We poor people, we African Americans, have been oppressed for so long and by so many different people that it honestly seems that oppression is all that we know. It appears that we who are oppressed expect to be oppressed, even if some of us have to oppress each other.
This real-life psychological war, economic war, mental war, life-and-death war, and every other type of war that oppression puts a person through, must first start by us ending these oppressive wars against our fellow sisters and brothers. Those of us who are oppressing the rest of us don’t stop– can we honestly stop others from continuing to do what they have historically done to us?
Sometimes, we, who are oppressed, are our own worst oppressors and enemies. We must stop this Black-on-Black violence. We must stop violence against all of our fellow human beings. In struggle and solidarity from death row of San Quentin Prison, I’m Kevin Cooper.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
