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niggers from getting "out of line." This was the direct strong arm, the iron hand that not even "justice" dared to show opposition to. On the other hand, the "prevented lynchings" implanted the thought in black people that their sole recourse in the situation was their dependency upon white superiority to counter white superiority. The former white superiority was of course "justice." This practice of "helping the poor niggers" was not help at all, but rather it was reverse classical conditioning designed solely to keep black people with but two alternatives: be submissive to southern tradition or submissive to white "justice"—or better, white mercy. Both alternatives point out black submissiveness to white whim. In both instances the only real alternative was to submit; to look up to; to depend upon and to believe in white supremacy and white justice: one and the same.
Prisons, in this respect, have the same duality of conditioning with but minor—if at all noticeable—changes in appearances. On the one hand we have prisons reinforcing the thought in society's mind—and I am speaking of lower class society—that they must go along with whatever the capitalist rulers of society might conjure up. Projecting the threat of imprisonment are the "armed men" controlled by the State. This then—the threat of imprisonment if there is any lack of acceptance of the capitalist order—is comparable to lynchings, the direct strong arm of the capitalist power. The only difference is that the conditioning rudiment of this social phenomenon is not geared primarily at sustaining "white dominance," but for the interest of capitalists' power it is geared at sustaining capitalist dominance. So prisons, reinforce capitalist dominance in present society in the same manner the "overt threat of lynching" reinforced white dominance.
On the other hand, adding here the appearance change, we have the judicial aspect (the courts) acting in the capacity of the "prevented lynchings." The judicial element in many respects outshines the prison element in effectiveness in conditioning. Mainly this is true because more people are subjected to more direct exposure (through experience or the media) to the judicial (i.e. the "justice") element of society than they are exposed to the prison. It is often the case that black people actually fear the stringency of going through the judicial process—the "days off from work," the embarrassing show of ignorance to the process in itself—more so than they do the threat of prison. Here, I should briefly clarify, the reason most fear the judicial process is because of their conscious sense of not receiving a "fair" play. How can an innocent man receive a "fair" anything when in fact this man's peers cannot afford to even attend his court proceedings? I'm not in the least negating the original fear of the threat of prison, but merely emphasizing that blacks do not only lack money with which to prevent their subjection to the wrath of economic deprivation, but also black people lack money with which to see the injustices transpiring in the courts. But again, the judicial aspect is the "prevented lynchings" of present society, and it—as prisons—serves to enforce acceptance of capitalism. A clear picture is seen by viewing two specific incidents of the present prison function, and from this make the comparison of historical social phenomenon leaving little doubt as to what my contention is.
Cleveland Edwards, Alvin Miller, and W.L. Nolen. Three black prisoners confined in Soledad Prison at the first of 1970. These three brothers had come to prison as direct results of being economically deprived. Instead of there being a State that would create livable conditions, these brothers experienced a stae of intentional repression accompanied by suppressive forces ("armed men" controlled by the State) which in a course of time took toll upon the three respective "black families" of each brother. The brothers, not being able to function as serviceable parts of the capitalist process, inevitably came to prison. The "threat" had become an act. Once inside the prison walls the picture becomes dim because the prison system has complete control. But

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the picture being dim does not in any way bring the act to a cessation.
There is another type of intentional repression inside the walls of prison, and the suppressive forces (again, "armed men" controlled by the State) have a greater degree of power in which to infuse power than do the suppressive forces of society. W.L. Nolen was without a doubt a nonproponent of the capitalist system, and as his extensive study and experience of prison as oppression stood to verify his convictions, he became a "threat" to the system; he was capable of exposing the system and its threat to society. W.L. Nolen, in the concern of the prison officials (State official) was a "nigger out of his place." He was a firm believer in upholding the right of man to be as such, and this type of thought is dramatically in opposition to "Rehabilitation." The latter, in reality, means that a prisoner must submit to any act—no matter how insane it may seem—which can be dreamed up in the minds of prison authorities; and these dreams become far out when you picture a non-high school level guard who has the basic sickness of racism and a military assault weapon in his hand attempting to "rehabilitate" the innocent with degradation. This then, was another contradiction. This contradiction—the "niggers are out of their place"—had become so intensified by the mounting prison movement by January, 1970, that it was no wonder that the authorities had attempted to set the stage for a "mis-hap" to be labeled as "racial violence."
For months and months during the building of the new "exercise yard," the intense struggle of the revolutionary attempting to transform the racist as well as his own, into a united force of oppressed, rather than remaining just the oppressed by force, was being carried out to the fullest degree according to the condition. W.L. Nolen had been singled out by authorities for harrassment[[harassment]]. He had been "set-up" numerous times where he found himself in the midst of guard-influenced "inmates," outnumbering him two, three and even four to one. Each time W.L. would come out the victor. So ti was well established that "this is one nigger who is really out of his place." W.L. learned by experience, he taught by experience, and his regard for another man was high as long as his rights and the rights of the oppressed were respected. He had faithful followers, brothers who witnessed, experienced and learned as he had. The building of the revolutionary consciousness heightens as the conditions become worse in prison. There is, for the black prisoner, the chore of surviving, of attempting to change the conditions which make survival so difficult, and this means not only dealing with the oppressive system, but also, dealing with whoever the oppressor sends to represent the system.
On January 13, 1970, with the new "exercise yard" completed at Soledad Prison, the oppressors, having created the condition (allowing racial slurs to pass back and forth for months between men who were locked up 23 1/2 hours a day or all day); having skin searched these men, making certain that no weapons were to be carried out to the yard; having gathered extra guards to watch the opening of the new yard; having positioned an expert in a guntower with tear gas and chemical mace to break up fights, a whistle to call more guards in case of trouble and a carbine to fire warning shots should a fist fight break out; knowing that the representative they sent would indeed start the fight, chose to beam all their racial hatred and stupidity into four assault projectiles: the first was through the heart of W.L. Nolen. A fist fight was what "trouble" the officials of Soledad Prison had expected, and for this a piece of nickle lead was pumped through the organ which gives the human body life. The second and third shots cut down Cleveland Edwards and Alvin Miller as they moved to assist their mortally wounded comrade, W.L. A fourth shot saved some black mama the strain of attending the funeral of a son she had given life to—it missed, but ricocheted and wounded one of the representatives of

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