Archive for the 'Inside Line' Category

Photo by Buddy Bell, taken of Kathy Kelly on January 23, shortly before she began her 3 month prison sentence

The Shift

reprint of a letter from Kathy Kelly

“We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person oriented society: when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” – Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam”

Here in Lexington federal prison, Atwood Hall defies the normal Bureau of Prisons fixation on gleaming floors and spotless surfaces. Creaky, rusty, full of peeling paint, chipped tiles, and leaky plumbing, Atwood just won’t pass muster.

But of the four federal prisons I’ve lived in, this particular “unit” may be the most conducive to mental health. Generally, the Bureau of Prisons system pushes guards to value buffed floors more than the people buffing the floors, walking the floors. Here, the atmosphere seems less uptight, albeit tinged with resigned acceptance that everyone is more or less “stuck” in what one prisoner described as “the armpit of the system.”

December 10, 2014

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Following Thanksgiving time, and preparing to celebrate the gifting time, I again find a shared response to all our faithful correspondents most appropriate. Once again, especially moved by a passage from Matthew 11, for today, speaking clearly of gifts treasured by prophets everywhere. I quote Jesus’ own in: “Take upon you my yoke (I give you these gifts); I am gentle and humble of heart, and you’ll find rest…” Surely gifts relevant to many in the daily reports of activity stirred by events in Ferguson, Staten Island and Cleveland. Both the nonviolent responses nightly to police brutality, and on Democracy Now! today to Diane Feinstein’s reportage on the long-standing use of torture by the CIA; along with the Nobel Peace Prize committee choosing Malala* at 17 for her activism for education for girls, along with 60-year-old teacher Kailash Satyarthi’s struggle for the rights of children in India as elsewhere. Surely gifts to us all, and to be practiced along with the gentleness and humility they imply if we are able to receive with the truths they expose.

To my dearest friends and comrades,

Brian Jacob Church

I want to thank you all for your never ending love and support for the three of us as we continue to resist this system of state oppression. The last two years have been a long, hard fought struggle, but finally, with trial done and sentences handed out, we’re on the home stretch.

I’m pretty sure I can say for all three of us that had it not been for the international showing of solidarity for our struggle, we would have been in a different, and much worse, situation. For me, this support has helped me both physically and mentally. You all have been most inspiring and uplifting, with constant reminders to stay strong and keep my head up. It has helped me stay focused and to remember why I resist in the first place. Please know that even if I may not have written back, that every letter and book I have received has been read and appreciated.