To My Brothers Known As “The Lucasville Five”
By Ali Khalid Abdullah, Prisonersolidarity.org
Feb. 17, 2007
https://prisonersolidarity.org/alikhalidabdullah4-htm/
In 1993, all of you took a stand for something that was right. All of you were respected leaders in your own right within that dreadful prison. You did not have to be leaders, but you were placed in that position by powers greater than men — to be leaders of men, condemned by the State of Ohio for all manner of social crimes. You stood up during a time when no one was willing or wanting to stand up and be a responsible party for those convicted. But you all stood!
You stood up not to hurt the state, or prison guards, or even the administration that created the conditions for the riot in the first place. You stood up for the rights of fellow human beings, who should have been treated with dignity and fundamental fairness
as the United States Constitution declared – or, more importantly, what the Creator of all humanity declared. And so you stood, and for your standing you were lied upon, and targeted by a system that hated to see you bring that kind of unity among criminals,
the kind of unity that can’t even be achieved in so-called “civilized society”: and that is “One Unity.”
That is what is really on trial here today. That is why you were singled out for death. That is why you were made the scapegoat for a system that was broken. For the men and women who held your lives in their hands and failed to act in a human manner, and terrorized you in every manner, hidden under the cloak of darkness. Long before there was an Abu Ghraib scandal, you (and all of Amerikkka’s prisoners) were scandalized by these hidden acts of abuse, torture, beatings, rapes, false charges produced, and denials of freedom. You were the Iraqis held in Abu Ghraib who were shown in pictures, being treated sadistically. You
were them, but the public did not hear you.
They did not know you, and the country did not care, because you were not “civilized” in their eyes. And yet — during one of the three biggest riots ever held in a U.S. state prison,
and the most horrific — you five men banned together and sought to reach peaceful conclusions, and to gain attention over the plight of your sufferings. You are the real honorable men, and you deserve not to be executed for the lies and trumped-up charges created by a system that is both morally and judiciously bankrupt.
I want you men to know, and I mean truly know, that you are not alone, and that your acts of selflessness have been noticed and recognized by many untold names.
I want you to know that your actions inspired me. That they have inspired me in a very positive and transforming way. Your stories have shown me that there is hope for the human being. That racism, social class, political and religious affiliations, have no real meaning when we remove all the pretense and masks,because you stood as ONE UNIT! ONE GROUP! ONE PEOPLE! That is the most compelling act one can give. That is what Martin Luther King Jr. so often spoke of achieving, but died before having to achieve. But you had to. You did so, among the most hardened of men. And that is why the State of Ohio and, in fact, the United States Government, wants your life. They want to make this a quick kill so that the world does not hear the real and true story of you men. For, if the world does hear of you, you will be able to transform the world, and give us all new visions and hopes of what can be achieved.
So, to all five of you — Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Keith Lamar, Jason Robb, James Were, and George Skatzes — I give you my love. I give you my heart. I give you my spirit. I give you my pledge to fight and fight hard to expose your case, and help gain your freedom. I give you my pledge to never forget what you have done. And I ask my GOD whom I call ALLAAH, to grant HIS mercy, protection and love upon all of you.
Long Live the Lucasville Five! Long Live ONE UNITY!