| Comrades, What can be said in a world filled with so much present sadness and rage? The silver lining? The people are winning the hearts and minds of each other, even as the screws of repression are tightened. After thousands of people in Minneapolis took to the streets, on January 23rd, ICE agents of the Department of Homeland Security murdered another person, Alex Pretti, on January 24th. Public outrage culminated in the softest of apologies from the federal government in an agreement to scale back the number of ICE agents in Minnesota. Do not be fooled, as in Palestine, the border patrol and ICE in the United States insist on policies grounded in harm, death, and detention camps, brutalizing society every day. I say the people are winning, because the federal government tried to smear murder victims Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and attempted murder victim Marimar Martinez, and it seems nearly anyone opposing ICE is being labeled as the unthinkable, while the public is soundly rejecting this notion. Why? Because all the mobile videos available, filmed by many residents, from every angle, plainly show the truth of every situation. Truth in the face of many lies of those in power, trying to manipulate us into disbelieving what we are witnessing with our own eyes. The only video available of my 2023 arrest in the pitch-black Weelaunee Forest night is that of the body cam of the arresting officer. He taunted me about having “yu-gi-oh” cards in my bag (they were tarot cards) shortly before asking me if I spoke English. Unlike Martinez, whose charges were dismissed quickly, I have languished for three years, healing from pre-trial incarceration, trying to find work, under surveillance, and dodging the many complications that arise when the most odious and political labels are applied. The process is the punishment. After another month of preparing job application packages, interviewing, and waiting in hope that the next chapter can start, with financial stability, healthcare, and a future roadmap, I sit here again, without a real idea of when the page will turn. My lawyer, Xavier T. de Janon, of the People’s Law Collective, reached out again to Georgia’s DeKalb County in an attempt to have my many motions for dismissal and a speedy trial heard. We had hoped to have a date in January, but it did not happen. We now hope February will be the time for our day in court. One month before the three-year mark of my arrest. If the state of Georgia would like, they can delay until five years after my arrest, 2028, at which point the charge is automatically dropped. Unindicted for three (and possibly five) years on possibly the most damaging modern criminal charge is quite a punishment for camping in the woods in demand that the local community be heard on rejection of a militarized police center not be built in the neighborhood and that accountability be brought in the ending of Stop Cop City activist Tortuguita’s life, shot fifty-seven times while sitting crosslegged in a tent with their hands up. I am very lucky today to have been approached by a donor who has offered a matching grant to help pay my rent this month. I am only working one contract job presently. This one contract does not satisfy what I need for rent and all the other things I need to live, food, electricity, internet, a working mobile phone, among other things, like toiletries, medicines, and cleaning supplies. Please consider joining her in helping myself and the kid preserve our house. |
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In between hunting for positions and preparing application packages, I have channeled my depression and frustration into creative projects, and protecting my leg with stationary bike riding and dumbbell lifting. Kid cuddling and bonding with the greatest doggo ever remain at the core of my emotional life. I reread Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth and am watching YouTube lectures as a self-directed study. The last section of the book always takes my breath away with Fanon linking mental illness in both the colonized and the colonizers. One week before Alex Pretti was fatally shot, I worked with the artist D Wang Zhao to create an Instagram slide series unpacking and acknowledging the overwhelming feeling surrounding all of us as we witness our government further unraveling humanity. |
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Next month, I will have a co-authored story with October Krausch and micah herskind. The three of us connected over Twitter jubilation in 2024 when a plan to build a $2 billion jail in Fulton County, Georgia, fell apart. Speaking with my daughter about this project, I admitted that I worked on the story because I wanted a piece that could be shown to city council members across the United States, warning about corporations working nationally who show up when questions arise about possibly building a new municipal jail. They spin themselves as the “infrastructure experts” when their only expertise is on how to cage humans, not build humanity. |
In solidarity and hope,Priscilla PS: If you have resources to spare, other forest defenders need help. Check out the Weelaunee Arrestees Linktree to support others. The first of every month is usually the most critical for all listed because needing to pay rent does not stop, even in the face of political repression. Any amount you give to those listed will support the brave warriors of Stop Cop City. |
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PPS: Please consider a gift to support the great work of the People’s Law Collective, which defends activists targeted by the state for free-speech-protected actions. |
