My Brother's and Sister's in the Struggle, I learned this week, for the 13th time, that I have been denied parole. My thoughts, as they have been for years now, are of my family and of you. My sons, who have grown from infants to men during my imprisonment, and their mother, whose commitment has been unwavering: they all continue to pay, with me, the price for the terrible crime I have committed, for which I am solely and fully responsible. They have been strong, as families of tens of thousands of other black prisoners have been and must be strong every day of their lives. But, Brothers and Sisters, we must have more than strength. We must have vision too. We must see that we, ourselves, are victims of the crimes that ignorance, poverty, hopelessness and drugs lead us to commit. We must see that, just as no man is an island, we all wear the shackles of the ghetto. We are all Ghetto Prisoners. Our only hope for release is to use our strength and vision in the cause of change. Ignorance is our enemy, we must honor learning and those who learn. Poverty is our enemy, we must gather our pennies and dollars and use them in our communities. Hopelessness is our enemy, we must organize and vote by the hundreds of thousands, to voice the voiceless. Drugs are our enemy, destroying many of us with the lure of profit, more of us to addiction, and still more of us with the crime that results, we must join our voices with those across the land, of whites and blacks, churchgoers and convicts, gays and straights--all who share the purpose of taking the profit out of drugs and in ending the slaughter made easy with guns. Wether and when I am released is beyond my control. Whatever my personal destiny may be, I will fight the shackles that imprison us all. We need help to allow a valuable resource, the freedom to build our communites.
A Few Short Words And Facts!
