and cheat. Because to be revolutionary is to be as good as your word! This process does not and cannot occur over night. Thus before any real transformation can occur, the struggle must be waged and won with oneself!
Control units exist with their sole purpose being to crush the revolutionary spirit embodied within certain prisoners of consciousness aimed at crushing their resistance to fascist control and inevitably making them a tool of reaction for the state. The ideas of the state are embodied within the functions of the prison regime. The state is able to continue executing its political agenda through the prison regime by convincing the public through its vast propaganda network (the media) and intrigue, that control units are designed to preclude the consolidated functioning of some of the most violent prison gangs, with little public resistance to this overt display of fascism. The state is allowed full latitude in exercising its authority in crushing political dissent.