Pelican Bay inmates halt hunger strike
Sam Stanton (Sacramento Bee)
Inmates who began a hunger strike at Pelican Bay State Prison on July 1 to protest [torture] their treatment inside the facility and the Security Housing Unit have ended the effort, officials with the CDCR announced today. The inmates halted the hunger strike Wednesday "after they better understood CDCR's plans, developed since January, to review and change some policies regarding SHU housing and gang management. These changes, to date, include providing cold-weather caps, wall calendars, and some educational opportunities for SHU inmates." More
Why is Wisdom Quarterly Covering This?
We do not work for the prisoners, and we do not work for the wardens. But we oftentimes do work for Kwan Yin, the Buddhist "Goddess" of Compassion.
A bodhisattva (someone intent on supreme enlightenment to benefit all beings) does not limit her compassion, so why would we limit ours? As a society we imprison more citizens than any country in the world. It has been made into a for-profit industry (the prison industrial complex) with a goal to imprison and go worldwide.
We are not being enriched or profiting in any way as a state or nation. We are less safe for it, and poorer. That profit goes to private industry and to a massive prison guard's union, which lines the pockets of politicians who sing themselves to election with the refrain "tough on crime, tough on crime."
This "toughness" we support by voting for such politicians out of fear is bankrupting us, impoverishing us ethically and spiritually, debasing our humanity, and NOT making us safer.
There may be a worldwide fascist movement (remnants of Nazis who were brought to this country to work on nuclear bombs, space travel, intercontinental missiles, social control, propaganda, public relations, etc.), active CIA covert operations, hypocrisy from Israel and other nations on a level never before seen). But that does not mean we have to cave in to the insanity or the untruths that hold it in place.
Ordinary citizens cheer for the killing and torture of our prisoners in the name of revenge -- calling it "justice" and calling themselves "good" for doing it.
Good (such as justice, progress, and humanity) is not brought about by "bad" means -- police misconduct, kangaroo court trials, routine torture, inhumane isolation, degradation, rape, bestial violence, careless misappropriation of tax dollars, state-sponsored executions.
We think it's okay so long as we imagine these injustices are being done to the "other." There is no other.
WE are a society and prisoners are part of it. As such, everyone here is entitled to fairness, protection, and compassion.
Why does Wisdom Quarterly cover this unpopular segment of society? A better question might be why others interested in peace and justice or socially-engaged Buddhism do not.
The Buddha never limited his compassion to those deemed "good." In fact, our compassion is needed most for the least among us.
Why is Wisdom Quarterly Covering This?
We do not work for the prisoners, and we do not work for the wardens. But we oftentimes do work for Kwan Yin, the Buddhist "Goddess" of Compassion.
A bodhisattva (someone intent on supreme enlightenment to benefit all beings) does not limit her compassion, so why would we limit ours? As a society we imprison more citizens than any country in the world. It has been made into a for-profit industry (the prison industrial complex) with a goal to imprison and go worldwide.
We are not being enriched or profiting in any way as a state or nation. We are less safe for it, and poorer. That profit goes to private industry and to a massive prison guard's union, which lines the pockets of politicians who sing themselves to election with the refrain "tough on crime, tough on crime."
This "toughness" we support by voting for such politicians out of fear is bankrupting us, impoverishing us ethically and spiritually, debasing our humanity, and NOT making us safer.
There may be a worldwide fascist movement (remnants of Nazis who were brought to this country to work on nuclear bombs, space travel, intercontinental missiles, social control, propaganda, public relations, etc.), active CIA covert operations, hypocrisy from Israel and other nations on a level never before seen). But that does not mean we have to cave in to the insanity or the untruths that hold it in place.
Ordinary citizens cheer for the killing and torture of our prisoners in the name of revenge -- calling it "justice" and calling themselves "good" for doing it.
Good (such as justice, progress, and humanity) is not brought about by "bad" means -- police misconduct, kangaroo court trials, routine torture, inhumane isolation, degradation, rape, bestial violence, careless misappropriation of tax dollars, state-sponsored executions.
We think it's okay so long as we imagine these injustices are being done to the "other." There is no other.
WE are a society and prisoners are part of it. As such, everyone here is entitled to fairness, protection, and compassion.
Why does Wisdom Quarterly cover this unpopular segment of society? A better question might be why others interested in peace and justice or socially-engaged Buddhism do not.
The Buddha never limited his compassion to those deemed "good." In fact, our compassion is needed most for the least among us.
Stop Torturing Our Prisoners
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