Part 20 (2/2)
”Naw”
”Did y'all fuck him?”
”hell, naw! I ain't into that shi+t”
”Oh, 'cause that e heard I just wanted to be sure 'cause people been askin' 'bout him”
”Who?”
”Just some people”
damn, BT was hooked up! I wondered what thisto be blue-lighted?
”Was BT under the constitution?” I asked Killer, who had been to the pen
”No, but he was one of our prospects”
”Our? Are you in, or under it?”
”Yep,” he said proudly ”Been in the organization for three years now”
I had one right in my cell! I didn't really kno to talk to Killer after I learned he was in the organization It all took on an air of mystery No one really knew much about it, and most were reluctant to speak about it This only causedthe anization
I didn't want to ask Killer outright about the group for fear he would take it wrong, so I just observed hied tremendously He had none of the old craziness that I reone to ca a Nine-0 when the war broke out His demeanor noas humble and sure, with an air of confidence He was respectful to the point of being almost silly ”Excuse me” and ”please,” he'd say, and instead of thank you he'd say ”asante,” which is Kiswahili for thank you I was tripping out on his actions Everythe floor with a wet rag on his hands and knees! And eachin Kiswahili-to Elimu (Honey Bear frohout the day they'd speak to one another in Kiswahili over the tier When they did so, the whole tier would fall quiet and just listen They were upright, respectful, physically fit, and mentally sharp They used ”Afrikan” in place of ”Black,” and never said nigger They were socially conscious like Muhammad, but they weren't Muslie one day ere alone
”What changed you, Killer?”
”Actually the process took soe tosomeone tell you what to do or how to act, what you can say and what you can't say But by reading about our Afrikan heritage I learned that the things that ht and thatThrough our heritage I learned what it really means to be a Crip A real Crip”
”Wha'cha anization, or CCO, believe that CRIPS means Clandestine Revolutionary Internationalist Party Soldiers And with this knowledge of ourselves we believe we as a tribe have an obligation to our people We don't disrespect our people and we don't fight against the United Blood Nation”
”Who?”
”The UBN-United Blood Nation, which is the vanguard organization representing the Blood Nation”
”They got a constitution, too?”
”Yep,” Killer replied
My head was spinning with all of this Clandestine Revolutionary Internationalist Party Soldiers-CRIPS That was heavy Nation and tribe, Kiswahili and unity-words that when spoken in isolation froless But when they were applied in sync and sequence to concrete develop and could be seen as clearly as the bars that held us captive
”Monster, Crip is a bad word only because we have turned inward on our coainst us We are our oorst enemy So CCO has set out to re-establish CRIP as a positive influence in our co that?”
”With people like otta be sharp, ya dig?”
”Yeah, yeah I hear you”
From then on Killer would pull me to the side and drop little lessons onacadereat inspiration to all of us in the module
There were ten CCO members in the ic on the uncultured Crips They began to transfor military science, political science, Kiswahili, and Crip history People knew more about American history than Crip history, so that was definitely an area of concentration Most of us were receptive to their knowledge, but as always, there were those hardheads who had to ”be their own an to disrupt the program they were dealt with and removed Most complied out of the realization of CCO's presence in the population San Quentin was the CCO headquarters-though recently the Central Committee has been moved to Folsom-but they had well-disciplined cadres in every prison who, upon order, were ready to plant some steel in anyone's chest More important, they were educators, teachers, and protectors of the Crip Nation
It's a trip how fast their language becae and how their ways becaether ere a nation-the Blue Nation The tribalisnated as the Co out of their share of store-bought ite and no one to send theht-instead of East SideWest Side chants we did the Universal Crip Cadence Initially Eliht me the words so I could conduct the the tier, repeating the words, shouting afterWe called it Machine in Motion
”Monsta Kody!” Big Rebo froht
”Yeah?” I'd say
”MONSTA KODY!” he'd holler again, just toon
”YEAH?” I'd reply again
”MACHINE IN MOTION!” which came out with a rhythm like ”MAH-SHEEN-IN-MOE-SHUUUN!”
And I'd answer ”MACHINE IN MOTION!”
Then, from my left, Eliin
C-R-l-P, C-R-I-P
Crip! Crip!
Minds of steel, hearts of stone,
Crip ,