This is Safir Chuma Asafo reporting from Huntington State Prison in Pennsylvania. There is a growing disregard for freedom of speech, for dissenting voices here in America, but especially so for Pennsylvania state prisoners, as many informative publications and periodicals are increasingly being denied by prison mail room personnel, a lot of times out of personal bias. This includes personal family photos. On one occasion, in particular, a photo of my small niece holding up the universal peace sign with her two fingers was arbitrarily deemed a gang sign. The photo was not allowed into the prison. Interestingly, white inmates who received similar photos in the mail aren’t put under the same scrutiny, leading me to believe that my photos are being racially profiled.
I find it ironic, though hypocritical, that over 40 world leaders marched in a show of solidarity with the people of France in defense of freedom of speech and freedom of expression in the wake of the tragedy that claimed the lives of a dozen writers and cartoonists of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, but here in America, the land of the free, those very same freedoms are under attack. The freedom of speech only afforded to those who toe the mainstream narrative. How do we grapple with the recently dethroned Governor Tom Corbett’s Senate Bill 508, which was recently signed into law? These are questions that should concern us all. This is Safir Chuma Asafo, reporting from Huntington. I think we all should ask these questions about the infringement on our freedoms.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
