The California Supreme Court has ruled that a prison inmate can call himself a “New Afrikan Nationalist Revolutionary Man” without being treated like a dangerous gang member.
Professor James Campbell explained in a declaration filed Court Rules the Name ‘New Afrikan’ is Unrelated to Prison Gangs in the 1st District Court of Appeal on behalf of inmate James Crawford that the phrase “New Afrikan” was a self-determination movement unrelated to a prison gang.
A prison guard at Pelican Bay State Prison intercepted a letter with information about this new political movement from an inmate while he was in solitary confinement. Prison officials referred to the “New Afrikan National Revolutionary Man” as Black Guerilla Family coded messages, used to promote gang activities. Crawford said his “message was entirely political.”