Looking out: Not there yet

April 22, 1998
Issue 

Looking out

Not there yet

By Brandon Astor Jones

"We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression ... everywhere." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945).

The words above were taken from a message delivered to the United States Congress on January 6, 1941. Roosevelt received his doctor of civil law degree on June 19, 1941, from Oxford University. A man of many good intentions, he made much ado about freedom of speech in the United States. However, there is always an evil state or federal body doing its best to prohibit our freedoms of speech and other forms of self-expression.

On February 11, I was given a memorandum from the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison's (GD&CP) "Administrative Assistant, John T. Harper, Jr." The memo reads:

"A pamphlet from Prison Radio was recently received in the institutional mail room addressed to you. Review of this pamphlet indicates that it contains content which may be inflammatory in nature or cause unrest between inmates. This pamphlet has been forwarded to Legal Services for review. Once a decision is made, you will be notified, and if the pamphlet is approved, it will be given to you. This action is regrettable, but necessary in the interest of institutional security."

As is often the case, I have no idea of who sent me such a pamphlet, nor do I know what it contains. I would certainly like to. Therefore, I would appreciate anyone's help, especially if a reader would carry out a search of the internet, in an effort to find out who sent the Prison Radio pamphlet and what it contained. I do not expect the prison administration ever to tell me. If you can get that information, please send it to the address at the end of this column.

Meanwhile, the administrative actions described here are another mean-spirited pretentious effort by a repressive state body that routinely and selectively denies access to the freedoms of speech and expression — that we all are entitled to — for the sole purpose of promoting its own sexist and racist agenda.

I say "selectively", because if it was really concerned about reducing "unrest between inmates", it would have long ago stopped the insulting and hate-filled rhetoric (disguised as humour and commentary) broadcast in the form of the John Boy and Billy Big Show against people of colour in general and African-Americans in particular. That show is flowing through the GD&CP's public address system most of the time.

The John Boy and Billy Big Show presents and promotes some of the most sexist and racist ideologies — mornings, Monday through Friday — on US radio. I do not expect that they will stop putting it on: that show fits perfectly into the GD&CP's white supremacist agenda.

We should not be the least bit surprised to find this kind of selective suppression of prisoners' constitutional rights coming form the same people who have allowed drunken Ku Klux Klan members (both in and out of their sheets) a visual and vocal forum during many of the executions of black men at the GD&CP. It is my guess that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, considering his wishes regarding our "essential human freedoms", must frequently be turning over in his grave.

He must know, too, that we are not there yet.

[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-77, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA. Brandon and his friends are trying to raise funds to pay for a lawyer for his appeal. If you can help, please make cheques payable to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account and post to 41 Neutral St, North Sydney NSW 2060, or any Commonwealth Bank, account No. 2127 1003 7638.]

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