300 Years & Counting 1H KILLS - On The Issues Magazine

most interesting article for On the Issues(Winter 1991) on the hidden children.The stories recounted moved me asmuch as stories like them did when Ifirst read them. I owe you a debt ofthanks for keeping vivid this aspect ofthe Holocaust.The article is important enough forreaders of our magazine, Dimensions,to know about. I will make mention of itin our next issue.Dr. Dennis B. Klein, DirectorThe Hidden Child Foundation IADLNew York, NYThank you for sending me On the Issueswith your article on "The Hidden Childrenof the Shoah."I think it is excellent and have sharedit with my friends, Shoshana Ron, andInes Smigel, who are both active in thesame field.Hilda SchulmanGreat Neck, NYPLIGHT OF WOMEN PRISONERSWITH AIDSYour "Win Some o Lose Some" (Spring1992) commented that heterosexualAIDS has surpassed that of gays. Rarelymentioned are the most invisible victimsof AIDS — women prisoners.Women in prison with AIDS are dyingevery day. They are denied the right tofight to survive for as long as possiblebecause they are denied decent andadequate care and the most elementalof needs — human dignity.Women who are dying of AIDS in oneof the 17 states that mandatorially segregateall HIV- positive prisoners haveno rights and are losing what littleconstitutional protection does exist. Theoverwhelming number of women inprison with AIDS are Black women andPuerto Rican women. This is a medical,economic, political and social crisis.I have been in prison almost sevenyears. I have carried women from theircells on stretchers to jail infirmariesknowing they will not return. I havecalled families collect from pay phoneswith news of illness and then death. Ihave written messages for funerals andraised money for flowers. Sentence reductionmotions and early medical releasepapers have been written, andletters to outside community organizationscalling for solidarity have fallenon deafening silence.Women prisoners who are HIV-ON THE ISSUES SUMMER 1992positive or have AIDS face often horrifyingconditions: In the DC jailwhere I was imprisoned in 1988,women who were known to be positivewere redflagged by the medicaldepartment and segregated, fed fromspecial diet trays served by otherprisoners who were told to weargloves while feeding them. As a resultof this complete violation of confidentiality,the women were brutallystigmatized and bitterly harassed.There was no counseling ororganized psychological treatmentavailable to them.Prison staff participated with prisonersin creating a climate based invicious gossip; the greatest insultwas to be "an AIDS-carrying bitch."One woman who was known to beHIV- positive was beaten up and herfingers broken for having shared acigarette with another woman. Anotherprisoner died of AIDS after herappeal for a sentence reduction wasdenied. Like most states, DC has noform of compassionate or medicalrelease for prisoners. The stories goon and the suffering goes on and on.As a result of witnessing these experiences,I am now an AIDS prisoner peeradvocate. Because of my educationalbackground (I am a political prisoner)and access to resources on the outside,I am in a position to do legal and medicaladvocacy for women prisoners withAIDS.In the Florida maximum securityprison where I am now, I am involved inan AIDS awareness workshop to bringmuch-needed information to femaleprisoners. Being involved in this educationalwork, understanding how to breakdown information, and begin to buildtrust in order to challenge behavior isnot easy. We need to communicate withAIDS activists on the outside, particularlythose involved in prison work, whocan help us demand medical release,parole release, compassionate release,and reintegration into the communitiesfrom which we come. Without activesupport, those of us advocating from theinside cannot overcome the conditionsand the repressive restrictions.Susan RosenbergMarianna, FLSusan Rosenberg has beenawarded PEN's First Prize inthe 1991 Prison Writing PoetryContest.MALE RAPE"I really appreciate Fred Pelka's article:"Raped: A Male Survivor Breaks HisSilence" (Spring 1992). I am a 26-yearoldmale who was sexually, physically,and mentally abused as a child. Theabuse has left mental scars on me thatwill never heal. Sometimes I'm havinga good day when suddenly flashbacksand panic attacks hit me. Istill wake up screaming after allthese years.I know I need help so I'm lookinginto finding a support group in myarea.I'm grateful to the women's movementfor raising the country's consciousnesson the horrors of rape,child abuse, and pornography. Theso-called men's movement that istalked about has never offered anythingto me.On the Issues is the best magazineI subscribe to. Keep up the greatwork!Name and address witheldI knew that men got raped in prison, buthad no idea they were also assaulted onthe streets. Fred Pelka's story is just asheartrending, and infuriating, as anywoman's story I've ever read. My heartgoes out to him and all like him. However,the saddest part is that he had tofind out firsthand how women aretreated all the time.Mary DavidsonSalley, SCI was deeply touched by Fred Pelka'sstory (Spring '92). I applaud his couragefor breaking silence, grieve for all of uswho suffer from our flawed patriarchalsociety which victimizes men and womenboth as he addressed. At the age of 421have so far been blessed with not havingbeen a victim of rape or physicalabuse, but have been active in the StopRape Movement and have heard far toomany stories from those who are survivors.I intend to share this article with othersbecause I think it will help many. Iwant you to know that there will bepeople in Houston, Texas who will startthe road to recovery, from victim tosurvivor, with the aid of Pelka's words.Thank you, Fred, for speaking up — Iknow you realize you help countlessothers by doing so.Deborah BellHouston, TX59