Eric sends SO MUCH love to folks! We will have an in depth update coming this week but Eric wants me to let folks know that because there was some confusion with his commissary so he has been unable to purchase stamps this week. If folks are waiting on a letter he is unable to send one out until Wednesday next week. Love and Rage!
5/4 update
I have a little update on Eric. He still hasn’t received anything back from his medical request. Beyond that his light has been out for a week and a half now and they have not changed it. He says this is the first time he has felt lonely since being locked up. At night time when it gets dark it starts to feel super sad for him and has to stand by his window when he wants to read. The other day Eric found chicken under his green beans on his vegan tray, he isn’t sure if it was an accident or a targeted incident.
Eric has been following the Baltimore uprising and sends all his love and solidarity to the folks fighting!
(A) (///)
-R
If anyone has been looking for a book to send he really wants to read angelas ashes!!
HUGE victories with the demand for a vegan diet!!
Withholding food from my brain
they attempt to starve
revolutionary minds
I will eat
fueling on solidarity
surviving on truth
the words they oppress
desserts of abuse
which they indulge
will make their stomachs
a larger target
steal my food
you will not steal my cause
This is a poem Eric wrote last week during his struggle for a vegan diet. We are ECSTATIC to report that yesterday Eric won his battle and has a vegan tray!! Eric thanks everyone for the solidarity that gave him strength to fight. He said without folks standing behind him he wouldn’t have been able to be in a place to fight for himself! When they handed him his tray they said to him “I guess your comrades got you a vegan tray” Thank you so much everyone!!
A HUGE thanks to Support Vegans In Prison for their help!! http://www.supportvips.org/
Eric is still very sick. He requested medical care last week and has yet to hear back if he is going to receive it. He is extremely fatigued and to stay awake he has to force himself to get up every half an hour or so and do jumping jacks or some sort of vigorous exercise. After everything he eats he is experiencing extreme stomach pain. Eric is also experiencing loss of vision and extreme vertigo, memory loss among other symptoms. These symptoms are extremely serious and could indicate a deficiency in vitamin B-12 which can happen to vegan folks. The long term effects of this deficiency can be devastating. Eric needs to be seen by a doctor.
Your heart is a muscle the size of your fist,
Keep on loving. Keep on fighting.
And hold on, hold on,
Hold on for your life.
(A)
Fundraiser is Live!!
Second time is a charm right? Let’s hope so because our fundraiser is live! Eric is feeling pretty blown away by the support he is receiving. We have been reading him the messages that are being posted to the fundraiser page and they are really inspiring an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for him. Thank you to folks who have contributed, to the folks sharing the blog and fundraiser page and thank you to folks who are reaching out to Eric through letters and notes showing solidarity. No form of solidarity is more valued. To know that he has folks who are behind him and supporting him is more than he could have ever hoped for.
Update 4/20/2015 Eric’s Health Status and General Wellbeing
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIPp3vAVaFc]
Played this song for Eric yesterday, it has been on his mind a lot lately. He has been in good spirits despite not feeling healthy. Eric has been experiencing more and more very serious symptoms everyday that could be a deficiency like anemia or vitamin b-12 deficiency. The symptoms that Eric is experiencing are very concerning. Eric has requested medical attention, and is waiting on a response.. Eric has been a vegan for 10 years and while he has been in CCA Leavenworth he has not been receiving adequate nutrition. For Eric it is a good week if he gets a serving of veggies and grain each day and a fruit twice a week. Because he has to pick through the tray of food for vegan food he can eat he is living primarily on processed food from commissary. For this Eric needs both money on his account and for them to allow him to use his money to purchase items from commissary. There have been weeks that Eric has even been denied commissary with no reason given to him.
Eric’s youcaring fundraiser has been taken down without notice or reason given. We are currently in the process of trying to get it reinstated. Even though the funds that were on the account are a small amount to most, they can mean the difference to Eric between having food for the week or not. We are hoping that youcaring will allow us to recover the funds that were donated. We have included on the donate page instructions that will allow folks to donate directly to Eric’s commissary for the time being.
Eric appreciates every bit of solidarity and energy sent his way, it is indeed carrying him through this trying time. Eric has a request for articles related to space and science! He is feeling increasingly disconnected from the world and would love any and all printed articles.
-R
On Introspection
(A)
If this is my home, it feels broken into
where’s my warm welcome?
the family before was beaten and evicted
hard to settle in, hard to get cozy
if this is my home, who’s misplaced my dishes
the silverware is tarnished and rusted
shelves sit empty, books besieged
why are there bars on the windows
and empty bottles in the bin
this isn’t mine
tear this house down
Its getting harder to recognize myself, and it isn’t only because of the unkempt facial hair mess or the longer-than-comfortable-but-fuck-it mop on top. Every day I evaluate than re-evaluate my stances, beliefs and passions. Nothing else to do in here really. Sometimes I get so bored with myself that I force my brain to shut off, other times my views are so splendidly revolutionary that I swear I will remember them so no need to write them down. Fool. I’m no longer the bubbly jokester or even the positive morale booster, it hasn’t even been a year yet. Or maybe I am and just don’t have anyone to joke with. I steadily keep turning further and further inward, caring less and less about the outside world, minus a select few people and places. Thus I can see how the outside world views prison/prisoners. Not even out of sight out of mind, more; never in sight blinded to sight. All the more miraculous that there is still some who actually do give more than just predisposed mime concerns towards the plight of prisoners. The amount of true despair, pain, disillusionment, confusion & rage behind these walls is earth shaking, and this is just a federal holding facility! The horrors that await inside county, state & federal prisons is a nightmare that society denies its having, a monster it continually sweeps under the bed hoping the kids never hide under there. It’s a pirate’s treasure chest filled with forgotten and abandoned souls who have been shown no other way to survive than through violence. We tell kids to listen to the police, the good guys. So when our kids pull guns and fire hopeless and senselessly into another, should we not award them with badges and promotions, like they’ve seen their role models receive? How can we expect to stop things like rape when we teach boys that they’re strong and in control and that girls exist just for sex, then use the media to instill that same worthlessness into young girls so much that they’re brainwashed to believe it? I don’t recognize myself anymore because I used to love calling girls babe & bitch because “It’s a term of endearment” I would lie to myself. I had no problem telling someone to “quit being a fag” using the Eminem definition of detachment. I used to buy Nike shoes buy plain black tees, buy fucking everything to form an identity, never made anything though, especially an impact. Consumer tool, like everyone else. “I’m different” I would say to myself, railing molly off the bathroom counter at a hipster bar “I talk politics while fucked up, I see this is wrong I am just doing it ironically.” moronically more like. Everyone loves being a weekend warrior, showing up for the rally or protest, fuck up some nazis’ or a brick through a window or two. Then race home to brag about it on tablets and social media. The reason I don’t recognize myself much these years is because back then I didn’t have a personality of my own. Like many I just reflected back on what I thought about being morally, socially & class conscious meant “am I doing it right?” When you look in the mirror and the thing opposite you is ashamed to look back, or too high, it’s time to re-evaluate yourself and do it quick. I am proud of who I was before my arrest and now after. The mental, social and physical changes I began making years ago were beginning to manifest. Was I still a tad too emotional? Probably. Was I still a hypocrite? It’s a human paradox. But my everyday life had evolved, my relationship with oppressive personality traits have matured, the way I was living was my views actualized, put into action. That felt good, real good. Everyone can benefit from some hard evolution. Calling yourself out is hard, yet rewarding, like most difficult things. Nothing feels better though than knowing you were living life the way YOU wanted instead of living the way you thought you should. Lots of improving. Having people around who share ideas, visions of the future, and affinity in reality and not just the obscure ideas, helps make me more honest, more introspective and more happy.
Eric King (A) (///) (V)
NO STEPS BACK!
The View Outside (a poem)
The View Outside
A poem by Eric King
Blueberry colored lights, sky descending
tilting my head up, the universe presents itself
one more graceful night, dreams of worlds beyond
Did I see a shooting star, outside my wall?
No, it was a search-light echoing the violence
reflective glares blind so harmoniously
off the razor wire, gently withing my reach
steel asserts its might as it resurrects from hell
to gain an air of freedom, to stand coffin deep
doors shriek in tune, to keep me in, or keep “them out”?
All my dreams of peace have deceived me
Recreation in a cage, I have become a beast
10,00 volts is so cooley welcoming
the sparks they purr at me
Like a high I’ve never known, one touch & you’re hooked
stars run away, lest they be captured & sentenced
Prisoners in a war, did I ever enlist in?
Shine mimics beauty & holds a cold stare
shine entombs deadly, should you forget
uniforms may change but society will ensure
That you will never, be free from this burden
-Eric King (V) (///) (A)
A Poem From Eric King
A Poem from Eric King
“I can still see it there, under the haze of the street light,
No one in the world but me and this street sign,
Been walking so long my feet got engaged to the pavement,
My rubbery legs must stop. I am sleeping at 31st & Charolette,
It’s too perfect for a roof. I’ll wear the stars as a blanket,
Brown eyes heavier than her words, I shoulda been stronger,
All I need is one good sleep, it can’t hurt forever,
Two blocks down the road the now or later black power memorial
two shots up the road, we’ll be having another funeral
Sirens sing me to sleep. I have nothing to be robbed of,
In the morning I’ll be back where I god damn started comrades
only to have ice to eat, I’m anxious enough & too skinny, feeling starving & weak. Will try the market dumpster this evening
cops half when they drive past, “damn hobo drunkard”
I know if I was black I’d probably exist no longer.
Guess I could try the collective. Worth a shot I reckon they still
haven’t forgiven me for trying to be Texan.
My legs are still but my mind is a rollar coaster in motion,
Could try the eat spot they never mind seeing me coming,
Tonight is nice to reconnect with the gravel that holds me,
I let someone into deep despite everything my ethics told me,
Charolette was my grandmothers name, oh how she’d scold me
I’ll box with the shadows until I beat down the memory,
My life is an explosion in reverse, some how that’s soothing.”
-Eric King (V) (///) (A)
A Word From Eric G. King 12/12/14
“I endure my sorrows with my convictions which are stronger than all of this human vileness.” That quote by revolutionary Spaniard Durruti sums up my current existence. Prison is a disgusting place meant to destroy hope and facilitate despair. Thankfully I find myself comforted knowing that to be a fighter is to suffer the consequences of revolutionary action, and to cowar as soon as things begin to suffer is to lose track of what matters most. There is no shame in being locked down for my alleged crimes. The state at every level has been complicit to the destruction of the poor working class both at home and abroad. American workers have forgotten that their time is precious, their labour glorious. So long have wages and benefits been cut, so long have the lower class been villonized that many forget that they are not “soon to be millionaires” but rather horribly exploited. Classism in the states is manifested by the rich and drilled into all of our brains until instead of disgust against a society that allows its brothers and sisters to toil for 7 an hour, we have disgust for the people doing those jobs! How backwards.
My life goal even back to the early priestly days has been to fight for the poor and exploited: both by fighting against classism, racism, sexism and all oppression. I have witnessed the state at the highest federal level down to the lowest meaningless commission act in compliance with corporate desires against humans, nonhuman animals and the environment. To ignore these actions is to put your own boot on the throat of the oppressed. So I await my trial for allegedly fighting against that which has always and will always use its tools to silence dissent and manipulate the masses. To fight against this government is to do the most honorable thing a human can do, to sacrifice what you can, when you can.
I stand behind the comrades in Ferguson, that they may accomplish the great deed of social revolution over a system of decades old institutionalized bigotry, and with the anti-government protesters in Mexico, standing up against the US backed government ran on violence and corruption. My only regret is that I am not able to join in those battles. For me my fight is on the inside now. Overcoming torturous solitary conditions and stimulation isolation. I take great solidarity from those who have came before me in this struggle and those who continue to show me love and remind me what this fight is for.
Please continue to support the causes that fight for dignity and empowerment of the oppressed and exploited over profit. Please support those who saw injustice and could no longer continue to struggle in a non-confrontational form, whose hearts had seen enough suffering to have to defend and lash out in the only ways they knew how. Thank you to everyone who has sent a letter, funds, books, posted on a website or shown support in anyway. Times like these you find out who your real friends are and what love really means. My spirit wont weaken, 20 years or 1 year, I will continue to give all I have for the liberation movement I cherish more than life. No gods, no masters, no justice, no peace!
Keep up the fight,
in deepest solidarity
Eric King (A) (///) (V)
NO STEPS BACK!
NYC Anarchist Black Cross updates for supporting Eric King
Much love and thanks to comrades at NYC Anarchist Black Cross who have added Eric’s birthday to their PP/POW birthday calendar and passed it on to the folks who compile, design and print the monthly PP birthday calendar.
http://nycabc.wordpress.com/pppow-birthday-calendar
They have also added Eric to their Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War and put out a call for pro bono legal representation via the NLG.
http://nycabc.wordpress.com/guide
NYC ABC’s every-other-week letter-writing dinner event will focus on Eric and the 5E3 comrades in Mexico!
We at the support page want to thank NYC ABC for their compassionate effort as well as everyone else supporting Eric. Solidarity, fire to the prisons!
-Eric King Support Crew