What makes something “newsworthy?”
Is it shock value, like Trump going on a racist, xenophobic rant targeting Somalians? Despite the fact that this man has shown he’s blatantly racist. This is supposed to be shocking. To anyone paying attention, he’s a fucking racist. It is known. It’s been known. The fact that reporters can say that him saying racy things is “expected,” but outright racist and xenophobic is a surprise — on his initial run, he said Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers, like what? He wanted to instill — and still does — a Muslim ban. He called COVID the “China virus.” Trump is blatantly a racist, xenophobic fascist.
His supporters are not misguided or hungry for change or people we need to bridge gaps with and educate. They’re racist, too. Even if not outwardly, they cheer when Trump says things they wouldn’t dare only dream to say, but still clutch purses and cross the other side of the streets of the sidewalk and deny housing or a job. But Trump’s comment is still a “shock,” so that’s newsworthy.
But the hundreds of Palestinians still murdered in a genocide draped in a “ceasefire,” they’re un-people, and the ceasefire is holding because those were un-bombs and not-bullets. Lebanon is bombed and invaded by the IOF under the ceasefire flag. Also not news, ’cause, you know, un-people. Syria, invaded, too, also un-people. The 83 people murdered by the US off Venezuela’s coast, only the conduct is news ’cause maybe or maybe not, Pete did a “double tap,” as Jesse Eisenberg would say. But the murders themselves and the flagrant violation of the UN charter that bans the threats of force and the use of force on any sovereign nation, unless approved by the UN, and in case it’s unclear, they did not approve this threat and use of force against Venezuela — this is not news.
So today, as I sit in my cell, fully aware that a group of guards pulled a Black man out of his cell and beat him, and he’s not been brought back. The pigs laughingly said, “he will not be coming back.” I feel powerless. I think, fuck, shouldn’t have cuffed up, man. Make him come in your cell, so that you can fight back. ‘Cause I know that these pigs are very afraid. Even 5 to 6 deep, they cuff you to the wall and beat you, out of sight of the cameras. At least in your cell, at least you have a fighting chance. I think, that if he stayed and fought, I could’ve fought, too, and then I think what would be the use?
My mail is being withheld, and today, the one piece of mail that I’ve gotten, my newspaper, from over a month ago, torn, tattered, worn, and beat, with a sticker telling me it came like that. I wanna cry, ’cause it’s emblematic of how all they have to do is say something. Like Trump can call immigrants “criminals” to justify the violence. Israel can dub people “terrorists” or “security threats,” so too can and will the DOC.
Prison is, after all, a microcosm of society, so I think, would this be newsworthy? Would it shock people to know that racist pigs beat up a Black man and laughed about it? And if they did, would people care enough to act? If so, what would they do? Would people pressure the director of the DOC (a.k.a. the president)? Who may pressure the superintendent (or maybe Hegseth)? To inquire into the pigs’s conduct (the soldiers and general) to ask for accountability?
And in this hypothetical universe, that people care, and care enough to act, and that action amounts to pressure that leads to an inquiry for accountability, in this mythical universe, somewhere adjacent to ours, would the reaction or retort be concern over the conduct?
“Well, I don’t know why they beat him for so long, or I don’t know why his cuffs were so tight, why such force was used, but never fret, the violence of the state in his incarceration, segregation, and exploitation is just. It’s right. And maybe some went too far.”
Or, would the response be like that of my newspaper? “Well, it came like that.”
Because, you know, we are un-people, so it came like that. There was no beating, and with no one to advocate, what I do?
Is this news? Is it racy enough? Shocking enough, gripping? Does state sanctioned violence only matter when it’s trending, or when the victim can be perfect? Infantile, white, or productive? What makes news? Optics? Is optics so important?
My mind is just grappling with the crushing weight of my existence in confinement, my existence is not mattering, the violence around the world elicits tepid responses. Responses of “finding joy” or “controlling my money,” or divestment campaigns — bargaining privilege and performative.
Unless your joy is actually a risk. Say that of Palestinians, unable to celebrate the release of their family of hostages from the IOF regime, then it’s performative. Unless a pig will actually say to you, “you’re having too much fun, shut up,” then your joy is performative.
If you believe all you can do is control where your money goes, then you mustn’t be afraid to dream bigger. Think larger, out of the confines of the box the established order put you in. If divestment is your only route, well, you’re wrong.
Yet, those are the responses, and it’s deafening. And defeating. The only thing is, I don’t have the ability to get in, not even if I wanted, because you’ll never count me among the broken men. And we have a duty to fight, and a duty to win.
So perhaps it’s not newsworthy, not enough to elicit a real response. But it’s engraved in my head, the pigs involved, the man they took. Our memory must be longer than the state’s. And I must remain steadfast, even though our struggle is not news.