One station for two decades
"Southern trees bear strange fruit. Blood on the leaves and blood on the root. Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze. Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. — Lewis Allan
The lines above were made famous, by the late song stylist Billie Holiday, more than 50 years ago. I have not heard a Billie Holiday song in years. While there may not be black bodies hanging from the trees at the Jackson State Prison, the prison administration here constantly reminds me that it lynches black men in other ways too, each day. Instead of a rope, in this case, they are using a radio.
At last count there were more than 1700 men at this prison. Seventy per cent of the prison's population is African-American. In G Unit, where I am held, prisoners have the privilege of listening to one of three radio stations — that is, when all three stations are working.
If logic and fairness were at work here, since there are three radio stations being broadcast, two-thirds of the broadcast fare would be directed at black prisoners. Unfortunately, racism has no interest in logic or fairness.
In administrative parlance at the prison, the stations are listed as "rock", which is listened to mostly by white prisoners; "country and western", also listened to by mostly white prisoners; and "soul", which is listened to mostly by black prisoners — who are getting lynched musically because we have only one station under the best of conditions.
For example, when conditions are bad and one of the "white" stations cannot be tuned in, the administrative remedy is to keep one of the "white" stations going full time, while alternating the "black" station with the other "white" stations' "rock" or "country and western" fare. The end result is that for a full 24 hours there is no "black" station, while two "white" stations are playing for that same period of time. Then, in the next 24-hour period, there is one "black" station and one "white" station ... as if the black prisoners were the minority, rather than the majority, population of the prison. In this fashion black prisoners are musically lynched and denied cultural association/information.
One more thing: if the prison administration understands that all whites do not listen to the same music, then when conditions are good the two white stations should be turned to two black stations on a regularly alternating basis so that the white prisoners can know what it feels like to have but one station, for two decades too.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to answer letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, Jackson State Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233-7800, USA. Australians Against Executions is raising funds to pay for a lawyer for Brandon's resentencing trial. If you can help, please make cheques payable to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account and post to 10 Palara Place, Dee Why NSW 2099. Donations to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account may also be made at any Commonwealth Bank, account No. 2127 1003 7638.]