First Hours of the SHU Vigil

All Peeps and others:

Our much-loved companera Quetaoceloacuia of the Barrio Defense Committee is going on her 15th hour inside the "SHU box" that we set up at Powell and Market. When she comes out at midnight, Caitlin Funk of the African People's Solidarity Committee will go in. I encourage everyone to go down to Powell and Market and stand watch tonight or any time between now and Tuesday at midnight.

I can tell you it is a very illuminating experience to be in the presence of this replica of the California prison torture chamber where Quetza is boxed up and where Quetza's own son Jose Luis Avina is being held hostage at Corcoran State, his youth has been brutally ripped away from him in retaliation for his political organizing in the prisons.

People on the street are mainly very curious about this white box on the street that has signs on it that read, "There is someone in this box! This is what a SHU (Security Housing Unit) looks like! The SHU was created by the California Department of Corrections to torture prisoners. Do you want this?"

When I was on vigil duty, many people came up to sign the petition to abolish the SHU. Sometimes they would try to peek inside to find only darkness. One former prison guard from LA County silently took the clipboard from my hand and signed the petition. Another Filipino man came up and furiously told me how he'd just gotten out of federal prison when the INS throw him in there for no reason.

Many people look at the youthful picture of Jose Luis Avina (just a teenager when he was abducted from his family by the California state) and read the words of Pelican Bay prisoner Steve Castillo almost in disbelief. There is a sense of gravity of purpose and mourning to the SHU vigil.

I've decided not to eat today in solidarity and just drink water. Well, also to cleanse myself of all my kids' Halloween candy that I ate yesterday as well ;) )

Long live the indigenous peoples of this land! Damn the rulers and the system that has Raza and Africans locked down into the dungeons of hell!

Tierra y Libertad por la Raza!!
Uhuru!

Wendy
Expressing White solidarity with Raza and African people's struggle against police and prison brutality

I found this graffiti that seemed to fit the occasion...