Activism from inside

By Glenn Early, prisoner of the war on drugs

I have been asked by the November Coalition to write about a topic I feel very strongly about and devote most of my time to while in prison-activism through letter writing. Roughly eight years ago, after my 30-year conviction was made final and I lost my direct appeal, I began to understand just how easy it is for an individual with little or no knowledge of crime to become legally accountable for the actions of others. In 1988, the United States Congress enacted the federal conspiracy laws which are written so broadly that they are often used to prosecute anyone from grandparents for answering the telephone, to unborn babies for being in the company of their mothers. It was then that I realized that our nation's victimizing conspiracy laws, interwoven with the failed policies of the "War on Drugs," must be repealed quickly before another generation of citizens is added to the growing list of government casualties.

It was then that I began writing letters to express my discontent with the hypocritical drug war and the sweeping conspiracy laws. I discovered a few others that were doing the same. We exchanged many addresses and shared several ideas. Finally, in April of 1997, with the assiduous efforts of Nora Callahan, these ideas became reality and a grassroots organization was born-The November Coalition.

I immediately became an ardent member of the November Coalition and, to do my part, started generating letters (now nearing ten thousand) inviting the media and lawmakers to visit our website and the "Wall" to see for themselves the devastation created by the "War on Drugs." I have also encouraged the media and lawmakers to use our website as a valuable source of information. I, too, am on the "Wall" which shows my striking photo along with a brief background of my case. This approach is our strongest weapon, and I am convinced that generating public outcry will force our political leaders to rethink and abolish our nation's unfair policies.

I have not done anything out of the ordinary other than make a commitment and stick to it. The following are a few of the letter writing projects that I have generated while behind bars. If I were released today I would continue to do the same.

Throughout the years I have generated hundreds of letters for friends and family members throughout the states to send to their respective congressmen and senators. This method works quite well because most people, even friends and family, are too busy with their own daily lives to find time to write. Many members of Congress do respond with a form letter, which often has nothing to do with the original topic, but it provides the opportunity to reply and set them straight. Since the September 11th attacks and the anthrax scare in our nation's capitol, I find that contacting members of Congress at their local addresses reduces the mailing time from months to days. I have discovered that finding the local address of a congressman can be difficult. Prison libraries, by design, provide little or no address information outside the court system or the Bureau of Prisons.

I have written to the Presidents, Drug Czars, Attorney Generals, governors, state lawmakers, state judges, a thousand federal judges, and, of course, hundreds of members of Congress to express my concerns and, most importantly, bring the November Coalition to their attention. My objective is to inform our political leaders that there is a constantly growing number of citizens joining together who oppose our nation's current policies; policies that didn't work during alcohol prohibition and don't work today.

My greatest challenge is the postage stamps, for I am not a wealthy man; however, I write a "Letter to the Editor" of the top 100 newspapers every month. I always keep the LTE's within the general standard of 250 words so that the Editorial Page Editors are more apt to print them. I know of at least 30 of my letters showing up on opinion/letter pages. I would have to guess that when a letter is printed at least 10 percent to as much as 50 percent of the newspaper's audience reads the editorial pages and letters. The number one newspaper in the nation is The Wall Street Journal, with a daily circulation of approximately 1.75 million. The 100th ranked newspaper is the Honolulu Advertiser with a little over 100,000 daily readers. Any way you look at it, a letter printed catches the eyes of tens of thousands.

I receive address information from the Internet through my very supportive sister, Ellen. With her assistance, I am able to contact individuals who have written positive letters to major newspapers so that I can encourage them to join in and support our fight.

I respond to many newspaper articles by sending a letter to both the writer and the editorial page editor, again keeping within the standard 250-word limit. I focus my efforts on responding to articles related to the drug war and the mass incarceration of our people. My letters respond to stories of drive-by shootings and police corruption, showing how the modern day prohibition of drugs has caused street gangs to flourish and run wild, while the police protect the gangs and fill their own pockets with cash.

During The November Coalition's year 2000, "Jubilee Justice Petition" campaign, I sent out hundreds of petitions, along with a cover page to individuals in radio and television media, newspaper columnists, and editors across the nation. The goal was persuading President Clinton to grant clemency to non-violent drug offenders who had served at least five years of their sentences. Now I am going through the same process with The November Coalition's "Petition for Relief from Drug War Injustice" campaign. This naturally keeps me working furiously because I want to get the petition to the media as soon as possible to allow them more time to work with it.

I will continue to follow the path I have chosen and not to do like so many others behind bars-simply wish that the President and Congress would wake-up one morning and say "Let us give the federal prisoners a break and pass legislation to swing the iron gates open." That is not going to happen! The only way to stop this injustice is to let our political leaders know that prohibition is wrong and that the American public demands change. Education and treatment, along with decriminalization, regulation, and taxation is the most viable cure to our nation's drug consumption.

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