 |
|
|
|
|
|
Robert Booker #19040-039 |
 Robert Booker with his brother Henry Booker and their 3 sisters on a visit at FCI Pekin |
Life - Drug Conspiracy My case is like no one in America has ever heard of. I've been prosecuted three different times on the same case.
The prosecutor appealed my case and resentenced me from 20 years to 30 years to natural life. I am a "first-time offender" who doesn't even have a juvenile record, but because I wouldn't be a "snitch" for the government they gave me life. I was found "not guilty" of guns in trial, and they still charged me with guns. I've been in prison, going on 8 years. I was 27 years of age; I'm 35 now. I have two sons, Robert Jr. and Ravale, and one daughter, Destiny. I worked in my own store.
My brother is also in prison; he just left here and transferred to a lower institution closer to home, but because I have life I could never get close to home.
Here is a letter to the editor that Robert Booker wrote to the Michigan Chronicle on 3/3/99 -
Today is a dull one for me. I feel very sluggish, bored and in some way lost in a world of the dead.
For one, I have no outdate; I'm in federal prison, locked up as a "political prisoner" because of my color. The government sentenced me to life on Oct. 1, 1997. The judge couldn't explain why he had to give me this much time.
It's been eight years that I've been here in this world of the unknown. I came for drugs. They say I distributed to people for money, which they never had, nor saw me do.
Because of the word-of-mouth, they put a man away for life to ease the minds of our people. Or so they say. I don't have any airplanes nor warehouses and I've never left the United States of America, so why do they want me to do so much time? It's wrong. They know this and our families feel the pain.
Our culture is being cut down by our own government and for reasons they have had in store for several years. The government uses a "10 letter" word to lock up our communities. This word is "conspiracy." And the truth of the matter is the government "secretly plots" everyday. Now, these words are the same, "conspiracy" and "secret plot."
But we as people of color will not look for the truth. It's not the brothers and sisters who are getting rich. Drugs will always be here and continue well past our time. Just don't get involved.
Laws can't pass (against it), because anyone with a police record can't vote. This cuts down one more black man and black woman.
You are paying $40,000 per prisoner each year. Plus paying for their medical care, and most importantly, paying for children whose parents are incarcerated. When the government smiles at you for needing help at times when ends don't meet, remember.
Stop being so quick to put a brother or sister away in prison. Start learning more about your future in the free world.
Ask the mayor or governor for more parks and recreation centers around our communities so our children can have fun without guns.
They'll learn to hug instead of drugs. You must take a stand now, my people. As tomorrow might not make it for our children. Are you ready to take back our corners and demand our streets back?
The government doesn't care about our city streets. Trust me. I've written about our neighborhoods before in the Michigan Chronicle, the published article was entitled "Governor Needs To Act." He's spoken already. More prisons are his words of the land and believe me; you'll see his work soon.
Robert Booker 19040-039
FCI Pekin
PO Box 5000
Pekin, IL 61555-5000Updated - 2/28/01
|
|
 |