Lucasville prisoner Bomani Shakur: ‘Power to the people’

Sharon Sanaan and Bomani Shakur at the Ohio State Penitentiary, Jan. 15, shortly before the victory rally.

The following excerpted statement is from Brother Bomani Shakur (aka Keith LaMar), one of three prisoners who went on hunger strike at Ohio State Penitentiary to protest the conditions of their confinement. The three ended their strike on Jan. 14 when prison officials offered them more than they had demanded.

Although on a very small scale (which by no means diminishes the deed), we, the people, have wrought a revolution — “a sudden and momentous change in a situation” — and accomplished in 12 days what the powers that be have repeatedly told us would never happen. Indeed, for the first time in 16 years, I will be able to hug and kiss my family!

There are no words to express the profound gratitude I feel. The late, great, revolutionary leader Che Guevara once said, “A true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love!” It is a great feeling of love (for you, the people) that is guiding me right now. Even as I write this, tears of hope and determination are streaming down my face.

When one has been forced to live in a space no larger than a closet for 16 years, 23 hours a day, not only does one begin to feel extremely insignificant, but the very world begins to shrink; even the smallest thing seems impossible. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the overwhelming outpouring of love and support that came flooding into my cell after I cried out for help. People from all over the country and the world — England, Ireland, Serbia, Amsterdam — reached out and joined with us to right an injustice. And we succeeded!

It would be great if I could say that the worst is over now and that, with victory in hand, I can live happily ever after. Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of living in a fairy tale; the people who are trying to take my life are real. Not even a week after we embarked on the hunger strike, a federal district judge turned down my appeal, placing me even further in the balance.

It would be naïve of me to believe that this was just a coincidence. I said some very harsh things (all of them true) against the system, and I say them again: This system is bogus and sold to those with money. In other words, if you don’t have the capital you get the punishment; and justice, like everything else in this capitalist nightmare, is nothing more than a commodity that is reserved for the highest bidder.

Friends, I beg you not to abandon me to this mockery; inasmuch as my life is not for them to take, I intend to fight them, and I (we) need your help. What they did to us cannot stand up under the bright light of scrutiny. Because of who we are, they felt that doing a thorough job wasn’t necessary — after all, who’s going to give a damn about a bunch of criminals? With this as their attitude, they charged several people with the same crimes, using different theories and, in some cases, allowing the actual perpetrators to point the finger elsewhere.

Simply put, what they did to us is a travesty of justice, and yet our convictions have remained intact through the lower courts of appeal and are quickly making their way through the federal courts. If we don’t do something to get out in front of this thing, they are going to kill us soon.

It may be that, no matter what we do, they are going to kill us anyway. Well, okay. But if that be the case, let us at least make sure that they cannot call it justice. If they kill us, let us at least be able to call it what it really is: murder.

Friends, we don’t have to accept this; we don’t have to continue down the path of least resistance, allowing them to do with us whatever they please. If we stand together and speak truth to power, they will have no choice but to right this wrong. They did it in the current confrontation, and they will do it again, not because they want to but because they have to.

Whenever hypocrisy is confronted by the truth, it must capitulate. Therefore, the key to fighting these people is to expose the truth and hold it up next to what they claim to represent. If we can do this well enough, they will either have to practice what they preach or, as Malcolm X suggests, preach what they practice. Our job is to make sure they don’t have it both ways.

Our friend, Staughton Lynd, has written a book about the uprising (“Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising”), and we need to encourage people to read it. In the coming days, weeks, and months, we need to formulate plans to reintroduce the play and launch the documentary, “Dirty Little Secrets,” all with the intended purpose of making as many people as possible aware of what actually happened during the uprising and its aftermath. Ultimately, the goal is to compose a petition to be presented to the governor with the demand that he either issue a general amnesty for all of the Lucasville cases or convene a panel of qualified experts to determine whether an amnesty is warranted.

I want to thank each and every one of you for coming forward as you did. I am both humbled and uplifted by the support. When I phoned my 8-year-old niece, Kayla, and informed her that “Uncle Keith will be able to touch her little hand soon,” she, with excitement brimming in her voice, said, “That’s awesome!” And I couldn’t agree with her more: What we did was awesome! We came together and spoke truth to power and won!

Power to the People!

Bomani Shakur aka Keith LaMar
January 2011