Part 24 (1/2)
When I got dressed I started walking over to the Chicano who kept looking atI said to the head, to which he replied that it was behindon the wall, closer to where I was than the Chicano I acted as if I was using it, then sat back down I had to be slicker
But now the Chicano kneas trying to get to hi at uely familiar I knew I had seen hi in or around my 'hood, I knew it had to be from a jail But which one, and when? I continued to eye him, much like he had eyed me I pulled up face after face, place after place onblanks Inwith the Sixties and,with the Sixties We've always tried to be equal-opportunity killers
”Everybody stand up and follow the erprinted several tioes to the Justice Department, one to the FBI, one to the State Capitol, one to the”
I didn't even try to hear the rest hell, I had heard it all before in Youth Authority, where prints are taken and sent to the saroups of people In youth caroup But in Youth Authority, which is run by the state of California, you become a potential case study as an individual The FBI and the rest of the authorities have the nae data bank in Washi+ngton When you go to state or federal prison, they si they think is noteworthy-and everything is noteworthy to a hunter-they put it in your file in their data bank They knohat youbefore it happens, as well as what you have the potential to do Because gang actions are seen as self-destructive and not a threat to the security of this country, it's not necessary for theht of those in authority or resist the chains that constantly bind you, then you'll be elevated as a security risk and itators Index file I've been in the Agitators Index since 1986
I took the photos and went through the ed since I'd left YA) Athim
”What's up, ot a problehed thirty pounds less, which really didn'twas for those you liked Stabbing was for the enemy
”Ain't your name Kody, Monster Kody?”
”Yeah, that's me Why? What up?”
”You don't re him suspiciously ”From where?”
”Juvenile hall and camp I'm Cooper frorin
Yes, I did know him! He and I were friends from the seventies Every time I went to the Hall he was there When I went to caain in prison
”Goddamn, yeah, I'ot?”
”Fifteen to life And you?”
”Just seven”
”I'll be here when you get back!”
”fuck that, I ain't comin' back”
We talked a bit more before we had to break it up This was not caoverned by politics This was state prison, where talking to the wrong person could very well get you killed I wondered if he had gotten hooked up
The group of us went through a few other stages of questions and answers before having to go get blood tests, iiven our bed numbers Chino is the reception center for southern California You go through all your indoctrination there: school testing, health testing, and a visit with a counselor for placement in a permanent prison One usually stays at Chino for atransferred It is old, dirty, rat and roach infested, and always cold I was sent to Cypress Hall and put on the third tier My cell, blacksmile
”Cool, asante”
”Oh, you speak that Swahili, huh?” he asked
”A little My co ht”
”Do you sarettes?”
”Naw, never have”
”Oh, 'cause I have some tobacco But if it bothers you I'll smoke only on the yard”
”Naw, it's cool, it don't bother ht up until he noticed the knife in et us put in the Hole, -eyed with hysteria, frantically crossing and uncrossing his arms, and his feet would not keep still
”I keistered it and brought it froht with one than without one We are at war, haven't you heard?”
”War?!”
”Shhh,” I said and reduced hian in a lower tone, ”I don't knohat you talkin' 'bout I ain't involved in no war I ain't got no eneo home”
I looked at him and remembered what Salahudin had told me about brothas in the pen
”Sanyika,” he'd said, which hat he always called me in place of Monster once I'd accepted it, ”Afrikans in the pen will use every excuse they can think of to avoid aiding you in a crisis They will cite the Bible, bad health, the weather, any and everything to get out of having to endure perhaps a little hardshi+p as the expense for saving your life We are neglectful like that But let a Chicano give a distress call and you'll have a hundred of them to deal with” Prophecy
”Check this out,” I said to hi rid of it If you feel safe without one, fine I don't If I had known you was gonna trip out I never would have let you know I had it I'onna let nobody stick shi+t in ?”
”Aw, man, it ain't like that in here Everybody cool with one another Man, we-”
”How long you been here?”
”A week, but I-”
”You been to the pen before?”
”No, but I-”
”Well shut the fuck up then, 'cause you don't know shi+t, man You don't know nothin' 'bout the politics here, man, nothin'!”
”Politics?”
”BGF, EME, AB, NF, CCO, UBN, VG, TS, Four-fifteenYou ever hear of them, huh?”
”Naw, sound like some code or somethin'”
”Fool, they run these muthafuckin' places, man At any time they can have you murdered, man But you don't hearoff 'round here now that everybody cool? Huh? All it takes is one order and any one of the cool people you kick it ill put a piece of steel right through your neck! Ain't no 'cool' in here”
He was visibly frightened now I had brought the raw reality of our situation fully down on his shoulders and said, in effect, Carry this! He was already sagging under the weight