Prisoner hunger strike will ‘bring a new awareness’

The following statement was read at the Jan. 15 demonstration outside the Ohio State Penitentiary in solidarity with the Lucasville prison uprising leaders’ hunger strike for justice.

Sisters and brothers,

Prisons inside the United States are not about rehabilitation; they are concentration camps for the poor and working people, especially people of color. There are almost 3 million imprisoned workers who have been isolated, brutalized and super-exploited for their labor. Unfortunately, there are more people outside of the U.S. aware of this fact than inside the U.S. due to a blockade of information by the big-business media.

Actions like the heroic 12-day hunger strike by brothers Bomani, Hasan, Namir and Jason — along with thousands of prisoners who participated in the historic statewide Georgia prison strike last month — will help to bring a new awareness and inspiration, with the movement’s support, in the ongoing struggle for political and economic justice.

These class-conscious prisoners are the modern-day Attica brothers who 40 years ago this September made similar demands we support today, as do the Lucasville prison uprising leaders and the Georgia prisoners. The Attica rebellion was drowned in a bloody massacre by the New York National Guard and state police. These prisoners were more than willing to risk their lives because they pledged to die standing up for their rights rather than on their knees. They stated before they died that their rebellion was the “sound before the fury.” The prisoners in Ohio and Georgia have made that same pledge.

The progressive movement must continue to support the prisoners like those in the Ohio State Penitentiary, in Georgia, in Pennsylvania including Mumia Abu-Jamal and many others who are trying to create the kind of fury needed to liberate humankind from a system that puts profits before the needs of the people.

If the great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were alive today, I strongly believe he would be supporting prisoners’ rights and demands because he stood with and sacrificed his life for all oppressed people. An Injury to One Is an Injury to All! Tear Down the Walls!

— Monica Moorehead for the International Action Center