[This is a
letter published in Green Anarchy]
DEAR GA:
I heard you wanted a run down on what's cracking on my case, so here it
is. Also with this is part of my police report to give you an idea on what went
down. Maybe it would be better to start at the beginning:
The beginning of this year (2002) was pretty much the beginning of the
end. While I was chilling in Oregon at the info-shop in Eugene waiting for the
Anti-Patriarchy Conference I got word that Sherman Austin, website author of
Raise-the-fist (www.raisethefist.com), had been raided by several
agencies. Not too long after this Sherman left to the World Economic Forum in
NYC and was arrested. To make a long story short, he was charged with several
federal charges including hacking. The pig cops weren't cool with all of the
stuff going on in LA. His charges were later dropped. It was around this time
that some filthy pigs gunned down a mentally impaired old lady in our hood,
Long Beach. You guessed it, she was Black. A flier was distributed depicting a
man shooting a pig calling for protest. The media jumped on it, and so did
the Justice Department who sent a federal mediator to the local community
center currently being run by some anarchists including myself. He was there to
keep the city from going up in flames. The local newspaper did an interview
with me as well. This basically painted a hulls-eye on my head. After
interviewing me they asked to take a picture of me. I declined, but their
people are persistent, and so I figured, fuck it. Next day the Long Beach
police are running my face on the "put this man in jail" list. The
protest goes on, peaceful, and relatively successful. Now the bee's nest is
rattled and everything starts balling up. Police start harassing us. Towing
cars, surveillance, shutting down shows, stupid shit basically. One day two
individuals hang a "Off the Pigs" banner from the community center
which ended up with pigs surrounding the place and shining their floodlights in
the window while standing in the streets trying to video tape the people in the
shop.
On April 20th four pigs followed me and another dude named Maxwell
Lucas. We were pulled over around 9 p.m. in Whittier, by La Habra police.
Apparently Long Beach pigs called LAPD while following us and had them check
the car for weapons. They ended up pulling us over in the city of Whittier.
After finding gasoline, a sponge, and candles, the police arrested us on
possession of a destructive device and attempted use of a destructive device.
Later charges of transportation of a destructive device and ingredients to make
a destructive device, along with hate crime enhancements, were added. The
authorities claim I was intending to use the gasoline on a Hitler's birthday
party, because of the vicinity of my arrest. The car I was traveling in
however, had not only passed the "Hitler Birthday Party", but was in
another city traveling the opposite direction when I was detained. Further,
Hitler's birthday party was canceled (sorry Adolph) a few days earlier.
Their only evidence has been that I detest Nazis
(doesn't practically everyone?) and that I am an anarchist with gasoline. At my
first court hearing my bail was set at $100,000, and as I was going back a
friend yelled "thug life!". He got arrested for contempt. Maxwell
Lucas took a plea deal that offered no jail time. After a May Day protest went
to the facility I was at, authorities put me in the administrative segregation
unit on total separation status. My preliminary hearing was a big joke. The
judge fucked off and upped my bail to $200,000. The District Attorney isn't
offering anything. We have filed three motions. Dismissal, suppression, and a
puncheons (not sure if I spelled that right). Pre-trial hearing for this is
December 20th. I hope to beat the case, as I've already got the hate crime
dropped. Three of the felony charges are specified under a penal code outlawing
having a breakable container filled with flammable substances, with a wick
attached. I didn't have this at all. The container isn't even breakable. Not
surprising, in the police report was a newspaper article that I spoke of
earlier about the police brutality protest with a picture of my face ready to
be pinned up. This kind of case happens all the time (minus the explosives
charges) in the hood. In my cellblock, I watch homeboys get shipped off like
cattle to prison. For me it was gasoline. Someone else it could have been
police framing them with crack, or heat or whatever. Bottom line is, we go to
prison, and they get away with it. Why? Because nobody gives a fuck about young
people. Especially young poor people. And even more young poor people of color.
Activists don't even care about political prisoners unless they can buy their
bumper sticker (how long did it take Mumia to get mass support?). But we are
still here. Boiling in anger. Getting stronger and smarter to come back at
their punk system.
If anyone wants to donate money, I strongly need it.
Daryl Cherney, where are you? You just won some millions from these Feds on
that Earth First! lawsuit. Kick me some bread and I guarantee you'll make the
pigs hate you more. I'm young, I can cause hell for a long time, consider it an
investment. Bail me out and I'll get 187 FBI tattooed on my ass.
For donations send checks, money orders, and well-concealed cash to:
Shannon Rice
VCSC, College Ten, #0303
600 McLaughlin Dr.
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
If you have any questions or just want to send support I'm at:
Matthew Lamont #2057034
IRC, 550 N. Flower St.,