Dec 20, 2020
Organizing in "No Chance Alamance" County
This week on the show I’m speaking with three folks engaged in
organizing in the rural Alamance County, North Carolina, and it’s
capital of Graham. All three work with the 501c4 political
non-profit, DownhomeNC which in Alamance has been working on a
range of engagements including running local candidates for office,
doing get-out-the-vote work, sparking conversations with rural
residents of the county, running a bail fund and working on bail
reform, rent relief and operating food distribution. Dreama
Caldwell, one of our guests, ran on a platform of bail reform to be
the first Black woman elected to the County Commission, though she
was not elected, is a mother, and as an Abolitionist has been
working to abolish cash bail and change the condition for people of
Color and poor folks as relates to the Alamance courts and jail.
Sugalema is an organizer, a mom, and the daughter of undocumented
parents from Mexico who’s been living in Alamance for the last
decade. Gwen is a mother from a white, working class background who
has also worked to support Alamance organizers through Downhome on
a number of campaigns. You can learn more about the organization at
DownhomeNC.org and their
various social media pages.
As a side note, the folks who produce The Final Straw do not
endorse electoralism as a strategy for lasting change or community
power. We are anarchists. There are plenty of places you can go to
find anarchist critiques of engaging in electoral politics,
sometimes with anarchists or anti-authoritarians advocating limited
engagement in elections but usually calling for abstention. Even
though DownhomeNC is not an anarchist organization, we do feel like
the experiences of Sugalema, Dreama and Gwen are important to share
because they talk about the work of changing minds and building
relationships in the rural south where an autonomous left or
anarchist movement doesn’t exist… like most of the world. They are
intelligent and impassioned women doing hard work to grow community
resistance and engagement. Abolition also includes the complicated
work of decreasing the harm caused by systems of oppression like
the police, courts, borders, white supremacy and capitalism while
simultaneously building discourse against those institutions that
impose harm. We really hope that listeners will get a lot from this
conversation.
Announcements
Eric King updates
Anarchist and
antifascist prisoner Eric King caught covid at FCI Englewood,
alongside over a hundred other prisoners, thanks to the ineptitude
of his captors at the BOP who have been moving staff between
Englewood and FCI Florence where an outbreak had been ongoing. His
trial for defending himself from an attack by a prison officer has
been pushed back to April of 2021. In good news, his mail ban
appears temprorarily lifted and his website hosts his book list
again. He’s been able to receive letters, magazines and books for
the first time in years. Check out the update at SupportEricKing.org and send
Eric some love.
To hear our
interview with Eric from last year, visit our website.
Xinachtli Parole
Support
"Xinachtli," as. many of you know, means
literally in English, "Seed," or, as Comrade "X" likes to phrase,
it from a prisoner's perspective, "Germinating Seed" and s/n Alvaro
Luna Hernandez, is a Chicano/Mexicano-Anarchist Communist and
Anti-Imperialist Internationally-recognized Political Prisoner, has
suffered long enough from a (50-year) bogus Aggravated Assault
conviction rife with racist civil rights abuse and judicial
misconduct.
The contrived & trumped-up Aggravated Robbery
charge brought by Sheriff McDaniel without the authority of a
warrant, was thrown out later at trial, but through prosecutorial
chicanery, allowed the assault charge to stick being a paroled
felon.
The so-called Aggravated-Assault charge,
which should've amounted to a 'misdemeanor,' occurred with his
near-term pregnant wife nearby in their own front yard, as he,
showing no demonstrative violent aggressive behavior, correctly
disarmed the Sheriff as he drew his service revolver in anger as
"Xinachtli" challenged his authority to attempt an arrest in a
situation that could've proved lethal for all three, mother, baby,
and most surely "Xinachtli" himself. The local authorities hated
him and his family and his labor organizing in Brewster County,
Alpine, Texas.
Many of you already are familiar with this
abuse of authority yarn, but, does bear repeating, as he is still
held captive for this injustice in 'STG' (Security Threat Group)
status, studying law and assisting other prisoners with their
appeals, while continuously sharing, and germinating his
revolutionary thoughts and ideals in cocoon-like solitary
confinement, at the repressive TDCJ-CID James V. Allred Unit,
'Supermax' Gulag, in Iowa Park, Texas, marooned in the North Texas'
Red River Valley. Texas prisons are now one of the nation's
COVID-19 virus' 'hotspots,' and the courts are refusing to
intervene, WHILE PRISONER DEAD BODIES PILE UP IN LOCAL MORGUES.
"XINACHTLI" is an elderly person, with his life in danger.
Presently, "Xinachtli" is preparing for
his (1st) upcoming 'Parole Review Hearing,' on July 18, 2021. We
are in need of help with a groundswell of support from the Prison
Abolitionists, Human Rights, Indigenous, and Prison Activist
Movement communities. TBPP suggests that FEW, clear & concise
letters are preferred, to place in his case-file for review; lazy
eyes is a disguise with TBPP Parole Panels. So, let's blast 'em
with a barrage of letters to help us ensure that his 'Review' is an
impartially-heard (Hearing?) by traditionally 'parole-stingy' Texas
Board of Pardons & Parole Commissioners; and is a successful
one.
Try to include in the letter,
that"Xinachtli," though, he has tested 'COVID-19 - negative,' and
in recent months received a 'flu shot,' he has hypertension that's
medicated, and is ostensibly cured of Hep-C, he nonetheless will be
69 years old next May 12th, 2021; so the Corona Virus danger rages
on!
Also include, a solid confirmation that
there's a solid support system waiting, available opportunities of
employment, residence, and transportation, as well as
psychological/coping support and a period of adjustment, are all
important - he's been in a solitary 'time-capsule, the worldwide
'spider' web has exploded on the social scene since his conviction
in June of 1997.
Please address all your Letters of Support
for "Xinachtli" with his registered name, ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ,
and prison number, TDCJ-CID#00255735
You can mail the letters to his lawyer:
Allen D. Place
Attorneys at Law
109 S. 7th Street
Gatesville, TX, 76528
To hear Xinachtli telling his story in his own voice, check out
our website.
