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May 28, 18

If Black Lives Matter to You – Then Please by all Means Necessary Help us Support and Sustain the San Francisco Bay View!

Keith “Malik” Washington appeals for contributions to help sustain the SF Bay View, a crucial piece of prison abolitionist movement infrastructure which was the first outlet to circulate the call for the August 21 prison strike.

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends” – Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

Peace & blessings, sisters and brothers!

I remember the day the prison guards came and got me in order to place me in long-term solitary confinement.

It was September 8th, 2016, one day before the historic National Prison Work Strike. I was one of the most vocal supporters of the work stoppage in Texas.

The prison guards tried to degrade me by stripping me down to just my boxers and shower shoes and then marching me hand-cuffed from one end of the prison to the other at 2pm in the afternoon.

All this took place at the Coffield Unit, located in Tennessee Colony, Texas. Coffield is the largest state prison in Texas.

As I was led through the prison, I squared my shoulders and held my head up high. I had nothing to be ashamed of.

Later that afternoon, I was taken to a roomful of racist TDCJ prison employees. There was not one black or brown face in the room – just me standing half-naked. This clique of Klansmen and bigots still work at Coffield Unit and now it’s 2018. Prison slavery is still alive in Amerika – but not for long!

The San Francisco Bay View – National Black Newspaper was the only publication which would allow me to tell my story. If it wasn’t for Mary Ratcliffe and Dr Willie Ratcliff, the editor & publisher of the Bay View, no-one in the Free World would ever have heard my voice or my pleas for help!

Well, since that day in September 2016, a lot has changed and now my voice is one of the loudest voices in this movement. For 42 years, the San Francisco Bay View – National Black Newspaper has been actively engaged in Revolutionary Journalism.

Right now the Bay View is suffering financially. Sister Mary and Dr Willie have dedicated their lives to amplifying the voices of those seldom seen or heard in Amerikan media outlets.

If we don’t get serious about making some sacrifices and donating to the Bay View, the newspaper presses may come to a grinding halt.

At this historic time within the United States, we can’t afford to lose the Bay View! The capitalist oppressors who run this country, as well as the FBI, and Department of Injustice would love to see the Bay View shut down for good. We must not allow that to happen.

As Kelly Price sang boldly: “I can’t do this by myself. Lord I need help!”

50 years ago, Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. Dr King was the voice of Black Amerika, he fought passionately for our civil and human rights. Dr King loved us, in fact, he loved all of humanity.

His voice was so powerful that the white supremacists in Amerika conspired to silence his voice for good.

Those same alt-right forces are alive and well today. They see the Bay View as a threat to the growing fascist movement.

I can’t speak for everybody, but to me, Sister Mary and Dr Willie are family! Where I come from, you don’t abandon family members when they are in dire straits – you help them!

What about you? Will you choose to help me support the Bay View?

Sister Mary and Dr Willie have given all they can give. They need some dedicated people who are interested in learning the journalism business. The baton must be passed – will you be willing to carry it?

Sister and brothers, it is me, Comrade Malik, your brother in struggle, pleading with you all to support the San Francisco Bay View – National Black Newspaper in its hour of need! I encourage you to contribute to their gofundme, send a check or money order to the Bay View directly, or if the spirit moves you please send an email or make a phone call to Sister Mary or Dr Willie and find out exactly how you can help keep the presses rolling!

These respected elders are committed to ensuring that the entire world understands and realizes that Black Lives Matter! I leave you as I came, in the spirit of peace.

Dare to struggle, dare to win, all power to the people!

Note: you can donate at https://www.gofundme.com/keep-the-bayview-newspaper-in-print/

or send your donations to:

San Francisco Bay View
National Black Newspaper
4917 Third St.
San Francisco, CA 94124

Email: editor@sfbayview.com

Phone: (415) 671-0789

Keith “Malik” Washington is co-founder and chief spokesperson for the End Prison Slavery in Texas Movement, a proud member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, an activist in the Fight Toxic Prisons campaign and deputy chairman of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party Prison Chapter. Read Malik’s work at ComradeMalik.com. Send our brother some love and light: Keith “Malik” Washington, 1487958, Eastham Unit, 2665 Prison Rd 1, Lovelady TX 75851.

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Members of the IWW have created the IWOC, the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, which functions as a liaison for prisoners to organize each other, unionize, and build solid bridges between prisoners on the inside and fellow workers on the outside. Prison is a setup, a big business, there to make money off the People. Neither the setup, nor the slavery inside of prisons can be combated without the conscious participation of prisoners and the working class on the outside through mutual aid, solidarity, and the building of working relationships that transcend prison walls and the politics of mass incarceration. The IWOC has been actively reaching out to prisoners while at the same time prisoners have been reaching out to the IWW for representation and assistance in building a prisoners union. The IWOC has taken up the cause and is helping prisoners in every facility organize and build a union branch for themselves, which will together form a powerful IWW Industrial Union.

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