By Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson

Minister of Defense – New Afrikan Black Panther Party – Prison Chapter

The Black Brigade is a mass organization, which means that its members are warri
ors drawn from a variety of political, spiritual and cultural schools of thought
. What enables the Brigade’s membership to function as a unit in programmatic unit
y is its core function of rendering service to the Nation of Afrikans in Amerika
.
So far, the Brigade has operated in a relatively loose and unaccountable fashion
. Its work and organizational structure have not been consolidated nor clearly d
efined, particularly in relation to serving the needs of the imprisoned New Afri
kans. This is natural given the conditions under which it has been founded, but
it is time to pull the Brigade together into chapters at the respective prisons
where the members are confined and begin to develop concrete programs to serve t
he people.
In order to do this, the members must develop a clearer understanding of the tas
ks before us, and the members of the NABPP-PC within the Brigade should play an
active and leading role in this process. We are ourselves in process of creation
of our organizational structure, and the two tasks are intertwined and dialecti
cally united.
Our people’s material needs are food, clothing, medical care, shelter, security (c
onflict mediation), literacy and education, family-community support and cohesio
n, spiritual freedom, legal support, safe and healthy working and living conditi
ons and so on. Some of our people need psychiatric care, drug and alcohol addict
ion counseling, and other specialized rehabilitative services. There are two pri
mary aspects of serving these needs within the razor wire plantations: 1.) The f
irst aspect is creating STP (Serve The People) program committees. 2.) The secon
d aspect is organizing study and discussion circles to politically and ideologic
ally educate and continually deepen people’s understanding. In other words, the Br
igade must develop revolutionary practice and revolutionary theory using one to
enrich the other.
The Party has the same basic tasks. The difference is that the Party members sho
uld be committed revolutionaries in a fuller sense, who are down for the whole t
hing. Their role is to be the advanced detachment or vanguard. In carrying out t
he two tasks, we must implement Panther love, which is the positive commitment t
o raise the oppressed masses out of their physical and mental enslavement to imp
erialism, and to pave the way for a better world for future generations through
revolutionary struggle.
Study and Discussion Circles
An enslaved people are brought into and kept in this state by being made to beli
eve that they are physically and mentally incapable of doing for themselves with
out a slave master. They are conditioned to rely upon their enslaver for motivat
ion and direction and to achieve their survival needs. Fundamental to accomplish
ing this is to keep the enslaved misinformed and ignorant and living under condi
tions where they are compelled to seek the necessities for survival from the ens
laver.
This is essentially how things worked on the old cotton and tobacco plantations
and how they work on today’s razor wire plantations. And overall, it is how things
are for the New Afrikan Nation within the Amerikan Nation and for the working c
lass under capitalist dictatorship. The imperialist (mis)education system, the (
mis)information and entertainment industry, and even the religious indoctrinatio
n establishment all work to keep the masses of people numb from the neck up. The
y fill our heads with false and misleading information about what is going on an
d how things got to be this way.
They teach us false histories and interpretations of world and domestic affairs,
swamp us with mind-numbing entertainments and diversions, and subtly (and not s
o subtly) infect us with self-hate and contempt for our blackness, keeping us in
the dark about our truly remarkable Black heritage. Such positive images and ex
amples empower us and enhance our self-esteem as Black people and give us the co
nfidence that we can not only be independent but contribute in a powerful way to
advancing society to a higher level.
As Comrade Russell ~Maroon” Shoats pointed out: ‘When a whole people undergo … separat
ion from their historical past, they invariably become easy prey to those who wa
nt to use them, because not having any historical record to fall back on, they h
ave nothing to compare things to.” He further stated that, “Ironically, they are lik
e the circus and zoo lions and elephants raised in captivity. Never having been
taught by other lions and elephants in the wild, they don’t know how to hunt or fo
rage and survive in their natural habitat. They are pretty easy to control and a
re pretty harmless to their controllers.”
“European slavers and expansionists,” he argues, “were well aware of this phenomenon,
and they argued and fought with their peers to have strict laws adopted that wer
e designed to eradicate as much past knowledge from their enslaved Afrikans and
Amerindians foes as possible; including their traditional spirituality, language
s, folklore, hair styles, diets, family patterns, their values and sense of righ
t and wrong, their former group solidarity, and overall, their customs and self-
identity.”
So it becomes self-evident how valuable correct education is for an oppressed, m
arginalized and neo-colonized people, like we New Afrikans, and especially in th
e creation of effective mass organizations. Any organization that is not based o
n the people and their true history is opposed to them and will treat them as sl
aves and manipulate them against their true interests. Organizations that are ba
sed upon the
people’s true interests do not fear the truth and encourage their members and the
people to study hard and to be critical thinkers.
We do not want to be manipulated and exploited by our own Black bourgeoisie but
to free all of humanity. Black liberation can only be accomplished by the overth
row of global imperialism, and we in the Belly of the Beast, the heart of the mo
nopoly capitalist empire, must play the leading and decisive role and deliver th
e coup de gras, the death blow, to this epoch of exploitation and oppression.
To do this, we must liberate ourselves from the mental, spiritual and ideologica
l shackles of slavery. We must rise above our station as beasts of burden, wage
slaves and lumpen proletarians, and become the New Men and Women of the Socialis
t Revolution. The Black Brigade’s first duty is developing its member’s minds, their
knowledge and understanding along with the people so they will not lose confide
nce in their ability to become the makers of history.
Bravery in the absence of political understanding is only brute courage. The cou
rage we need is conscious and the result of understanding what needs to be done
and how to go about doing it. It is what will make us unconquerable. Death comes
to all, but like life it can vary in significance. To live a life of purpose, t
o live and die a revolutionary, is the highest calling there is. To be like Comr
ade Hasan and fear neither life nor death in the strength of total commitment, t
hat is the ultimate freedom.
To develop this level of political understanding and commitment, the New Afrikan
 Black Panther Party – Prison Chapter must set the example for the Black Brigade a
nd the masses. We must study the hardest, teach and demonstrate the principle of
revolution, and in every way strive to be the people’s pride and inspiration. Thr
ough the regular practice of organized collective study and discussion and apply
ing the
principle of “each one teach one,” the Brigade’s political and spiritual development w
ill be enhanced and welded more and more into a unified force to serve the peopl
e.
Serve The People Committees
The work of the STP Committees is as the name implies, to develop programs to se
rve the basic survival needs of the people. By practicing self-reliance, mutual
assistance and creativity, we can achieve a measure of self-determination and pe
ople’s power even under the most oppressive conditions. This is applying Panther l
ove in practice. Those who have particular skills or abilities can apply them to
help others. Even the unskilled can donate their time and efforts.
We should strive to be as independent of Empire as ‘We can be and look to our own
needs and collective welfare. Of course we will still demand the services the St
ate is obligated to provide, but to the extent we can, we should be self-reliant
and not dependent. For example there is a lot we can learn about natural cures,
nutritional supplements and health. We can assist each other in legal work and
research, in learning languages and dealing with personal issues like anger, gri
ef, addiction or self-discipline. This demands unity in theory and unity in prac
tice, getting past self-centeredness and becoming family and comrades to one ano
ther.
The STP Committees should implement survival programs according to conditions wi
th the particular prisons in which they operate. They should make assessments of
these conditions and the prisoners’ needs and resources. Successes should be shar
ed with others so they can be replicated when applicable.
Within the razor wire, our survival needs are many:
Health: There should be a public health committee at each prison to address the
issues of disease prevention and treatment. HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis A and C, TB and
STDs are at epidemic levels in many prisons, yet little is being done on prevent
ion education, testing and treatment. Sanitation, use of disinfectants, healthy
diet, exercise, and access to proper medical care and medicines are issues that
need to be addressed in an organized way.
Legal Aid: Many people would not have to be in prison if they had proper legal a
dvice and assistance. There should be a legal assistance committee to organize t
he jailhouse lawyers, legal resources, community legal aid and support contacts,
and to assist prisoners with legal paperwork, filings and record keeping.
Literacy and Language: There should be a committee to help illiterate prisoners
learn to read and write and/or to become bilingual. There are many other potenti
al committees that can be formed to address a whole range of issues from drug an
d alcohol dependency to rape prevention. These committees should research and ho
ok up with services available on the outside and the inside. obtain and produce
educational literature and distribute it.
Get Organized!
No people have to accept the role of slaves and submit to violation of their hum
an rights. Organizations like the Human Rights Coalition (HRC), initiated by Com
rade Maroon to mobilize prisoners. their families and supporters in the communit
ies to fight for respect for prisoners’ human rights, should be spread nationwide
with chapters in every state.
We are building a national campaign to amend the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Cons
titution to strike the clause that perpetuates the status of slave for those con
victed of a crime, and along with this to abolish the racist death penalty and o
ther Draconian practices. and to extend universal suffrage to give voting rights
to prisoners and others denied this fundamental civil right. Political action c
ommittees need to be organized to advance this work.
Within each unit and prison chapter, captains and other officers need to be chos
en and organizational structure needs to be developed. This must be done in coor
dination with the Brigade Commander, Nathaniel Lee, but it must also reflect the
will of the people and recognize the natural leaders among us.
The NABPP-PC has a responsibility to be a leadership vanguard, but the Black Bri
gade is an independent organization with a life of its own and needs to develop
its own leadership structure. Not everyone in the Brigade is going to agree with
our Party Line in total nor should they be expected to. Our unity is programmat
ic unity.
Important as our work. on the razor wire plantations is. it is mainly to transfo
rm them into “Schools of Liberation.” Our principle task is to train revolutionary w
arriors who will in turn transform the oppressed communities into base areas of
cultural, social and political revolution. We must always keep this strategic or
ientation in mind.
Our struggle is for the liberation of our people from centuries old oppression.
It happens that our liberation is impossible short of the liberation of mankind
from the system of capitalist exploitation that was built on the backs of our an
cestors. Though conditioned to think as slaves, we must learn to think as libera
tors and as leaders of a worldwide struggle.
Indeed. he who has been last will later be first, for the times they are
a changing!
Dare to Struggle – Dare to Win!
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!