Letter from Frank 'Parky' Grace to Gloria Xifaras Clark

Grace, Frank · July 9, 1978

Heard the head of the guards union at Walpole on the radio complaining they needed more pay and personnel: "listening to that two bit punk got my jaws tight. He'd like people to believe that guards are getting their asses kicked and killed in these hell holes..." White prisoner found dead in his cell: "So who strangled Artie Morrow? a ghost! Artie was once a muslim. He didn't want it known because for a white dude to openly show he's in a black organization could cause him harm." Another white guy who spoke against racism was stabbed: "Death and beating have always been a common occurrence here in Walpole. And we the prisoners bear the brunt of these murders and beatings. But on the six oclock news you've got an asshole talking about the guards being in danger." Guards go on strike and nothing happens to them; four prisoners go on strike and they break up the whole block. "Hell want these punks to know that if they fuck with me that they will not come back to work... And you know what G? I am good at the arts. I know it and the screws know it so I fuck with them. They go around bullying people and I go around intimidating them. I want one or two or ten of them to react, I want it so bad I can taste it (smile). You could say I am at war with these folks..." A friend known as the king of smut stopped dealing in smut after being introduced to feminist literature: "To me it was a major victory. That lumpen brother told me through his action that women are not an object. Not so long ago he hated honkeys (your folks) (smile). Now I see him talking to white dudes and addressing them as brother."