November 20th
Black & Pink October & November 2016 Newsletter I’m Beautiful As you can see I’m Beautiful And it came at the price of free I’m Beautiful And I have a brain I’m Beautiful And as so is my mane I’m Beautiful So, take a kodak I’m Beautiful Transgender and Black I’m Beautiful Even though I’m a transgender fag I’m Beautiful With a pretty girl swag I’m Beautiful And I’m a different type of female I’m Beautiful Even if you call me a she-male No matter what you say, I am Beautiful.
-Shaylanna L., NY
Black & Pink remembers the lives of transgender people around the world taken this past year. In their memory, we re-commit to fight for trans power and freedom in the streets & behind bars!
A Message from Jason
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Dear friends,
I hope this note finds you as well as possible. By the time you get this October will likely be over. Did you know that this autumn month is considered LGBTQ History Month? Did you know that October 11th is considered National Coming Out Day? I wanted to take a moment to share some reflections about both of these things. There are lots of different feelings that people have about National Coming Out Day. For some people this day is a celebration and a day to tell stories about how they first knew, who they first told, what the first kiss was like, how the first dress felt, or any number of other funny or heart breaking stories. For other people it is a day that ignores their experience. Not everyone chooses to come out. Not everyone has a choice not to come out. Visibility, being seen, is not what everyone is looking for. When it comes to policing in queer communities of color, being seen often then means being arrested. Coming out, or being known, turns into repression. Closets are not only places people choose out of fear, closets can also be places of survival. I think a lot about the stories many have shared here about coming out. Telling others you are LGBTQ while in prison can be a big risk. Sharing your status as being HIV+ can bring harassment or isolation. Yet so many of you still choose to do so and doing so can take great courage. This is not to say that all coming out is intentional though. Sometimes other people can tell, sometimes we get clocked, sometimes we are forced out of the closet because prisons lock us in a prison that does not match our gender. Coming out can look different for everyone. Some of us sashay into a crowd and proclaim ourselves as if we were fabulous divas on a stage. Others of us come out quietly in whispers with our closest friends, sharing something that feels precious. There are those of us who come out with our fists in the air demanding our rights be respected. There is no wrong way to come out. There is no wrong way to be an LGBTQ person. While we are part of a larger community, and as Black and Pink we are part of a big family, we are also very different from each other. Each one of us has our own unique needs. As people with differing races, genders, abilities, religions, and other identities, we have different experiences of privilege and oppression. These are differences we must not ignore and these are differences we must understand so that we can be stronger together. What about your story? Have you ever come out about your gender or sexual orientation? Have you come out to others about another part of you? Have other people ever “outed� you without your permission? Have you ever felt like the closet might be your safest option? Has anyone ever come out to you? How did you respond? How would you want someone to respond to you? One of the tricky pieces about LGBTQ History Month is that it requires us to know the stories of people who are known to be part of our community. It requires us to know stories of those who have come out in some way or another. As such, LGBTQ History Month will always be incomplete. There are countless people throughout history who were attracted to people of the same gender or who identified as a gender they were not assigned at birth who we will never know about. While we may know the stories of people like Marsha P. Johnson, Harvey Milk, Audre Lorde, Christine Jorgensen, Rock Hudson, Sylvia Rivera and so many others there are even more of our LGBTQ ancestors we will never know about. Their spirits may be watching over us, seeing how we make a path for liberation and justice today. I like to imagine that their spirits may be part of what gives us the strength to keep up our struggles, knowing that once there were no prisons, that day will come again. In loving solidarity, Jason
What’s Inside!
• Reflecting on our Black & Pink values: 5-8 • Letters to our Black & Pink family: 9, 13-15. 17-18. 23-24, 28-29 • Poetry from the heart: 10, 16 • News you can use: 11-12 • On the Inside: Black & Pink family art exhibit 19-22 • E-Carceration: Problematic World of Being On An Electronic Monitor: 25-27 • Visionary Fiction 30-33 • Contribuciones, Submissions, Black & Pink Address and Topics, 34
Black & Pink Hotline The hotline phone number is 617.519.4387! The hotline will be available Sundays 1-5pm (Eastern Time) for certain. You can call at other times as well and we will do our best to answer your calls; they will be answered as often as possible. We are sorry that we can only accept prepaid calls at this time. The purposes of the hotline are: Supportive listening. Being in prison is lonely, as we all know. The hotline is here for supportive listening so you can just talk to someone about what is going on in your life. Organizing. If there are things going on at your prison in terms of lock downs, guard harassment, resistance, and anything else that should be shared with the public, let us know so we can spread the word. Restrictions: The hotline is not a number to call about getting on the pen pal list or to get the newspaper. The hotline is not a number to call for sexual or erotic chatting. The hotline is not a number for getting help with your current court case, we are not legal experts. We look forward to hearing from you! This is our first attempt at this so please be patient with us as we work it all out. We will not be able to answer every call, but we will do our best. We apologize to anyone who has been trying to get through to the hotline with no success. We are still working this system out. Thank you for being understanding.
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Statement of Purpose Black & Pink is an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and “free world” allies who support each other. Our work toward the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the specific violence of the prison industrial complex against LGBTQ people, and respond through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing. Black & Pink is proudly a family of people of all races and ethnicities. About this Newsletter Since 2007, Black & Pink free world volunteers have pulled together a monthly newsletter primarily composed of material written by our family’s incarcerated members. In response to letters we receive, more prisoners receive the newspaper each issue! This newspaper is being sent to over 9,400 prisoners! Disclaimer: Please note that the ideas and opinions expressed in the Black & Pink Newspaper are solely those of the authors and artists and do not necessarily reflect the views of Black & Pink. Black & Pink makes no representations as to the accuracy of any statements made in the Newspaper, including but not limited to legal and medical information. Authors and artists bear sole responsibility for their work. Everything published in the Newspaper is also on the internet—it can be seen by anyone with a computer. By sending a letter to “Newspaper Submissions,” you are agreeing to have your piece in the Newspaper and on the internet. For this reason, we only publish First Names and State Location to respect people’s privacy. Pieces may be edited to fit our antioppression values and based on our Editing Guidelines.
Reflecting on our Black & Pink values
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Please read through the 7 Values proposed below by the Black & Pink transition team, and offer your reflections. It is VITAL that we hear from our incarcerated members! Please take some time to respond. Black & Pink is undergoing a transition! 9 people formed a Transition Working Group and have met to discuss the future of Black & Pink since Feb. 2016. The goals of this temporary working group are to: •
design a working organizational model (to describe how parts of our organization interact with other parts) that will clarify responsibilities and support sustainable growth as needed into the future
•
decentralize decision-making power away from Boston and into a more national leadership body led by formerly/currently incarcerated members; and
•
ensure that the Black & Pink organizational model supports our mission.
The are not designing a Black & Pink organizational structure for the sake of an organizational structure, they are doing it to fulfill our family’s vision & values. The values presented below build off Black & Pink’s existing purpose and analysis, as well as conclusions from the Coming Out of Concrete Closets survey and notes/questions/comments from members at a session of Decade of Black and Pink. After multiple rounds of discussions, the working group is proposing the below 7 values! Please rate your agreement with these values, add any additional comments, on the form provided at the end. If you are able to , we encourage you to have discussions with other Black & Pink members about how these values compare with your own. You might wish to take notes as you are reading through!
7 Values
How we put it into practice
1) We believe in being an open and inclusive family of LGBTQ and/or HIV+ people and those whose struggles are aligned. We aim to break down barriers, not to build them up. We welcome people at the margins of society: queer/trans, of color, poor, criminalized, disabled. We uphold the right to self-identification, and we don’t think there is one “model” of who a Black & Pink member should be.
We put the penpal program at the core of our work, so that relationship-building through the prison walls is not only a key piece of our work but also informs the rest of our work. We don’t make assumptions about people’s identities (e.g., asking for pronouns at the beginning of meetings). Although we take into account people’s politics and experiences of incarceration, heterosexism, transphobia, etc. in looking at how to participate in Black & Pink, we don’t disqualify members based on identities. While we invite allies to participate, we center the voices and needs of our LGBTQ and/or HIV+ members.
2) We believe in the power of people placed behind walls. We believe that those most directly harmed by the Prison Industrial Complex (the PIC), via lived experiences of incarceration and/ or police targeting (especially due to being low-income LGBTQ and/or HIV+ people of color), are those who best lead the way to win prison abolition.
Black & Pink centers and takes leadership from currently and formerly incarcerated LGBTQ and/or HIV+ members and draws first and foremost from these folks’ knowledge and experience to shape our priorities, strategies, and tactics for abolition. The formerly and currently incarcerated people in leadership positions will be empowered in their roles according to their own interest and capacity, with adequate support/power-building work from the rest of the team, so that we don’t tokenize them and burden them with all of the labor. We welcome people’s’ involvement in multiple ways and work to develop the capacity of our membership.
Reflecting on our Black & Pink values
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7 Values
How we put it into practice
3) We believe a just world requires abolition of the prison-industrial complex and creation of community alternatives to addressing harm. We explicitly are not a reformist organization, as the PIC is an inherently harmful system. We want to abolish the PIC for everyone, not just “nonviolent offenders”, as we believe no one is disposable.
We don’t support temporary solutions that we will only have to fight against later. When deciding to support/advocate for a policy or sign onto an initiative, we ask ourselves if it is a “non-reformist reform” that truly works toward abolition, while reducing harm in the immediate timeframe. For example, we work on campaigns to pass bills that limit use of solitary confinement, but we are against proposals that purportedly make prisons “friendlier” or decarcerates some people while funneling more money back into the PIC. We learn from transformative justice models pioneered by other organizations and build community on the outside to try to prevent harm from occurring in the first place.
4) We believe in the importance of healing and holding our complicated selves. We believe that everyone is not only the worst thing they have done, nor the worst thing that has happened to them. We respect and learn from each other’s journeys. We recognize the importance of taking time to heal from personal trauma and violence.
We meet people where they’re at, as no one is perfect. We don’t engage in destructive, harsh call-outs but learn together and lovingly push each other’s analysis and praxis toward abolition and liberation. We encourage people to step back when they want/need to do self-care on their own terms, and we also put effort into community care, such as scheduling community dinners and volunteer appreciation gatherings that aren’t meant to be “productive” but just a time to appreciate one another, take a break, and have fun.
5) We believe in adaptability for the sustainability of the organization. We’re aware that all of us have our own lives with human needs. We are flexible to shifting capacities and don’t lock people into rigid responsibilities only to have them burn out. We expect each person to communicate proactively when their capacities change and to reach out for help when they need it. We honor how hard getting out of prison is and recognize the struggle of juggling volunteering, jobs, life, etc.
We communicate our needs and changes upfront and in advance as possible so that we can accommodate and advance the work. We will centralize the information to decentralize the work, allowing knowledge and tasks to be passed from member to member so the burden doesn’t lie on one person/group. While we can’t do everything for everybody all the time, we can do some work to support participation (e.g., send someone a computer who needs one in order to be involved).
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Reflecting on our Black & Pink values 7 Values
How we put it into practice
6) We believe in transparency and remaining as simple of an organization as possible. We value participatory decision-making and sharing information throughout our whole membership body. We work toward an organizational culture where we solicit, give, and integrate feedback in a constructive and compassionate manner. We don’t want to become an inaccessible bureaucracy.
We use the newspaper and monthly chapter calls to give cross-national updates to and solicit feedback on what we’re doing from our inside and outside members. We don’t think any single individual always has the final authority on everything, and we collaboratively decide on meeting facilitators and times, etc., rather than following a rigid set of rules. According to previously agreed-upon scope, and with these stated values in mind, we entrust and delegate decisions in specific areas to certain working groups/ members (e.g., newspaper editor doesn’t have to consult with everyone else before including a letter in an issue) so that the work doesn’t get bogged down in bureaucratic procedures.
7) We believe in solidarity with movements for liberation to recognize and resist oppression in all its forms. We understand that our work is interconnected with that of other groups and organizers that are abolitionist, queer, trans, feminist, anti-capitalist, anti-white supremacist, pro-disability justice, anti-colonialist. We are just one family in a broader movement for collective liberation.
We respect those before us and alongside us who have been organizing for liberation. We use and build upon others’ frameworks, analysis, and tactics as appropriate and with proper credit. We actively reach out and respond to requests from other groups whose values we share. We host/co-sponsor events/teach-ins that are open to the public when possible. Our political education draws from many movement sources, e.g., black feminist thought, visionary fiction, to develop a fuller understanding of what we’re fighting against and what we’re working toward.
BLACK & PINK MEMBER FEEDBACK ON 7 PROPOSED VALUES
Please fill out the form below, by putting an X in one box per row to show whether you disagree, are neutral, or agree with each value. Also, please write what you like best and what you like least about each value on a separate page. We will share the results with you! Please then tear this out and mail it with your comments to: Black & Pink - FEEDBACK. Thanks!
Value 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
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Mark Seliger’s Portraits of the Transgender Community Are About Being Seen By Hilary Weaver, Vanity Fair, Oct. 11, 2016
Photographer Mark Seliger has lived in the West Village for nearly 20 years. Over the years, he has often walked to Christopher Street, just a few blocks away from his apartment, to capture the evolving landscape of the well-known safe haven for the L.G.B.T.Q. community (and home to the Stonewall Inn, birthplace of the modern gay-rights movement). The photographer says he has long seen the neighborhood as an “Ellis Island” of sorts for marginalized communities. One day in 2014, after Seliger and an assistant photographed two women in the late afternoon light, they followed their subjects to a church, where a panel for transgender folks was being held. After that meeting, Seliger, said, “we started to build the idea that maybe this was a bigger project than what I had considered it at first.” In his new book, On Christopher Street, published today by Rizzoli, Seliger tells the stories of transgender people he encountered while shooting on the block in the ensuing two years. As he made his rounds each day, Seliger said he would approach people he met on the street with a very simple pitch: “I’m working on a body of work and a body of portraits that capture this time on Christopher Street.” Few refused. Most participants, Seliger said, agreed to the photo on the spot. “There’s something liberating that someone is being seen for who they are, and that was almost the mantra, was being seen,” Seliger said. “ I thought, ‘If I could just find a way to build this confidence of this person and get to know the person a little bit and an idea of where the portrait was gonna go.’” Telling these stories was a way to add to the increased visibility of transgender people in recent years, in large part thanks to public figures including Caitlyn Jenner, Hari Nef, Janet Mock, and Laverne Cox. And while some of these more famous faces appear in the book (Mock wrote its foreward), Seliger said he enjoyed allowing the stories of lesser-known transgender people to enjoy visibility. He wanted to address the challenges of every member of this community to be both seen and heard. “Once we started to dig deep and I got to know some of my subjects; what they stood for and what they believe; I wanted to have some of that sprinkled into the photographs to kind of connect the dots a bit,” he said. “I think to be able to identify with everybody’s daily struggle and hurdles and passions and fears helps this in all directions. Phobias and fears and regret; whatever it is you’re dealing with—they’re all solved by understanding.”“The more that we understand, the more that we got those fears down, the more that that tolerance spreads into everything,” he said. “The way that you kindle your fire is to be around a burning flame.”
Jamel Young and Leiomy Maldonado
Isis Naveja.
Letters to our Black & Pink family Hey all you fabulous Divas, Dykes, T-Girls, & Studs!!! This is your sister <Ms. Jayde Moonshadow> and I wanna send a shout-out to all my totally fantabulous fellow “T-girls!” Hay ya’ll!!! I also want to embrace all the recent additions to our “family.” It takes an unimaginable amount of bravery & courage to be all that we are; despite the fact that in doing so, we often are rejected/ridiculed by the very ones we hope will accept & love us (for being us/as we’re meant to be). I, myself, have had a lot of trouble with this. I am totally “out” (& proud of it), and have been for a while now. However, I’ve lost a lot of those I’d thought were “friends”, simply because they were not able/willing to accept me as I truly am (as a trans-woman). Those of “us” that’ve experienced this first-hand, are fully aware how “traumatic” these losses are/ can be. That’s why I’m a very firm believer in “HOPE;” hope that I’m strong enough to make it each day, hope that I am being true to myself, hope that I am always there for those who need me, hope that each new day is a bit better than yesterday, and hope that we will all be accepted & loved for being the way we choose to be...> Speaking of “Hope,” I’m very hopeful that I will get a positive ruling from the “courts.” I’m fighting for a “legal name change,” a “bra (female undergarments),” and “electrolysis/laser hair removal.” I finally got approval for the “hormones” (in May/2015) and am making steady progress in that area. Though, I’m still absolutely clueless. as to how to measure my “cup/breast-size!” Does anyone know how to do this?! Unbelievably, there’s not one female staff/doctor/nurse that’s willing to tell me how it’s done, like I’m some creepy-ass freak for asking...>!!! Well, before closing this out, I want to give a loving shout-out to the following “family” members: to L’Don Rose (in CA), all my love & hugs (keep fightin’ girl, I’m right here with ya, honey); to “A.J.O” (in CA), hang in there sweetie. I know it’s lonely and hard, but I love you and accept you for the glorious & perfectly awesome person you are!; to Robin (in Las Vegas, NV) I love your spunky-style/
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philosophy about all these hater-ass fools! Haters gonna hate, while lovers stay lovin’!!!; to Lexi T. (in MA), I love that you wrote about “making a difference,” not “being different!” Stay strong and know that life is always worth living, no matter how difficult the path laid-out before us is!; and finally to Cassie (in TX), keep being true to yourself girl! You’re so brave and deserving of acceptance <no matter what your chances are in life>! Lastly, I want to send my love & adoration to “Luna Umbra” (in MA); you’re my light in this dark & lonely world! Thanks for being a “True Friend!” All my love and hugs, cutie!!! Stay strong, united, and loving always, Ms. Jayde, CO (<3 “kisses” ya’ll)
—▼— I see you Waking up with you is like The sun shining on a stream If watching you lay next to me Is wrong then let me dream When you’re sleeping I can see The way I miss so much I wait awhile to see you smile And envy what you touch The room is sweet its your perfume The pillows love your smell The sheets tell me your beautiful They say we dance so well And when your eyes open to mine You sigh and gently say Its worth the wait to finally see You look at me that way Archie K. WA
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As I ... As I Sit in the Dark, I Think of you. As I Think of you, I Envision you. As I Sleep on my pillow, I Dream of you. As I Dream of you, I Experience you. As I Experience you, We Lay Together. As I Toss and Turn in Bed, I Desire you. As I Desire you, I Scream for your Touch. As I Walk, I Look for you. As I Look Around, I See you. As I Run, I Approach you. As I Eat, I Dine with you. As I Dine with you, I See you smile As I Bathe, I Shower with you As I Lay in Loneliness, I Cry for you. As I Clutch My Pillow, I Hold you. As I Hold you, I Feel your Heartbeat. As you Read This, I am Missing you, AGAIN! Joseph D. FL Love Me For Who I Am I’m not the President of the United States* I’m only human and yes I make mistakes Love me for who I am I’m not rich and able to offer you the world Give you diamond and drape you in the finest apparel Love me for who I am I don’t have a mansion with luxurious cars I come with a little baggage and a heart full of scars Love me for who I am Tony, VA *Editor’s note: The POTUS makes MANY mistakes!
-Prison SurvivorWhat am I feeling, in this where I reside? Emptiness, loneliness, draining me from inside. I try to maintain smiles, but often find frowns, Making it seem I’m alright, while putting on a show for these clowns. I fight the struggle, day to day, head to head, Expecting to obtain peace, but find misery instead. But thats fine, because I’m fighting for a cause While learning from oppressors, who help reveal my flaws. Oh Prison, oh Prison, many minds and lives you’ve maimed One by one, few by few, even bodies that lay unclaimed. I’m scared, Im confused, battered, beaten and lost. But find myself I will, no matter what the cost. I will not quit, while confined within your walls. Faithfully, on bended knee, praying my mercy’s God will come to claim me, so out of your clutch I will arise, from the bottom the top, no matter my demise. So, consider yourself beat, from the emotional abyss I now ascend The pains and wounds you’ve inflicted, have now begun to mend. Others will follow me, so I have some work in store, You have won many battles, but I shall win the war. James M. TX
News you can use
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Lil Wayne Officiated a Same-Sex Wedding In Prison By Orie Givens , advocate.com, September 29 2016 Rapper Lil Wayne officiated a wedding for a same-sex couple while he was behind bars at Rikers Island, a jail in New York City, serving an eight-month sentence in 2010. The rapper reveals details about marrying two men, and more, in his forthcoming memoir, Gone Til November: A Journal of Rikers Island, which comes out October 11. Lil Wayne served eight months of a one-year prison term in 2010 because he was found in possession of a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his tour bus in 2007, notes U.K. newspaper The Guardian. “I got the Bible and I’m like, we gathered here today,” he wrote, reports Billboard, who obtained an advance copy of the book. “We even had a reception, which everybody brought something for the couple.” The rapper reportedly helped put together a makeshift ceremony and reception for the two grooms, which included cookies and Gatorade. Those in attendance hung tissues for decoration and listened to music on headphones to celebrate the couple. The New Orleans rapper has previously voiced his support for the LGBT community. When NBA player Jason Collins made history as the first player to come out as gay in the basketball league, Wayne told MTV he supported Collins. “It’s opening a lot of doors and it’s showing that it’s a fair world out there. Just to see how many people came to his support and things like that, that’s a pretty fair world out there,” he told MTV in 2013. “Be you.” A nuptial must be officiated by a licensed minister, clergy or judge, for it to be legal, meaning that the ceremony was likely just for fun (unless Wayne is officially ordained). And New York State did not legalize same-sex marriage until 2011. But, apparently, it was an affair to remember.
News you can use
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Public Demands an End to Harassment and Retaliation against Queer and Transgender Prisoners October 11, 2015. Press Release. LANSING, MI – On Wednesday, October 12, from noon to 1 p.m., supporters of LGBTQ prisoners will rally outside Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) headquarters at 206 East Michigan Avenue, Lansing. Family members and others from across the state will gather to demand that MDOC put an end to the sexual harassment and mistreatment of prisoners. The rally, titled “Can’t Cage Our Humanity,” stems from the struggle of gay and transgender prisoners at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson. They are routinely sexually harassed and demeaned by correctional officers. Sexual harassment of prisoners is a violation of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. When some of the prisoners filed grievances against officers for the illegal behavior, they experienced further mistreatment and retaliation, with officers ganging up against them in coordinated efforts to retaliate against the grievances. “We may be caged, but we’re not animals,” said a transgender inmate known as Chaz. A first rally was held on May 26, 2016, to publicly support the prisoners. Yet the problems continue unabated, and no officers have been removed, punished, or reprimanded. The Legislative Corrections Ombudsman’s office opened an investigation into the mistreatment, but has not communicated any findings to the public. The demands expressed by the prisoners largely ask MDOC to enforce its own employee policies. They include: • Zero tolerance for harassment or brutality by prison staff. • No retaliation for filing grievances. • Guards who sexually harass prisoners should be removed from their units when they’re under investigation, per MDOC’s own policy. They should also be prohibited from forming cliques for purposes of retaliation. • Staff should be required to follow MDOC’s own policies and federal policies that protect the rights of prisoners. Guards should be disciplined for violations, per MDOC policy. • MDOC must provide better training for staff on professional, nondiscriminatory treatment of LGBTQ people. • LGBTQ prisoners should have the voluntary option of a designated unit or facility and yard where they are safe from sexual harassment and assault. • All prisoners should receive appropriate medical care. •
Transgender prisoners should be able to keep hormones in their quarters.
Protester Hannah Shaughnessy-Mogill said, “When a prison guard can harass prisoners in a homophobic or transphobic way, and then retaliate against anyone who files a grievance, the system is built upon the denial of human rights.”
Letters to our Black & Pink family I write to my GLBT family because I have nowhere else to turn to. I am housed in the Bible belt of West Texas, arguably the most anti-gay place on Earth. For 4 years, I have endured TDJC’s practices of hyper-surveillance and targeting of homosexuals. I really hate that the system focuses more on me writing kites to my partner than all the violence/ extortion. For over a year my partner Shane “Loose Screw” and I have been madly in love. We enjoyed life, supported/encouraged each other, etc. Then one day, out of nowhere, we get a “lover’s interest” flag put on us. We were moved apart from each other. This is 2016! “Homosexual conduct” is no longer against the law, there is nation-wide same sex marriage, and “don’t ask/don’t tell” was abolished. However, TDCJ doesn’t keep up with the times & still has homophobic disciplinary rules. You would think the system would encourage peerto-peer support. The need to feel loved, wanted, and appreciated is a basic human need. Denying us meaningful relationships hurts our rehabilitation! Love gives us a purpose. And with purpose comes goals and aspirations, I know personally, I feel calloused and bitter that TDCJ has stripped me of my joy by moving my partner. Screw, if you are reading this, I love you. “Till the wheels fall off.”
B&P family in TX - my heart is with you.
Eric “Angel” (aka YOLO), TX
—▼— Black and Pink family, My name is Terry, and I just started receiving the B+P Newsletter, and the letters really lift my spirit up. The newsletter is the only mail I receive. I’m doing time in a Washington State prison. I’m a white bisexual male. I met the love of my life while in prison. He is going to be released within the next few years. Me on the other hand have time upon time to do. But I trust and have faith, he will not leave me. He even asked me to marry him. I said yes!!! And I even have the ring!! Well enough of that, I would like to talk about a letter I read in the July 2016 issue, written by Lady Mystique, and well I just have to talk about it, and the issue of “what do you do when your man gets
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released, just what do you do?” First off you need to have faith. Give him some time, to get things set up. You know he just was released and face it he needs time to find a place to live, a job, and all that, so be patient with him, if it is meant to be then it will be. If, he has some kind of address, write him after about a month, this will give him time to get stuff together. You said that the last guy you were with wanted a relationship with you on the outs. I would say go for it. If you both are in love with each other. You just need to trust him and believe in your relationship with him. As for the 2nd guy that wrote you after 2 years. I would have to say keep him as a friend, because you said you love him but not in love with him. I would think if it was important to him, he would of wrote you before 2 years had passed. You should not have to settle for being with someone you are not in love with. For a relationship to work both parties need to be in love with each other and not just love them. That is why I know that the relationship I have will never fail, because we love each other and we are in love with each other. When we are around each other, people say “we both light up” :), “we have smiles on our faces”. Both our hearts beat faster and we both have sweaty palms. You know it feels so great to be around each and it’s just nice. Knowing you are cared about and for, and the feeling of being loved well it’s the greatest feeling in the world. So please go with the feelings of your heart, and not the thoughts of your head. Trust in true love of your heart and it will happen. This I promise you it did for me! I hope this helps, because it helped me when I was writing it. And well it put a smile on my face knowing I am loved, in love, and someone cares about me just as I care about them. Love to all who read this, Terry, WA
Letters to our Black & Pink family Hello family,
I have read about the abomination that occurred in Orlando’s Pulse club maybe six times so far and my soul aches so terribly that it is still difficult, even now, to formulate a coherent message without the urge to yell, scream, and gnash my teeth in rage and lamentation. I’m not at a loss for words, but rather my mental filter isn’t working quite right. I’ll start slow and simple, my name, for those who don’t know me, is Ti’Anna Analise Delarosa. I was born June 30, 1993. I’m 23, HIV positive, transgender, and am Creole. Okay, now that I’ve calmed myself down some I’ll set to the point. I’m deeply affected and wounded by the events that took place. I know almost firsthand how horrible the immigration laws are, having made the acquaintance of many amazing men of Puerto Rican, Mexican, Honduran, and Guatemalan descent and having been in a county jail where out of the 8 pods, 7 were for immigration and overcapacity and being emptied and refilled/ overfilled every day. They are treated in a contradictory manner: 99% of the materials in the law library are en Espanol or all about immigration/ deportation laws, which blatantly says they are top priority, while they are housed in overcrowded, unpleasant, and altogether unsanitary pods, leaving the message that “non-Americans” (in the words of racists and bigots) are less than beasts in their eyes. I’ve also experience homophobia firsthand. My father was a heavy-handed alcoholic gay basher. Suffice it to say 2008 to 2012 were NOT my best years. Here is what I really want to talk about: since first reading the article about Pulse’s Latinx night, I’ve been contemplating what I like to think of as my “counter attack”. My plan is to build/have built a large (aka MASSIVE) facility of 10 stories for the main targets of senseless brutality and bull schnozzle laws. I call it the “TPOC Rainbow Palace”. (TPOC = Truly People of Color) It will house a club on the first and second floor: a cafeteria on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors; and housing on the 6th thru 10th floors. A few details: 4 queen-size bunk-beds per room; internet and Wi-Fi; 2 phones per room; intercom’ emergency call buttons’ interpreters/ translators; each window will be 3 layers of 2-inch thickness of bulletproof glass-shatter proof glass-
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crystal mixture; the exterior walls will be 8-inch thick titanium-steel-iron alloy sheets to promote bullet proof metal-style resistance; metal detectors and super heavy security. It’ll take me close to about 18 months to gather the appropriate funds in surplus of what is needed for construction, wiring, plumbing, etc. and get the initial structure built to the 6th maybe 7th floor. I am a financial genius (self-proclaimed and titled by others). I actually have a plan of accumulating the funds with very little financial support (loans, etc.) that will place me in Bill Gates’ seat in a timely fashion. Back to the point. The TPOC Rainbow Palace is intended as a safe haven for LGBTQ and TPOC. The housing is intended exclusively for LGBTQ immigrants, TPOC immigrants and TPOC LGBTQ who either have no home, can no longer afford their home, wish to leave their home or are afraid to have one. There will be space reserved for those who don’t fall in the above stated categories, though they are not my top priority. My main worry is the LGBTQ immigrant community, TPOC immigrant community, TPOC LGBTQ immigrant community, and the TPOC LGBTQ community. That doesn’t mean others are not important to me, they just aren’t my main concern. They’re not being senselessly murdered and/or deported. One of the main objectives of the TPOC Rainbow Palace is to help shelter those considered to be immigrants (though this county was founded by immigrant who enslaved immigrants and made laws to keep other immigrants from following them on more righteous paths and for better reasons than to rebel against their home because they were self-centered, self-serving, greedy, lazy, undeserving, arrogant, deceitful, and outright cowardly flurps and ninnies. I’m not racist. I’m just highly prejudiced against the stupid people who did the stupid things that lead to the even more heinously stupid things that are happening now! Rant over.) and also to help them gain citizenship and temporary student visas and green cards so that the highly ignorant government can’t send them away or hurt them anymore. My question is this: who is going to join me? I’m going home in a little less than 12 months and when I touch down, I’m setting this plan in motion. I’m not scared to admit I’m going Continued on next page
Letters to our Black & Pink family Continued from prior page to need a lot of help. I’m only one woman you know. I need to know that I’m not doing this alone and that we deserve this. The sad truth is that so many people are willing to march and rally and protest and write letters, but when it comes time to physically sacrifice oneself: time, money, energy: working, building, laboring, sweating and even bleeding (work does that to people, believe it or not). About ½ to 1/3 of those speaking up actually act out. I’ve seen it in here prison-side. Everybody complains, but only 3 out of 50 (there 2,100 inmates here) people will peak up and act out. Here’s the thing: I’m a born warrior, I know how to battle, survive and WIN. What I’m planning will put a huge target on my head. I’m ready for it. I’ve been raped, beaten, gay bashed, jumped twice, contracted HIV (4 years ago), survived jumping off of a car, and multiple suicide attempts. I welcome death at every turn, we play the game of Life every Friday and chess every Tuesday. As you can see, I haven’t lost. I truly think I’m going to live to be a 120-year-old crone mother. (Great! ☺ … NOT!) If I do I’ll love ever millisecond. In the case of the TPOC Rainbow Palace (I love that name ☺ ), a great many feathers will be ruffled and a war will be waged. In the end, purple wings and pink flames with black swords and periwinkle halos will fill the sky. Rainbows will be seen all over the world and techno music will rain from heavens. Translation: WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS! If you wish to be apart for that which is being planned or have suggestions, drop a couple hints to me via your poems and letters to Black & Pink if they’ll be a good sport about it. Keywords: #RAINBOWREVOLUTION, #TRP (which is the palace I mentioned), and #RAISETHEPULSE. BTW: I just want to say that Trump can kiss my purple wings, periwinkle halo and sit on my pink tail. The guy’s a jerk and a rich jerk at that. I KNOW we can do butter. I was born and raised a southern Bayou Belle and in my family, every person is loved. Has a home, and has a family, whether blood or not, undocumented, citizen, interplanetary, or multidimensional doesn’t matter. You are LOVED and you are FAMILY-PERIOD. God bless you, blessed be, Goddess keep you, and my love engulf you. Peace, Blessings and Love, Tianna D. “Mommy T” IL
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Dear Black and Pink family, Hello to all my sisters inside & outside those walls. My name is Michael AKA Mike Mike. I am a long time reader and will start writing more. You know I was not too big on Relationships while in Custody of NCDOC. They never really worked for some reason or another, But, when I left Avery Prison to go to Hornet for Dart Class I could not help but fall in love at first sight of this sexy one whose name is also Michael who goes by “Lakisha”. Little did I know he felt the same for me. So after being at hornet for a week I asked if he knew anyone willing to jump out the window and get into an intimate Relationship. Lakisha says “yeah, me.” for the next 3 months I forgot I was in prison. I’d wait at the Block at 3pm + wait for him to get out of the Barber School. In the mornings we’d walk together to class, on the weekends he’d play Ball + I’d work out then we’d spend the rest of the day hanging out, plus church on Sunday. Well, as my class finished and his rolls on I tried to stay. Staff said no. So on January 24, 2016 I asked Lakisha to marry me. Yes, was the response, and with it came a silver ring. (Staff took it at the next camp). Well with any love story goes a sad ending. Jan 28th, 2016 I was put on the Grey Goose to go to “The Rock.” Needless to say I cried that morning because I could not give my love a goodbye hug or kiss. He was in the Block across from mine. I gave him my info as he done too. Needless to say no luck there. I been at the rock for 3 months now and now on Protective Custody trying to get away from here. Lakisha, if you’re reading this, don’t cry, I’m coming home soon. I may not make it back to Hornet but I get out 7 months after you Boo-Boo. I wear a ring I got off the yard. I brought for 10 stamps. Engraved on it is † Eternal Love † which clarifies to everyone here, “Hands off I am spoken for.” To show my ever loving Support I got ⚣ tattooed on my Right side. One Black, one white for My Boo Boo Lakisha. To Black and Pink family I love the Cards, Postcards and Letters on the Holidays. Thankyou ALL. Much Love your Brother, Michael, NC AKA Mike Mike, NC
Poetry from the heart The sight behind her eyes Storm clouds of infernal rage or A soft incessant rain weeping Sorrow of the soul Both reflective of a forbidden Love- without an answer to the Riddle of this esoteric connection
I hear her calling me in the dark Of night- I wake from the dream Alone- my arms empty- an Empty confusion unable to place the Reason behind this displacementWe are each torn in two- watching Witnessing from afar- one who Isn’t my doppelganger- which is the Shadow side? These shoes can Never be filled by an understudy. I slide on the costume of another’s Flesh to mirror the scene, and look To see her silent scream Comedy and tragedy’s muse- no one Finds this display amusing. What Escaped remembrance in time, and Distance - returned in a lightening Bolt of electricity through a butterfly’s Touch- yet instantly dissipates when That look pierces me again by her Turning away. Anastazia S. IN
Art by Whiteeagle
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Neu Lyphe!
Out of control, In Order to hide the real me, Exposing only what i want you to see. Now after Twenty-Three long years, Finally i am overcoming my long held fears. So much time wasted, So many years lost, Never really cared or considered the cost. The truth hidden in favor of lies, Given chance after chance, and numerous tries. Been through D.M.H, D.Y.S and Juvenile, Kept myself constantly lost in denial. To not be yourself, to keep it secret through lies, Seems to be the way a persons spirit dies. Now i got twenty-five in the pen, And it took almost ten and a half to sink in. What i truly need is a neu lyphe, So i can be someones Girl and loving wife So now to educate myself and learn from my past, And finally be true to myself and free at last. If you now ask me where i will be in fifteen years, I would say completely over my darkest fears. And i would also say, sexy and smart, No longer scared or falling apart. That’s how i define a neu lyphe, With no more struggle and no more strife. Skyllar M, MO
Letters to our Black & Pink family Love to everyone,
Remember the song “We Are The World.” Well, we are the children to make a brighter day for just you and me. How very powerful those words are. And in the midst of prison we have to sometimes find ways to make everything brighter inside of here. Though it’s not easy sometimes because everyone doesn’t always get along. And thats when we have to remember that we have to allow others to have their opinions and differences and pray that it all works out for everyone. At this Ca prison the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.A. community has 3 support groups. The original transgender group that I’ve been a part of for many years is still meeting This group allows the transgender women to have a place just for their own sponsor is a wonderful, smart, daring person. In the last 2 years we have gained 2 L.G.B.T. groups. Both groups meet every week. One group is for all G.P.’s (General Population) as well as E.O.P. (Enhanced Outpatient) inmates. We have some great conversations and a lot of information for everyone. The second E.O.P. group is the mental health patients. I was so excited when this group started. I wanted to join the group. Though not E.O.P. I am able to go because I am the transgender I.A.C. (Inmate Advisory Council) rep here. This group is a group where I don’t have to be anyone but the girl who shows up. So many of the groups I’m in here I am involved in to the neck. But this E.O.P. group, I can sit and talk freely with everyone at anytime, play bingo, scrabble and listen to music. But this group is a group that is based on the common ground that we have a place to go in a not so wonderful place. It is a very relaxed atmosphere for me. I am so blessed to have the chance to be around my friends, sisters, and brothers. So just remember somehow we have to make the world we are in a little brighter, not just for us, but for everyone. Be Strong, Be Safe, Be Amazing Love Lisa, CA
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Dear Black & Pink Familia, Hello my wonderful Brothers and Sisters. I write this letter with a very heavy heart. Yet I bring news, wisdom, love, and a lot of honesty. No other way to be. I’m proud to say all of us at my camp, as in our brothers and sisters, stand strong. I’m working on getting a lot of items like hygiene, clothing, and many more approved for us. That’s the wonderful news. Now Imma get something off my chest that’s been brewing since the deaths of our LGBTQ familia in Orlando. I’m glad to hear of the vigil in their honor. I say to all of US everywhere. Will we back down after this. NO we will not. No, this should make us push harder and strike smarter. We are getting somewhere in Our Nation. People are fearing our voice. Let. Them. We are people too. We deserve to be heard and live. This only makes us stronger. We will beat all forms of oppression. We will strive for Greatness. Even if we miss the Moon we are amongst The STARS!!! I say let our haters hate. They only make us famous. We need to remember its our ERA to shine and show the world who we are and WE ARE HERE TO STAY. We don’t take No for an answer anymore. We are a VOICE that needs, not just wants to be heard. We shall be heard. Let us remember our Brothers + Sisters of Orlando for the milestones they reached in our ERA. Let us remember who they are and not what they were killed for or who killed them. Also let’s not let them be forgotten and pushed away by a Discrimination Government of Oppressors. We will bring it up as many times as needed just as we have with the memories of Stonewall. I’m a 23-year-old Bisexual white male. That has Pride and stands up for all our familia even Behind the Prison walls. I’m Gay and Proud. You should be too. Help stand up for our rights and Fight for all of us to be heard. Everyone’s opinions counts and so does their voice. Let us BE HEARD. With all love familia. Till this pen meets paper once more. Love your Brother Behind bars, Jason (Jay), MO
Letters to our Black & Pink family Hello, Black and Pink family, This is my first letter to the family, but surely won’t be the last. I just wanted to take time out and send love to this family that has given me strength and power in the recent years of my life. My name is Brandon, and I am a 29-yearold bisexual male from Missouri. I am currently serving time in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I’ve been down for over six years. I have been involved in same sex relationships since I was 14, however I’ve only been open about it for about 4 years. Up until recently, I have always been afraid of being who I truly wanted to be mostly out of fear of what my mother and two brothers would think of me. Father was never around, so mama worked extra hard to provide for her three boys. I didn’t want to hurt her by letting her down despite her doing her best, her son still turned out gay. I didn’t know how to tell my little brother who looked up to me so much the I wasn’t the idol he thought I was, or how to tell my big brother that his little brother (me) has sexual experiences with other men. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt my family like that. So, I continued living a lie. I would be in relationships with women when I’m thinking about, dreaming about being with a man. I would hang out on the block with the fellas, wishing I was up the street at my “play sister’s” slumber party. I lived this lie until it eventually landed me in prison. I was still hiding who I was when I first came into the system out of fear of being taken advantage of. Then one day, a friend of mine who also happens to be gay, approached me on the yard and said “check this out” while handing me a newspaper. I waited to get back to my cell during count before I opened up the newspaper and started reading. At first, I thought “this some type of scheme to get gay people to spend money”. Then I continued to read. Not only was this paper free, it was filled with stories and articles of people that fared the same adversities I faced as a gay male. I was thunder struck! Never in a million years did I imagine that there could be such a large group of people that not only understood my problems but have lived and overcame them. I immediately subscribed to Black and Pink that very same day, and started receiving this wonderful blessing of a paper shortly after.
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After receiving Black and Pink for about a year, and witnessing all our family members come together and help each other live our lives in peace and happiness, through positive words of encouragement, consistent dispersing of useful resources, and honest, non-judgmental feedback between one another, I made the decision to come out. So, I asked my mama and brothers to come up to visit. During that visit, through many tears and emotional despair, I poured my heart out to my family. I told them of my sexuality and how sorry I was for keeping it from them all this time, my mother grabbed my hand and through teary eyes stated “Brandon, you are my son, and there is absolutely nothing you can do that will change or take away the love I have for you.” My little brother hugged me and said “big bro, this just made me look up to you even more,” my big brother also hugged me and said “I love you little bro, and you got my 100% support...but don’t think I hooking you up with any of my homies (lol).” I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. I’ve never felt so alive...I’ve never felt so loved...I’ve never felt so free. I wanted to share that special moment with this Black and Pink family because I was through you all...the love, the support, the unity, and the understanding that I found the courage to be who I am today. A proud gay man, full of love and joy from the bottom of my heart...I thank you, and I wish everyone under this magnificent rainbow...love, peace and happiness... Your brother, Brandon, IL
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Black & Pink family artwork is on exhibit!
ON THE INSIDE A GROUP SHOW OF LGBTQ ARTISTS WHO ARE CURRENTLY INCARCER ATED.
NOVEMBER 4 — DECEMBER 18, 2016 ABRONS ART CENTER, NEW YORK WWW.ONTHEINSIDEART.COM
In a nation that incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, LGBTQ prisoners face a greater risk of physical and sexual victimization. They are more likely to experience assault and abuse by corrections officers as well as other prisoners, and less likely to have support from family and friends on the outside due to their sexuality or gender identity. Behind bars, their identities are stripped away and they become just another number in the system.
The Abrons Arts Center is the performing and visual arts center of Henry Street Settlement. Founded in 1893 by social work and public health pioneer Lillian Wald and based on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Henry Street Settlement delivers a wide range of social services, arts and health care programs to more than 60,000 New Yorkers each year. Henry Street Settlement is thrilled to present this vital exhibition. We recognize the need to lend voice to the most vulnerable and marginalized members of our society. We hope that this exhibition will help to enrich the conversation and actions needed to improve prisoners’ rights.
On The Inside Press Release!
On the Inside is a group show of LGBTQ artists who are currently incarcerated. The art is made from basic materials the prisoners have access to behind bars: mostly letter-sized paper, dull pencils, ball-point pen ink tubes (the hard shell is deemed too dangerous), and unlikely innovations such as using an asthma inhaler with Koolaid to create an air brushed painting. The project started with a small ad in the Black and Pink newsletter, a monthly publication filled with prisonergenerated content.Ignited and inspired by this call for art, more than 4,000 pieces were submitted. Our forgot-ten brothers and sisters seized this opportunity to be heard, giving birth to this collective exhibition. Forced to cope with a non-inclusive society, many marginalized Americans end up incarcerated because they lack resources and privilege. All too often these essential voices are silenced, in this case, because they are locked behind concrete and steel. Through the lens of art, we on the outside have the opportunity to bear witness to the suffering and also celebrate the resilience of the artists who are locked up. The art on these walls demonstrates the ability of those who are suffering to still create beauty. Each of these pieces tells a story and these are stories we must listen to. None of the artists will be in attendance as they are still behind bars, however, their works create cracks in the walls, allowing this much needed point of view to escape for the world to see. All of the artists were compensated for their work. This directly impacts the prisoners’ ability to provide for their well-being while incarcerated.
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Black and Pink is a nationally networked grassroots organization, including nine chapters across the United States, working to meet the immediate needs of LGBTQ prisoners while simultaneously building the movement for the abolition of the prison industrial complex. Black and Pink is the largest organization of LGBTQ prisoners ever, reaching 10,000 prisoners with a monthly newspaper of prisoner-generated content. Black and Pink has facilitated the connection of thousands of prisoners with outside pen pals and continues to grow those relationships. Black and Pink also supports the inside organizing of prisoners as they articulate their own demands in the prisons where they are held. The staff of Black and Pink is made up, exclusively, of formerly incarcerated people while volunteers come from a wide variety of experiences including a history of incarceration as well as those who have never been arrested or imprisoned. Panel Discussion: Taking Action for Prisoner Justice November 14th, 6 – 9pm This evening’s panel of LGBTQ community organizers and leaders in the movement for prisoner justice will offer concrete ways for attendees to go beyond the art and move into action. For more information please visit: www.ontheinsideart.com
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Some of the hundreds of works of art in show!
By Armando M.
By Bruce B.
By Carron H.
By Tony B.
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Some of the hundreds of works of art in show!
By Jerry U.
By Jim S.
By Stevie S.
By Tiffany W.
Letters to our Black & Pink family
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Gender Reassignment Mutiny a self-interview of a trans-woman Q: Good morning, how are doing in this prison industrial complex?
A: (Sara) Nah, no court yet, but DOCCS knows better than to try us as court is the imminent “Plan B”, if and when DOCCS stops participating in our current open discussions and negotiations.
A: (Sara) Good morning and Namesté, I’m doing well. This is not an easy place to live but I’m making the best of it.
Q: So you’re saying you actually believe this could be resolved outside of court? Isn’t that a little bit of fantastical thinking?
Q: So, why don’t you introduce yourself, and tell us about yourself.
A: (Sara) Absolutely to both of the questions. We are sincerely hoping that we can convince DOCCS to see the error of their ways, and change their policies. This would be beneficial in several ways, to include that it would greatly reduce implementation time of a new policy. You see, if we have to go to court we face several years of litigation and then, most probably, a couple of years of implementation time “if” we win. So you see, it would be immeasurably beneficial to get this done behind closed doors! As for fantastical thinking, yes we fear that it won’t work out perfectly in a perfect world; but we remain hopeful.
A: (Sara) Well, my name is Sara, and I’m a twentysix (26) year old transgender woman incarcerated in NY state for self-defense against domestic violence, and I’m about four years into a bid of “25 - Life”. I’ve always known I was meant to be a woman, but I didn’t actively begin my medical transition until I was 23 and in this place. I was born and raised in Upstate NY, and have a college degree in sociology. Q: So, I’ve heard that your making ground breaking advancements in gender reassignment for inmates? Tell us a little about that. A: (Sara) Yes, right now the outcome is very much up in the air, but I’m involved a legal battle with NY state DOCCS to make gender reassignment procedures beyond hormone therapy available to all incarcerated trans-inmates who qualify. It’s exciting, and looking very positive right now. I hope to gain this important right for my brothers and sisters because it’s far beyond simply cosmetic: gender reassignment is about quality of life and the pursuit of happiness. Q: That’s great! Do you have a legal team or assistance? A: (Sara) That’s a great question, and the answer is “yes”. Currently, I am being represented by a phenomenal legal team from the NY affiliate of the ACLU; Noah, Erin, and Bobby have been great and have made my life so much easier, and the phenomenal legal prowess of Chase Strangio from the ACLUS-LGBTQ+/HIV Project has been so amazing. I have to say that I am blessed to be able to work with and know these men and women. They’re just as dedicated as I am to gaining these important rights. Q:So, tell me, what exactly is going on. Are you in court?
In our conversations with Sara we learned a lot about what she hopes to do, very much a modern day Dee Farmer*. She has a certification as a paralegal, and she dreams of a day when medical attention is no longer used to political gain. Sara is an intelligent and courageous young transwoman with a dream, one of equality and even the day when she sees abolition of the P.I.C. She understands something on a powerful level: “We cannot gain our rights or equality unless we’re willing to stand up and demand it!” There’s little she isn’t willing to endure if it means the advancement and benefit of her trans-brothers and sisters. She has sadly experienced abuse while incarcerated, being transgender in the PIC isn’t easy and she knows that, she says: “The abuse only makes me more obstinate and spurs me to fight harder. As it should everyone!” [*Editor’s Note: In 1989, Dee Farmer, a black, transgender woman, sued prison officials for the conditions that resulted from being raped in her prison cell in the general population of a maximum security federal prison. Though she did not have a lawyer and inevitably risked retaliation for speaking out about what happened to her, Dee stood up for her right to survive. By doing so, she changed the legal landscape for prison assault cases and the public dialogue about rape in prison. via ACLU]
Letters to our Black & Pink family Hi Black and Pink,
I am writing to tell you all about my story and experiences of what I have faced in the streets along with being in prison and I apologize if this is not written correctly. I am a high school dropout and this my first time stepping out of the darkness to show myself to the world. Anyways... Hello to those Black and Pink and to anyone that might be reading this. My name is David Lyons. I am a bi-sexual male, I am 24 years old, I will be 28 on November 17th of this year. I am from a little town called “Newark” located in Ohio. I am a proud bi-sexual county boy I think lol... I am a registered sex offender, I caught the case in 2011 when I was lied to by a female that claimed she was 20 years old but was not. I got charged with a felony of the 4th degree and that charge was unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. I am a father of 3 possibly 4 children and their mothers refuse to allow me to be part of my children’s lives because I am a sex offender and they believe that it is a law I am allowed to be around my children with a sex offense. I was sexually molested as a child and have hid that fact from everyone. I noticed I was a bisexual when I was age 13 but I hid my sexuality from then until last year when I decided to slowly come out about my sexuality to a small group of friends that I had but they ended up abandoning me shortly afterwards because they were “homo-phobes”. I am currently in prison on my 3rd number because of making stupid choices and getting back on drugs. I’ll be honest, I really let myself go this time. I could hardly find a job. I was homeless and could not find a place to lay my head. I couldn’t even get any help from anyone. I can’t count on my family because they only care about their selves, my mother can’t and couldn’t help me because she is about to be homeless herself and she is now just got approved for SSI because she has to have multiple surgeries for her back. I felt and still somewhat feel like the world and is and was against me. I was denied of so many things because of me being a sex offender (although I know none would admit it on paper to cover their own butts) so I get depressed and just gave up and started using meth again.
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I was staying with my cousin’s before the last time I got arrested. I got “rail-roaded” by the law and my own cousin’s wife. But when I finally was able to stay with my cousin, I had re-registered my new address with the sex offender registry detective. And while I was gone one day trying to find a job, the registry detective came to my cousin’s house and asked my cousin if I was living there and then pulled my cousins wife outside and asked the same thing and came to find out in my discovery she stated that I never lived there. She did not like that by then I also had drug addictions. So the detective asked me to report him a few days later in which I did because I had nothing to hide, I did nothing wrong. Once I showed up and he asked me where I was living and I stated to him, “at my cousin’s house.” He stated that “No you don’t, I spoke with them, they say you have never lived at that residence.” I argued with him and told him that I did live there and even requested that I could prove to him that I lived there. So after a few months of arguing, he stated, “Well Mr. L--, I see too many inconsistencies with your story, so you’re under arrest.” So me being high on meth at that time, I panicked and took off running on foot because I didn’t want to lose my freedom for something I did not do. They just did not want to check to see if I was telling the truth. So upon running I collided with another detective and they finally arrested and jailed me. I was charged with a felony 3 escape, a felony 4 assault on a peace officer, and a felony 4 failure notify change of address. I was sentenced to 18 months and I’ve seen a couple of stories in your newspaper of people experiencing similar problems. So I figured I would put my story out there with you and all and I am open to any and all comments or suggestions. I hope to be able to be part of your fast-growing ad caring family. I hope to be able to a voice among the many for those of us facing problems like all of us. Thank you for your time and for listening. With much love, David L, OH
E-Carceration: The Problematic World of Being On An Electronic Monitor By James Kilgore / AlterNet. October 20, 2016 Maurice spent over 15 years in Illinois state prisons. Before he was released in the spring of 2015, authorities told him he would have to be on an electronic monitor (EM). “I thought “maybe I’d actually need it,” he told AlterNet. He knew that life was fast on the outside and he figured a monitor might help “to slow everything down.” But after few days on a GPS-enabled ankle bracelet, Maurice realized he had made a grave miscalculation.
The monitor became a major obstacle to reconnecting with society. According to the rules of his device, he was only allowed out of the house Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 to 5. If he got a job interview on a Tuesday, he had to call an 800 number and the operator would phone his parole agent to request permission for him to go out. Many times the agent simply didn’t reply. So Maurice stayed at home, anxious to find a job, but even more anxious at the prospect of being returned to prison. Things got worse. After a couple of weeks, his device kept losing the satellite signal the GPS needed in order to track his movements. When efforts to restore the signal failed, his parole officer told him he would have to find a new place to live within 24 hours. Maurice had to scramble and move in with an aunt who quickly let him know she didn’t want him around. Soon he had to relocate again. He ran into more problems when he tried to enroll in a mandatory anger management class. All the free programs were on Tuesday and Thursday but his parole agent denied him movement, so he had to enroll in a one-day course held on Mondays. That program required a $100 fee which he was forced to pay. When occasions like his birthday, Memorial Day and Mother’s Day failed to fall on one of his movement days, he was left at home while the rest of the family celebrated at the park or the beach. Ultimately, Maurice started to reflect on the quality of life under EM: “I’m free but actually am I free?” He concluded that the monitor was “like holding something over a dog’s nose, teasing him with food…like hitting the lottery and losing the ticket. You are still incarcerated, no matter how you look at it.” According to a recent Pew Research Report,
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Maurice is one of some 125,000 people who are on an electronic monitor in the US in a given year because of an encounter with the criminal justice system. Some estimates put the figure higher. In 2005 only 53,000 people were on EM. With the present push toward decarceration in many states, the use of EM is likely to keep growing. Most devices now have GPS capacity, supposedly tracking the individual’s location in real time 24 hours a day. And it is not just people like Maurice who have served long sentences who are being monitored. The net for monitors has widened to include juveniles, individuals on pre-trial release as well as immigrants awaiting adjudication. EM and Juveniles Kate Weisburd, who runs the Youth Defender Clinic at the East Bay Community Law Center in Berkeley, told Alternet that many juveniles are on this technology for months and often end up “cycling in and out of juvenile hall not on new criminal charges but for technical EM violations.” Such violations include arriving home late from school or not phoning in at a required time. There are also technology issues. Most monitors have cellphone-like batteries that require charging every few hours. If the battery goes flat, a supervisor will be alerted as if the person is “out of compliance.” Weisburd argues that the problem with the devices in juvenile cases extends beyond such issues. She contends that “EM and the adolescent brain are a bad fit. Youth, more than adults,” she told us, “have limited ability to plan and deterrence rarely works with kids-both of which are key elements of any EM program.” She echoes the comments of Maurice about the impact on families. “Most families are already struggling to get by and EM adds additional requirements to their life, requirements that often have little relation to helping in the ‘rehabilitation’ of their child.” Court cases have at least partially upheld Weisburd’s views. In Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Hanson, for example, a court held that mandatory GPS could not be applied to juveniles with delinquency convictions. The ruling noted that juveniles should not typically be treated as criminals by the court Continued on next page
Continued from previous page but as “children in need of aid, encouragement and guidance.” Pre-Trial EM Likely the most common application of monitors is in pre-trial release programs. As the discourse in the criminal legal system increasingly moves toward reducing jail populations, many local jurisdictions are considering EM programs or expanding existing usage. In the spring of this year Philadelphia announced a six million dollar program to cut jail population, largely by releasing more people while they await judgement. More than 60% of those in the Philadelphia jail have not been convicted of a crime. As part of this process the city announced a request for proposals from EM providers to supply the city with about 2,000 ankle bracelets. However, grassroots activists and other analysts have expressed concern over the conditions that might be applied in such an EM program as well as the type of algorithmic formula that may be used to determine who gets released on EM. There is increasing evidence that such formulas contain deep-seated racial bias.
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who has conducted extensive research on EM for the Center for Court Innovation in New York, a tampering alert can result from routine acts like putting on a sock or a high top shoe.
Lawyers involved in bond funds in Massachusetts have encountered similar challenges. Norma Wassel, currently the chairperson of the steering committee of the Massachusetts Bail Fund, spoke to Alternet about the problems linking access to release on EM to an individual’s economic and housing status. While release on a monitor for people awaiting trial offers many advantages over remaining in jail, people without an address or those living in shelters face serious challenges keeping the devices functional.
According to Wassel many shelters don’t provide access to outlets for charging monitors. For those without an address, the “house arrest,” which is the default position in most electronic monitoring programs, could not be implemented. This meant that a person could end up remaining in jail simply because their income didn’t provide them with enough money to pay for accommodation. The experience of people in other jurisdictions However, lawyers successfully challenged this where EM has long been used during pre-trial situation, winning a ruling which compelled the release bear out these fears. Chicago’s Cook probation department to find a technological County has the largest, longest standing pre- device that was workable in a person’s individual trial electronic monitoring program in the country. circumstances, regardless of their means. Though Since the inception of their EM program in 1989, this is only applicable in Massachusetts, the ruling authorities claim to have placed nearly 250,000 could inspire similar litigation in other jurisdictions, people on ankle bracelets. Yet activists from particularly since many devices require a landline the Chicago Community Bond Fund (CCBF) told phone to be operational. AlterNet that the restrictions for those on the monitor EM’s Accuracy often mirror Maurice’s experience. The fund raises While draconian regulations pose problems for money to post bond for those who cannot afford many individuals, a little explored aspect of EM is even minimum amounts. the actual accuracy of the devices in pinpointing According to Max Suchan, a board member for the Fund, many of those who have been released through CCBF efforts have been placed on strict house arrest with a monitor. In some cases, the perimeter for allowed movement is so short that a person can “violate” by emptying their garbage in an outside container. CCBF has attempted to contest this by filing motions to have the monitors removed or conditions modified. They are awaiting a response from the courts. A further concern that Suchan noted is that many attorneys in Cook County report having clients on EM who face felony escape cases for tampering with the device. According to technology expert Shubha Bala,
an individual’s location and movement. A number of cases have surfaced where individuals have been returned to custody for violating house arrest when their device incorrectly imported them as “out of bounds.” The most well-known of these was the 2013 case in Wisconsin in which 13 people reported false alarms to their monitors, many of which resulted in reincarceration. Shubha Bala has done extensive testing of the accuracy of EM devices and found remarkable levels of imprecision. According to studies at her Center, EM devices often lose signal or issue inaccurate reports in dense urban environments
Continued from previous page without a clear view of the sky. Bala’s findings also reveal that the devices work much better when the individual is moving. Hence, there is often “location drift” at night when the person on the monitor is sleeping. This drift can lead to false reports of violation of house arrest. She spoke to Alternet about the problems such inaccuracy, combined with the excessive amount of data generated by GPS, posed for supervisors. She said one supervisor she interviewed told her that “the data overload is so extreme that their staff ends up ignoring a lot of the alerts. He said he can’t sleep at night for fear that one day one of those ignored alerts will be connected to a serious crime.” Future Directions for EM There is a clear cut tension between the using EM as a mechanism for reducing jail population and ensuring that electronic monitoring doesn’t create a sort of mass e-incarceration, the costs of which will be born by the individuals on the monitors and their loved ones. At least three things seem inevitable for the time being. The first is that the use of EM will grow and embody some forms of net wideningi.e. applied to new situations. The most obvious sphere for this to take place is in immigration cases. The rise in people from Central America seeking asylum in the US has been accompanied by an increased use of EM by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for people who are not held in detention. The pressure to place such individuals on monitors or “grilletes” (shackles) as many Spanish speakers call them, comes largely from the companies that market the devices. The biggest players in this market are private prison operator GEO Group, which owns BI incorporated, the largest firm in the EM industry, and Securus Technologies, a major target in recent campaigns for reducing charges for prison phone calls. Research showed that Securus earned some $114 million in revenue from such calls in 2014, often charging people up to a dollar a minute for a phone call. Securus has shored up its holdings in the EM sector by purchasing industry giant Satellite Tracking of People (STOP) along with two other EM firms in the past two years. The needs of these companies to shore up their bottom lines may prompt a more aggressive marketing pitch for EM, such as applying it to individuals completely outside the criminal legal system-those with histories of mental illness, substance abuse
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or accessing public benefits. The recent decision by the federal government to cut some contracts with private prisons places even more pressure on companies like GEO to unearth new markets. Second, as the use and capacity of the devices expands, more and more location data will be accumulated and stored via highly unregulated processes. At present few regulations restrict access to this data or the length of time it is preserved. This poses serious concerns for those involved in work on the relationship between technology and personal freedoms. As Lee Tien, Senior Staff Attorney and the Adams Chair for Internet Rights at the Electronic Frontier Foundation told Alternet: “When law enforcement officials use GPS devices or other location surveillance technologies to systematically track where we are, they learn an extraordinary amount of highly sensitive information about who we are.” Tien expressed concern at the potential for this location data to be shared with private companies or government agencies. Moreover, he noted the possibility for EM’s application in the ever expanding assortment of algorithm-based risk assessment tools which are often used to determine a person’s likely involvement in a crime, their sentence or charges if convicted. Ironically such algorithms may even determine whether they should be eligible for being placed on an electronic monitor. On this question, Bala poses an alternative perspective, “the information from EM – location data as well as alerts indicating non-compliance – shouldn’t be used alone to reincarcerate someone but should instead be a tool to help supervisors know what questions to ask.” Electronic monitoring has largely remained off the radar of researchers, activists and policy makers during its more than three decades of application in the criminal legal system. This is changing. The Pew Research Center has established a working group on the issue and the Center for Media Justice (CMJ), a leading force in the successful campaigns for net neutrality and prison phone justice, are also adding a focus on EM. As organizing director Steven Renderos stressed to Alternet, CMJ is beginning to investigate the use of electronic monitoring as a technology in the criminal legal system, “exploring the extent to which EM both inhibits personal freedom and represents a new frontier to compile surveillance data.” —▼—
Letters to our Black & Pink family Dear Black and Pink family,
First and foremost my love to all my family out there, and my thoughts and prayers to all those affected by the tragedy in Orlando. My heart goes out to the families/friends of the victims. I have been getting this newsletter for about 5 years and this is my first letter to my B & P family. I know! Not much reciprocation on my end. Well...that is challenging of late... “Fatima Speaks”, WY PS hitting on (=P) a very relevant issue. “Problem solving”. Action is necessary to facilitate change. Social organization is important, and can be utilized to create opportunities for change by problem solving. This “outrage that can be expressed” is very much an important part of our progress in identifying issues that demand solutions through our thus imbued community effort. “Backwards”, AZ voiced his struggle with neglect and obvious issues pertaining to the abuse/misuse of the PREA act. As for neglect paperwork is our only way to combat any injustice taken against us, you have to use the grievance system. I know it may or may not help you in the present, but we need to make them acknowledge these injustices to aid in avoidance of any future instances. I am currently in this process myself due to medical neglect, hoping my efforts will avoid any future possibilities of neglect such as yours. I am in solitary confinement/ lockdown as well here in SMUI and I know it is difficult to find solutions. Perseverance and community. This may not be much, but A.C.L.U. is already in an open battle with ADOC over medical neglect, so just hang in there! Also to Apollo O., AZ; I agree no matter who you are stay solid, and remember we are everywhere, we are never alone. We are strong, as it takes some serious mettle to be true to ourselves and be open to who we are. Personally I am slowly opening up and finding myself seems to be a struggle and full of confusion due to my past. I was a part of an extremist group in total opposition to who I truly am, I’ve dedicated my whole life to hate, and I’ve finally walked away from all that, but not without consequences of course, as my past affiliations and tattoo’s seem to follow me wherever I go so opening up all the way is a struggle and our community is
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hesitant to accept me, not that I blame anyone but myself. It just seems as though I will never fully be who I truly am, that for the rest of my life I will bear my past upon my shoulders. I refuse to forget what I’ve done, so I know and understand that which I fight against, and lend whatever help/knowledge I can to further strengthen our community, encourage progress and acceptance, and facilitate change. I really do draw strength from all of your words, convictions, struggles, and encouragement, and hope that all may find as such. Stay strong and stand tall, take action to encourage problem solving through community. My love and thoughts go out to all of you. Always with love, Kyle B., AZ
—▼— Mi familia de Black-N-Pink, Hola, como esta? First off, my heart and condolences go out to the family of our lost ones we lost to that tragedy in Orlando. Gracias for the well-deserved card that I was so blessed to receive. It hurts me to know hatred by one could affect those who have feelings, when something like this happens to our people (Latinos). We all breath the same air. Is our skin color that much of a sin that they hate that much? Just because we may live a different lifestyle as others we deserve to be treated equally. I know this life is a struggle within us. But we need to stand strong with much power and be proud of who we are. You know, I may be locked up behind these walls, but I walk with my held high. I do not ever let someone get me down, cause I’m going to do me, although I’ve lost both of my parents while here. At first I took it all on my heart. I didn’t know what I was going to do without them. But as time went by I came to the conclusion that there are in a way better place than this cruel world, just like the lost souls we lost. No more pain, no more sorrow. Only peace in a better place. So I do hope my famalia could feel the pail I feel. Stand together, with dignity and power. And I would like to correspond with others so we could share our take on this life and share laughter. May our lost ones rest in peace, “Gone but not forgotten.” With much love, Marcus L, TX
Letters to our Black & Pink family My dearest family –
Hello again. It’s amazing how events so forgotten can shape a life, be it for good or for ill. It’s even more amazing how it is the PIC can dictate events yet to happen. I have a theory on this I’m hoping to share with you, and thusly with those in places to perhaps get it in the public eye. I’ve tentatively assigned this theory as “the development and perpetuation of caste* in modern America”. Others have addressed it in the more generic term of recidivism. Being so far from research capabilities, I’ll have to use figures from many sources, coupled with hard numbers in this backwoods one-horse-burg founded on vice and financed by the PIC. The caste you can figure is the 2.6 (?) million** Americans physically involved in the great metamortification experiment. We are sentenced to a set figure of time for our actions (failure to act, beliefs, lack of belief, identity, whatever). Then we are ‘worked’ for a pittance. Then we are charged room, board, and medical expenses, none of which at any standard of worth. But the development and perpetuation lies in this… I am poor. Beyond that, my life has left me behind. This means that at the end of the day when mail comes around, I’m the one with newsletters, ‘zines, or Bible correspondence, courses with the intent in mind of just feeling…? Maybe just feeling. N.D.O.C. bets and designates the following: pay numbers range from $10.00 -$120.00 per month. Of this there are deductions of 24.5% room and board (yes, we pay for the privilege of being in prison, and enjoying the associated no-star cuisine!) 10% into a savings account ($400.00, gate money), and 15% into a victims of crime account. 49.5% goes right back to the state. Unless… you’re poor. Between fees charged for medical services ( for me that is being HIV positive, having type II Diabetes, and the newest diagnosis of prostate cancer), legal access fees for supplies and postage (one federal lawsuit and my habeas which is now going on the 4-year mark), plus restitution and public attorney fees, I owe over $2,000.00. When my gate money card gets processed I’ll get a whopping $29.00, $4.00 of which covers the fee to get the other $25.00 in cash.
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I’m 51 years old. I went to prison at age 16 in 1981. I’ve been in and out 9 times since then. I have issues diagnosed as bipolar, post-traumatic stress, antisocial personality disorders. I was raped at age twelve in a group home. I convinced myself that was the price of being one of the cool kids. My counselor tells me that the unresolved issue of the rape has served to dictate the direction the rest of my life… for fear of association, fear of commitment, drug addiction, rebellion, prostitution, homelessness, and institutionalization. Here is where perpetuation applies, in a state founded by vice in every form, and funded by the PIC in a major way (one of the top 3 income sources), my $25.00 is going to get me exactly nowhere. Is there any help for me anywhere? Please? I turn to you, basically because you’re the only hope I have. The parole board has determined that 5 years with no disciplinary issues, all the ‘good’ programs offered, and being here for a shoplifting isn’t enough. They think I should serve 2 more years. Any suggestions? Ideas? Thoughts? Please? I love you all, and at least with you I know I’m welcome. Love & Solidarity to all, Tim, Nevada *[Editor’s note: A caste is a social group limited to people of the same rank, occupation, economic position, etc., and having values distinguishing it from other such groups. India historically had a caste system, which some argue is still in place, roughly illustrated below:]
**[Editor’s note: There are currently 2.3 million people in US correctional facilities, including jails, prisons, and detention centers.
Join our adventure into Visionary Fiction!
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“...when we talk about a world without prisons, a world without police violence, a world where everyone has food, clothing, shelter, quality education, a world free of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, heterosexism – we are talking about a world that doesn’t currently exist. But being able to envision these worlds equips us with tools to begin making these dreams reality. adrienne maree brown calls science fiction ‘an exploring ground,’ saying it offers a perfect medium for organizers to explore different outcomes and strategies in theory, before we have to deal with the real world costs. She asks, ‘How do we handle the worst of our own behavior? How do we stop perpetuating our fears and assumptions? What are the long-term outcomes of applying models like truth and reconciliation, and transformative justice? This is one of the most exciting and far-reaching topics in science fiction.’” We begin this introduction to our own adventure with this excerpt from Walidah Imarisha. You may have noticed in our paper two months ago that we had a bunch of pieces about Visionary Fiction and the power of imagination. We printed articles by Walidah, Mariama Kaba, and others, to begin to get our brains thinking differently. So much of the newspaper is filled with stories of violence experienced by our family and moments of survival or triumph over prison administrators. We wanted to also tap into everyone’s creative brains, your imagination. We know that many of you write poetry and create art, we’ve printed amazing examples of both. We know that prisons try to crush creativity by locking you in concrete and steel cages, but we know that we can get that creativity free! We want to tell some stories together. In order to do that we came up with some guidelines to help us. Three solar systems exist in a galaxy far, far away (appreciate the Star Wars reference???). Planets are part of a solar system, temporarily named X, Y, and Z (you can change that). The planets in solar system X have prisons; the planets in solar system Y have begun reform efforts, but are not completely free from the prison industrial complex; and the planets in solar system Z have never, ever, had prisons. Each solar system is made up of an unknown number of planets (you get to decide) and each planet within the solar system can be made up of different kinds of beings. The one rule is that planets in each solar system must follow the same practices around having prisons, reforming prisons, or never having had prisons. You can create any kind of planet you would like, but there are some rules about communication, resources, and transportation that you will see below. We created these rules to help us all create better stories together. On Page 12, you will see an example “encyclopedia” entry submitted about a planet in solar system Z. “How do I contribute to the story?”, you may be asking. There are lots of ways. You can create a character, or multiple characters, that live on any of the planets we have already given an example of and you can write about them interacting with each other. You can write about conflicts they’re having, love they are feeling, political issues that are coming up, or anything else you can think of. If you don’t want to write a story, you can write poetry as if you were a being (like a human or some type of non-human being) coming from one of the solar systems. You can draw an image of what you think the whole galaxy looks like, or one of the solar systems, or one of the planets in the solar system. You can write a news article about something that happened on one of the planets, or about tension rising between the galaxies, or about how the transformative justice model was used in a situation in solar system Z. There are lots and lots of ways that you can contribute. Each month, moving forward, we will print 3 things that you all create, one from each solar system. One might be a picture, one might be a poem, one might be a story, or any combination of things that we receive from you all. Each following month readers can continue the story of characters that someone else created or start new stories. We encourage people to try out continuing someone else’s story. Lets see what we can build with one another. Have you ever read a “choose your own adventure” book? In some ways we are creating a project like that. Unfortunately we will not be able to print everything that is sent to us, but we do promise to collect the things that we do not print and put them online and one day collect it all into one big book. We think that this project can help us envision what our own world might look like free from prisons. When we practice this in other worlds, it make it easier for us to imagine how to do that here. We might not be able to transform into winged animals here and we might not be cyborgs, but there are things we can write about and learn from by using these fictional beings and make believe worlds to make something possible. Another couple of things to keep in mind, visionary fiction is NOT utopian fiction. We do not want the worlds we are creating to be free from conflict. We do not want to pretend that there are no issues around race, gender, sexuality, resource distribution, environment, etc. Rather than pretend everything is just great, visionary fiction encourages us to dive into the hard things and explain how injustice exists or how liberation is achieved. It is also important that our
Join our adventure into Visionary Fiction!
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characters reflect marginalized communities. We know that the US prison system targets Black and Brown people, poor people, LGBTQ people, HIV+ people, people with disabilities, and we want to ensure that our stories of these new worlds center those who are marginalized. It is important that we can see ourselves in fiction, so keep that in mind when you are writing or drawing. Just as with all things that come in as submissions for the newspaper, we do have to do some editing. We do not generally edit content or grammar, but we do pay attention to things that are oppressive. While we encourage you to depict the oppression that exists in the worlds, and the ways characters resist it, we will not print things that are themselves oppressive to marginalized people in our real world. Also, everything that is sent to us, just like all other submissions, can be used by Black and Pink for any purpose, and we will certainly credit the authors. Hopefully you feel excited about this project. Hopefully writing fiction, illustrating our worlds, or creating imaginative poetry will be a good distraction for you. So much writing from inside prison walls relies on imagination. It relies on imagining the world beyond the cages that warehouse our people. It relies on remembering the world you left behind, a memory that is imperfect. We are excited that we are creating this together and cannot wait to read and look at what you create! Please send these submissions to our address at: Black and Pink â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Visionary Stories
Solar System Temporary Name, (what should we name them?!?) Level of Prison Industrial Complex Resources the Planets Need
Solar System X Solar System Y Named â&#x20AC;&#x153;Straigonâ&#x20AC;? by Indy
Solar System Z
Currently has prisons
Is working towards abolition Never had (utilizing reformist practices prisons, utilizes but potential for abolition) transformative justice practices Electricity (primarily rural, Raw materials (minerals Entertainment much of the urban area has and metals for factory limited access to electricity) production), food, electricity
Resources the Planets Trade
Water, food crops
Information & intelligence services
Energy for electricity
Political system between the planets within the solar system
Beasts on each planet communicate with each other to plan how they can continue to devour and grow
Communication between the planets within the solar system
People from a planet send birds to other planets. The birds from all planets communicate telepathically
Each planet is a nation and they all report into a neoliberal organization like a UN that purports to be democratic but hides unequal power relations Digitally networked information sharing (similar to the internet). Instantaneous communication!
Transportation and migration between the planets within the solar system
Transportation between planets is very limited. Because of hierarchical social structure, most people with resources for a spaceship are rich. Some people steal spaceships in order to travel.
Large federation of planets, modeled after the smaller "spokescouncil" described in example planet Through spirit communication, like telepathy by communicating through the spirit rather than the brain They have the innate ability to teleport from a spiritual source within
Very advanced technology (like drones) for transport, but it is not often used as there is instantaneous communication and residents don't usually need to be in physical proximity
Visionary Fiction: Trish & The Planet of Gold Solar System: Solar System X Planet: Azerith Name: Trish (Originally Trash) DOB: 07/23/1995 Occupation: Surviving until I get off this planet. Description: 5”9 Female. I have a translucent pale skin color. My eyes are that of grass swaying in sunlight. My hair is raven black and I have long black feathered wings. My sizes are 32D, Stomach 30, Waist and hips 34. I used to be a male. I have lived Azerith for a few months after I was born. My parents are from a planet on solar system Y. They sent me to this planet leaving a message stating I was born trash and that’s what I will always be. They sent me to a prison planet in hope that their secret child would die and their shame would not be known. When my pod landed, a female creature searched the wreckage and found me. She raised me explaining the planets have one rule; Eat or be Eaten. I began to come into manhood. I had this feeling of wrongness about myself and I sought out the rumor of a special plant that could help you understand one’s self. The plant merely made me not care. I also sought out an ancient rumor about a pool that could give you what want and truly seek. For years, I searched and it has not been about 2 years since I bath in it. It showed me who I was and that I had to take the steps to get there. I found out who I was and what I’m all about. My parents discarded me because of my wings and I kept them so I could show them that what they called trash was a diamond in disguise.
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When I emerged, I am who I am this day and now I’m building a ship using the mystical powers I’ve gained from my journey to visit my parents on Solar System Y but first I must survive this world long enough to building the ship. By: Joseph G. Art: “Diamond in Disguise” by Val Almazan, valsfreakingthoughts.blogspot.com/
—▼— The Planet of Gold Now there once lived a girl by the name of Sweet Legs. She was 5”5 but she could never stay out of the limelight. One day she called her friend Kenya and asked her to come over and bring some good Kush but Sweet Legs is the girl Kenya always has known to stay out trouble. Sweet Legs always says “you know this Kush is going to get us in trouble better yet, its going to bring the freak out of us”. We are on a solar system that has no prisons but the justice system here on Planet Z is good. Kenya told Sweet Legs that she started to feel a little wet between the lips. Suddenly somebody named Lisa teleports exactly where they are standing. They both say “woo, who is that comes to our solar system z”? The man that appeared was named Rout and he was summoned to help Sweet Legs and Kenya with a problem that he heard they were having. It was brought to my attention that you both have been bad girl Rout says and since there is no prison on your solar system I must take you with me to Solar System X, where you will be put in prison and there you will be safe from the awakening of the beast. Kenya asked frantically “Mr. Rout who sent you”? I thought I already told you that the counselor and the Major Plays of Solar System X. Sweets Legs says ok and asks Mr. Rout could we at least go and grab some of our things because if you take us with you there is no telling when we will be back. Rout says “there is no need for that my African Queens, we will supply you with everything you need; G-strings, butt-panties, thongs, and dukes”. It’s always 80 degrees on our planet so don’t worry Miss Kenya I will show you the way. We are headed to Solar System X Rout says but little did they know this would be the last time either one of them step foot back on Solar System Z. By Kenyatta P., CA
Visionary Fiction: A Cave with a Hidden Secret Once there was a bi-sexual teenage boy around 18 years old playing in a creek on his grandfather’s farm. His name was Jeff. He noticed a cave with vines and such hanging over the mouth of the entrance. Jeff decided to step into the cave and look around. It was musky, dark, and gloomy with nothing much to notice but rocks. He turned to leave the cave and he noticed in the back of the cave a huge rock with strange markings on it. Jeff could tell there was a slight light peering from around the lip of the stone so he pushed the stone to the side and behold. It was a magic meadow sparkled with fairy dust. A fairy land but the fairies stood 3 feet tall, male and female fairies with beautiful lucid pastel colored wings. Some fairies even had purple, pink, and blue wings. A fairy came up to him and told him you must keep our land a secret and he said to her don’t worry I promise to keep it a secret. Jeff asked the female fairy if there was more than her here and she replied yes and whistled as fairies came out of there tree houses, flowers, and bungalows. She said “we are different we are all LGBTQ Fairies, and Jeff looked and saw them all naked with no clothes. One Fairy said we are not ashamed, we’re happy and free and they asked Jeff if he would like them to show him around. Jeff walked with them as they flew and couldn’t help but notice the fairy girl on girl kissing and giggling. He also saw male on male kissing fairies fluttering and laughing. He stumbled upon a
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brook sparkling with trout but they appeared small. One fairy said look and there was a tiny deer about a foot tall and she pet it. In Fairy Land, everything was small and animals were unafraid. Flowers were huge you could jump in one and cuddle to sleep. Plenty of honey just dripping from a tree with a beehive. A fairy said to me don’t worry the bees don’t sting, here they have no stingers. Butterflies and Dragon Flies of all colors always were always flying around. The birds were cute but small also always singing. Jeff told them he liked Fairy Land and that he felt happy and free. They asked why, and Jeff told them as they all gathered around to listen; I’m Bi-Sexual and people mostly hate me and call me names. One fairy said to Jeff “That’s not right”! Another one spoke up and said you can come visit or live with us anytime if you could keep this a secret if not our fairy land will be taken away. Jeff told them don’t worry I will never tell anyone. I love you all as my family. By: Jeff M.
Buscando contribuciones
¡Hola hermosa familia hispano-parlante de Black & Pink! Estamos buscando contribuciones en español para nuestras secciones de Cartas A Nuestra Familia y Poesía Del Corazón. Por favor envía tu contribución escrita en forma legible y de no más de tres páginas a: Black & Pink – ESPAÑOL Damos la bienvenida a cualquier escrito de tu creación, pero dado el espacio y la variedad, no todas las contribuciones pueden ser aceptadas. Al enviar tu contribución, das permiso a Black & Pink para publicar tus escritos en forma impresa y en Internet.
Call for submissions
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Seeking erotic short stories, poems, AND ART by Black & Pink incarcerated and free-world family members for a new ‘zine. To be mailed, art cannot include full nudity. Please send submissions (and shout outs to the authors from the first issue mailed in January!) addressed to Black & Pink - HOT PINK. This is a voluntary project, and no money will be offered for submissions, but you might get the chance to share your spicy story with many others! The zine will be sent 1-2 times per year. To subscribe to receive a copy of HOT PINK, write to our address, Black & Pink - HOT PINK.
Black & Pink Address and Topics Please Note: You can send multiple requests/topics in one envelope! Due to concerns about consent and confidentiality, you cannot sign up other people for the newspaper. However, we can accept requests from multiple people in the same envelope. There’s no need to send separate requests in more than one envelope. If you are being released and would still like to receive a copy of the newspaper, please let us know the address we can send the newspaper to! ADDRESS: BLACK & PINK- ________, 614 COLUMBIA RD, DORCHESTER, MA 02125 If you would like to request: Newspaper Subscriptions, Pen-Pal Program, Address Change, Request Erotica, Religious Support & Volunteering
Address the envelope to: Black & Pink - General
Newspaper Submissions- Stories, Articles, Poems &Art
Black & Pink - Newspaper Submissions
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Black and Pink - The Spirit Inside
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Submit to Erotica Zine
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Black & Pink – STOP Subscription
Pen Pal Program Info: LGBTQ prisoners can list their information and short non-sexual ad on the internet where free world people can see it and decide to write. There will be a forms in upcoming newspapers. Mail Info: We are several months behind in our mail. There will be a delay, but please keep writing!
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The people pictured below are some of the transgender people who were killed around the world in 2016. We remember them, honor them, and let their lives inspire us to take action to prevent this. We were asked by members inside to include their pictures. Yasmin Montoy, Keyonna Blakeney, Reecey Walker, Mercedes Successful, Amos Beede, Devin Diamond, Deeiquia Dodds, Dee Whigham, Erykah Tijerina, Raeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;lynn Thomas, TT Saffore, Crystal Edmonds, Alisha, Amphon Kongsong, Hande Kader, Monica Loera, Jasmine Sierra, Maya Young, Kendarie/ Kandicee Johnson. https://tdor.info/