Victory won in overturning Indiana prison ban of ‘Militant’
https://themilitant.com/2021/06/12/join-the-militant-in-its-campaign-to-overturn-ban-in-indiana-prison/
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
Vol. 85/No. 24
June 21, 2021
News update: Shortly after going to press June 9, the Militant was
informed by Indiana prison authorities that the ban on issues of the
paper withheld from subscriber Kevin “Rashid” Johnson had been overturned.
“I agree with you that censoring’ images of guns’ is too broad in the
context of safety and security of our IDOC facilities,” Anna Levitt,
senior attorney of operations for the Indiana Department of Correction,
wrote to Militant attorney David Goldstein. “I believe there is
historical significance to the images your newspaper contains, and I
will be instructing Wabash Valley Correctional Facility to release the
censored newspaper.”
This victory comes on the heels of the Militant’s victory against
banning the paper in Florida prisons. There will be a full report on the
victory in the Militant printed June 16.
❖ ❖ ❖
Militant attorney David Goldstein filed an appeal June 3 urging the
Indiana Department of Correction to overturn the impoundment of two
issues of the paper held from subscriber Kevin “Rashid” Johnson at the
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle.
The Militant received a notice from prison officials there May 7 that
issue no. 18 was banned because “images of guns not allowed.”
Indiana prison officials banned historic photo of Cuban militia.
GRANMA
Indiana prison officials banned historic photo of Cuban militia.
The “image” they’re referring to is a well-known historical photo of
Cuban militia members celebrating after the defeat of the U.S.-organized
mercenary Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. It was one of the
photographs accompanying a feature article in Spanish on key turning
points in Cuba’s socialist revolution and the example it sets for
working people in the U.S. and worldwide.
The same article and photo appeared the previous week in English. An
associate of Johnson’s informed the Militant that this issue had also
been impounded, although prison authorities never informed the Militant.
“Wabash’s decision to withhold these issues of the Militant violates the
First Amendment” of the U.S. Constitution, wrote Goldstein. “The U.S.
Supreme Court has explicitly held that the rights of prisoners to
receive publications extend to the rights of publishers to reach willing
subscribers” and to “disseminate political views.”
Nothing in the Indiana Department of Correction’s regulations “prohibits
inmates from receiving publications containing ‘images of guns,’”
Goldstein points out. Otherwise, “it would be virtually impossible for
any newspaper to be admitted to Indiana prisons.”
To emphasize this point, several photos from the June 3 Indianapolis
Star were filed along with the appeal, showing cops with guns
confronting protesters and firing tear gas at them.
Goldstein also noted that Johnson has informed the Militant that prison
authorities at Wabash regularly show and rent movies and television
programs to inmates that feature guns and gun violence, including
recently “The Courier” and “Monster Hunter.”
Johnson is a leader of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party. The Militant
fought successfully to reverse impoundments of his subscription last
year and the year before.
“If you ban newspapers because they show pictures of political
developments that include images of guns, then are pictures from the
American Revolution, Civil War, U.S. wars in Vietnam, Iraq and
Afghanistan also to be banned?” Militant editor John Studer asked. “The
authorities at Wabash Valley are clearly trying to suppress the
political views of the Militant. This is a clear violation of freedom of
speech and of the press, and the right of workers behind bars to read
and think for themselves. And to form their own opinions on what road
forward to deal with the deepening capitalist economic and social crisis
working people face today.”
Letters are starting to be sent to prison officials protesting the ban.
“Mr. Johnson must have access to literature that serves his interests
and that informs him of the events happening in the world,” wrote
Michael Zimmerman, a retired combat veteran and Militant subscriber in
an email sent from Indiana June 1. “The paper’s contributors do not
incite violence or in any other way promote messages that would threaten
the safety of himself or correctional facility staff.”
“I am writing to protest the censorship and banning of issues of the
Militant newspaper to prisoner Kevin Johnson,” wrote James Horn, a
retired factory worker from Sellersburg, Indiana. “This is a violation
of the constitutional rights of the Militant under the First Amendment.
I urge you to correct this violation immediately.”
Join the fight! Send letters urging Indiana prison officials reverse the
ban on the Militant. Write to Anna Levitt, Senior Attorney of
Operations, Indiana Department of Correction, 302 W. Washington St.,
Room W341, Indianapolis, IN 46204, or email alevitt@xxxxxxxxxxx. Please
send a copy to themilitant@xxxxxxx.
Front Page Articles
Alabama miners strike is in interests of all workers
Working people worldwide look to fight effects of rising prices
Back workers standing up to boss attacks, build solidarity
The working-class road forward in tackling crime and cop violence
Jewish and Arab workers join to advance class solidarity in Israel
Victory won in overturning Indiana prison ban of ‘Militant’
Feature Articles
Fight for workers control of production!
Also In This Issue
Book on Chinese Cubans in the Cuban Revolution out in Greek
Hong Kong protests defy ban, mark Tiananmen massacre
Autoworkers back on picket line in Volvo Truck strike
Ongoing protests in Colombia hit jobs crisis, police brutality
Graves of Indigenous youth provoke outrage in Canada
Women in Dominican Republic protest ban on abortion
Campaign to expand reach of ‘Militant,’ books, fund April 24 - June 29
(week six)
On the Picket Line
Locked-out Marathon workers fight for safety at oil refinery
Books of the Month
Scientific socialism grew with the working-class movement
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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York, NY 10018 - themilitant@xxxxxxx
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--
Irvin D. Yalom “Truth," Nietzsche continued, "is arrived at through
disbelief and skepticism, not through a childlike wishing something were
so! Your patient's wish to be in God's hands is not truth. It is simply
a child's wish—and nothing more! It is a wish not to die, a wish for the
eveastingly bloated nipple we have labeled 'God'! Evolutionary theory
scientifically demonstrates God's redundancy—though Darwin himself had
not the courage to follow his evidence to its true conclusion. Surely,
you must realize that we created God, and that all of us together now
have killed him.” ― Irvin D. Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept