Black Dove Support Network: Got Your Back Collective statement on Marie Mason's sentence

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Got Your Back Collective statement on Marie Mason's sentence

It is with a heavy heart that we send you this update. As many of you have heard by now, Marie was sentenced on Thursday. The government was asking for a sentence of 20 years – an outlandish amount of time for actions that amounted to property destruction. This is longer than the average sentence imposed for people convicted of the most heinous of crimes such as rape and murder. Dear friends and supporters ~It is with a heavy heart that we send you this update. As many of you have heard by now, Marie was sentenced on Thursday. The government was asking for a sentence of 20 years – an outlandish amount of time for actions that amounted to property destruction. This is longer than the average sentence imposed for people convicted of the most heinous of crimes such as rape and murder. Had Marie received a sentence of 20 years, it would have been insulting and outrageous. The judge, in a typical display of the kind of farcical reality this system is capable of, went beyond what the government was recommending and gave Marie 21 years and 10 months.This is now the longest sentence for any environmental prisoner we know of in the US. It seems the government is constantly trying to up the ante – to strike fear into the hearts of those who would struggle for the earth and her creatures. Their tactics include caging the most caring, compassionate people – the very people who have put themselves on the line so that all of us can have clean rivers to play in, wild forests to explore, and other creatures to commune with.Marie's respect for life and her struggle to always act in the most compassionate way possible are exemplified by all of the choices she has made throughout this ordeal. Marie has always been one to stand up for what she knows is right - even before her arrest – and even when it was obvious that the consequences of staying on her feet could be painful and devastating to her personally and those she cared the most for.The government tried to bring her to her knees – but she's still standing, feet firmly planted.We need to recognize that this is an incredibly difficult time for Marie and her loved ones. As a movement it is our responsibility to lessen the brunt of this burden to Marie and her Family. Some of that burden will be and is currently, monetary – there are still massive legal fees to be paid, and it is imperative that we help Marie maintain contact with her family and friends by helping with travel costs and collect phone calls. Marie is a committed Vegan and it is crucial to her health and well being that her commissary maintains a financial amount that she will need to purchase the food items she requires to survive. These are every prisoner's life-line while inside the walls.Because of this, we are appealing to you - the extended community of all of those who support Marie and the struggle she is waging. Donations in any amount are so greatly appreciated and will go a long way to help us in dealing with the above mentioned legal fees and support costs we are now facing.Raising funds is only one aspect of Marie's support. We understand that not everyone is capable to contribute financially. Marie has told us numerous times she appreciates and cherishes letters from friends and supporters. If you haven't already please consider writing Marie or one of the numerous Political Prisoners held within the states confines.For more details on how to write Marie, donate, or learn more on other ways to help please visit www.freemarie.org.There are other ways to support Marie as well. You show respect for Marie and all of our prisoners when you carry on and continue the work they believed so strongly in. Marie has dedicated much of her life to working for the earth and the creatures we share this planet with. We must not lose sight of this struggle. We must not lose sight of ourselves, our integrity, and the bonds that we share.Detailed court reports are forthcoming. We simply need time to process all that has happened to a most beloved friend. Be safe, never give up hope and stand strong in the face of fear. We are in this together, We are in this to win.Its all about the Struggle,Got Your Back Collective

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What is the Prison Industrial Complex?

What is the Prison Industrial Complex? The prison industrial complex (PIC) is a complicated system situated at the intersection of governmental and private interests that uses prisons as a solution to social, political, and economic problems. The PIC depends upon the oppressive systems of racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia. It includes human rights violations, the death penalty, industry and labor issues, policing, courts, media, community powerlessness, the imprisonment of political prisoners, and the elimination of dissent.How the PIC WorksTo fully describe the PIC, we have to look at the big picture of how it functions. For example, the prison construction boom can be linked to, among other factors, the huge increase in the number of people sentenced to prison terms with the onset of the war on drugs, the repression of radical movements by people of color for self-determination, and the anti-imperialist struggles of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The "war on drugs" and the national and local efforts to destroy radical political movements led to increasing police presence in communities of color and poor communities, higher arrest rates, and longer prison sentences.This boom is also fueled by dramatic and racist reporting about "crime," "delinquency," and "rebellion," creating a culture of fear in which it continues to be acceptable and desirable to many people to lock people (primarily people of color, youth, and poor people) in cages for longer and longer in the interest of "public safety." The way the many parts of the PIC interact is exactly what makes it so powerful and destructive. In order to fight this system, we have to see it for all that it is and recognize what drives and shapes it.Fighting the PICFighting the PIC means fighting the mainstream ideas of public safety and challenging the idea that police, prisons, and the court system make people who are not in power safer. At the same time, we must create alternative ideas of security based on the safety of the people most affected by the PIC.The United States currently imprisons around 2 million people. About 6.5 million people are presently under some form of supervision within the criminal justice system. Women represent the fastest rising prison population. Since 1980, the number of women imprisoned in the U.S. has risen by almost 400 percent. Racism continues to be a major factor in the United States, illustrated by policies and programs that sustain white supremacy. Racism, as it is used through criminal laws that target people of color, is essential to the PIC, not accidental.Prisons Are Not an Answer to CrimeThe wrongdoings we call crime do not exist in the same ways everywhere and are not "human nature". What is considered a crime is determined by the societies we live in. Because we have seen over and over again that locking more people in cages does not reduce crime, we must understand the power relationships that lead society to lock up only certain people. Since prisons do not stop problems like poverty, racism, or drug addiction, we cannot expect them to stop crime. We need to understand that we have no option but to fight and continue to fight until all of the different parts of the PIC that continue to put our survival in danger are eliminated.The Movement Against the PICThe movement against the PIC runs the risk of being shaped by easy victories or simplified struggles that do not recognize and fight the whole system. We must go beyond false separations, such as "non-violent" versus "violent" that place prisoners in opposition to each other. One important place to begin to fight the PIC is by pushing the movement to a more complete race, class, and gender analysis. We cannot allow ourselves to do short-term work that undermines our long-term vision and goals, or rely on the same systems of oppression and domination that sustain and drive the PIC to influence "mainstream" voters and decision makers. In order to do this work, we must continue to create spaces for people with different points of view to have honest discussions and disagreements about directions the movement against the PIC should take.What We Are ForSince we are so frequently asked what we are "for" rather than "against," the struggle against prisons, police, repression, punishment, and the criminalization of entire communities must display a clear vision that a world without the PIC is possible. One way to define and shape what we are for is through creating a culture of resistance, or a culture and society that fill all the different parts of our lives with alternatives to the culture of imprisonment. A new culture must nurture and sustain our struggle and provide space for political education, conversation and debate about what we are doing and what we need to do in the future.In order to figure out why people get locked up and under what circumstances, we need to look at what are sometimes called "root causes." This strategy requires looking at the competing priorities of the systems in which we live and understanding why they work well for some and horribly for others. The systems of race, class, gender, and sexuality, for instance, are commonly understood as privileging some people's needs and ideals over others. By exploring why and how those systems work for some and not for others, we can begin to develop a better understanding of how to include concrete steps in our work that deal with the negative effects of these systems on the people who are most often put in cages.To oppose the PIC, activists must work on both theoretical and practical levels. We cannot only engage in single-issue struggles, because all the issues intersect. How can we best create social change in an era of globalization? The voices of today's radical activists, particularly activists of color, must be at the front of the fight against the PIC. Those who are most affected by the system must be the ones planning its end.Organizing against the PIC is as much about building something as it is about fighting what is destroying our communities. Our organizing is also an ongoing effort to create alternatives, not only to imprisonment, but to the culture of punishment we've become so used to.

Black Dove Support Network

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Got Your Back Collective statement on Marie Mason's sentence

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What is the Prison Industrial Complex?

Who We Are

Giving us the Hollar