bedford hills

The state's attack carried over even to the courtroom. When some of the women stated that they are Muslims (part of the Muslim religion is that men are not allowed to see women's bodies unless the woman is the man's wife), the attorneys for the state and guards' unions argued that Islam is not a recognized religion. When that racist argument failed, they claimed the women could not be Muslims because they are prisoners. The state's technical defense is that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act mandates equal opportunity for women and men in every job in the state's prisons. At the same time that male guards were put into Bedford's housing, female guards (all white) have been placed into the housing in men's prisons in New York. In light of the fact that the government has never made a real effort to provide equal opportunity for women or any Black and Third World people, why are they pushing for it in this case? Last year, the supreme court ruled that a woman did not have a constitutional right to work in certain jobs in the men's prisons in Alabama because women would be unsafe and actually create security problems. That included jobs in the housing sections. Considering that fact, if these male guards do have a right to work in housing, then the effect will be to serve the interests of white men at the expense of Black and Third World women. Through much struggle and under the leadership of women in Bedford Hills prison, we in Solidarity with Sisters Inside begin to understand more clearly the crucial historical context this resistance takes place in. We disagree with forces in the white dominated women's movement which claim that the Bedford women's struggle is solely between men and women. A communique from the Black Liberation Army last year criticized white women for building support for [Assata Shakur] based solely on the fact that she's a woman. This denies her position as a leader of her whole people in their struggle for independence. Concretely, it undermines building principled solidarity and serves to isolate her from her people. Support for Assata Shakur cannot be built without similar support for her comrade Sundiata Acoli.