This page will feature writings, and recordings out of various facilities.

Pleasant Valley State Prison, California

Keith Erickson – “Moving Billboards” NEW 8/28/23

Keith Erickson – “The Strength of the Human Spirit” NEW 7/31/23

Nash Correctional, NC

Timothy Johnson “Life Without Parole to Living a Life with Purpose” Part 1. Part 2. NEW – 7/31/23

“Prison reform proposal would promote safer prisons and safer communities“ Timothy Johnson and Phillip Vance Smith ll

Upcoming Speaker – Timothy Johnson

Recording by Phillip Vance Smith ll – Self Advocacy in Prison;

Prison Resources Repurposing Act

North Branch Correctional Institution, MD

August 28th, 2023 – “The Lady & The Lion” – Raheem Rahman reads from his book the “Caged Guerrilla” – slides go along with this reading.

This is a letter from Raheem; he is looking for someone to help him with a couple of projects. Please read the descriptions below:

Hi,

My name is Raheem Rahman and I am an incarcerated person who is about social change, self improvement, and prison reform. To pursue these objectives I’ve just self published my first book, “The Caged Guerrilla”  , which is filled with anecdotes and prose that not only highlights prison life but life in general and the need for change.

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To further expound on this I’ve (thank God) created a podcast https://www.iheart.com/…/269-the-caged-guerrilla-the…/ where I go into more detail about the subject matter that is in my book. I’m now trying to start up 2 more projects and I’m looking for support.

Project 1: 

I would like to create a photo slide/video clip to a writing of mine called, Strange Fruit; which is a title in my book. See attachment at the end. I am looking for someone who can record my voice and place it over a song that I have created and attach photos and clips to that song and 2 other songs that I have selected. Then I would like to have a YouTube channel created and have this piece posted along with other material.

Project 2:

I have several drawings that I would like to have put on t-shirts and posters. Then I would like to have an account created so we can raise funds to support my objectives. 

I’m looking for someone who is technically sound, computer literate, and trustworthy. Who can take my vision and turn it into something tangible that we can put out into the world.

Cont…

Similarly, I am looking for someone who can help build my social media presence by running my social media accounts (link), creating new accounts, posting, etc. Someone who is willing to communicate with me several times a week to keep me abreast of the happenings and to troubleshoot or brainstorm ideas that can help build my brand. Which will in turn, god willing, help obtain the above stated objectives.

I do not have any funds at this time. So I am looking for volunteers or someone who is willing to postpone payment until we generate the funds by the above stated projects.

If you’re interested or have any thoughts please contact me here… and I thank you for your time.

Yours

Raheem Rahman

Raheem Rahman #302554

14100 McMullen Hwy

Cumberland, MD 21502

Raheem can also be reached through the Getting Out app. https://www.gettingout.com/

Strange Fruit

Raheem A. Rahman

“You know what hip-hop has done to the word ‘Nigger’ I’m trying to do that with the word ‘vandlaism’: bring it back”

-Banksy 

I read this quote in a Rolling Stone magazine. Imagine my shock. How could this man say such a thing? I don’t think he meant and disrespect by it; he was just stating a face to make a point. And the fact is: Blacks have brought the work “Nigger” back; they have made it something cool.

A word so derogatory, filled with so much racial degradation, entwined with so much bloodshed and oppression; is now deemed cool, hip, and in some cases endearment. What a strange thing this is.

I am confused in a place that is filled with racial tension. Where White officers have called Black prisoners, “Nigger”, to their faces. In this place I have seen White officers plummet Black prisoners to a bloody pulp. In here they (White officers) carry themselves with an aura of racial superiority and treat the Black prisoner with disdain. They abuse him, disrespect him, oppress and dehumanize…On the flipside, I’ve seen Black prisoners refer to other Black prisoners as “Nigger”. I’ve seen a Black prisoner in conversation with a White officer refer to another Black prisoner as a “Nigger”.

That Nigga so-an-so… That’s the same Nigga that I was telling you such-and-such…”

In here I’ve hear the White prisoner refer to the Black prisoner as his Nigger. The White prisoner was in his cell screaming out his window to the Black prisoner who is in the yard.

“Come on, Man, you know you my nigga!”

“Yeah, I know,” the Black prisoner replies.

Today they say that they are not saying “Nigger” with an “er”; they say they are saying, “Nigga”. With an “a”. As if to say this makes all the difference in the world. Ask this same one to say “mother” or “father” and see if they say this with an “er” or with an “a”.

Today it is as if there is no acknowledgement of where this word has come from; no understanding of how this work has been assimilated into the Black vocabulary. Sadder still, is that there is no recognition of how the word is being indoctrinated in society as a form of hip-hop culture.

“I’m a Nigga, he’s a Nigga, she’s a Nigga; wouldn’t you like to be a Nigga too?”

That’s a song.

Imagine Nat Turner, Marcus Garvey, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Ella Baker and many others who stood against racial degradation, imagine them hearing that song.

Imagine asking your great grandmother and her father “wouldn’t they like to be Niggas too?” Ask the mother who during time of slavery killed her own children as a way to prevent them from being oppressed and dehumanized; ask her, wouldn’t she like to be a Nigga too? That’s Nigga with an “a” not an “er”.

Ask Billie Holiday, who wrote a song about seeing Black people hanging from trees for no other crime than being Black. Matter of fact, don’t ask her, ask that strange fruit that’s hanging from those trees. Ask them: Wouldn’t they like to be Niggas too?

To me it is a strange thing to hear a person of another race say that it is cool to refer to a Black person as a Nigger. Stranger is our comfortableness with derogatory language in reference to each other. We have gone from calling our fellow man “Brother” to calling him “Nigga”; from calling our women “Sister” to calling them “Bitch” . Like throwback jerseys, words of the past are now in style.

After all that Blacks have been through and all that we still continue to go through. For some reason we still don’t get it. Instead of making change for the better it seems that we’re changing for the worst. Instead of marching our feet to themes of revolution we are tapping our feet to tunes of degradation. Instead of breaking the chains; we continue to imprison ourselves. Where one generation has fought for our education; the other is now shunning a book. Instead of being victimized by others we are now predatory to ourselves. We have gone from slogans of Black pride to: A Nigga for life…”

And what is sad about this epidemic is that it has made a people sp shameless; so lost to the realities of their predicament. But what can I say: Black people…

…What a Strange Fruit.

Rahman, Raheem A. “The Caged Guerrilla: An Anthology” ©2015 

pages 132-134.

Raheem is NOT serving life, but has been incarcerated over 20 years.

I didn’t want to create another page yet, but want his information out there.

Raheem Rahman #302554

14100 McMullen Hwy, Cumberland, MD 21502

Raheem Rahman is an author who wrote the book “The Cage Guerrilla“.

He also has a podcast that goes along with the book; each compliment the other. You can listen to his podcast here: The Caged Guerrilla podcast

Published work: Reiter’s Block – Raheem Rahman “A Man Apart”

Midwest Books to Prisoners Community Zine 2023 – next to the last page is Raheem’s poem “Free Me”.

Madness – Washington Writers – A piece from his book