WHY DID BLACKS TURN MILITANT IN THE 60s: a proud white mans perspective

While at FCI Hazelton I had a Case Manager, very nice person, one of those who actually did her job and tried hard to help you with your needs and problems.
I re-enterate, a very nice person. 

On one of the many lock-dawns that occurred at that very dysfunctional institution, my Case Manager and the Unit Officer  were passing out toilet paper. I watched and waited from my door, then reflected on the fact that my cellie and I had plenty of toilet paper. Alter conferring with my cellie, we, concluded that "the right thing to do" was to tell the Guards we didn't need any. It was logical and it was the responsible thing to do - don't take something you don't need, right. Its what any human being would do.

When my Case manager came to my door she went to open the little tray-slot to hand us our issue of TP. Through the window in my door I smiled and said, " We're good. We don't need any." I swear to God. She looked at me with anger in her eyes and replied, "Are you smoking K-2 in there!" believing not that I was actually trying to do the right thing but that I, instead, didn't want her to open the tray-slot because I didn't want her to smell the smoke of some imagined K-2. 

Believe it or not, but that offended me. Why? Well, first off, I am not a smoker, not now not ever. Hate what the stuff does to people. Second because I "THOUGHT" that I would be the last person suspected of being involved in drug use. I "THOUGHT" that staff saw me as different from the masses. But the reality was and is, that we are all seen the same. One smoker makes us all smokers, one pervert makes us all perverts, one reprobate makes us all reprobates. In their eyes we're all criminals, drug addicts, rapists, child molesters and perverts ... people to be looked-down on, avoided ... lepers, hunchbacks, niggers.

In the interest of fairness I will say that some of the men here in prison are exactly those things. And some of them certainly are getting high and we are all convicted of a crime, though some of the people in prison are not guilty. But I will also remind you all that one-hundred years ago 95% of the men in prison today would NOT have been in prison for the offenses they have now-a-days been convicted of. Laws make criminals. 

Regardless of what you have been told we are not animals. We are brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers ,wives, husbands, grandmothers and grandfathers ... we are your children. We are honest, God loving, compassionate and most often repentant and lots of us have changed our way of thinking. Yet, this counts for nothing in the prison system, we are all lumped lumped together because of the actions of a few. 

You of course do not understand us, or my words, and I am grateful for this, grateful that you have not experienced what I am trying to tell you. But still I must say it.

Prison Guards are taught, trained in the classroom to see us as different from themselves, as dangerous to them. They are indoctrinated to see us in a particular way. SO no matter what type of person they are or were, they are conditioned to see us as less than them and anything we do is seen as a con, a hustle, a scam, a trick to get-over on them. Example:

A month or so ago I was walking out of the Chow Hall after the norming meal. I was in a hurry because I was trying to catch up with our yard cat; I had a store-bought pack of Mackerel Fillets in my coat pocket; she loves those mackerels and I love making her happy. I'll get on my knees and pet her and talk to her while she eats. Like I said, I was in a hurry because I had seen from the Chow Hall window that she was out there waiting on me. So I snatched up my tray, without finishing my meal and with my hand in my pocket, insuring I had her food, shot out the door and took a sharp left; eyes on my little buddy waiting for me.

Just as I turned left I heard this, "Hey you! Inmate (nigger). What do you have in your jacket!" I turned and a tall black guard (relevant to my point) was quickly approaching me. "What are you hiding in your coat?" he says in a rough, suspicious, condescending voice. I looked at him, stunned, shook my head and said, "Nothing. Just a mackerel for the cat." He of course didn't believe me and made me fan open my jacket. 

At that very moment one of the factory guys who works for this officer, and who was right behind me pipes up. "Come on *****. Its too early in the morning for that." Said officer replied. "As soon as he saw me he cut a left and tried to avoid me."

Untrue. But in his eyes, without knowing what was actually going on in my mind, ASSUMED that I was a criminal reprobate doing what we all do, steal from the kitchen. They, the Guards, are taught to not trust us. I get it. But that attitude concerning us, me, causes us to resent them for it. However, in the element of fairness I will say that not all of the Guards act this way. They just do their jobs without looking at us as sub-human. But, it only takes a few assholes who go out of their way to make our already miserable lives even harder, who you know, even though they don't know your heart, dislikes you for no other reason, than the color of your clothing (skin).

I know that some of you are thinking that we are criminals and in prison and should be treated harshly. But this is not the point. I do not want to argue human dignity with you. What I'm trying to say is that I now understand how the blacks felt ... even when treated well the undercurrent of suspicion based not on how they themselves act but on the merit of a few bad actors. The broad brush of stereotypical opinion; all blacks are sexual deviants, all Mexicans are drug-dealers and all whites are racist. 

What happens to people, prisoners included, as a result of being looked-down on, is that over the years we must fight hard by praying and practicing a positive attitude and controlling our thoughts in order to avoid looking back at the Guards and seeing them as they see us. I myself have realized this need and have refused to become angry ... to stay angry ... when treated negatively simply because of the color of my clothing. I focus on the positive things, I have dropped any pride I once possessed and have vowed to see the good in others. But I am the exception. I am an old man and it's easier for old men to drop their eyes, to keep their head down, to not allow myself to stay offended when talked-down to.

"When you and I experience that we are the same, then love arises between us" Baba Muktananda 

" To love someone is to experience that we are the same as that person (in the eyes of God). The more separate we feel, the more distant we feel, the more love is lacking in our life (inside and outside of this prison). The more we feel connected  with others, the more we feel merged with others (without judgement), the more love we have in our (home) life. It is very simple: when we are out of touch with love we have become too isolated, we have gotten too far away, we have made ourselves an island unto ourselves. The solution is to get back in touch with the oneness (of God through compassion), the essential unity of things." Quote from:

Syda Foundation Prison Project: volume 6, lesson 18, page 7

Why did blacks turn militant in the 60s? Before coming to prison I simply could not have answered that question. Now I can.
Blacks turned militant in the 60s because they got tired of being talked-down to.

It doesn't take a majority, it only takes a few pieces of shit to create resentment.

Peace be with you. Love to my Seva Team at the Syda Foundation. Perdurabo. Mark

#ignore negative people, focus on loving them even if they hate you. #struggling with this, lol.

 

 

FCI Bastrop, Texas 5-10-26