August 25, 2007

10:19

Getting back to how the protest turned out...

We appeared to be united when we went to bed on the 6th, but the warden had an ace up his sleeve. When I awoke on the 7 there were five police in the dorm, one was the usual officer that's in here (they wear light blue shirts and navy blue pants) and the other four were members of the riot team - all black from head to toe with some very long sticks on their sides. The riot team is made up of DOC officers from across the state. These officers are very aggressive and have nasty attitudes, they actually try to push our bottons so they will have a reason to bust our heads.

Fear was the warden's ace and the riot team introduced fear into these weak %÷\#/\@*$< hearts. To see these so called gangsters tipping around like they were walking on eggshells separated the men from the boys. No matter what's thrown at me I will always be who I am and that's a scary man with a big mouth. Nobody shall take my voice until I'm dead, especially when I'm in the right or at least justified in my point of view.

Yes, I can admit to being scared of many things, but I'm not a coward. Cowards allow their fears to paralyze them! Fear only makes me take a step back and proceed with caution. These men that feared the riot team the most are the same men that wanted to kill each other the night before. This wasn't a riot and we had valid issues so all we had to do was act normal. Even the members of the riot team realized that we weren't acting a fool and that the conditions we live under are indeed very sad, many of them were disappointed for being called away from their families.

Later that morning our representatives met with the warden again, then were allowed to discuss things alone when the warden left. One dorm was going to eat but not work and that caused the rest to fold. By the time they called for my dorm to eat dinner three of the five dorms had already ate and I watched my dorm empty, about 20 of us held out for the 48 hours. As hungry as I was there was nothing that could make me fold, I committed to a 48 hour hunger strike and that's what I intended to do. Perhaps the saddest thing that happened was when the dorm for the kitchen workers was called to eat they immediately moved the police out of the way and went to cooking, cleaning and serving food.