Summary: 

1. Overview
2. Life Goals to Promote Peace and Why We Deserve Freedom
3. Letter From Derek
4. Letter To Be Signed and Sent to Government
5. How to Help

Please donate at www.gofundme.com/f/indiglostardust (5 dollars or a share go a long way)

1. Overview:

Derek and Isabel are activists who have always stood for the rights of all humans worldwide in a time when so many are turning inward and becoming apathetic and isolated from the struggles of others. They have organized around eradicating anti-blackness, anti-immigrant xenophobia, classism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, theft of indigenous land and freedom, food scarcity, the evils of incarceration, and the overall destruction of the environment and human unity. Due to their radical expression of these 'r'evolutionary ideas, the FBI and local police labelled Derek a 'threat' to the police, and bust down their door on May 28th in a no-knock raid that they were lucky to survive.(ARREST THE KILLERS OF BREONNA TAYLOR)

The FBI, armed with military rifles, flashbang grenades, and a battering ram not only terrified us, but our neighbors and our community. This was entirely excessive and a hyper violent response to alleged threats. They stole 11 thousand dollars between Derek and our roommate who wasn't involved at all, all of our personal electronics, our peace of mind and life security, and took Derek to a jail where there was a current COVID outbreak. Talk about a threat to someone's life, right? As Derek and Isabel are involved with on ground organizing, in which they have worked very hard to promote peace, build a new future, and expose injustices, we believe this was a move to silence someone trying to make a difference.

Activist Targeting:

Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Derek is a multiracial leader who can speak to the crossroads of this stolen land's origin, as they are black, white, and native american. Given the FBI and police involvement with COINTELPRO and surveillance of activists, the slaughter of Native peoples whether they resisted to the theft of land or attempted to be peaceful, MLK and Malcolm X's assassination, discrediting and killing Black Panthers leaders such as Fred Hampton and Huey Newton, murdering Sandra Bland, the Ferguson organizers who were mysteriously found dead, and many other devastating attacks on the black and native community for voicing their concerns about their condition, we know Derek is in ACTUAL danger from this situation. They have faced targeting and harassment from local police, but this is a different level. They can put us in a cage, take away our material possessions, or even attempt to kill us but they can never take our minds, our energy of love, or our soul. We will persist, and even more, we will never stoop to their levels of hatred. For more info on the existence of this targeting:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/11/rakem-balogun-interview-black-identity-extremists-fbi-surveillance

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/26/fbi-black-activism-protests-history

https://www.noi.org/cointelpro 

https://allthatsinteresting.com/cointelpro-fbi 

Overblown Cannabis Charges:

Since labeling someone a threat over social media posts is ridiculous, and Derek is very careful with their words when speaking about systemic issues, they added on overblown cannabis charges to ensure they could get Derek into the system as a convicted felon. The amount of marijuana evidence found wasn't enough for a state felony, but because of how the federal court system works, taking this case to trial would result in more charges being added, and more than likely a lengthy prison sentence would be laid down as punishment for going to trial. The feds almost never lose their case, and for that reason, Derek has decided to plead guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute. This carries a potential five year prison sentence, but we are hoping the judge will see just how overblown this case is, and take mercy on Derek by giving them probation.

If you know anything about cannabis criminalization, you know it was a racist move by the government to target black and brown youth and get them into the modern slavery of mass incarceration. It is also on the way to complete legalization, and there are many rich folks who are making millions of dollars off the substance, which makes the possible imprisonment of Derek even more hypocritical. Derek cannot help that they weren't born into generational wealth that would allow them to get expensive licenses and start a business legally, and this is natural herbal medicine used by many Native cultures worldwide for thousands of years. Derek was just trying to survive. 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/17/marijuana/library-congress-highlights-racist-news-coverage-used-justify-criminalizing-marijuana-century-ago/ 

https://medium.com/equityorg/reefer-madness-the-racist-roots-of-marijuana-prohibition-37b9e7fb7d6c 

https://medium.com/@USNewsBeat/racism-weed-jazz-the-true-origins-of-the-war-on-drugs-8e6fd4ef813 

2. Our Life Goals

We have been planning and organizing for this moment of Great Awakening for almost 6 years now. We didn’t exactly think the government would bring the war to our front door over a Facebook post;  but can we say it's all too uncommon in Amerikkkan history for the FBI to persecute, taint the name of, and even kill activists for just speaking? This all seems more like a targeted move to silence Derek, and keep us immobile in this time when we wish we could visit with the people of the world, all over, to spread our energy during this time that many are looking for guidance.

Derek, the Hip-Hop artist  INDIGLO( https://soundcloud.com/indigloglo47 ) , and Isabel, the ingenious visual artist known as Stardust, had worked for YEARS to acquire the equipment, financial and mental stability, and time to independently produce our art. We consider it wholly an expression of our lives and our ideas, not a packaged product to capitalize from. In the face of all this, there's never been a better time for us to respond to their strict procedure and protocol, their attitude of punishment and culture of death with the open and free flowing expressions of liberation of us and our culture; our feelings of love, peace, and forgiveness. In essence, we believe we can defeat this evil by bringing humanity into play, as music is the universal language, and visual art tells stories in a way that words cannot.  

Our goal has been to produce an educational program including children's educational materials, magazines, and music that outlines the history of oppression, how it manifests today, and how we can move forward into a new society where we truly cultivate love and action. In that way, we can define a Common Struggle, and a Common Goal, for us all to rise up into loving empathy. We CAN form communities that provide food, shelter, and support for all members, with no cost. We CAN come together to clean our earth of this toxic pollution. We don’t even really need to fight for it, simply for those in power to stop actively harming others.

We have no family around here, and have done all of this on our own two feet. Isabel’s family lives in Mexico except for their very unsupportive, very abusive immediate family members. Derek’s family is spread out across the Midwest down to Louisiana, and likewise live in poverty. Their own mother threatened to request they be put back in jail because she believes incarceration is the best option for Derek. We can't express how much it means to have people in our lives who love us, and want to help us fight this case. You know we would give our all, if you were in this situation. These are very uncertain times, and we hate how they stole our life security. The government is targeting Derek and other activists nationwide. Derek was present in Ferguson when #BlackLivesMatter was initially created, and has had multiple members of their heart, fellow activists,  who have been removed from this existence on Earth by St. Louis PD, Chicago PD, or the FBI(maybe), and this has to stop.

3. Letter From Derek

On May 28th, I, Derek Caquelin, my partner Isabel, our roommate Gustavo, and our three dogs, Benji, Lucy, and Osiris, were traumatized in a no-knock raid conducted by the FBI. We are lucky to be alive.(ARREST THE KILLERS OF BREONNA TAYLOR) 

I have been involved with pro-black activism since 2014, when, at the age of 18, I witnessed another 18 year old be murdered in the street, and have their name dragged through the mud. I went to Ferguson to demand justice for Mike Brown, and saw firsthand the way peaceful protesters and activists could be met with tanks, rubber bullets, and teargas, yet be labelled 'rioters' and vilified by the media. As I was exploring my roots as a Black and Native American descendant, I discovered it was nothing short of American tradition to silence black and brown voices calling for an end to their persecution. I watched as several of the organizers from Ferguson were found mysteriously killed, with no explanation. I watched as the Standing Rock Sioux had their water supply ruined, and were shot with water cannons and more rubber bullets for defending their sovereign land. In my personal life, I've faced much harassment and degradation, demonization and dismissal of my words, and even physical attacks due to my 'identity politics'(survival). As name after name after name of black and brown people popped up in the news murdered by police with no justice, I never gave up on my history, and carried myself so that my entire essence and way of life would be an expression that BLACKLIVESMATTER! I have organized around the LGBTQ community, around immigrant rights, around workers rights, around anti-imperialism, around Palestinian and other Native peoples sovereignty, around the climate disaster we are experiencing, all with a rock solid core in affirming black value, and the feminist principles I was exposed to in 2012. I have always been outside normal social roles and expectations,  and I discovered my bloodline of the Cree tribe was one of a long line of two-spirited individuals. It's no wonder I've been so obsessed with dispersing spiritual mediation, native medicinal healing, and when appropriate, calls for resistance against destructive invaders; its my heritage to be a middleman in the cultural crossroads of this land.

With the rise of Donald Trump, the alt-right, and an overall pushback to an EQUALITY movement asking for an end to our genocide, I began to feel much more desperate and radicalized than I ever had before. I started identifying and calling out that we are not about to enter a race war, but that there has been a War on Race on this continent since our tribes cultures and peoples were erased or enslaved. The imperial destruction of indigenous land worldwide is causing environmental harm that mostly affects poor people of color. Everywhere I look, I see death and destruction, with little to no regard to our Humanity. I had always dedicated myself to calling out the injustice, but I knew it was time to stand and fight! Knowing that going to war with the police and military physically would result in me being killed, I started using my mastery of rhetoric to call out this war, no holding back.This blatant honesty in calling out corrupt politicians, killer KKKops, and the wealthy elite for perpetuating this, in true American tradition, has been labelled a threat. My calls for Liberation on social media are what prompted the investigation and eventual raid. They added marijuana charges to fortify their claims that I am a 'dangerous criminal'. As it appears now, the threat charges have no basis, as I have made sure to come correct in my language to not threaten the system, merely reflect the severity of the situation. So now, instead of threats, this has essentially morphed into a cannabis charge. It's cruelly ironic that I was labelled a threat, went through a violent no-knock raid, put into a jail during a pandemic, and now may STILL be facing prison time for something unrelated to the initial investigation. I think that it is very obvious that I am being targeted for my activism, and this was an attempt to bully me into silence, or get me into the system for monitoring, or even worse, get me into a jail cell where I could be murdered without a trace.We are asking for reparative justice and freedom as this is not right, and know that this could be an intersectional front for us to bring our issues to light to hold this blood-stained Constitution and culture of law and order accountable for its destructive ways. Racism isn't just blatant murder in the streets, it permeates through every vein of this 'Justice' system. 

-Derek Caquelin

4. Letter to US Government

This is the letter we hope to send to the judge, the prosecutor, Congress, the President, and anyone still holding up this system of genocidal governance with your signature attached. 
 

Dear US Government,

Please end this reign of terror: people are asking for a stop to the culture of violence and death you perpetuate. After 400 years of breaking treaties to steal land, enslaving black people, and continuing the exploitation of land and labor through Jim Crow era racism to modern day wealth inequality by way of the Military Industrial Mass Incarceration Complex, it's time to face the mirror and recognize and address this unjust 'Justice' system.

We have had to fight for our recognition of humanity for this entire time period as you 'politick' our lives away(and sit pretty in the privilege of generational wealth). It's not right that our CHILDREN and youth must lead this discussion from places of generational poverty to be seen by fully capable grown adults in power as having equal life value. You must not label the resistance to cultural and physical genocide by Native American and Black leaders as 'violent threats'; while simultaneously crushing us under the boots of International Human Rights-violating police and military weapons. Whether you call it karma, or disrespecting our Sovereign Spirits, it is no wonder our physical world is mirroring the social climate in peaking in disaster. Not only for our sake, but for the entirety of humanity, it should be your goal to do whatever possible to make this right.

You have slaughtered us whether we peacefully protest, or attempt to fight back. That is why Derek and so many of us have artistically, rhetorically lived in the essence of a 'by any means necessary' approach in affirming their disgust and disapproval of what's happening to our people. Despite your worst fears, and attempts to paint Derek and other activists as a terrorists, there is no army coming to 'steal your land' (see what I did there?)

It's almost completely proving Derek's symbolic stance on SOCIAL MEDIA was an accurate reflection of the death and destruction you have brought our people for SO long, that the FBI labelled them a threat and committed the REAL violence of blowing in their door by militarily armed agents and putting them in jail during a pandemic. Now, on top of that terror, Dereks life and physical health may be severely impacted by being on house arrest(not even allowed to go outside for sunlight unless they work!) for the many months of a federal trial whilst white supremacists are targeting and actually attacking activists. After this, they will face the discrimination and setbacks of being labelled a convicted felon. There is a long history of this government demonizing and literally murdering leaders for racial equity and justice. Lets end that here. No matter your interpretation, this is a Leader of Love.

Further, there is no case for Derek threatening people, as they explicitly disclaimed in the posts labelled threats. This is likely going to be a cannabis only charge. Cannabis is being deregulated nationwide because the racist history of its criminalization is being exposed. It is federally illegal, but it's more egregious of a crime to charge and ruin the life of a Native American and Black descendant from poverty over a soon to be legal substance that many rich people are making millions of dollars off of. It is very obvious that this was an attempt to silence someone advocating for peace and real change by using the 'Justice' system at a very vital moment in our history when you SHOULD be repairing the relationship YOU have broken for 400 years. It's time for YOU to take the charge in bringing transformative redemption to the experience of our people in this country. We won't simply demand the bare minimum of making sure your police officers don't kill us in the street with no accountability, you must stop this War On the Poor in your courts.

Because of the initial investigation into threats by Derek being shown to be overblown and ridiculous leading to racist marijuana charges, the real violence committed against Derek during this process, and the context of activists being targeted so they be silenced, we demand that Derek be released from the historical cycle of black and brown people being shackled in bondage by your insanely hyperviolent system of Justice. Please either drop the charges, or give Derek a sentence of zero time and zero probation so that they can get on with their life, and be a productive member of society without great barriers to their success. Derek is a great mind, with a great heart, and deserves a real chance at life.

For once, do the right thing! The streets of the world are talking to you, you've had 400 years to hear us and reform, it's time for real liberty. Let's start here, and set the precedent to fix all this damage to our people that is causing our planet to die. We need a culture of radical love and equality, not one of greed and power imbalances.

-Hereso signed accordingly

If you believe in this movement, if you feel we deserve love and empathy, please sign!!!

5. How to Help

We are taking care of fighting the case, have one of the best public defenders in the nation making sure anything we release won’t hurt the case, and are organizing direct action and/or material for protesting to spread among organizations. A way to help this would be to share this petition on your story and ESPECIALLY in individual messages to people in the movement who will sign and share. Contact civil rights groups or lawyers you know, organizers you know, and honestly to all humans, share our story! It's time for the truth to glow amidst so much hatred and darkness. Let's come together and defeat this evil!

Right now what would help us do this the most are resources to survive this process and to create Liberation media.

If you would like to help us with necessities such as food or our bills, you can donate immediately on the apps Cash App or Venmo, our name is $freedomshouldbefree  and @freedomshouldbefree, respectively.

PLEASE DONATE!!!!!!! 

There is also a www.gofundme.com/f/indiglostardust in which we describe all the ways this has shaken our life, and we worry about food security for us and our three dogs, and Isabel no has no money to keep up with her bills that she was maintaining solidly. 

Please reach out to us. You can also contact us by sending us your phone number in a direct message on facebook to Derek Caquelin(look for a picture of an art piece Isabel created, not the photo of Derek as that is an old account.)  Like we said, if you have any questions, want to see the list, or just want to talk, we will be here for a while. Don’t be shy. We appreciate you, we love you, and we got this! We will win this fight, hatred can never overpower love. 

We stand in solidarity with all oppressed peoples, and hope for your solidarity as we demand that Derek not have to go through this terror any longer. They don't deserve to go to prison, nor even face the severely life-hampering experience of federal probation as a convicted felon. There are people making billions of dollars from what Derek's life might be destroyed over. This is wrong. We demand their charges be dropped, and that they do not have to have the label of being a felon. 

Derek deserves life. Derek deserves human respect. Derek deserves to be supported before it is too late. We don't want to wait until Derek is a hashtag. 

#BeforeTheHashtag

Derek Caquelin and Isabel Messina, tantric adepts, young bodhisattvas