There is something beautiful about seeing the young athletes at the Olympics, running, jumping, flipping and strutting.
I’m not a big Olympics fan (a bit too much flag-waving for my taste), but the quadrennial sports event has become a virtual parade for a plethora of African-American, African and Jamaican athletes.
Little Grenada, a teardrop of an island in the Caribbean Sea, exulted over its first (and only!) gold medal.
And an adorable little girl captures the hearts of millions when she scores several gold medals in gymnastics.
Of course, I refer to the teenager Gabby Douglas, nicknamed “The Flying Squirrel”, who, with her strength, agility, effervescence and flashbulb of a smile, made years of hard work and bone-shattering pain look like fun.
When a friend told me the youngster was being criticized online for her hair (!), I was dumbfounded. She dismissed the flurry of discontent with a sense of maturity far beyond her years.
Said she: “Nothing is going to change. “ Umph.
For a brief, shining moment, Black girls appeared on the idiot box, not as vixens, strumpets nor rump-shakers; but as beautiful, talented young people, who dazzled with their sheer athleticism and brilliance.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
https://conta.cc/4ayDxlB](https://www.prisonradio.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)