| Wake Up, America!
By Bomani Shakur (aka. Keith LaMar), Prisonersolidarity.org
Feb. 15, 2007 When bombs explode and
people give up life for paradise
it’s time to wake up!
When the president is lying
about the reason our brothers
and sisters are dying, it’s time
to wake up!
When the majority of the wealth
is stolen through trickery and theft,
it’s time to wake up!
When prisons become warehouses
for the poor and underprivileged
and schools become battlefields,
while our kids are on ritalin, it’s
time to wake up!
When those in power divide and conquer
and this is the system we love and honor,
it’s time to wake up!
When 20 million live below the poverty line
and are viewed as criminals
while the richest 1 percent are lauded
as heroes, it’s time to wake up!
Wake up, America!
Wake up, America!
America, wake up! —
Keith LaMar, # R 317-117
(aka. Bomani Shakur)
BOX 1436
Youngstown, OH 44501 Keith LaMar (a.k.a. Bomani Shakur) was sentenced to death for his alleged leadership role in the brutal prison uprising of 1993, which occurred at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville, Ohio. In his recently self-published book, Condemned, Bomani (which means “mighty soldier” in Swahili) argues for a general amnesty for all Lucasville prisoners, drawing from the outcome of the prison uprising at Attica during the 1970s as his model. “What happened there also happened at Lucasville,” Bomani said during a 2006 interview with Prisonersolidarity, “and I believe the governor should take a ‘serious look’ at the similarities and proceed accordingly.” Bomani Shakur is currently on death row at Ohio’s super-maximum security prison in Youngstown, and is appealing his sentence. For more information about his case, read Staughton Lynd’s book, Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising. (Temple University Press, 2004). When writing to Keith, please send him a pre-embossed stamped envelope so that he can promptly answer your letter. He is not permitted adhesive stamps, that is, regular stamps. |