Now I know. You would never, ever see Reverend Edward Pickney on The Oprah Winfrey Show. You would never, ever see or hear about Oprah Winfrey interviewing Reverend Edward Pinkney because she can’t handle the truth. The truth of the matter is, she believe that the system is not corrupt. She believe that these establishment is not corrupt. She believe that the criminal justice system is fair. She believe that if you go to prison, that you will be rehabilitated. But I am here to tell you today, Oprah, that the system is corrupt. The establishment is corrupt. And now, which is way more important, the criminal justice system is corrupt, and you do not go to prison to be rehabilitated.
And now, I now know, I now believe I know, how the 20 Blacks from the death ship [unclear] at Jamestown, Virginia, August of 1619, felt to be brought and sold, and then become slaves. I now know, I now believe I know, how it felt to be a slave, tortured, beaten, mentally and physically destroyed, and the country said it was all right. I now know, I now believe I know, how the Jews felt in Nazi Germany, in a concentration camp, on their way to the gas chamber of the death camp. I now know, I now think I know, I now believe I know, how it felt when the police dog tore into the marchers and the high-powered firehose knocked the children along the pavement down like tumbleweed.
I now know, I now believe I know, when I hear a cop shooting up Blacks, I know that part of their tradition is to shoot Blacks. They have always shot up Black people, and in fact, most of their heroes are somebody who had killed lots of people. I now know, and I now believe I know, how it felt to be tortured, and there’s nothing you can do about it. The torture, the agony of the mind and the body, the inflicting of extreme pain, mentally and physically. The torture is used as a means of persuasion.
I am standing in Marquette Branch prison today, better known as the concentration camp of America, where prisoners from various parts of the states are assembled, to be tortured. I have been tortured. I have been tortured but I am still standing. I have been tortured mentally, but I am still standing. I have been tortured physically, but I am still standing. They wrote me eight misconduct tickets, but I am still standing. The Correctioner’s Office threatened me, harassed me, intimidated me, but I am still standing. A coward can sit down, but it takes a man to stand up. I am standing. I am the Reverend Edward Pickney, standing for the people, and will continue to stand for the people until something is done. We’re here now, and we are here to stay, but we must join together and fight this monster.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
