Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Space Lady by Lonnie Liston Smith. Welcome to the coon's rhyme report coming to you from the heart of Skid Row. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson. This week we will be talking about how to change the prison system and an in-studio interview and performance by poet Carmen Vega. We have with us in the studio Fonja Baruti, Kevin Michael Key, and Carmen Vega. Also on the line is Dr. Mongo. How you doing Dr. Mongo? Hey Dr. Mongo, tell us about your poetry venue that you got coming up at Fernando's. Oh okay, at Fernando's, right away at 519 South Spring Street. Okay. It's the last Tuesday of the month which will be the 27th of this month. We're doing a memorial to Michael Jackson and I would like to say at this time that all look-alikes are invited. We're gonna have two feature poets, AK Tony and Carmen Vega. And we'll start at about 7 o'clock and we'll end about 10 o'clock. We also have Mr. K. and it's been tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut host we're also going to have a open mic session at the end and if we can work on the theme of michael jackson we'll be glad to have anyone who would like to contribute to drop by okay dr mungo do you have a question for carmen oh carmen okay i do carmen i would like to know she's going to smoke us okay with her with her great poetry all right i'm looking forward to that okay yeah we're looking forward to it too so what's your question dr mungo am i going to smoke you that's it are you are you going to smoke the audience and smoke but of course what else could there be i know you are right on well thank you so much for that complimentary question i have a question for you dr mungo okay where what does the doctor come from uh it comes okay instead of being being called dr mongol tari boo-boo just people abbreviated and called me just dr mongol because that's easier than saying boo-boo so it comes from a doctorate that i have in comparative philosophy u.s reserve university hold on a second what was that again okay well look dr mungo i hear that you have a special event that is being planned for you at the exchange november 6 2011. can you tell us a little about it yes hopefully uh friends of mine from vancouver nova scotia etc they're going to uh do a launch of my website that they're building for me Hopefully we will be able to shed more light on the drama stage and my launch. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Mongo, and have a good evening. Hey, thank you very much too, Ishmael, and hope to see you tomorrow. Thank you. Good night. Carmen, tell us a little about yourself, and how did you get into writing for it? Wow, that's a huge question for a little person like me. Well, basically, I've been writing since I was a young teenager, and probably before that, but I didn't recognize it as poetry. It was just little verses I would write, or little pieces of paper, things that bothered me, or irked me, or that inspired me. I would just write, and stashed them off in this little drawer. And one time, it must have been a Saturday, it must have been clean-up day, and I started pulling these little papers out and reading them. I read some of them to my little nephew, who was at the time about nine years old, and he said, who wrote that? And because I knew I had been putting these papers in there, I said, it must have been me. I know. Because Tom. I knew I had elapsed, and I almost didn't recognize some of the writing. And I realized that that was something, because I never felt myself to be a writer. I thought that was my greatest weakness. Tell us a little about your background, your home, where you were born. Oh. How did you get out here to Los Angeles? Oh, my God. Well, I was born in Puerto Rico, raised in New York City. And I came out here to, I came to Los Angeles in pursuit of a writing career. And as a screenwriter. I've been producing television in New York. And I've always had a little bit of a politicized mind. So I felt that in order for me to get down to the nitty-gritty, I'd had to go to the source of films. And I, you know, I was always into media and things like this. But I wanted to see a big difference out there. And I started pursuing screenwriting. So I came out here to become a screenwriter at the AFI. And before I graduated, instead, I started performing poetry. Who influenced you? What writers? There were many. But at the time, I would read and not really pay attention to the authors. But there was one particular poem which I have discovered. Someone has acquired it as though it were their own. But it was an anonymous poem. And it's called A Bedouin's Love Song. And that poem was, to me, so beautiful. And the writing and the structure. That I wanted to read everything that I could. I like Joyce Carol Oates. And there's just like a whole slew of writers that I'm a great admirer of. And I just love, you know, alliteration. And just the playing with words. And I just love it. And I just love it. And after a while, it's almost like writing a song. And then if something really irks me, this song takes a turn. Okay. Thank you, Carmen. We will be hearing from you and the voices from the ether portion of the show. Thank you. Now, at this time, I'd like to turn it over to Ms. Earlene Anthony for our community calendar. This is the community calendar for the month of September. Wednesday, September the 21st, from 6 to 8 p.m., Urban Community Impact, presented by USC Interfaith Peace Organization and UUC Student Fellowship. Topic of discussion, law and public advocacy. The location, USC Campus Fellowship Hall, United University Church, 817 West 34th Street. At the end of the day, we're going to be having a discussion. At the corner of Jefferson and Hoover. This is a free event, and dinner will be provided. For more information, you can contact Catherine Schofield at 213-748-0209. Tuesday, September the 27th, from 7 p.m. It starts at 7 p.m. The Poetic Justice League, featuring poetry and music. This will be held at Fernando's Hideaway. Location at 519 South Spring Street. And your hosts will be Jamal, Dr. Mongo, Valile, and Mona Jean. The theme will be a tribute to the inspiration of Michael Jackson. For more information, 213-784-1703. And this is a special event announcement. Wednesday, October the 26th. This will begin at 9.00. Long Beach Community Councilman, D. Andrews, present a Peace and Justice Summit. With the focus on deciding how to assist with policy changes and the reentry process. Housing, employment, and much, much more. Child care and lunch will be provided. This will be at the Long Beach Convention Center. 300 East Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach. And for more information, you are asked to call 323-357-8431. Or 323-563-3575. And if you have a community event that you would like announced on our show, send the information to DramaStage1 at yahoo.com. Attention, Earlene Anthony. And once again, our call-in number for the show is 800-888-7000. 893-9562. Now back to our host. Thank you, Ms. Earlene Anthony with our community account. We have with us in the studio, Fania Baruti and Kevin Michael Key. Starting with Fania and then Kevin, tell us a little about your background and how you got into this kind of work. Well, basically, I am a formerly incarcerated person. What got me into this work was studying inside the prison system. I joined an organization called the Black Awareness Community Development Organization. And began to read books such as Haki Madhubuti, Black Man, Obsolete, Single, and Dangerous. Dr. Francis Quest-Wilson's ISIS Paper Keys to the Colors. We were studying out of Naeem Akbar, Black Men. And. The list can go on and on. I read some J.A. Rogers' Sex and Race Values 1, 2, and 3. From Superman to Man. And so those things began to broaden my horizon as to my demise. And. In doing that time, I had done nine years off a 17-year sentence. And. My basic thing was not to try to lead a life that would keep me inside for the rest of my life. And. So. I wanted to bring the organization that had changed my thought pattern to the streets. And that's what we did. Currently I'm working for an organization called the Newell Life Reentry Project. Which I am the organizer for an umbrella piece, All of Us or None. And so basically it's a civil rights and human rights movement that we're establishing across this nation. And so that's. That was my first. Start back in 93 in society. How about you were telling me about also an event coming up in November. On November the 2nd. Yes, on November the 2nd. We are having what we call the FICPM's gathering. It will be at WLCAC in Watts. We met in Alabama in late February. To march over the. The. Edmund Pettus Bridge. The one that was. The Bloody Sunday behind Martin Luther King and then marching. And so what we're saying is that we have 65 million tag people. Tag people who have been formerly incarcerated or convicted in this nation. And when we are locked up. And come home. We begin to be locked out on reforming ourselves with housing, education, employment. And medical assistance. And so we are saying that, you know, enough is enough. And so that gathering is for formerly incarcerated people and convicted people from all over the nation. And we'll start at 9 and it'll go into the DPA's conference. So we have a lot of people coming. We do have more information on that. And I can give that. I can give that up later. Kevin. Tell us a little about your background. How you got into this kind of work. Okay. Thank you, Melvin. The best way to sum it up is I was born left handed. Called to that other side of the street. Seems that from the very beginning. I just couldn't get it right. You know. As it turns out. It wasn't me. It was this system that systematically branded myself and my forefathers and my offspring as outlaws. And the reason I say that is because I look at my experience. By formal education and training. I have a JD degree. I've been a practicing lawyer. But I went about it in a roundabout way. I got my GED in the Brooklyn House of Detention. I recently in 2005 got a PhD in streetology in Tehachapi. And so I've come full circle. But during that lifespan. I'm 61 years old. When I began to examine. My experiences. My attitude. I came to see that it wasn't just me. If it was just me. Then all the moral corruption. And less than that I inevitably felt as a result of addiction and drugs and the hurt and pain that we create upon those who love us most. But when I look at the graduating class from junior high school. And I see that. I see that. I see that. I see that. Nine out of ten of the people that I went to junior high school in Harlem, New York. Also had similar experiences. Usually minus the lawyer part. I began to look at the systemic criminalization of a people. Of a race. Of a generation. So I grew up in New York City for the most part. And I was a young man. Like I said. Was in and out of trouble as a young man. Ultimately. Was able to get a very good and formal legal education in New York. But I also had been called by that other side of the street. So I was addicted. And I practiced criminal law out here in California for a number of years. But I was trained in. By some of the best lawyers. Haywood Burns. Lennox Hines. As a student. I knew Bill Kunstler. And a lot of progressive lawyers. And so I got involved. And aspired to be a people's lawyer. To be the poor man's Johnny Cochran. My addiction got in the way of that. But as I freed myself. In Skid Row. From the demons of drugs and alcohol. And began to look at those experiences. I got back to doing what I was trained to do. And that's to be an advocate. For people similarly situated like myself. So I live. I work. And I advocate for Skid Row. And the people on Skid Row. And I liken today's prisoners. And the prison industrial complex. As the modern day equivalent. Of slavery. And so. Although we're talking. You're talking. And the name of this. Question is about. Reforming the prison system. I'm actually a member. Of a national. Prison industrial complex. Abolitionist organization. Called critical resistance. That's because. The nature of this system. Is that it's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. the Los Angeles Poverty Theater with John Mappy, Arietta. Tell us a little about that, and tell us how you got involved with LAPD. Oh, certainly. Thank you. Yeah. You know, that's the joke. I like to go up to people and say, I'm a member of LAPD. When they look kind of sideways at me, I tell them, the good LAPD, Los Angeles Poverty Department. It's a Skid Row-based theater troupe. It's been around for more than 25 years. It's been a large part of my recovery journey, actually. I've been a member of the recovery community for nine years. I've been a member of LAPD for nine years. And we do political theater. We recently did a piece called State of Incarceration. And... Where we actually attempt to recreate a prison environment. So we have bunk beds. The audience doesn't come in and sit in chairs. They actually come into the day room with us. And then we try and convey... The resources that are needed to deal with that situation. And the pressures that locking men and women up in cages creates. And raise the question, how do you retain your humanity in that situation? LAPD is a very, very, very positive experience. Because we don't employ trained actors, per se. So anyone. It's open to... Anyone. And we... Our basis is that your experience creates an expertise. So the type of performances we do. We did something called Utopia Dystopia. Which is about the forces that create... The stresses of gentrification. We do agents and assets. Which has to do with the involvement of the CIA. And turning a blind eye. So their assets. The people that the agents control. Could bring in massive amounts. Crack cocaine. To fund the Iran-Contras. So we do controversial work. But we come from the perspective. We tell the rest of the story. So I'm sitting in the seat of a congressman. Or I'm playing a big shot developer. Or the mayor. And so we put a new twist on it. And the creativity of it all is fantastic. But for me personally and individually. What it has done. Is whereas as a lawyer. I get to represent one person at a time. Right? As part of LAPD. I get to represent an entire community. And hopefully the best of the entire community. So I've been all over the world. I've been to Paris. I've been going to the Netherlands. I've been to Bolivia. Where that stuff grows on trees. Clean and sober. Representing the best of Skid Row. What a wonderful, wonderful experience it is. And anybody is invited to come. And who was it that brought you into LAPD? What was the link that brought you nine years ago? Curiosity. I was clean and sober. The powers that be had scheduled a cocaine anonymous meeting. That I had started. With some other clean and sober members of Skid Row. And the LAPD rehearsal space people. To rehearse in the same space at the same time. We worked it out amicably. But we became friends. And then from there as you well know Mel. You know. They do their thing. Drum stage in a sense got a boost. When you participated in fried poetry. So it was I think very fortuitous. And meant to be. But LAPD stays current. So when we did this state of incarceration piece. We brought in via Skype. The actual lawyers who argued the Coleman and Plata cases. Before the United States Supreme Court. And so we have conversations. We offer food for thought. Right now this realignment is going on in LA County. As a result of Plata and Coleman. Which as you know are the cases. The lawsuits the inmates brought. Because claiming that the medical and mental health treatment. In California's prison system. Was so negligent that it amounted to cruel and unusual death. And so. We decided to do a trial. Which was a trial of cruel and unusual punishment. First a three judge federal panel. Mostly conservative white folks. Decided that it had reached that level of constitutional infirmity. And then ultimately our United States Supreme Court. Ruled that as a matter of law. What was going on in the prisons in terms of the treatment. And then finally. We had a trial in the state of California. To reduce the prison population over three years by 44,000 people. But then the twist came in with this realignment. And the governor is going to. Because he can no longer hold. So many people in the state prisons. Are now shifting the burden. On to the already overcrowded. Over lit I won't say over litigated. But under litigation county jail system. As a means. So rather than letting my people go. Letting our brothers and sisters go. They're just going to. Put them in another corrupt corroding cage. And it's up to us to do something about it. All right. One more quick thing. I hear you got a meeting important meeting coming up. Oh absolutely. So realignment again is the process. Of the probation. And the process. Is to make certain non serious. Non sexual. And non violent. Convicted felons. Will now be sitting for up to three years in the county jail system. The people who are going to be supervising that process. Of realigning these folks. Is the department of probation. This Thursday. At 6 PM. At the YJC. Youth justice coalition. Chucos justice center. Will be meeting with. Chief probation officer Blevins. The address to the YJC. And everybody who is hearing me. Please come out. Because we need to make known. What we want done with our folks. The address is 1137. East Redondo Boulevard. Inglewood California. That's at Redondo and West Boulevard. And the number. Is area code 323. 235. 4243. One more time. Area code 323. 235. 4243. Thursday. This Thursday. At 6 PM. Before we leave. And go to our next section. Fanya. Can you tell us a little about. The organization. All of us. And. You know. How they got started. Basically. We. We. We. We. We. We. We. People got together. Who. Were. Just. As I said earlier. Saying that enough was enough. And so in about. 2003. There was a gathering of 50. People up north. To strategize. What could they do. To. Have a voice. Fighting against their civil and human rights. And so. All of us and none was established. And. It became. A very strong. Project. And. It became. A very strong. Project. And. It became. A very strong. Project. national at that time we have several chapters here in California have chapter in North Carolina in Texas and it is spreading a lot of those chapters will be here on November the 2nd you know and you know I just wanted to say something pertaining to what Kevin was talking about in terms of that prison industrial complex you know society's reliance on prisons and and punishment does not make our community safer and the warehousing of human beings mostly people of color is an unacceptable substitute of equal opportunity and social programs so we say that prisons are not a substitute for mental health and jails are not housing for the homeless and so we work to develop political power and building healthy communities right hey thank you Fonji thank you Kevin now in our voices from the community section we're going to hear a community forum that was held at the exchange on Sunday August the 21st 2011 to discuss how to change the prison system the panelists was Fonji Beruti Kevin Michael Key and Keith James we listened to part one like last week and we're going to listen to part two this week and then we come back to our discussion part two is about 20 minutes I mentioned realignment realignment is the government the governor's plan to reduce the prison population he didn't reduce the prison population because he wanted to reduce the pad to was forced to reduce the prison population because first a um um um um um um um federal three judge panel and then the United States Supreme Court held that conditions within our prisons were so bad that they amounted to that the medical and mental health treatment amounted to cruel and unusual punishment as a result they have to reduce the prison population do they have to resume reduce it to 50 percent do they have to reduce it to 70 percent 90 percent 100 percent hell no they have to reduce it to a hundred and 37 percent which means that they're still going to be overcrowded dens of iniquity right and that's what they subject our people to our mothers sisters brothers family members loved ones this is what they're going so when we talk about education there's lots of educating going on there as to man's in humanity to man that's what they're going to do that's why what Critical Resistance talks about we talk about a vision of a world where we no longer lock up people in cages lock up men and women in cages in the name of justice that ain't no justice and so right now um and haven't been to prison unfortunately or fourth matter of fact it was fortunate because you know needed to be for the moment right so that I can continue to educate myself to be an effective advocate when I get back out here on the streets. Education is nil. What people are learning is how to be more callous, more inhumane with respect to each other. So now, right now, with realignment, which in response to that Supreme Court case that says that you've got to reduce the prison population over three years by someplace between 39,000 and 44,000, the governor, Jerry Brown, the liberal so-called, has decided that he's going to take them from the over certain felon. They call them non-non-nons, right? They already got a label for them, and it starts with the letter N. And they're going to put these folks into, take them from the overcrowded prison system and put them down in the local county, overcrowded county jail system. However, out of adversity, just like my personal adversity got me to Skid Row, got me clean and sober here in the world's largest recovery community, this opens up the door and gives us an opportunity. Because there's... They're going into new ground when folks like us been trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents all our life. We know how to make some good shit happen if they're going to help us. But we've got to have a vision. That's why I'm pushing the vision of critical resistance and curve. All right? We've got to envision a world and a life without prison. I hate to do this, but anybody else beside me been to prison or in jail up in here? All right? You know, something wrong. You know, something wrong, y'all. Okay? They got what they call the school to prison pipeline. And guess whose children goes in? If you look at that poster there, we got some posters that talk about California being number one in prison construction spending and number 50. Here we are, the golden state. Number 50 in K through 12 spending. The Bible talks about you can tell where a man's heart is by where he lays up his treasure. Our treasures go in the building prison for your children and my children, not for educating them. So we got some work to do. But the first thing we got to do is incorporate a vision as to what true safety is and how we want to respond to harm. You know where true safety comes from? Keeping the man in the house. Keeping the men in the community. Being accountable. Being accountable. Being accountable. Being accountable to each other. Getting the dope out of our communities. California, once the war on drugs was declared, there was like 20 or 30,000 people being held in the California prisons. Then in 1985, nationwide, there were a million. From 1840s or whenever the first prison was built up until now. It's a million. It was built up until 1985 before there was one million people put together all incarcerated. Then from 1985 to 2000, it doubled. Why? The war on drugs. And the war on drugs is a war on the people and primarily people of color. So I'm jumping around, but CURB has what's called a budget for humanity. Right? A budget for humanity speaks to funding for treatment facilities. Speaks to funding for educational facilities. One of the main ingredients and the main asset of CURB and of critical resistance is no new prisons. No new jail expansion. And only through the intervention of the courts. And they said something. These federal courts is people then populated by conservative white men by and large. So there wasn't no liberal judge that just said open the doors and let them out. Right? So things were so bad that one person was needlessly dying per week in the prisons. Which forced them over time. So we ask you, any of you that represent organizations. Or just this papers over there talking about signing up. Signing on to this budget for humanity. That talks about the reallocation of funds from prison expansion and the expansion of the prison industrial complex. To things that will really help. And then finally, there's also a paper called 50 ways to reduce the number of people in prison in California. Some of these, now this has been around for more than a decade. And then I'll shut up. Right? Some of these as a result of the crisis situation have been incorporated into this reentry thing. So removing state prison as a sentence option. Right? They have done that for these 999. So you get convicted of certain nonviolent, nonsex, non-serious crimes. You're going to be sentenced to the already overcrowded, under indictment county jail system. Rather than going to state prison. Eliminate the disparity in sentence between crack and powder cocaine. I'm not going to do the numbers. That's already been done on the federal level. Implement policies such as intermediate sanctions. So when you're on parole and you get violated and they end up sending you back to the state pen. For certain, they've got this non-revocable parole. So there's some, there was 10 of these 50 that have already been enacted. What I'm saying to you, that what we need to do, we need to be vigilant. We need to be militant. We need to create our own vision of what our communities could be. Keeping our men. And when our men make mistakes, yes, there's something called restorative justice. Right now, if I do harm to you, right, they don't make me make restitution to you. They lock me up and maybe you limp it off. And now that's two brothers out the way. You understand what I'm saying? So this budget for humanity speaks to what? Speaks to ways that we can create our own vision of safety and work together towards making things better. Thank you all. . . That was excellent. Okay, we're going to move to Keith James and then we're going to open up the floor for Q and A. So Mr. Keith James. . . Thank you. I think this is a good point to stimulate the Q&A. I mean, I think there's different ways to come at this question. I mean, I think one thing is when you get down to it in the final analysis, we need revolution and nothing short and nothing less. And then we do need to put together a whole other kind of a society that would be uprooting exploitation and oppression. And frankly, this is possible. And we've been told it's not. We've been told it's been defeated forever and capitalism is now triumphant. And I think it's very much related to this prison system. Kevin, is it? Yeah. You know, you're talking about the war on drugs. Very important. I really agree with your comments. I mean, what was it, the 40-year anniversary, was it? Yes. The 40-year anniversary a couple months ago. Okay. Coming out of the 1960s, this is very conscious. I mean, this is not like, you know, crime's actually been going down these last 40 years statistically. This is a very conscious plan. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but let's just get real on this. You know, the ruling class got together. There was a consensus, and they said, you know what? And this is in H.R. Holliman's book when him and Nixon were around the table. Nixon said, you know what the problem is? The blacks. That's what he said. And he said, and we've got to devise a program to take them out, basically, or actually remove sections of that society that we think could be catalytic in changing the society for the better. All right. You know, in the kind that actually came forward in the 1960s. And they said, we've got to devise a program that would do that without it looking like that's what we're doing. And that's basically what's in his book. And that's actually what they did. And they came up with the one rose. And as Kevin was saying, you know, for the last 40 years, this thing's been, it started with however many people, however many tens or maybe even low hundreds of thousands. I don't know the exact statistics, but I do know today that there's 2.4 million people in prison. It's got the highest incarceration rate in the world. Home of the free, land of the brave, leader of the free world. No. No. No. This is, well, you know, this is a state and it's a dictatorship. You know, that's what this is. I mean, they talk about democracy. They go around the world and they point fingers at everybody else. But here they've got 2.3 million people in prison. Plus, they're torturing people. And they're torturing people in the tens of thousands in the prison system. No exaggeration. No hyperbole. You put people in a security housing unit. For years and decades. And they don't see sunlight. There's no music. You don't see your family. You know, you don't get out of a concrete thing like this for one hour a day. That's it, 23 hours in an 8x10 cell. Forever. Indefinitely. Because somebody, and you know what? Check it out. Nobody is convicted and sentenced. To a security housing unit. This, this, uhh... You know, this prison hunger strike that you're hearing about. This is about the shoot. The security housing unit. There's thousands in California. About 3,000 and there's tens of thousands across the United States. These people, this system and this ruling class over this past period as part of this mass incarceration campaign has been basically just trying to change what torture even means, if you will. Like look, I was, because of the hunger strike of 6,000 prisoners, 6,600 in July, it rocked. It's 6,600 prisoners and then those of us who have been protesting, it's frankly a relatively small number of people. I mean it's hundreds, if you will, but frankly thousands have signed the petition so it's having broader impact. But it's actually had significant impact and this gets to the question of what can people do on the outside a little bit. Because I said we need revolution and I believe that seriously. I think that's what's needed, I think it's possible. I think we've got to be accelerating preparations towards that. I think we should be talking about like how we're gonna get from here to there and then what we're gonna put into place. But I understand that people, not everybody's there or what have you, but short of that, massive resistance. Education, yes, exposure, yes. I mean, I distributed a newspaper, a revolution newspaper, but also massive resistance. We have got a rock, I mean look, this incarceration campaign should shock the conscience of the people. The entire world. 2.3 million people and growth, mainly black and Latino youth, sweeping them off the streets. Basically a lot of it is on drugs, it's non-violent. A lot of it is, you know what I mean? And it's like this is something that really needs to get hit. We need to be challenged. There needs to be massive resistance. You know, not just hundreds, there needs to be thousands of people, there needs to be an atmosphere in society where this is not tolerated. It's ending and there needs to be a battle to end it and we'll see what that's gonna take, you know? Some people might think short of revolution, it would take that. Some people might think revolution, we all need to get together and fight to end it because that's what we're saying. Maybe just leave it like that. I'm gonna move to our Q and A section and I wanna, here, do we have a mic set up for the audience? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? Does it work? white, so forth? Off the top of my head, I can't totally break it down, but what I do know is that African-Americans make up 10% of the prison, of the total United States population, approximately 10%. They make up approximately 10% of total people who use, of the percentage of the population that use drugs. But when you look at who gets arrested, when you look at who gets charged, when you look at who gets convicted, and then who ultimately ends up in prison, right, at each level, right, the use is level, 10%, right, so that means 90% of it. It's about 40% who get arrested, right? It's about 50% who get arrested. Then it's about 60% to 70% who end up in prison. So each part of the way, the winnowing process doesn't benefit us, it targets us. Of course, my question is, given you have that information... Not off the top of my head. Okay, if you have it, sir, what is the racial demographic of the incarcerated prisoners in the penal system? Relative to blacks, to whites, to Latinos, to Asians, and so forth, if you have that information. Yeah. That information is available. Yeah, it is. You don't have it here. Okay, let me go on to my next question. Oh, the other day, you know, the other day, if this is accurate, the other day I was looking at the state prison system figures, if you will, so I'm talking about California. So we got 2.3 million in prison, and there's a disproportionate number, let's say. In terms of California, it's 162,000 male prisoners, and 70% are people of color, from my statistics of looking at that. 70%? Yeah, I think that's accurate. Blacks. Blacks. Okay. Black, Latino, Black, Latino. Okay, but not even, that's one of the... Maybe not even, yeah. Yeah, there you go. Okay. The next question I want to know is to answer, you all can answer something that I've been hearing in terms of the rumors and so forth. Has the penal system been privatized by corporations? Okay. By corporations. Of course. Of course. I'm sorry? Yes, sir. That is? Yes, yes. All of the penal institutions in the United States or no? No. How does that work? How it works is that there are prisons for profit that are traded on Wall Street and on the stock exchange, Corrections Corporation of America, I think Wackenhut, there's a few of them. And so what they do... Okay. What they do is they make bids. So when the state-run, state-funded prisons reach a certain capacity, they will farm out people, particularly from California, folks are going to Arizona and as far away as to Mississippi. Right now, it's at a fairly... It's significant, but low level, maybe 5% of the prisoners. But the reason why is because the California Peace Officers Association, which is the correction officers union, is the most powerful union in the world and it's not going to let too many jobs get shipped out. But there is... There... There's a lot of people who are going to be sent out to jail. They're not as profitable and they're not as safe as they pretend to be, but there is... That's one part of the dialogue and one of the things. Some of our brothers and sisters here in California are now serving their time in the Mississippi, either state or private jail. Did you want to say something to that, sir? I thought you wanted to... I mean, I'll say it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. Please don't shoot it. veterans in the national prison system. Okay, now, Fonji and then Kevin. I just want to read our mission statement. The formerly incarcerated and convicted people movement is committed to fight for the full restoration of civil and human rights for all people, particularly those who have been convicted by the criminal justice system and the communities they represent. The criminal justice system has rendered millions of people and their families in an undercast of society with no regard for rights or justice. We will speak in our own voice. We will recognize all impacted people, including the voices of criminalized and incarcerated adults and youth. As we develop both regional and national accountability by coming together as one under a national platform, we will engage in legislative activity, litigation, and advocacy and mass incarceration in the struggle against systematic oppression. We will agitate, organize, educate, and mobilize in a structure that is broad enough to embrace the various motivations, skills, and tactics of those who take up the banner of this movement. The mass movement of the people is an extension of the work that has been led by those most affected by the prison system, yet inclusive. Of all people willing to mobilize for social justice and the end of mass incarceration. So once again, November the 2nd, WLCAC and Watts. Kevin. I'll be there, Brother Fonji. The work that Brother Fonji, Dorsey Nunn up north, Kim Carter, Susan Burton, is a human and civil rights. We are a human rights movement. We lock people up, we take away their civil rights. Sister Michelle Alexander wrote a book called The New Jim Crow that looks at how a so called racially neutral laws had such a disparate impact and the binding results of that is to take away rights to housing, rights to education, and rights to education. We are a civil rights movement. We are a civil rights movement. We are a civil rights movement. We are a civil rights movement. We have tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut Michael Key. In our last section for today, we will be dealing with our voices from the ether portion of the show. Of what the cosmos is composed of elements. Are there four? Not four, but five. How can there be a fifth alongside water and air and earth and fire? There is ether, which is regarded as the stuff of which gods are made. For just as all mortal creatures inhale air, so do immortals and divine natures inhale the ether. Tonight on the winds of the stuff that stars are made of, Voices from the Ether presents Miss Carmen Vega. Thank you. This first poem is called She Took a Breath. She took a breath. Life takes a stretch and catapults you. Stand and rise. The choice is to remain lying down where the next one lands on you. Dresses their wounds and walks over your knees. Jump, jumps to the next stage while you lay watching your life pass you by. A choice, battered, wrinkled linen, smoothing what's rough. But what are the consequences? Stand and rise. Advocate a priori. Stand up for the rights to ride up, ride down, right turn and about turn it upside down. Undetected faces in glass jars. The ones you kept etched in life prisons. Frightening moments before you take a step in the wrong direction knowing where you will land catapulted. Stand and rise, Phoenix. Stand and rise. I follow that up with War Zone, which is part of my little CD on CD Baby. Check it out. We're losing set of our enemies, the ones we, the ones behind closed doors and ivory towers, and glass enclosures. We've been at war. I saw it this morning when my mind cleared the propaganda and I opened my door. Neglected battle zones are fueled by rocks re-supplied by an enemy that evades us. The ones we fail to seek, refusing to protect our most undernourished streets because it's no longer chic to pursue a wholesome existence and our pueblos are dying. We're losing sight of the folks in the trenches, the vacant eyes of homeless children, abandoned buildings, drug-infested villages, shootings that leave innocent victims behind. Moms are barely winning the battles to keep the young ones alive. Look the other way. Look the other way to another terrain. Divert the anger rising from our failures. Blame observers, the innocent. It's all their fault. Create external monsters to cover the tracks of delinquents at home. Our puppet regime is ineffective, but who's going to bring it down? Shoot the next one we see, kill our defenses, and a senseless battle against ourselves. Pain is an awful healer. When it detects warring sirens blare at the point of neglect, best to shield off bullets than face your own soul. Silence the scream with louder bullets. I know there's a ray of hope in the stars for all who believe in salvation. The elixir, the bomb that soothes and coats the anger and irritation better than Molotov cocktails, bullets, or bombs. The spark that dims within can rise. And be lifted. If you seek, you shall find sexual healing. Stop. Stop the war, because the only war worth fighting for is your own. Not for the love of God or the goddess. Not for the rocks you smoke at the masquerade ball, or the ones you wear soiled with black lungs, but for the genesis we call life. Dilapidated homes, neglected children, homeless mothers, starving babies, men without work. Our wrecked society wraps its soiled body in a tarp and rolls over. Rolls over to sleep off the hunger pains until the next morning. Billions are spent in one weapons head instead of investing in me and in you. Our neighborhoods, education, health, shelter, homes, schools, clean water. I know there's got to be a ray of hope. There's got to be a better way. Lead the way. Show the way home without war. Thank you. And the page turns. Mr. Melvin Ishmael Johnson. I'm going to read a piece called Cage the Mind. And this is dedicated to Anthony. Anthony, tone, tone, tell. Before they caged the body, they caged the mind. They captured the soul by breaking the spirit with negative thoughts of nothing. Can you cage a thought or capture the wind? It's not the prison guards with the guns. It's the prison guards with the guns. But inmates and convicts who refuse to become one. No positive light, the prison's cage. The locks of the mind, negativity and self-hate. A refusal to be a positive light. Jealous of the next person because they want to live right. Like a person without sight, darkness into the middle of the night. The real prisons are scales of the mind, locks of negativity standing in place, in mind, in mind. And I'm going to read a piece called The Prisoner's Mind. Those who challenge every positive thought, ask them why. Is it to hold you back? Without a doubt. But it's the system that caged the body, but first they caged the mind. You hold the key with a positive mentality. Free yourself with positive thoughts. Don't be afraid to dream. Don't let your dream become a nightmare. Negative thoughts are prisons of the mind. Stand up. Stand up. Stand up. Stand up. Standing in place and marking time, like the darkness of the soul. A ball of confusion, the truth must be told. Can't you see? Only the truth can make you free. Positive thoughts are healing for the soul. Free the mind and the body would follow. Before they caged the body, they caged the mind. It's not the prison guards with the gun, but inmates and convicts who refuse to become one. Negative thoughts are nothing, taking honey from a bee. Make you kill your brother because you fail to see. Look in the mirror and see yourself, but you hold the key with a positive mentality. That's the key, so unlock the door and come back to me. Merge with the totality of mentality. Take a vacation from madness, a trip from sadness. See the light, hope, and gladness. Day without night, days without night. Can't you? Can you cage a thought or capture the mind? Can you capture the wind? It's all an illusion, but I'll say it again. Can you cage a thought or capture the wind? I would like to thank our in-house studio guests, Carmen Baker, Banja Biruti, and Kevin Michael Key. Dr. Mongo on the phone line, and a special thanks to Jeremy in the Skid Row studio. Our next show. We deal with corporations as psychopaths with special guest Ann Porter. Thank you for tuning in to the Qumran Report, and I leave you with the song that opened the show, Space Lady by Lonnie Liston Smith. Please shoot it and it will be available to tutors and Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.