2020-2021 Publications and Zine Distributor Qualities of a prisoner ally i b il ”E ik el i n.m _mq.“. mmmmme H m... wmmm L2728 b G TR S Gl SRRt G i IR R ~~ miliinds 11 Lo ) e ety L0 b 1 | ¥Xeg sl TRUE LEAP PRESS is 2 radical anti-racist, ant-capitalist, and ant-patriar- chy publishing collctive based in Chicago, with active members in New York City and Los Angeles. The current open projects of the group are divided be- tween our publicaton of Black Studics and revolutionary abolidoist analysis and commentary, Propier No, citd by three members of the group, and a growing zines-to-prisoner distro ran by one member, under the mentorship of imprisoned abolionist actvsts, organizers, writers, and arists around the country. We have been operative as collectivesince the release of our journal in2016. Contents Updates ... 2 Finances and Lagistics ... 9 Propter Nos ... 12 2020 Zine Distro Catalog ...15 Abolitionist Study: Stevie on Rustbelt Abolition Raio ... 22 Updates Propter Nos, fourth issue in progress We're happy to say things are moving steady for our collctive, bringing two new members onboard and editing pieces for the fourth vol- ume of Proier Nos (EN), our periodical publication that brings together Black and revolutionary aboionist theorists, creative writer, poets, art- ists, scholar actvists,and grassroots community organizers. You can order ‘your copy today, at no charge for imprisoned peopl. It was push to steal time for this project between 2018 and 2019; however, the third isue of PN id make the rounds atseveral bookstores in Chicago. The publication was distibuted at zine fests and non-academic conferences during the. ‘summer and has been circulating in prisons and a few jails around the ‘country. PN'isalso included in the catalog of a few anarchis distros, with orders even made by groups in Southeast Asia, the Pacific slands, South Africa, and England. Confusion with the Process ‘While we reccive feedback and follow-up requested from so many readers, we are also nof hearing back from & number of folks afer their first or second letters. We are certain our materials aren’t uninteresting, and revolutionary literature s always nedied and on demand n these gu- lags. Thisleaves us o presume that people locked up acrossthe country are expecting a consistent stream of reading materialsfrom us—a result of misunderstanding the process. Three issuesin particular have been con- sistently brough to our attention, so please read carefuly, and read eve- rything if you plan to collaborate in this process. First, a lot of people assume we have a mailing list. While inicilly we planned on developing some kind of internal database, (00 many peoples’ addresses are in flux to ‘manage. We therefore now only send our readership lterature by request. Second, it i up 1o you to choose the selctions from the catalog, and we il il each request order-by-order. Once you finish the books or zines You've requested, pleas follow up again with another request. This year we are sending in thee zines max per order,so when asking for materils please share three tites you are interested in and an additional three as back-ups. Another issuc we are having is that word has gotten back to us that some mailrooms are not even informing our imprisoned readers that the litrature s arriving. This tactc is called “non-istribution” and is a muuch more difficult tactic of censorship to maneuver. The third poin to consider is that—in the best of chances—we hope people aren't corre- sponding or requesting materias anymore because they have been rc- leased from imprisonment. Political prisoner Stephen Wilson, interviewed Stephen (Stevic) Wilson, a member of our collective whose writing on study groups in prison appears in the last issue of P, was recently in- terviewed by our riends Rustbelt Abolition Radio, who a member of ‘ours had the pleasure of meing a the Bend the Bars prison activist con- ference in Lansing last summer. We've included a copy of the interview in the closing pages of this catalog (page 20). Several frends,including Ste- vie, members of No New Jails NYC, and one of our editors are working. on & new print publicaton, tentatvely tled I the Belly, which will pri- marly feature imprisoned abolitonist artsts, writer,theorists, and organ- izers, as well as news media on the prisoner movement from inside for ‘people with loved ones locked up. The audicnce for the newsetter will be first and foremost the familis, friends, and loved ones of prisoners. We imagine this project will be 2 tool for bringing more people dircctly impacted by the prison industrial complex into movement work. Related 1o this projec, there is an archival anthology called Queer in Here: the Writing and Art of Queer and Trans Prisoners in the making a5 well, which will be compiled under Stevie’s uidance. Sharky’s Testimony, Reflections on the 2018 Aug. 21 to Sep. 9% National Prison Strike Appaseaty foueprisoncrs st New Folsom (Califrnia Sate Prison - Sacr- ment) ended up prticipating a ome poiat during the span ofthe 2018 naional prison k. We spoke with the comsade Hedbeto Sharky Garca who went visl on Tuite or the duraion ofth ik, unsllrg corporat medi ouesbegan exmaiing us for more information forcing us 1o remove the ideo to minimize atevion on ous work—at th time. We spoke with Shrky about the ke’ af- cxmath nd sdinistrativ backlsh, He wasteprimanded continuously from the sk t the very moments conducting this inerview. We sz cureatly tyig to find Sharky some outide supporters that can offe solidaricy on 2 campaign ssound visiaion ght for fmily teveling long ditances in Calfonia. He i in- cucersted in Northern California whi his fmiy s scparatedfom hi,rsidents of Compton/Long Besch aza. Cysal,the love of his lf, and thei three ids would ove tose him. Sharky has becn incacerted snce 13 Shrky e part of ous (notabvaysthe mostsabe but sl-nonethcless opecaive) mutal aid net work. Shaky did'texisin what frms ofsrogle th otherscngaged i, but id sayone of them (who typically wouldbe someone that works even during 1 “lock- down") made the chiceofrfusing o work.Incredible feat. I akes a ot of cour a5t stand up inth s of snmedited e pver. As i 10 oy knowledge recus sing phenomenon in Calfoni prison, anothe prisone the “ncat i line”) gladly ook his job for the duraon of the lockdonn. Sharky noice this i a recuring contrdicion in the history of the work strike actic. Pople re gladly wiliog (o be scabs. During the srike, the guards facked with everyone dorin the lock- downs Especilly with Sharky because he kept refusing trays. He sud the haass- ot was szong and they sripped him and caged him muliple tmes. He lasted 15 days strong, but passed out on the 16% He woke up in the Medical Center hooked up t0 8 bunch o tbes and machines ot custoia nstietion scross North et b o ke gy e Ut et [t n pocous v ey e frmon et o e e couniry's pemkentiaies, FaCh e e et combrmed n 7 e s e s e - oA e B L —excerpt from The Guandian (Engiaad) ‘Sharky was laee cha day cavght off guard by the administration; officials exid e was to meet with th public information's offcr (P1O) only,butt turmed out to be set up: “isciplinay hearing " The Licutenant was there, the Capitan, the PIO, and the assstant warden aso n the room. He said te adimin's biggest fear was that the whole yard would tum up and begin partcipating in th stike. “They laid outa spread of documets, mosdy news clippings (e ardcles about his acton i the Guardian newspaper’s website [htps:/ /v hegardian.com/ us- cws/2018/aug/ 23/ prison-stske-us-canada-forced-lbor:protes-activsm]) snd other info circulting Twitter about Sharky's action. They had s whole le builtin matter of days, or something ik that. The PIO interrogated him about how all these media outes knew about his acton, and how word speead so quick. He refused o say anything, Sharky did however tell hem that he was on protest/stike i solidsit with the nationwide and then sared asking the adin queston re- garding what sy knew aboutal of i, f they knes, and what they thought of i They proceeded to read off the ten demands,then he replied sier. ab... mbmm. T g with allfthos, AND Lt dd o foo specc o ti prion ) the bty fod s o be adresied ) the sl gl that ges on s 0 be adrse, o e mew ol prsoers fn aren’s alved aces 0 the ow vy to sudy caes,reereh . ths devid gl e, He aso brought up how there has been ot of ) issues with visittion ights being respected. Sharky also demanded a change to the J-Pay scam, where they take 5% of something like that. Dide'tfully catch what he was refecing to Weat over my head. Finlly,the 1G1 / 15U gang investigaion it came into his cell and took pictures of everything, from his at00s, 0 his books, 0 hisartwork. “Theysed they ae investigaing him for “gang validation.” But Shacky knows this s all just because he's an acive organizes inside. The guards also tried o get the “big homies” t0 shut him up, but they didn'. They tied to frame him (o other prisoners saying he was making a scene. ‘Sharky picked up & lot of game from his experiencein this acton and dealt with cach levl of the admin in thee counterrevolutionary process. He saw the entire subsequent procedures of information and data collection, nvestgation, ‘and backlash repression frst hand, o al tersof the dimiistration. I the coming years people who paricipat in something like this need 10 have 4 plan and be. prepaed fo the blowback to be cxpected though never feared. Other prsoners kep coming by afte it was all over and asking what was up with the acion, he id this ay have inspised some folks,or at least made them cusious. He contin- s t0 crese study groups and ad hoc law braies in so-called common azcs. Sharky belicves phone zaps work and is was acrally cray (© witness one from. the inside, unable to really s out. i said the flooded phone lies bad the admin stessed, fantic, and pissed. They thought it was his family incessantly calling, Thought that was funny. e has every “vist”they made o his loor/cell on paper. Has a whole stack of evdence in s folder confirming all this. He says they weze methodial i thee documentation of events s wel. In the afesmath ofallof tis ‘Sharky tried o eczet forashort while a recuperat,then begin political edocation around stategy/tactics nd circultin the old “Agrecment to End All Hoselies” statement (from 2012) a8 & eaching tool. I've been mailing him materials and distbuting his ine to fellow prison actvists. Please write to Sharky, his infor- macion can be found on our webite itps:/ /tracleappress.com/2017/10/13/vis- val-schematcs/ The Selected Writing of Lovenzo Kom’boa Ervin We will b selfpublishing Don’t Worship Anybody, Not Even Me: The Selected Writings of Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin—Black Revolutionary Community Organizer, possbly under university press “imprint.” It is not your typical academic printed book of formal scholarship, but t s an ineredibly important (and provocative) st of schol- arly texts that should be reated as archival material, as theory, and as living “praxis” i the anarchist, abolitonist, and Black radical radiions. Lorenzo's writings are lnked to over four decades of concrete practical experience in movementsfor Black liberation from the 19605 onward. Infrastructure, Finances, and Logistics Our disto operator currendy s the outside facltator for over a dozen diffrent PIC abolitonststudy groups around the country, and several existing groups ofimprisoned aboliionsts have begun t borrowing from our materias This catalog shares information about the materials we send in. The content we provide comrades inside—all at no charge for the recipient—include pho- tocopied educational materials and zines on such topics a the pison industrial ‘complex, abliton, prison movement history, transformative justce, Black ‘Studies, Edhnic Stuies, Native Studies, gender and sexuality, disabilty justie, ‘anarchist theory, organizer’s toolkis jalhouse lawyers guides and legal hand- book, catalogs rom books-through-bars groups, and other informational re- sources. Our lteraure is alo circulated by grassroots groups ike Chicago Books to Women in Prison and the South Chicago ABC Zine Distro. % ‘We are constantly scavenging for funds and donations o keep our distro afloat and sustain the organizing work that i enables. This requires a wide range of expenses including: cost of mailing and packaging zines, maintaiing corrc- spondence, supporting comrades’ through commissary and funds for the ‘phones during emergencies, making photo-copics of ourjournal for disribution inside and other special printing tasks. Our greates cxpense is posage, costng $100-8300 dollarsevery month. Stamps lone most months decimate the fragile ‘ot we pull from. We currently have several imprisoned aciviss whose com- munication our distro operator funds out of pocket. 10 ‘The zinet0-prisoncedstro's biggest projec s of ey has been building back up & network of sty groups with Stepben Wikon, recendy transfrred from SCI Smithied t SCI Fayete. In the midele of s pastsummer, pror 1o Stevie's censorsip, removal from gen pop nto an RHU, and transe (o anothe par ofthe e, the were approsimacly B people paricipaingac- tively infour diffrent abolionist sty groups at Smidhfield. Stcvic held this formation together,and the network nside Smithficld artd becoming a mu- walaid ework andinsde/outside dirct acton group st pior o his becom- ing a target by adminisurators record of our work at Smithield can be ound at: e ablitinictsuds ). Now st Fayete, we are at work bulding up the grounds forasimiar formation. Donationsfor this etwork can be made online at ww patreon com/aboltoisttudy. Understanding our “Role” in the Movement ‘We really appreciate your patience during these first few years of opera- tion. The scope of our work and reach of our networks of distribution, circula- tion, and study has been doggedly expanding. Sometimes our methods are in- sufficent in the face of prison admiristrators and mailroom staff. Our focus is alo frequently interrupted by crss afer crisis, There is always new individual fire 10 be put out—our enemy i afte llthe largest prison-police sat in world history. Whille we appreciate the labor of groups whotake the lead on organiz- ing “phone zaps” commissary support, and other actions that support com- rades inside, if we are o be efecive as a source of information and poliical education for imprisond activists we can't ge 0o involved in such tasks as coordinating srkes, actons,or protets on the inside. We can serve s connect- s from time to time. This i an incvitable facet of the work. But we cannot do peoples”individual bidding on a regular basis. Our rol i {0 provide quality poliical education materials and o do this consistendy. We are not your secre- tariesor personsl asistants, and we don'toffrlegal services. To counteract this ilemma, however, we have included a listof resources and addresses of na- tional and regional accomplices who can provide the support or acces theser- vices you need. 1 Some final points of clarification: IF you are interested in sending us conributions for any our open projects, please fel free o send us your work. We do not promise a response, but if we sce promise in the draft you send us we wil offr fecdback. Ifits good shi but ot a it for us, we'll kely pass it on to friends with other publishing opportuni- es. Iyou have not heard back to us after a month, there s defiitly something wrong. We hold two monthly volunteer nights, where friends and accomplices il orders and writ leter. And our distro manager i quie consisent and nearly alwaysat work in his personal downtime. So please be persistent, we are al (0 Varying degrees) working under conditions of duress. Voursnthe sruggle, Cosey Any inquiie o requestsfor materol canbe directed to thefollowing oddresses: True Leap Pres & Distribution P.O. Box 408197 ChicagolL, 60640 ur catalog and severalother orginal works can also be requested free of charge. from: South Chicago ABC Zne Distro Chicago Books to Women i Prison P0.Box721 511N, Hermitage Ave. Homewood L, 60430 Chicago L, 60640 Invention (wailable firpr-orde] 13 To order zines please send us a letter stating either of the following: Listthe specifc title/Hs from below that you would like to order. 3 picks maz. each order, you can list oo additional in case we are out of your requested sclction or Choose topc from the lstings blow that you wish to learn more about Topics Black Studies. Community Accountabilty ‘Ethnic Studies Security Culture Native Studies Organizing Toolkits Marsism Transformative usice Feminism and Womanism Abolition ‘Queerness and Gender Violence History of Prison Industrial Complex Disablit Justice Prison Radicalism Self-Care: Anarchism 14 A b b'ol 2020 Listings Zines & other educational resources, ‘True Leap Press available for order [ErR—————— Angela Y. Davs, Ave Prons Obsolc! Gritcl Resistance, What s Abliion? L Samuc, Inrvbingon Resiy: he Ros of P Alolcion Prison Rescrch Acton Projec, rtad of rons: A Handbookfor Aol Abliioni: Ketes and Tl Defniions 6. Linda Evans & Eve Goldberg, P Indstril Comple i the Glbal e oy 7. Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Globalationand U Prsn Grouth 8. Angela Davis and Dyl Rorigues, The Challeg of Aol A Conter- 5. Dylan Rodrigues, ocd Pasages: HisoricalPrsnt of (vison)Slovery 10, Syvia Winer, Sove Revls s the Fis Formf Labor S 11, Frank B. Wilderson 1. The rison Slave s Hegemony's Sl Scandal 12, Greg Curey, Represion Breis Restance: O h Lucaile Uprisingandis Af- emath 13, Angela Davs, From the Prson of Savr the Savery o Prson:Freick Do as and the ComicLewseSyem 14, Ben Turk, Why ProonerLivs Muse Matr o the Mosmens fr Black Lives 15.. Ivan Kilgore, Nt Worker Bus Chaiel 16, Herlberto Sharky Garca, The Fu is Now: hsurcinary Aboiionis Ar, Thery, & Practice 17, Kevin Gardner, lod and Ik 18, Kevin Rashid Johnson, Art Atack: Eary Wriing and Drvings 19, Kevin Rashid Johnson, Kil Yourelfo Lt Yousel: The Resl US. Inper st Poicy on angViolece o The Revlaionary Alimatie (2010) 15 0. 2. n ‘Brown & Proud Press, Confoning AntiBlacknssin Onr Comminities 500 Years of Indigenous Resstance Luana Ross,Inentingthe Sovage: Th Social Construction of Native American Criminalty ‘Overs Hosiliey and he Roe it ays in Dy Prison Lfe Franiz Fanon, On Viskence ‘Catherine Baker, Agains Prsons ‘Angela Davis, Polcial Prisonrs, Prisons and Black Liberation George Jackson, Bloodin My Ese, part | George Jackson, Blood in My Eve, par 2 ‘George Jackson, Soedad Brother: Th Prison Ltiers of George Jackaon Marylin Buck, Prisners, Soial Conrol,and Poiica Prisonrs ‘Safya Bukhari, Coming of Age: A Blck Reolutionary . Claude Marks, Lessons from Coinelpro: Buding « Movement in the Fac of Oppresion .. Securiy and CounterSvellance: Information Againt th Police Sate Security Culnar: a handbook for actvss . Misogmists Make the Bes Informans ‘SistersSpeak: The Experinces of Wornyn in the lack Pancher Parey for SlfDe- fene Socal Detx: Recoursesfor Men Againse Sism, Misagyy, and Patrarchy . Assata Shakur, Mesage From Somewhere in the World . Marilyn Buck, Disatches from a Poliical Prisner: Sptember 11, 2001 Black Augus: Oigins, Histor, Significance ‘The Uniold Sryof W.L. Nolen South Chicago ABC, st Amenden rmer or Prson Mairooms Kijana Tashiri Askarl, Geore Jackson Speas, ol | jana Tashiri Askari, George Jackon Speks,wol. 2 Kijana Tashiet Askac, Geore Jackson Speas, ol 3 Kijana Tashiet Askac, Geore Jackson Speas, ol 4 The W.L. Nolen Mentorship Progam idebook New Afikan Prisoner HealhFines 101 Sundiata Acoli, An Updated Histryof the Black/New Afikan Prison Sl 16 52 5. 54, 55, 56. 51 6L 6 65. 61 . I n [ I8 s ‘Sundiata Accol, Bt and Peces: Slctd Wricing, Pocry, and Stries . Sundiata Acol & Jalil Muntaqim, Ntonal Campaign t Sp Canerl Unit Prisos: Hearings on Cantol Uit Prisons inthe United Sates Michigan Aboliion and Prisoner Soldariy, Contaning th Criss: A Hisory of Mas Incarcerason and Rebelon i the Rstbele Michigan Aboliinist Prisones Solidariy, The Opening Statement Anthony Rayson, More Efci Prisner Supert Anthony Rayson, How Piones Use Zines to Empouer Themschs and Subvert the Mas ncarcraion Slae Stem. Souch Chicago ABC Zine Disr Catalog “The Artwork of Todd Heune Rl Tarell Stevie Wilon, Print Media and Prion Actvism. Copote,See Sharpens Sel: Staring Sy Groups i Prison Coyote,Starting Your Oun Anarchis Black Cros (ABC) Prison Chapeer Metting Facitation Methods Guide to Pracicng Group Comsenss SeaSol, Build Your Oun Soldaity Newrks AniMass: Methodsof Orpanization or Colcies Stryeling and Namatise Wriing Sraegies workshee) Khalfuni Malik Khaldun, Handook on Snivng Sl Confinemen: A Sur vival Guide for the Targted Prisoner D Michael Salerno, How to Use Law Libary and Wit Your Oun Legal Work . ACLU National Prison Project, Know Your Righs: Legal Rights o Disabled Pronen 2019) The Cil Righs Gang Legl Slpelp Pamphles (gl Reech) John Two Names & Sckou Kambi, Tricks to Taeing Martin Sostre, The Tria o Marin S, Reutionary s Lawser Martin Soste, Pron Lecr of Marin Soste Lorenzo Kom'bo Ervin, Anarchism andthe Black Rvoution: Th e of Black Auanomy Sean Swain, Aplcaion of Anarchi Thery 0 the Moder Doy Prisn S’ Basi Princples of Anrchiom 17 6. Lucy Parsons, Piciles of Anarchism 7. Bakunin, The Capital Sytem. 78. Alexander Berkman, ABC's of Anarchiom. 79, Hibachi Lamar, Writings o a Ghettobred Anarchist 80, Hibachi Lamar, The Deprived and Defraved 81, The Anarkata Satemsent on Black Anarcist Commenity Orgaizing 82 Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin, The Progressive Paniation: the Intel Racim of the North American Lef 83, Liz Appel, Whit Supremacy i the Movement 0 Abolch the Prison Indstricl Complex 84, Chicago Incrcerated Workers Organising Committee (IWOC), An Open Leter for the Incarensed Youch ding the 2019 CTU Stk James Adrian, Survivors Guide t Youth n Prison Chicago Books to Women in Prisn (Book Request Order Form) Vicoria Law, The Inisbiliy of Women Prisoners’ Resstance Assata Shakur, Women n Prisn: How t s with Us NoLady Julia Chinyere Oparah, Celing Black Bodis: Black Wamen and the Prison I dustrial Complex 91, Cassandra Shaylor, “Is Like Living in Black Hole™: Women of Colorand Sob darit Confinement in th Prson Indusrial Complex 92. Andy Smith, Heteropararchy and the Thve Pillarsof Whie Sremacy 93. Mariame Kaba, No Sle to Defen: Poems About Criminalation & Violence Against Women, 94, Suppoting a Suivor of Sl Asaule 95, The Combahee River Callcie Statement 96. The CRINCITE! Statement on Gender Vilene and the Movement to Abolh the Prson Indusrial Complex 97. Mariame Kaba, Wha's Lef: Prson Abolicon (comic) 98. Joining Foces: Stoping Prisn Espansion in Delano Caliornia 99, The Sueet Defeat of the Prison in Crete 100. Casey Goonan, Confrences as a Vehice for Abolionise Organicing BBBIRR 18 101. Karyn S. & Andrew Sseto, A Growing Asian Amierican Mosement Cal for Prison Abolicion 102. Dylan Rodrigues, The Poliical Logic ofthe Now Profc Idustrial Complex 103. An Esclating Figh n the Village of Duight 104, The Abolioist #33: “Tearing Dours the Wall from Both Sides” ~ Launch Pary Zine 105. Abolcion in Acin: News Briefs from The Abolciois. 106, George Ciccariello Maher, Every Crook Can Goser: rison Sres as a Win- dow o the New World 107. Rachel Hersing, Tueaking Armageddon The Linittions of Contemporary ‘Movements Agans Sltary Confinement 108, Casey Goonan, Black Libeation and the Movemen to Abolsh the Prison Indus- el Compler: an Inteview with Rachel Hering 109 Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee (IWOC), Destrey All Prsons f— 110. Down: Reflecions o Prison Resistance n Indiana 111, Fie Inside: On the 2016 National Prison Srke 112 Donald CNote Hooker, What If Amj Goodman's ‘Demacracy Now” Covered the Milons forPrisoers Human Rights March 113, Jailhouse LowyersSpeak - Guidebook and Membersip Reguest 114, Amani Sawari, Sold Back Fs: Newslters fom he 2018 National Pison Stike 115, Alejo Stak, ris and the Prison Serike 116.ABC Boston, Aacking Prisonsa th Poin of Production 117.IWW, A Werkers Guide t Divect Action 118, Death 2 Authorisy: Fom Sudy Groups to Campaign o Diect Actin. 118, Earth Firs!, Defending the Earh Through Direct Acon 120. Gay Shame, We Need Dict Acton Divas (newspaperstyle sine) 121. Out of the ot and I the Libraris: A Collectionof Rdical Queer Momenis 122, Audre Lorde, Usesof the Ercic: he Evotic as Power 123, Cheryle Clarke, Lisbianim: an Actof Resistance 124, Milian lamboyance: briefhistory f the sonewll riots and therquee hap- penings 19 125, Laura Whitchorn, Linda Evans, and Susan Rosenberg, Dykes and Fags Want to Know: An nteview Wit Lesbian Policical Prsones 126. Stevie Wilkon, An' 1 risoner, Toc! 127, Stevie Wilson, Selcted Comspondence and Disptches fom the Frondlines 2019 128.5. Lamble, Transorming Carceral Logic: 10 Reasons to Disrance the Prson I durial Complx through Quee/ Trans Anabsis and Acton 129.Juli Chinyere Oparah, Maroon Abolcinis: Black Gender Oppresed Actiiss i the At Prison Movement i the US. and Canada 130. Che Gossett, Aboliinist Inagining: A Conersation uich Bo Broun, Reina. ‘Gossx, and Dylan Rodripiec 131, Quers Imagine o Fue Wihout Poice 132. Monica Trinidad & Sarshyi, A Commniy Corspilatin on Police Abolin 133. Anthony Rayson, The PolceAve Trained Kilers 134, Autonomous Tenets Uion (Albany Park Chicago), Plicing and Gentrifica on: Deend Our Communicies 135. Andrea . Rchie, Low Enforcemens Violence Against Women of Color 136, Chicago Torture Justice Projct, A Guidebook o Sumving Police Vielence 137. Berkeley Copwatch, An Inerodsction t Ciisen Moniring of Te Polce 138, Sair Chuma Asafo, The Sntch Facos Ground Zeo 139.Safir Chuma Asafo, Anatoms ofa Sitch 140, Coping with Snitch Culsre: Hisoical Exampls anc e roposal 141 Burning te Bridges Thy are Balding AnarchistSrateges Againt the Polce: 142. Mariame Kaba, Why Protest? 143, Blocs. Black. and Otherwise 144.Some Lessonsfrom the 2001 Cincinnat Rios 145. They Can'e Shoot Us Al:Reflcions from the 2010 Oakland ot 146.Soldarey and Revole Across Bordes: Leters from prisners, soidariy statements and acton chronologiesfom France and ohercountis in 2008 147. Alfredo Bonnano, The Anarchis Tenson 148, Alfredo Bonnano, From the Cente t the Peiphery 149 Alfredo Bonnano, The usamectionl Project 150. Insurmectionary Mutual Aid 151, Univesty Occupacions (1968, 2008, 2009) 20 152. The Dol Yourlf Occupation Guide: 153, Homes NotJis 154.Not If But Wh: o Readeron Taking and Making Autonamous Space 155. Freddy Pearlman, The Reproduction of Everylay Life: 156, Hary Cleaver, Schoolvork and the Strggle Againt It 157. Stay Healhy So You Can Say i the Soets 158, The lcarus Project, Friends Make the Bst Medicine 159. The lcarus Project, Mapping Our Madnes (oumaling Exercises) 160. Survieal Tips and deas forthe ExPrioner: A Guide fora Suecesfl Transiion Abolitionist Study with Stevie Wilson Interiewed by Rustbelt Aboition Redio “Wekome o Rt Ablion Rdi,my name s i el In s isds,cprdocr Al Surk ek it Black and g abolnist serter St Wilon, S eing hd aptie b the Pl Deprinetof Corsions and s ey elsed o sty onfemen. He speksabout he inportane of abolonis s s a sac of ommon - ot hat vderminsthe hol e thecareral st s on e s, bohnside nd outsie prsns” Alejo: My name s Algo and o e sning 0 sl oo rdi, n abi- onict mudisand mmement- bl poc. Tday e sec ih Sphen Wi St ¢ Blckad Qe uriter,acts, and st o s ey bl i by the Pevsoania dparnctof oecions, Hel, St and alome 0 s Stevie: Oh, hello. Tharks or having me. Abejo: I god o b oo, Wae gl e o' st e e Wbt o eyt ks fom, o e, | e o Ocober 17, Righ> 2 Stevie: Yeah, I got transerred from SC-Smithfield and 'm now at SCI Fayette. Un.. you know sometimes when you're an ally with others behind the ells, what i required i significantly more than mere allyship,its more lke: being an accomplice realy,co-conspirators of transformation. There was a st- uation where a prisoner was ttacked by two guards and our outside supporters held an action online. The administrators found out about the accident. [ was bekhind it and s0 they moved to get me out of the way and bury me in the hole. Thankfull because of te support of people I had outside, more “phone zaps™ placed pressure on the admin and they removed me from the hole. DOG then transerred me to another prison. S0 now I'm—I was three and half hours ‘away from my family. Now 'm six hours away from my family, about 40 imutes South of Pitsburgh. Alejos Wo S isis all i dinc rllation against rgnicig on the s, righ” Stevie: Defnitely. I's something that's to be expected though. When you do his type of aboliionist work behind the walls, it not about being an ally. You will a5 I'm saying become an accomplice, and whatcver that person is doing they're going to try to.do t0 you also. I knew at one point they were trying to bury the young man (mentonid casicr)in the hole because when they attack s they ty to fip it and say, you know, ue attacked them. So they'l bury us from six 10 nine months in the hole. And because we were successful i geting this man out of the hole and into a safe prison, you know, I became arget afcr that he was gone. [ was abl (o bother them and did, once again, because of the support of people and groups like Critical Resistance. was able 1 be relased outthe hle, I cid about two months batding with thes people. Placed at Fayette now. But the work doesn't stop. The work doesn'tsop, you know? Alejos Do you hae o sse that this is also an indictatck o the sort of self- erpnizd ablitionist sty grous nsideas well? Stevie: Yeah. I think, think...wel, P gonna tcll you something: That prison [Smithfield) was it difierent than a ot of places because many of th study. groups that we were hokding were actually took the place of programs that they had actually discontinued. There was lack of programming there. So we were: 23 puting together the transformative justce group and itwas something tha they apparendy lked,they gave us space fori. They gave us space for it you know, and what's happening in Pennsylvania i because the rchabiliaion programs have been guted. The educational programs have been gutted. There sa space opened up for prisoners o initate groups,right? So we did it at Smithficld that way, you know, and I'm here a Fayette, where is kind of the same thing, Peo- ple don't have anything (o do when the prison wants (0 them to do something, you know. So once again, there is an opening for us here. Nlejos Tlu il it moeabout heabolionist sty g nside ity i o ou el s e aboutwhat 'l s? Towfcited smeting Bl o st s o Smifeld? Stevie: Wel,th fist one we called “9971°, obviously n refernce t A, was general penal/ IC. abolitonst study group. We started with something. ke “Are Prisons Obsolcte?” by Angela Davi an what we do s we do a chap- ter reading and our next meeting we'd pos discusion questions, We focus 3 1ot on terminology and dfinions becaus s s offe te it e many pec- ple are hearing about aboliton. You know, when you think of world without prisons, way back they thought we were crazy. The it thing ou of their mouths s always “what are we going 0 do with the murderers and rapists and hings ik that? We had toreall talk about bsic definiions an things ke safety, harm, criminalization, and community. 9971 was the lrgest group be- cause it was more generalized. ‘We had a smalle group called Gircle Up, which i transformativ js- e group, most of those men there were under he ag of 25, about 23 young. men. And they were doing rogram called Crcle Up and i vastalking sbout transformative jusice. How we aply these transformatve practces inside and i spitc o the prison i and our familes and our communities, We also had a Qucer Abolionis group. That group we sarte because i i sometimesdiff cult o talk sbout certain hings in 9971. This group went through bools ke Captive Gendrs and. Qur Isticeand works on qeer/trans siuggles from an Last we had a book b which en prisonerswere involved i, Bokd Type Books which uscd to be Nation Books would send n & book cach month. For 2 the monthly discussion questions we would meet—its ke a book club. This has been taken over by Haymarket books now. So here at SCI Fayett we are going to be doing this and Haymarket will be providing the books for us. We're happy to have a program like this st continue. Alejo: Can you ell 5 more about the imporance of stdring o you? I sems e s prety muchpart o the programmin,hic is ot a god ing ha you'e sy, but s ' alio partof sort of aboiossts stding .. egter it olks nside, Stevie: Actually the frt thing i to understand that many people in prison don't have a strong academic background, righi? We dida't have very good expericnces n school. And so what I found was tha i was caser o photocopy out chaptrsof books and work hrough readings with llow prisoners together, collctively. Especially thinking about dfinitons how the things w read—this activist work—applics o your parceular e, your expericnces. In fact, zncs were realy big for s because it is more inimidating o give someone 3 book that's 200-300 pages long. If they s this, they probably wouldn't pick i up Butif] gave somcone a zine and it was three orfour pages long, hey could ake aweek and read thatand we'llcome back and discus . So1 tll you, he zines play a major ole in the work insice the prison aso because, ven for me (0 iseminate zines and books, s lss oty and the administration docsn'tsec it circulte s casily. I went to the yard and tried o give out ten books, I wouldn't make it through the gate. Butif | have ten zines on me, | can pass them out pretty quiel,you see? So partof i also s knowing thelandscape insic here because, remember this much: learned prisoners are an affront @ the PIC. Okay? So you have to do things on a ly, on the sip sometimes. Zines come in handy, rally handy her. So it was & lot of meeting with people at st It was about isling an debating defniions. It was about meeting people where they are Alortsofother things 00, you know? Some peopie don'read wel, 0 we had. o st i groups and read but they can expresstheir experiences, they can tlk sbout ther cxperences. So 1 hink it was important. 1 hink one thing tha’s very surprisng to me isthat you have to explain that prison are unnese (0 25 That was the thing that was most surprising to me because were siing here every day. We realzed how this docsn't work, but people think there’s no alternative to this, you know, and as soon as I you realize thre i altcrmatives 1o this way oflfe, you begin (o see it cvery day. Abolition is not something that i something far, far away. Actually, some of it is here today. But everybody docsn't get a chance o be a part o that process. You know, you understand what I'm saying when I say that? Alejo: Thee's a ey of ndoing alo the oys that theprisn s nauraliced o the inside. Eoen thoughof s ol e the bty of imprisonmentand ey, there'stll a gy in whichtha's naalcd asyou e saying righ? That's sl sort of ety fully ormalicd? Stevie: What was trying to explain to people when I say “aboliton”... this s why T asked that question because I want people o understand that aboliton- sm is not something thats always and only in the fuure. [ was explaining (o them that f someone ik, sy, a wealthy whitc person break the law... Okay. ‘What are the chances of this person being put in a prison? I not gonna hap- pen. Same i a guy had a substance abuse problem and this guy s 21 yearsold, s white, he lives in the suburbs, has a substance abuse problem, he breaks into his neighbor's house, burglarize the house, gts caught, he ges locked up. Are they going to ksp them locked up? No. They're probably going o send him o some drugstreatment place, that's what's going to happen. Now the treatment part: tha' i essence aboliion! That's aboliton. Instead of locking him up, Welll go o send you where you need o be: treatment. You see, and that i abo- lion alo. So 'm trying to explin (o people that no, the solution isnt abways “callthe polce” and in'tahways jai o prison. There are other ways we can deal wth harm. ‘And 50 when I explain it this way to them, then they see, “Oh i’ here, aboliton i here.” Now everyone doesn't get a chance t0 be a part of that pro- cess. Most of us don't. How can we open it up to everybody? If a person is getting high and then the committng crimes to get high, then why would we lock that person up? That' not the isue. We don't call the police and lock them up. No,then le’s gt them help with their substance abuse problem. And that’s abolion, you know? So my task,a lot of e, in here actually translaing the 2 Work for the people in here. And that's one area I think that we're not doing t00 well. And I don't think we're going 10 do welin that arca i all the sl that' being published and circulated isnt actually accessible (0.4 lot of people behind the wals. Al Sevs Lantd o sk you rcsyabout s pont: S you urings ko o conier yourel e, i And ou st st st right s The - sy of srof vl ue abvliionist hery 0 s prisn s e of e oy gt you fnd o oing. S wonder i oucoud il on a e it mre bt tht, but o do o ind ol hat you e abo anslating ad tinking il iside o hose on the utside?So i that e ' st of -0y s of anltin, righ? Rt thn newey prcs? ‘Stevie: Yeah, 1 think one of the things that T learned carly on isthe necessity of translting. 1 found that many of the works that | was reading, when I gave the book or an article for somcone elc, they reall dida't comprehend it. And when I broke it down in talk, they got it. That was the way my study groups changed. It was no longer about giving people the assignment and coming back the next week—we just asumed that we were ready. It was actualy about cre- ating questions that would test the comprehension of the sudy group members. ‘And part of i also was that it was mportant for me thatthey were able 0 apply whal they were learming o thei livs, actualy holding up (o ther ives. “Do I ind it to b true?” “T'm reading something by this author and this thing XYZ, Do find that my experiences are X, Y, and 27" “Do I have another way or Tim paving something clsc?” And that’ someing that is important in peda- g0gy and organizing behind the wall. A lotof times i you hear i’ about divi- sions, like “gangs,” “racial” divisons and hings like that. Well, Tve been throughout the Pennsylvania system and that's simply not the case. In Pennsyl- vania the racil divisions are fragmented geographicaly. It that people are Philadelphis versus Pitsburgh, Harrisburg versus Allentown. And so when we would ead certain things that would talk about th divisions based upon racial gangs and racial diflerence it idn't apply to our expericnce in Pennsyhvania. S0 guys would say that—this docsn't apply here and, well, tell us how does i apply? Wel, you know, i's reall spatial, teritorial, geographical. You know howit gocs down. I would have o tell people who are working in Pennsylvania 27 that, you know, chis i ot how it goes here. At least the prison movement. I¢s ot that s about gangs or race, it's more about geography in terms of preex- istng unity. A black guy and a white guy from Philly would get along beter than a biack guy and a black guy from Pitsburgh. I think that works both ways There's some things that we think we need to let people outside know so that ‘we can work together beter And 1 think people outide should think about how to make the work more accessble acrss the bard, Ofintimes the writng of scholar activss is ot written towards prisoners or even written for prisoners. That's just not their ‘audience. Their audience isother academics, you know, or some other journal versus... T ask myself “Who writes fo prisoners?” And that'sthe big question. 28 16 we could get over this or everyone could somehow learn to gt this, then we Would sce many more people in prison declare themselves abolitonists and working toward PIC abolition—we would s t. Nljor e gustion ot ht. It o o, nhe e you o st of e or i bt et a3 oy prcs,righ? e and i, B | csan tha, o e, ot o et o g s ol nthe e o 't sl ndeoning kot o b, ey ' hppringon e i gt S0 ' by will o bk o e s of i, et & 00 way process, right? We hae 1 ransate suf] oing in and st coming o, bt o ight o i st et s an aoitonst prcice e s, Toubid of vl i el ond caes ht sk o oty o Rgh? Stevie: Yeah, owo poinis about that. First, take aboliton, and especialy ike: work trikes...And I wastying to explain t0 people, abolitioistsoutside—tht, a straegy like thisdocsn't work in Pennsylvania. | was trying o explain that 0 them. I¢s not ke down South where,for ke Alabama, the guys working and you don't pay them,. Pennsylvania incarcerated folk work and some of these people make $150 2 month and thar's money you have coming in. In these mateial crcumstances, many of you aren't willng o go on strik. You under- stand what I'm saying? I had to xplain this o peopl inthe oviside, many not even from thissate, why a work stoppage doesn't work in PA. 1 think one thing that we have to think about also i that different things work in different regions 0 build something ik this up. We can say what works in California and Ari- ‘2oma s going o work in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Because PA and Jersey are rght next to each other and they're vry different as ar as the prison sys- tems and the culture. And so | tink that that's important (0o “The other thing about ranslaton i that my background personally that T worked for 11 years i nonprofits before I was incarcerated. And 5o what happened was I was used to dealing with a population where I had o do the same exact thing. | worked in id service organizatons and I'd be dealing in the fickd vith people and I had to do the same exact thing where 1 was trying o xplain what people needed to the administrators,right. And I was tying (0 ‘explin what the admiristrators wanted to the people being served. 29 Tihink that's why T sl have that skll where I'm abl to talk o prisones, other prisons about aboliion, and then tlk to aboltonis activists outside and say,look, this s what we nd, or can you do this? So | think that, ub, maybe what it was that 1 was prepared for because of the type of work I did before I ‘was incarcerated. You know, I think that that's why I have this viewpoint, but L just ealized that i the communication isn't thre between us @ lotof imes, for people nside and outside there’s notreally good communication and good context. 1 said this befor to the comrade Casey. if someone says tht you're: involved i the American prison movement or you are a penal aboltonist and ‘you're not in direct contact with somebody inside the prison, you are wrong. Youte urng. [ssi with pronounced emphasi] 1 don't understand how you Know what's going on if you'r notindirect contact with somebody you're writ- ing or talking to, emailing or someting. 1 don't know how I even know what's going on inside these wall. | don't understand it So I think that's the problem s more communication nceds t happen. Better communication needs to hap- pen lejo: Taak Commasicatinal, a5 you e scing ' st of s, o oppiical, Aar'hapering ot it sl and e el bt s diflen St acss it i diffet ppulations I ean i - tainly the case with the work strik,wohichyou soere mentining, it was tis constant procs of anlaon,igh? Wi, which I ink o e alnas o el and polial rcticenide So I ikl what o wndd s, what ol - omed i o, i your uring is e imorance of st of ricim, rght And self icion. Canyou ‘Stevie: Yeah. Yeah. I think s very important. That's always there. I hink s importantfor s 0 all lok at what we'r doing and holding it (o critique. What Tve found i tha,in thi plce, people would know their own pain. Everyone knows their own pain they'se going through. So most people here o alk about racism, they understand anti-black racisn. They understand. ‘But they don't understand misogyny, homophobia and hings ik that. And s0 the thing is that what I realized s that people could sec when they were being wronged but they couldn't see how they're wronging other peopl, they couldn't understand that they could be contributing to someone clic’s 30 appresion. And s0isimportan o us hvays t ook st what we're doing nd making sure we're ot cratng mor oppresion.I€saays important 0 ook Stwhat ' doing and make sure we'r no harming other people. | hink s avays ot having conversaton sbou our values hat we ar actually we're icking ith our vlues,you know, lking about them. st think that thy've mised ht—behind he wall we're ot gtin o of cricique, And what hap- pens i hat the peope o the ouside, 1 sid it befre, people on the outside donfcwant 0 critiqe the people inside. Do you understand wat I'm sying? s otally onesced approach. You know, v had stasions wheresomeane vl et on ke T'm o an ntervicw right now. Somcone o an inteview and you'e doing annterview and you'r lking about something rom prson. And they make a statement and it's misogynistic, homophobic or whatever. And the perion on the ineriew il not check them on it Well sy vait 2 minute— and theyjut e it go. Okay. A tha docs ot help ur movement at al be- case the thing s thatwe hav many pople who aresayin they are sbolonist o they'e against i thisprison or againt tisoppresion but they only gt one ype of oppresio, Their vision of recdom s truncated. Theie vion of frecdom does o extend toothr peopl that are ot ke them. Or difrent from them. “And s hink that a I ofimes—1'm doing i from here—but I think hat peopl o the ouside—Icall it “recdom git.” That's what 1 ay. People on outide e that ey can'tciique popieacivissand writr n he e, because “Tm e and who am 1t st there and s somethin t them sbont eha thy blew o what they e going hrough —yes yousr partof the same movement! I part ofthe same movement! So i there’s guy who,okay, don'c car how much ofan sbolionist o anei-prison actvist you thik he i i s saying ometing dht's homophobic o misogymisi,you nec o calit out fori,youjus sy, whos, v minut,wait it ‘And 1 hink ha's what's not happering an tha'swhy | make that oint becaus s abeaysimportant 0 relz that because you know, tere’sa hir- archy in here and when you ae quee,a trans, disbled, nevrotypcal person, you tthe bortom, you're atthe botom hre an youwilfnd peope who arc i thismoemen,who ar behind the wall and some acivists who il sl hose: peopl down the drsin fo a e bitofa prk. o1 think s mportant o check. Say,len, what are you doing? What are you caling fo? You know, in 31 Pennsylvania we had piece of egilation that went up that said bascally,if you're life without parole—and they were trying to get rid ofthis thing—wel basicaly if you committed homicide and you know, you'e in X, ¥, Z cate- gory, we'l think about geting some numbers, what they brought or shouldn't do on rescue people. And some people were for that. They were like, okay, yeah, that's what the, the one, the rest of them, T can't suppor that. I can't support tha, I think sometimes when we think about whal's being put forward, we had to be more critcal. And I think that lot of imes people outside are afraid or what I call ,frecdom guilt, or whatever it i, 10 say to people nside, listen man, tha' real homophobic, that's misogymistic that's not abolitionist what you're thinking. You know, that's not aboliionist. The only way we can gt btterin this prison—peope behind this wall—The people outside who arc our partners need to hold us to higher standards. They gota hold us o higher standards, they realy do. Alejos: At the same tims, right, I's no just denancition and sepping back righ?” Tou enphasize the Black Libration Army’s praciceof “Uniy-Cricism: Ui, s0 Uhre's ay o eriiccing tha's o simply ust pushing et because tbrise Stevie: Fint o all,when I say citque and cricize, irst ofall, it has o be done from the perspective—Firt of al, v always analyzed what 1 do as radical compassion, 1 always talk about radical compassion and I think ' important 0 understand that when T'm critiquing somebody, i's not because I'm trying o tear you down but because want 0 make us betecr... make you bettr. And 50 my critique actally comesfrom a space oflove for the person becaus, hon- ety T find it hard t0 even be concerned with someone i 1 don'tcare about you. “That's me personall and yet peope would do things and I don'sreally say anything o them because | really don't car what you'e doing cause you're a very negative person and I don't want o gt nvolved. That's ushow [ keep myselfsfe behind the wall. But what I'm saying is that my cique comesfom a plce of compassion for people. My criique comes from a place of love, i's not sbout earing someone down, it about buikling you up and buiding us up. So 1 do think thre's a way that you can do i an the way that we should doit—ifs about commurity. | don’tthink about earing anybody down or just 32 putting someone out there or consider someone disposable “we don't really eed you"—That's not how it's supposed tobe. You have to meet people where they ar and give them the opportuniy alo t saythings tht they feel onealy, you know, even ifit is messed up, because well i tha's how you feelle’s talk aboutit. But gota gve the opportunity and the ground to say that, you know. el hetps://rustbeltradio.org/2019/11/20/ep33/ “Propleget usd to anpiing The Lss you thik about your appressio, the more our tolerane for it grows. Afe a il pople ustUink opprssion s the normal Sate of things. But 1o become fet, you have o be acutely xear o being a slave.” Assata Shakur (Modem Day Maroon)