Solidarity with Pelican Bay Prisoners is Just a Click and a Prayer Away
by: Megan Dowdell on July 2nd, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Across California, 6,600 prisoners have participated in the hunger strike begun on July 1 at Pelican Bay State prison’s security housing unit or solitary confinement.
On July 1st, 43 prisoners inside California Pelican Bay State Prison’s security housing unit (or SHU, a fancy name to get those of us not in prison to think it is something other than solitary confinement and all that entails) began a hunger strike against torture and for self-determination and liberation. Solidarity with prisoners who are organizing themselves for justice is just a click away. Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, a San Francisco Bay Area coalition of grassroots organizations “committed to amplyifing the voices of and supporting the prisoners,” has a blog and I suggest you check out like I did by clicking here.
It’s day two and at the same time as these 43 prisoners refuse food in participate in this hunger strike at Pelican Bay, 2.3 million people are in similar conditions, marginalized in solitary confinement and isolating conditions within an already hidden and dehumanizing system. For those of you who have not thought about the prison industrial complex as a justice issue for people of faith specifically, just that number of people hidden in our society seems like something to pray on. Here’s a couple other reflections that convinced me to learn about mass incarceration as a social justice issue and now to write about and pray for the Pelican Bay prisoners:
- To getthrough prison and to survive as a formerly incarcerated person, is resistance in and of itself to the policies and practices carried out throughout the U.S.. Resistance is an expression of faith.
- To become organized for justice is an act of faith in community, the communities we see daily and those communities hidden from us for one reason or another, structurally or socially, emotionally or culturally.
- Equal access to health care is a human right. The demands listed by the Pelican Bay prisoners include necessary reforms to the currently inadequate health care and nutrition available. The conditions under which the 43 prisoners begin this hunger strike are dangerous. People of faith everywhere call for health care justice — prisoners are no exception to those who deserve equal access to quality care and food.
- People of faith have the power to link communities to justice issues in our congregations and to build religious leadership for change. We have the chance to strike up a dialogue about the intersections between mass incarceration and issues of police brutality, housing, employment, education, and yes, unearned privileges.
If you’re with your faith community tomorrow, will you tell them it’s day three?
For ways to take action, visit the Prisoners Hunger Strike Solidarity blog. If you missed my posting on Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, please check it out here.
7/6/11 Update: Prisoners from 11 California prisons have refused meals to show their solidarity with the hunger strike at the Pelican Bay State Prison.
7/9/11 Update: Across California, 6,600 prisoners have participated in the hunger strike begun on July 1 at Pelican Bay State prison’s security housing unit or solitary confinement.
Thanks for this. I intend to link to it for the post I’m planning for tomorrow to use “Independence Day” to raise awareness about the prison-industrial complex and mass incarceration as civil rights issue.
And the victims. What of them.
Who says we are forgetting the victims? They must not be forgotten.
But the prisoners are victims too. THAT must not be glibly forgotten either. A great many prisoners come from abusive homes. That doesn’t mean they didn’t commit crimes, but it would a crime on our part to conveniently label them “criminals” or “misfits” and throw these children of God in the garbage.
They need help and compassion and if we don’t see that, WE need help.
Thanks for bringing to light an issue we don”t often think about or get to hear about in the mainstream media; even though many of these people probably committed despicable crimes and deserve to be there (although some may not) prisoners ought to be treated humanely …. in our rush to be “tough on crime” we forget that these people are human beings too and ought to be treated as such…
thank you for what you’ve written. resistance can also be perceived not as an expression of faith, but as an unwillingness to accept & trust “what is”–e.g., an expression of fear. surrendering to circumstances/situations which we cannot change & putting our faith in a higher power/God allows for new ways to perceive our surroundings, find opportunities to rise above them & be free to the degree possible. we don’t have to be able to physically leave where we are in order to be free; freedom can occur on another level, which transports us into another realm, no matter where we are.
none of the individuals at pelican bay got there without going through court proceedings; whether the outcome was fair or just for these 43 individuals is unknown. each had some sort of representation, & if hunger strikes are their choice as a form of protest at the conditions in which they are kept, i’m willing to pray for them/their families–as well as for the individuals/families of those whose lives were injured by the acts/behaviour of the 43. asking for prayer only for the 43 fails to address their reasons for being there in the first place. how many individuals in the US/elsewhere lack adequate health care? how many are in need of better food, living conditions? are you willing to include all these in your prayers? can your heart be large enough to encompass all suffering, regardless of who/where/why?