Friday, August 03, 2007

Letter from Andy Stepanian and Malik Lamarr

author: Support Andy!

Letter from Andy Stepanian and Malik Lamarr as Andy's Birthday
approaches (August 8th!). Please help fulfill their wishlists!
Malik's wishlist can be found at http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/
wishlist/17RX31S9HAETM/

Andy's wishlist is at http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/
1H7ARVHMZ78KG/

————————————————————————————————————————————

Dear Friends,

Here in prison, every day is filled with its ups and down, some more
up than the day previous, some so down that you wonder if you can
possibly tolerate another... I can think of days where I saw a
magnificent sunset and felt my slate washed clean, feeling that
despite my current living arrangement I am alive and part of
something beautiful. I get that feeling when I think of our movement
and its momentum, how despite their efforts to squash the momentum,
HLS has encumbered $100 million dollars of new debt, I get that
feeling when I receive a letter at mail call, read a moving piece of
literature, or see my partner's smiling face as I walk in to the
jail's visiting room. Her smiling face always heals me, and lifts me
up out of the murk of my current situation.

Every day is full of these moments, and I have made it sort of a
routine to not let myself drown in this murk, but to keep an eye open
for these moments often in plain sight and always be thankful for
them. A good friend of mine from Austin used to walk around eyes
always scanning between those she was walking with and the grass
below her feet, she'd literatly pause kneel down and hand us four
leafed clovers. I think I have only found one in my life as a little
kid and it was a really big deal, she however hands them out like
business cards. When I asked her how she does it she relied with "you
just got to look". I thought to myself...

"The political education and empowerment of the masses is now
recognized as a historical necessity. Progressive, organized
guidance, inspired by effective leadership place in the hands of the
masses is key! It's key to reconstruct a social reality that is
better suited to provide for and preserve our political, social,
educational, and environmental needs. An informed masses equals
effective leadership from those masses. Without either of these all
that is producaed is a carnival and circus of emotional outbursts and
powerful yet impotent speeches. The deconstruction of our liberties
and environment may be caused by a few, but the reclaiming and
rebuilding is the responsibility of us all."

When I heard this in the prison law library my ears perked up, and I
discovered my first four leafed clover on the compound, this time
without the help of Ms. Austin. Malik was a brother who expressed
concern for the lack of social consciousness on the compound, and a
growing trend of self appointed apathy amidst not only prisoners but
everyone. This would be the first time I got to talk to brother Malik
and I realized that day that meeting him could very well have been
one of those moments that turn a bad day good. In the days and months
that followed I thought to myself . "I'm glad I was looking."

I firmly believe that all prisonsers are "Political Prisoners,"
because it is policy that shapes and governs our prisons, decided who
goes to them and under what pretext, drafts the predicate laws to
supply a prison with population, and it's policy like the 13th
amendment to our constitution that determines that slavery is illegal
except within these walls. Although I could rant for miles on the
prison industrial complex, and produce a politically charged run-on
sentence big enough to fill the yellow pages volumes 1-8, I stick
with saying all prisoners are political and hence we should view them
as such. Now, even though all prisoners are "political" prisoners,
not every prisoner is a "conscious" prisoner. Brother Malik is indeed
just that; conscious. Moreover, brother Malik is one of those
diamonds in the rough, breaths of fresh air, flowers tha crack
through dark seas of pavement.

It seems like folks have been joking around here about my upcoming
birthday, August 8th. The say things like, "hey veggie boy whacha
want for your birthday?" or "we were gonna make you one of our cheese
cakes but we couldn't figure out how to make it our of dirt." I
laugh along patiently, but it seems like a lot of the folks who
write me ask me what they can send me for my birthday. I thought to
myself and turned up nothing, until I saw brother Malik flipping
through the pakes of the AK press cataloque. I thought one thing
that prison has taken away from me has been my ability to give and
share with the people that I care about. I thought we could share
some consciousness, so I'm awsking all of my supporter to please try
to fulfill this book with list for brother Malik and I. We are
asking that you send Malik's wish list to Malik's address at the
prison, and mine to my own. We do so because there are limits
imposed by the prison on how many books we can receive at once. We
also emphasize that hey be sent from a major publisher/distributor
like Amazon.com or BarnesandNobel.com and not from one of the
smaller publilshers we all know and love. So this year's birthday I
am going to politely decline all of your offers for
"file-in-vegan-chocolate-cake" and instead ask for what I would like
to have back most next to my freedom, my ability to share with the
people I car about.

This is Malik's book wish list. Please fulfill his list first and
then mine. The books can be mailed to Malik's address below. Form the
bottom of our hearts Malik and I think you!

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/17RX31S9HAETM/]

Malik Lamarr #04099-084
FCI Butner Medium II
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 1500
Butner, NC 27509
USA


Healing the Errors of Living by Ra Un Nefer Amen, isbn#1877662-11-9
I write what I like by Stephen Biko
The Wisdom of Mao by Mao tse-Tung
African Psychology: Towards it's Reclamations,Reascension and
Revitalization by Wade Nobles
Steve Biko: Black Consciousness in South Africa by Stephen Biko
Stokely Speaks by Stokely Carmichael
Blueprint for Blackpower: A moral, political & economic Imperitive
for the 21st Century by Amos Wilson
Beyond Black and White: Rethinking Race in America by M. Marable
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America by M. Marable
The Complete Idiots Guide to Grammar & Style, isbn#1592571158
Tree of Life Meditation Systemu by Ra Un Nefer Amen, isbn#18877662-07-0
This is my book wishlist. Most of it is for my own personal research,
although Foier and the Godzilla stuff is pure entertainment. Again,
I think you from the bottom of my heart!

Andy Stepanian #26399-050
FCI Butner Medium II
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 1500
Butner, NC 27509
USA

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1H7ARVHMZ78KG/ ]

Beneath the Paving Stones: Situationist oand the Beach, May 68 by The
Dark Star Collective
Blood in My Eye by George Jackson
The Dead Emcee Scrolls by Saul Williams
Forbidden Fruit: Lover Stories From the Underground Railroad by Bey Deramus
Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago
Eight by Jon Weiner
The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism by David Lester
Days of War Nights of Love by CrimethInc Ex-Workers Collective
Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating by Eric Marcus
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foier
Situationist International Anthology by Ken Knabb

I would also like to receive books on the Exxon Valdez spill in
Alaska, any pictorial accounts and historic accounts, dates numbers
etc. lastly I would love it if people can find any books on the
history of Godzilla, yes Godzilla, the making of Godzilla movies, the
eco-feminist theories associated with the story of Godzilla and
books with cool photos of Godzilla. (I'm not sure if that qualifies
as "conscious" material, but hey I will be pleasantly surprised to
open a package of Godzilla related materials.)

Love and Liberation,

Andy Stepanian and Malik Lamarr

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