WOMMB and prison gangs.

(postmarked AUG 8, 2013)

I’ve been thinking a lot about the notion/suggestion that WOMMB Institute could be misconstrued as a “Prison Gang” or “gang” in general. That bothers me because I know that anyone making that claim is deliberately trying to undermine positive efforts at community, family and personal growth and revival. Some people secretly hate anything good and wholesome. “Misery loving company” is an understatement. These folks want underdeveloped and repressed communities and people to stay as they are.

I hate entertaining these considerations because, number one: its ridiculous; and, number two: it distracts us from the real issues that need discussion. Let’s be clear...WOMMB Institute is exactly that: An Institution!

Our mission statement, charter, other documents, and observable activities transparently give evidence to this fact. I fact, we are the antithesis of a “gang” in our fundamental ideology, world view, and operations. We pose no threat to each other as prisoners, staff, or the public; we’re not an escape risk; we’re anti-drug use and smuggling & distributing; we’re anti-aggressive violence, anti-extortion; we believe that all captives/prisoners are of one class in struggle against oppression & coercion. Peddling and using drugs further enslaves us & prevents us from thinking critically and addressing our collective problems constructively. Doped up zombies don’t reform or abolish prisons or resist oppression & corruption. They don’t contribute anything positive to social growth.

WOMMB Institute is also not interested in “controlling the prison yard”, politically. That’s absurd! You can’t “control” anything if you don’t have political authority, agency, freedom, independent institutions, self-determination or something worth controlling. We’re trying to get away from prisons and do away with them, not control them. Insane!

There’s also this promoted persona of the “convict” & “convict culture” ; An ethos and culture that glorifies prison life and the actions some of us resort to in order to cope and survive. Being satisfied with $80.00 store purchases, fancy, brand new prison clothes & shoes, cell phones, etc., as “status symbols”. Ridiculous!

You can’t improve upon prison life, make it hospitable, or less disagreeable. There are no creature comforts to mask the depravity. WOMMB Institute rejects these misguided pursuits.

Our focus is Human Development, maximizing human potential & possibilities, and making ourselves fit for civic participation and social and moral productivity. Our public school systems, the media, religious institutions, governments, prisons, etc., aren’t doing this job at al satisfactory rate, on a mass scale, affecting our most underprivileged; So we, the Communities, have to devise institutions, “Outside the box”. WOMMB Institute is one of them.

These prisons & juvenile detention centers are creating monsters, exacerbating crime and violence in our communities. If families and communities support institutions & organizations like WOMMB, we can greatly increase the numbers of men & women coming home from prison as assets to prosperity and happiness. It’s not a crime or against prison policies to improve self and build noble character. It’s a crime not to !

We can’t rely on the state developed and facilitated “self help” programs because there’s an inherent contradiction & conflict of interest in the whole idea: Officers and state employees & contractors are trained and paid to undo, deconstruct, and impair our humanity, and our sense of self-worth and any attainment of self-determination. This guarantees our cyclic returns to prison, this, guaranteeing their jobs and livelihoods. The notion of prisons wanting to help prisoners stay out of prison or improve themselves is a rhetorical ethic. It’s what the public wants to hear. It’s what eases your minds. They lie to you and take your billions in tax dollars. Is this acceptable?

Is WOMMB Institute relevant & promising?

Will you unite with us and support our cause?

In Struggle, Solidarity, and Peace,

Herukhuti

WOMMB Institute