Editors Note: Mr. Jose Villarreal is one of several power-FUL PNNPlantation prison correspondents. As currently and formerly incarcerated poor and indigenous peoples in struggle and resistance with all plantation systems in Amerikkka, POOR Magazine stands in solidarity with all folks on the other side of the razor wire plantation.
The Ant trudged on with the tiny white speck in its hands, walking what appears at first glance to be aimlessly, but in all actuality is to a destination.
I once despised ants, as a child I would visit my grandmother in Central California. Me and my father riding in a Greyhound bus for hours to get down there. I would stand in my abuela’s yard mid summer when I would be bitten by Red ants. From this point on I would find ways to combat and rid my residences of ants.
Here in prison and particularly in SHU where one is housed in without a living roommate and ANY living things is sought and wished for one’s company, the ant takes on a new importance. I have actively sought the ant in prison and rarely see this hard worker, perhaps even the ant can’t stand the food! But on those rare occasions when I find the ant I find joy and relaxation in seeing her or him marching on.
A couple of weeks ago I saw this “pest”, it was a multitude of ants who were walking in front of my doors’ threshold. I kneeled down and peered out at this formation which was a well coordinated endeavor and no longer able to control myself I reached out and grabbed one of these ants and careful not to crush it’s tiny squirming black body, I looked closely at the ant and marveled at its energy and thought of the miles it must have traveled in its short life, and what it must do in order to survive and thrive. It is at this point where I realize that humans and ants at their core have so much in common.
Jose H. Villarreal
Pelican Bay SHU 10-27-13