Event Flyer ***POST WIDELY***
Chip
Fitzgerald's first recorded interview.
This is Chip
Fitzgerald's
first recorded interview in his 38 years of incarceration, made in
connection with the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Black
Panther Party and the National Day of Protest against Police Brutality.
He talks about his early days on the streets of Los Angeles and how he
came to join the Black Panther Party, and he provides words of
enlightenment and encouragement for a new generation engaged in the
ongoing struggle for the freedom and liberation of all people.
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE! THE PEOPLE ARE THE POWER!
On behalf of the 170,000 imprisoned Sisters, Brothers and
Comrades in California for whom I do not speak but with whom
I
speak, we embrace you in the spirit of love and solidarity!
In
the current atmosphere where people are afraid to be labeled
unpatriotic... or terrorist for their progressive and radical beliefs
and political dissent- to paraphrase my comrade Fred Hampton of the
Black Panther Party, who was assassinated nearly 40 years ago... I
REMAIN A REVOLUTIONARY!
The prison system has mutated into a
complex, dysfunctional resource-wasting parasite of social control,
political repression and revenge! Human beings are warehoused in these
concrete and steel bunkers that destroy human sensibilities and the
human spirit. Then, following years of continuous antagonism and
frustration at the hands of sadistic prison guards, tortured souls are
released…. These human warehouses destroy human beings, like the Iraq
war is mutilating young Americans. Prisoners are being de-sensitized...
and they are frustrated, angry and bitter and unprepared to become
productive members of society. These tortured souls, who are our
families and loved ones, are paroled with little hope…. This is why
California's recidivism rate is above 75%. The system is now designed
to perpetuate itself.
We are again confronted with a parole
setting body of individuals known as commissioners, who are racist and
revenge-oriented and who operate as if they are exempt from the rule of
law, as the CCPOA (Prison Guards Union) and crime victims, all driving
the policy of the California Department of Corrections. The intent is
to keep these prisons filled to capacity!
From a practical
perspective of economic dollars and cents, there is no return on the
dollars invested in the Prison Industrial Complex. It's an enormous
drain on the state budget, denying social services to the people,
health care insurance and funding for education and social programs for
our youth and young adults to prevent them from joining gangs and
engaging in criminal activity.
The enormity of the problem may
seem overwhelming... and we as individuals, by comparison, may seem
insignificant and powerless. But appearances can be very
deceptive. In the words of Public Enemy, "Don't Believe the Hype."
What
is to be done to solve the problem? Let us follow the example of the
anti-war movement. Let the politically conscious people of Cali, the
progressive and revolutionary people, rise up and seize the day!
Organize to halt the perversion of justice and squandering of valuable
resources by the Prison Guards Union (CCPOA) and the Prison Industrial
Complex. Demand to be active participants in the sentencing/ prison
reform process. Demand public transparency as guaranteed by the law.
Register and vote out the legislators who have rewarded the campaign
contributions of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association
with carte blanche to do as they please in the California Department of
Corrections—which has resulted in corruption, criminal mismanagement,
thievery, brutality and even death!
Romaine "Chip" Fitzgerald
Lancaster State Prison,
California
March 2007
