I’ve been asked by numerous people, “Why do you protest?” It’s time to explain to the world “The reason why.”

Ever since I was young, I’ve been very outspoken. Activism has been in me for a long time. Being on death row, and a victim of the criminal justice system, gave me a chance to witness first-hand that this system is to keep the lower class oppressed.

When I studied and learned the history of American politics, I learned about capitalism, fascism, and imperialism. All these systems were designed to keep the lower class oppressed, while the bourgeois are in power.

With the negative jackets that men wear on death row, there’s a certain reason why one has to fight for his rights, because fighting the system in a counter-productive way can turn you into a victim to the “murder machine.” D.R.I.V.E. has showed me that way.

If one studies the way Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement fought racial oppression, one will learn that nonviolent protest can be successful.

A protest is nothing but an objection to what a person thinks is wrong. Everybody does it! People do it in various ways, some violent, some nonviolent, but everybody has protested before sometime in their life.

The injustice that’s dealt out to the (what?!)-proletariat class is wrong. Add the atrocious death penalty procedures – which include the war – the unequal judicial system, and a mad, fed-up community, and you will have an uprising.

D.R.I.V.E. has taught me how to be outspoken in a productive way. I want to help change the system for the people. All people!

Protesting is a way to educate the masses, give the masses hope, and teach the masses that change can come about.

Just as I had the fire and will do something about our situation, anybody else that opposes the fascist system’s oppression can do something also.

As the famous saying goes, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way!” We all have that will, we just need to stand up for what we believe in, and we will make a way.

This is “the reason why” I D.R.I.V.E.

Comrade Jasiri