June 11th Statement from Anarchist Prisoner Michael Kimble

Statement from anarchist prisoner Michael Kimble on June 11th, an international day of solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners.

Greetings of Love and Solidarity,

Alot has taken place in my life in the last year. I got married to a beautiful and smart trans woman. In March I had surgery for a hernia repair, which I had been trying to do for the past three years. I’m still experiencing complications from the surgery.

I started a project that bought up the debts that queer prisoners had accrued for the purchase of drugs and food products. This was somewhat controversial on the inside and outside. We are all responsible for our own lives, but no human or anarchist principle dictates that we refuse to help others whose own decisions have brought trouble upon their heads, unless we believe that in trying to help them, we are perpetrating greater harm. Denying queer prisoners who are drug abusers humane aid multiplies their miseries without bringing them one inch closer to recovery and safety. The more we dehumanize and vilify drug abusers, the more it is impossible to put in place the kind of interventions that will help them.

Also, I hired one attorney, fired him and hired a new one. Hopefully I’ll be out there with you all this year. I’ve been taking part in the Solitary Gardens Project, which grows plenty of food. This world wants to crush those of us that desire a different way of life into oblivion. Their surveillance technology, jails, prisons and war machines are all to cause despair. We must not let despair gain a hold on our psyche or we lose.

I’m finding inspiration in the Atlanta forest defenders. The actions in Atlanta of the police are to bring about our despair. The Atlanta forest defenders have shown us the way forward.

Despair paralyzes us into inaction. Prisons are the site of chattel slavery in this day and age in the U.S. So, I take inspiration from the work and actions of those of you out there fighting, refusing to let despair paralyze them into inaction. I’m trying to live anarchy as best I can, even in this hellhole. If not now, when? If not here, where?

The war goes on wherever we find ourselves on bourgeois dominated soul.

Stop Cop City!

Michael Kimble 138017
William Donaldson Correctional
100 Warrior Lane
Bessemer, AL 35023