"THE STATE OF THE COMMONWEALTH" by Lord Serious

The State Of the Commonwealth

By Lord Serious

I watched Virginia's Governor, Ralph Northam's 2020 State of the Commonwealth address, and his proposals were progressive and innovative in every area except one. When it comes to prison reform, Virginia's democratic governor, is a conservative.

His remarks concerning reinstituting parole for prisoners who are either old or terminally ill, is not a change in policy. Instead, he is maintaining the status quo. Since the abolishment of parole in 1995, Virginia's prisoners confined within the Department of Corrections have been eligible for geriatric parole (old), and could request a medical pardon (terminally ill).

Governor Ralph Northam wants us to believe that he is concerned about the economic hardship low income families face. Yet his impotent prison reform policy is proof that he is either oblivious or worse yet, he is really pro slavery.

This governor admitted that he is aware that many of the statutory laws are contaminated with the racial bias of the law makers who wrote them. He wants us to believe he is so invested in removing these laws from the books that he needs a commission to study the issue.

Do not be fooled by this White liberal. I have been incarcerated for 14 years now. Believe me when I tell you, I know how to spot a con. And Virginia's Governor ladies and gentlemen, is nothing more than a con man.

Let's think about this logically. Governor Northam admits that there is an inherent racial bias written within the language of many state laws. He also admits that these racist laws are still on the books in Virginia and that they need to be removed. But somehow he fails to draw the correlation between these racist laws and the disproportionate incarceration of minorities.

Did the governor's brain stop working? Of course not, there is a legal term for what the governor is doing. It's called wilful ignorance. This is when a person is aware of wrong doing but they will choose to ignore it so that they don't have to report it.

These are the facts:

FACT#1, 1 in every 3 Black men will be incarcerated.

FACT#2, private prisons like Geo Group, which operates Lawrenceville Correctional Center where I am currently housed, have contracts with the Commonwealth. State legislatures and governors have agreed to provisions within contracts of this sort that obligate states to keep the bed space within these private prisons anywhere from 70%-97% full at all times.

FACT#3, if the state fails to meet its contractual obligation the private prison can sue.

FACT#4, Governor Ralph Northam's budget proposal includes revenue that will be used to pay for housing state prisoners and the state employee's salaries of the correctional officers in charge of watching over them.

FACT#5, should Governor Ralph Northam pass effective prison reform legislation, he would risk disrupting the revenue the Commonwealth gains from the prison industrial complex.

FACT#6, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in all its forms EXCEPT for when it is used as punishment of a crime. Thus, this amendment supports the institution of slavery and legalizes it within the setting of the prison industrial complex.

Now lets recap what facts are known to Governor Northam:

The governor knows that the laws contain racial bias.

The governor knows that the most arrest occur in high crime areas ("low income communities").

He knows that minorities are being disproportionately incarcerated.

He also knows that the institution of slavery has always been a vital part of Virginia's economy.

Yet, this governor could not figure out that there are families struggling financially, because the state of Virginia has been enslaving their sons, fathers, and brothers for over 400 years? Is this White liberal incapable of understanding that by depriving minority households of their men of working age, it is also denying these families of the additional income that could be gained by their potential earning power?

No, Governor Northam is not as incompetent as he is trying to make us believe. He is just another White liberal who is pro slavery. But he is aware that many of his supporters, who are Black wouldn't be supportive for long if they knew he was a racist. So he cons you into voting for him by pretending like he cares. And to sustain this image he does the bare minimum. Just enough to give you hope that he will change things for you.

My Black and Brown brothers and sisters, do not be fooled into believing the White liberal gives a damn just because he authorizes a commission to study an issue that disproportionately affects you. This is a copout. It's window dressing - job security. He has a commission study an issue so that he can retain your support without having to actually do his job and fight for you and the change you need. Having a commission to study racial issues is the path of least resistance, and the White liberal has been using this covert racist tactic to impede Black progress since slavery.

During the 1800s they also had commissions who studied the issue of abolishing slavery. They pretended to be morally conflicted over the enslavement of the Black race. However, they claimed to be reluctant to free our ancestors out of a fear that crime would increase.

This same racist excuse was used by Governor Northam's predecessor Terry McAuliffe. Under Governor McAuliffe's leadership Virginia had a commission to study the appropriateness of repealing the abolition of parole. But just like most of these studies the solutions usually fall short of solving the real problem. Because like the White liberals before them, Virginia's governors don't care about us.

Although they pretend to be morally conflicted about the White power structure's oppression against us. They justify their non action by giving you the impression that they don't have all of the facts yet. Therefore, they cannot do anything to change it. White liberals perform this same dance for every racial conflict. It doesn't matter if it's slavery in the 1800s, race riots in the 1960s, or prison reform in the 21st Century. The result is always the same, they prolong action by taking non action.

The next time one of them suggest stalling Black progress by requesting a commission to perform another useless study on race relations in the U.S. You need to make him study the poll numbers after his next election, and remind him that his political career is dependent on the Black vote.

FACT, Democrats cannot get elected unless they win 90% of the Black vote!

And here's one more for the road. When the 13th Amendment outlawed forced slave labor on the plantation, the former slaves proved their White oppressors wrong. The politicians were telling the public lies to make them believe that these slaves having minimal skills and no economic foundation would resort to crime.

However, when released from their handcuffs and chains, instead of coveting their neighbors possessions, our ancestors chose the noble route of earning an honest living. As a result this lie was quickly dispelled and today, the politicians who advocated that lie are remembered as racists.

Likewise, if prisoners like myself are given another chance to reenter society, we will also seek to join the work force and make an honest living like our ancestors did before us. The question now becomes which of today's White liberals will history remember as racists? Because as much as I hate to say it, President Donald J. Trump has a better record on prison reform than every Virginia state legislator.

So until that changes I suggest Black voters rethink their loyalty to the Democratic Party. Because both Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have gone on record and admitted to wearing Black face. They hoped that Virginia voters would be compassionate and understand that they committed these foolish deeds in their twenties. As a result, Black voters forgave these Dixiecrats.

Yet, when it comes to your sons, your fathers, your brothers, your uncles, and your nephews, neither of these hypocrites are willing to give us a second chance, UNLESS we are too old to reoffend or we become terminally ill! Even though many of us received stiff mandatory sentences for the foolish things we did early in our lives. Governor Northam is unsympathetic toward the young Black male trapped within the criminal justice system. Someone needs to tell Governor Northam that just like him, many of us were also in our twenties, some of us were even younger than that when we also made mistakes in our life.

So until their policies change, I'm encouraging you to hold them accountable to the same extent they wish to hold your loved ones. Ensure that neither gets elected to another public office until they are either too old or too sick to serve. That's racial equality! That's just! That's how political unrest brings lasting peace!

Written by Lord Serious, author of Apotheosis Lord Serious Hakim Allah's Habeas Corpus Appeal