MALIK

ALL 1 fear is NOT fighting

poems from prison

SPEAKS!
malikspeaks nob

with whatever weapons a hand

“My name is Malik Farrad Muhammad. P'm a 26-year-old
black/Palestinian pansexual Muslim (yes, hella
confusing). I'm an anarchist antifascist, anti-racist
abolitionist (yes, both cops and prisons) for my love of
freedom! My first protest was in high school: a walkout
staged after Treyvon Martin’s murder. From there, I
never really got active again until “Bernie or Bust” and
then, of course, the George Floyd uprising. I traveled the
country and organized and fought and was ultimately
kidnapped ransomed and now held prisoner here at OSP.
Ihave a beautiful son and a loving family back home in
the Midwest. P'm also a veteran, I was a tanker in the
army — and no, 'm not proud that I was part of the
murder machine, so don’t thank me for my service. I
love music more than anything almost, am a guitarist
and aspiring pianist, all genres.

Not much else to say except that 'm a lover of freedom,
equity and equality, and will fight to my last breath for
it. Unlike those who may regret a thing they did to get
convicted or those who tempered their actions for fear
of the consequences, I regret nothing, if only not doing
more before I was caught. I will live for the people and
Pl die for the people because I love the people, we who
want freedom cannot rest till it comes.”

“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just
keep going. No feeling is final.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

speas f
Poems for Gaza

Genocide is no accident
International aid shouldn't be this hazardous

Medics, doctors, ambulance crews, firemen, hospitals, even bombing
schools

Disastrous

Your excuse

Not even an apology that's long overdue
Nothing much a sorry could do

But the gall to wave it off with an excuse
Madness

Know this, we'llnot pity you

When your day comes

To you who plot terror and destruction
Evil men orchestrating deaths

Constructi

. carving the world based on
Your presumption of authority
You're morally BANKRUPT

As devoid of substance as your currency.

PR
Avacancy of truth
‘The only truth is you're exterminating a people
Killing a planet

You

Evilmen

Who gun down innocence

Rendering aid

speas
Iwept that day,
Iheard the news

Seas that run red

With you

The oppressed

Innocent

Euphrates to Mediterranean
Seatosea

“The promise of “frecdom”
Looks bleak

The days are long.
Nights rough

Tortured starved abhorred abandoned
By the whole world

Iknow howyou feel

SoLweepfor you

AsThave since achild

T

foryou
AsThave since a child
Tobe free

Livelife with autonomy

PR
Dignity and as weep
To growing tragedy

‘The carnage and depras

Knows no bounds
‘Trapped i this concrete grave

As more of you are buried under conerete
Rubble

Mass graves

‘Ten thousand come to see the pope

il

ns dismayed
But eyes remain dry for Gazan lives
Youmatter

You more than exist

1t tough

‘The road is dark and rough

But resist you must

NEVER quit

Trust not in nations

Don't hope for them to be your savior and bring peace

Place your faith not with institutions of oppress

speas
“Trust the people
Find your hope

In relationships you make and hold
Derive your faith from the hand you hold
‘Those who know

“Trust hope and fuith and love

Future is unknown

What we know is the love we hold

D
IMU

IMU ust another side of the SHU as far as the dark side of the moon
slent too

segregation —

torture abuse

‘mental degradation

hatred infused

it's what they do resistance seems moot

what's the use?

— RESISTANCE
it's ESSENCE

it's core to our beliefin the struggle to be free
nomatter what you see cages gates indiscriminate bombing
RESISTANCE is key fundamental to me

what I see brings me grief

wwhat I hear brings me tears

what I speak s truth

ALLI fear is NOT fighting

speas .
Untitled #1

Twrite what Isee
most sights are so bleak.
silence

both deafening

genocide, hunger

atrocities

carceral state has captured me.
revolutionary being ain't easy
but it's beautiful too

what struggle can produce

s forged that refuse to yield

break in the face of repre:

the loss... the cost
what you gain
though

what we all may

® o ak
helps keep the fith
today I'mloved

well met and received

comfort and understanding
warms melike the sun cannot see
my people care for me

likea freshly planted tree

love still grows

evenin the darkest holes

that'sall we have

allweare

love and rust

relationships are a must

all we've got
in the hole

us; to my loves, those who know, who won't let me get lost

P
Kites in Gaza’s Skies

htime forkite fyi
hypersonic missiles streak the sky
Kites fy high

defies

resilientaren't they?

Shopping bags and tattered rags
hoisted high

o let you know

Gazans sl stand

Hypersonic missiles streakthe sky

tears stain a Gazan’s face

rubble tattered land.

inspite of streaks
stains

rubble graves

against the backdrop of

charcoal smoke

black holed sons

Kites stillfly

One day

Twill streak the sky with kites up high
one for all who died

all who gave their lives

toshed some light

to save some

all who were

stolen

robbed, taken by their fascist regime

akite for every human being, 55k and counting

speas
I Hate It Here

Where do we go? Shall we just dedicate another memorial? More bulletins.
and t-shirts printed while bullets rip through t-shirts and hoodies pointed
blood red — aloud the names — it’s still the same. How many since that
day? How many still got away? How many locked away? Buried alive in a
concrete grave. How many more names?

P
Doin’ hole time.
2024-25

world weighs heavy on my mind

doin time with revlutionary love in mind
stuck away where the sun don't shine
except when you come to mind

Icheese wide

knowing our hearts entwined

never mind the time

‘your hand in mind

Tknow I'm fine

P
Innocence

Hop off the innocence train
“innocent”

today victims of violence
genocide

need not identify their infant-cide to avoid “justifiable homicide” (dcath
by fascist)

set aside that “peaceful” cry
show some teeth

stiffen that spine

head held high

-

amNOT

perfect

innocent nor clean

-

am deserving and worthy to “BE”

free

P
from tyranny
oppression

fascist unnatural selection
Palestinian

Black

queer

trans

Native

HUMAN

deserve to “BE”

deserve humanity BECAUSE “1 AM”

Idon’t need your

nnocence” train to “fit” neatly for you
Tam not “innocent”

Tam human

speas
For Amir

Idreamt of you again
nolonger a boy

aMaN

tall and strong as Tam.

Ihold that imagine n heart to have
at hand

I'm getting older

Youtoo

Tove you though

just ke new

when Ifirst saw you

held you

precious

fragile and pure

B
Choosing o Eat

Decembert, 2020

Malik shares a poem he wrote shortly after ending his 9-day hunger strike.

Think tactfully, impactfully, only one path 1 see
10s bittering, though, ‘cause I hate to show any signs Islow,

O relent, repent or give in, ‘cause I do not quit, T can't ever not resist
Istand il the last man falls, risk it all or nothing

What's the poi i’ i you ain’t givin’ your all?

Thinking of quitting now? 'm appalled!

My struggle, my strength, resolve - where was it all, so easy to fall?

But “defeat is a mindset”, to admit that s, in fact, not true
Staying true to you doesn't come on others’ work terms, doesn’t hang on
others’ words

You're not losing strength, resolve

Rest assured: resolve still in your mind, body and will

Ipropose a metaphor at best: life is a game of chess
Don't back your king in a corner as a threat

Be tactful, and somet:
Let ‘em take a rook or two knights in a row

Make them grin, think they’ve won and got you on the ropes, don’t let
them relent

‘Then surprise! Architect their demise

s be crow

a fight, right?
You can't always just rush your opponent - find his patterns, wait for the
‘moment

When the timing s right, slip jab hook right

Cross him our, lights out

Hope they go down and hit the ground, won't make a sound

You stand there tall and proud, when everyone counted you out

le bout, you take a bow, you wow the erowd, tall and proud

Resolved as ever, still how powerful you feel, your power still

They can't take that, you'll never lose - that’s a fact

1 @ war we wage; Rome wasn't built in a day

s
Keep the pace, keep the faith
In time they'll see how truly spectacular you can be

“Ilove you Malik. Stay strong, stay free, stay with me, stay here, please,

for you, for me, for your son, for your family, go ahead and eat. In time,
you'll find you'll see winning”

2w
Write to Malik:

Malik Muhammad #23935744
Snake River Correctional Institution
777 Stanton Blvd
Ontario, OR 97914-8335

s 33
“Remember this, resistance is
essence, always resist, always try.
Love & solidarity.”

malikspeaks.noblogs.org