Frank Big Black Smith:

The Struggle for Justice Continues

Big Black was Chief of Security for the rebelling Attica prisoners. He will speak on the University of Michigan campus to share his experience as a leader of the Attica rebellion and fervent community activist and paralegal struggling for justice.

Attica prisoners presented the following demands and the reaction by the state was to then slaughter 39 people (including guards). The New York State Troopers then repeatedly beat, brutalized and humiliated the prisoners.

The Fifteen Practical Proposals

1. Apply the New York State minimum wage law to all state institutions. STOP SLAVE LABOR.
2. Allow all New York State prisoners to be politically active, without intimidation or reprisals.
3. Give us true religious freedom.
4. End all censorship of newspapers, magazines, letters and other publications coming from the publisher.
5. Allow all inmates, at their own expense, to communicate with anyone they please.
6. When an inmate reaches conditional release date, give him a full release without parole.
7. Cease administrative resentencing of inmates returned for parole violations.
8. Institute realistiv rehabilitation programs for all inmates according to their offense and personal needs.
9. Educate all correctional officers to the needsof the inmates, i.e., understanding rather than punishment.
10. Give us a healthy diet, stop feeding us so much pork, and give us some fresh fruit daily.
11. Modernize the inmate educational system.
12. Give us a doctor that will examine and treat all inmates that request treatment.
13. Have an institutional delegation comprised of one inmate from each company authorized to speak to the institution administration concerning grievances (QUARTERLY).
14. Give us less cell time and more recreation with better recreational equipment and facilities.
15. Remove inside walls, making one open yard, and no more segregation or punishment.

The above demands are mere requests for prisoners to be treated as human beings. Prisoners continue to face struggles against regular torture, slave labor, censorship, inadequate medical care, excessive lockdown and even murder at the hands of guards. Amerikas disproportionate sentencing of national minorities combined with oppressive conditions within the gulags must be fought. Come learn from Big Black and organize with the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League.

Funding assistance provided by MSA, SAMI, SAIASC and the Maoist Internationalist Movement.

For more information contact:
RAIL c/o MIM
P.O. Box 3576
Ann Arbor, MI
48106-3576
mim@mim.org

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