Liberation News recently received the following from Comrade Malik of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party to update on the situation facing prison organizer Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, recently transferred to Texas. As published on Liberation News in February, Johnson has faced a series of abuses aimed at preventing his political and legal work behind the walls. Over the summer, he was transferred to Texas.
The Texas criminal justice system has been blasted in investigation after investigation as racist and unfair, harshly victimizing the poor. As previously reported, police brutality and misconduct in cities like Houston is only part of the problem. Once convicted and sentenced, Texans enter one of the country’s most corrupt prison systems, frequently cited for overcrowding, tainted food and violence by prison guards. Capitalists have sought to systematically cut every basic provision for inmates as lawmakers privatize jails across the state.
Comrade Malik examines why Johnson was sent to the massive Texas prison system:
Rashid was not just sent to any old Texas state prison. He was sent to the infamous Estelle High Security Unit, located in Huntsville, Texas. I was housed at Estelle between May 2012 to March 2013, during which time I was degraded, dehumanized, mistreated and abused. Upon arrival, I was placed on C-wing, which is infested with roaches. There is a pervasive stench of sewage and the cells on one row have no electrical outlets for portable fans. In-cell temperatures often reached or exceeded 95 degrees in the summer. I was called ‘n—r’ frequently by staff and purposely housed around prisoners who embraced neo-Nazi beliefs. This is where our comrade, Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, is being housed right now. [According to the Kevin “Rashid” Johnson website, in August, Johnson was transferred again from Estelle to the Clements Unit in Amarillo.]
Comrades, we of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party are revolutionary socialists. Serving the people is Job 1. But serving the people in this day and age comes with a price.
Rashid was sent to Texas with the express intent of breaking his revolutionary spirit. Texas operates with impunity, abusing and beating prisoners who are housed in the system’s many ad-seg, high security and death row units. Physical and sexual abuse are taking place in Texas’ control and communication management units.
Texas has perfected the art of modern torture, which is prevalent throughout Amerika’s prison system. The feds have communication management units, set up exclusively for the purpose of torturing the politics out of political prisoners. Texas has Estelle for that job.
Black men and women, Latino men and women, and white men and women who are politically advanced and dare to speak truth to power, and Muslim prisoners like me are of special interest to the racists who operate the Texas Department of Criminal Injustice. Rashid was sent to Texas because he dared to confront the imperialists. It is his voice that is dangerous to the oppressors. Rashid cries out from the tomb that is the prison system. He defies the tomb every time one of his political pieces is published. His keen understanding of the revolutionary science that was brought into existence by Marx, Lenin and Mao is unique. It was this voice that awakened me five years ago. It is thus my duty to come to my comrade’s defense, by exposing these sadistic and crooked liars, who continue to violate the public’s trust. Will you stand by while they try to silence his voice, our voice?
There are too many comrades held captive and too many stories of injustice to tell. We must sharpen our intellects and prepare our hearts, minds and bodies for the battle at hand and the one yet to come.
Dare to struggle, dare to win
All power to the people
Comrade Malik in Texas
Captain of Information
New Afrikan Black Panther Party
