Donating for a Husband, an Uncle… and Making the Years Behind Bars Count

In front of a local jail with "1000 Years—$1000 for BA Everywhere"

May 14, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

This past Sunday a small team of revolutionaries went to the local jail to call on and involve people who were visiting their loved ones in the "1,000 Years—$1000 for BA Everywhere" project. We set up a large display and a table with Revolution newspapers, BA Everywhere brochures, literature and half-page "1000 Years—$1000 for BA Everywhere" pledge cards we had printed on cardstock. We told people that we are coming back every Sunday until the end of June. So we were both collecting donations on the spot, but also providing a way for people to come back after having saved up and/or raised the money. Next week we plan to play Bob Avakian's (BA's) New Year's message, "A Call To Revolution," to further connect people to BA and to consolidate people in taking up the BA Everywhere campaign.

This was a somewhat lively scene (and at the jail there is a real mix of white, Black and Latino, English and Spanish), with some stopping to listen to our agitation, some checking out the table, some buying Revolution newspapers and making donations. One white youth who was listening for a while came up to the agitator and suggested that he talk about how most people driving by don't even have a clue that this nice-looking tall building is actually a prison. After one person loudly argued in favor of religion a Black man who had been hanging out on the far side of the little plaza walked over to the table and responded, "that's bullshit!" He then hung around and listened to more.

A middle-age Black woman who had just visited her son stopped and wanted to know what this is all about. She read a few quotes from BA, finishing with BAsics 1:13, and replied, "That's some stuff!" She then remarked, "But that's not gonna shut down these jails." So I explained that only a revolution would do that, and that we are building a movement for revolution, and that prisoners have an important role to play in bringing that about. So raising money to get the voice and works of Bob Avakian into these hell-holes is a way that prisoners can really transform themselves, and have transformed themselves, into emancipators of humanity. At that point it seemed a light went on in her head. She said that she was gonna go online and seriously check out this whole movement, and would be back next week.

A young Black woman came up to the table, pulled out her money, and wrote the following: "I'm donating a dollar to support my uncle who has been in prison for a yr."

A white woman stopped and I explained to her what this is all about. She listened intently and said, "Okay, I get it. And I just did five years, so here is five dollars." We talked a little more and she decided that she was gonna donate another $5 every Sunday in May. She was about to write a statement, but then decided that she needed to put more thought into it, and said that she would bring it next week with her money. Another woman said that her husband was doing 10 years, so she would pull together as close to $10 as she could for next week.

In a few hours, we got out 20 Revolution newspapers and raised $18 as part of "1000 Years—$1000 for BA Everywhere."

While this is just the beginning, we felt that it was an important way to bring people into the process of this campaign. As it develops, we will post more.

Send us your comments.

If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.