INCOMING MAIL ↓ THE PRIVACY ISSUE

Preserving Private ISSUE #1 Correspondence

Algorithm-Free Correspondence

Letters of Interest from US History Dear Reader, This is not a private correspondence. For the private version of this publication, please send a request via the USPS to 10105 Wornall Rd. Apt. 102 Kansas City, MO 64114 Contents ↓

8 →Preserving Private Correspon- dence

16 →Algo- rithm-Free Correspon- dence

22 →Letters of Interest from US History

4 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE We get information in the There are major efforts mail, the regular postal being made to dismantle mail, encrypted or not, vet Social Security, the public it like a regular news orga- schools, the post office - nization, format it - which anything that benefits the is sometimes something population has to be dis- that's quite hard to do, mantled. Efforts against when you're talking about the U.S. Postal Service are giant databases of infor- particularly surreal. mation - release it to the public and then defend → Noam Chomsky ourselves against the inev- Activist itable legal and political attacks. If you look at the origins → Julian Assange of the postal service in the WikiLeaks U.S., the founding fathers created it to protect demo- How wonderful it is to be cratic rights. able to write someone a letter! To feel like con- → Shiva Ayyadurai veying your thoughts to a Scientist person, to sit at your desk and pick up a pen, to put your thoughts into words There are very pow- like this is truly marvelous. erful and wealthy special interests who want to pri- → Haruki Murakami vatize or dismember vir- Writer tually every function that government now per- Socialists and progres- forms, whether it is Social sives are correct to use Security, Medicare, public this moment to highlight education or the Postal the value of the postal Service. service beyond the 2020 presidential election. The → Bernie Sanders Trump administration’s Politician recent attacks are part of a broader effort to pri- vatize a beloved universal service and destroy over six hundred thousand living wage union jobs in the process. Postal → → → service employment has been especially crucial in helping black workers, women workers, and vet- → → erans achieve some eco- nomic stability and dignity.

→ Paul Prescod Jacobin Magazine 6 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Frank Herbert said once in an NBC Preserving interview from 1982 that “our society was formed on a distrust for gov- ernment and we seem to have lost Private that distrust.” Herbert is also known to have sarcastically and controver- sially said that his favorite president Correspon- was Nixon, because Nixon reinforced his notion that we should distrust our government. One has to wonder what dence Mr. Herbert would have to say—being a man of letters—about an adminis- → → → → → tration that appears to be (among other things) deliberately under- mining one of the oldest and most vital institutions to democracy ever produced by this nation: the United States Postal Service.

The ability to write a letter to someone is so ingrained in US history that it’s almost impossible to imagine US history without its letters. What’s more, is that the con- tents of those letters were seen by no one other than the composer of the letter and the receiver of the letter. Indeed, the private correspondences of Americans have shaped the nation into what it is today (whether that is a nation that is wholey desirable

8 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE is another discussion); as Alexis de Toqcueville wrote in Democracy In America: “...the mail, that great link between minds....”

Perhaps we have forgotten that the the postal service was conceived­— although merely an imitation of the British imperial post—with the intention of subverting despotic rule. The privacy of the mail system that was established by George Wash- ington and James Madison in 1792 (The Post Office Act) is upheld with such standards that even WikiLeaks uses it to gather information. → → → → → And while it is so pleasant to reflect upon the notable letters of the nation’s history, it is also important to remind ourselves that the USPS delivers mail to active troops. For a couple of centuries the USPS has been the only organization autho- rized to deliver correspondence to active duty military personnel and the privacy of soldiers’ mail is pro- tected by law according to the U.S.

10 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Army Human Resources Command.

In an interview with Democracy Now!, President of the American Postal Workers’ Union, Mark Dimondstein, asserted that the USPS is indeed the “last hold out for private com- munication” and I believe he is right. So, what if the USPS is the last public service that gives us total privacy? That means we should fight off the Capitalist privatizers and hold on for dear democracy. → → → → → [The US Constitution even has a Postal Clause [Article 1, Section 8, Clause 7] that gives the Post Office the constitutional power to establish mail routes, construct offices, and, perhaps most importantly of all, to criminalize abuses of the postal service such as mail fraud.] → → → → →

12 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE 14 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE →Algorithm-Free →Correspondence

16 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Guess what, your email really isn't all that private. Nor are your social media messages. Nor is talking on the phone or texting.

That creepy thing that happens when you talk about something, a product, say, and hours later you see an ad for it, that's your devices listening to you. You probably read that sen- tence and thought, "yeah yeah we all know that," and that is precisely the point of this piece. We have become cynical and complacent in the age of Big Data.

The online services we use everyday tell us straight to our faces (in their privacy policies and terms of service agreements) that they are collecting your interests? data from everything that you do so as to improve their services. → → → → → When is the last time you hand-wrote a private letter to someone? I'm not The United States Postal Service judging you. I haven't hand-written affords us the ability to be clan- a letter in years. It's not convenient. destine in our communications. But wouldn't it be lovely to send You can type or hand-write a someone a message and know that letter about anything, you could it wasn't dissected by an algorithm confess to murder (hopefully not) or mined of little bits about you and and no one would know but you

18 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE and the person you are writing to. Maybe you have a fool proof plan to topple the government? You probably don't but it's the thought that counts. Here is something you should think about: you can burn a letter, but when you delete an email, have you really deleted it? → → → → →

20 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Letters of Interest From US History

22 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Preface

It is worth noting that the fol- lowing letters were indeed once private correspondences but have now become historical arti- facts. The following documents are available on the internet.

→ → → → →

24 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X C/O Southern Christian Lead- ership Conference 334 Auburn Avenue, ↓ Atlanta 3, Georgia ↓ Dear Sir: The present racial crisis in this ↓ country carries within it pow- erful destructive ingredients that may soon erupt into an uncontrol- ↓ lable explosion. The seriousness of this situation demands that imme- diate steps must be taken to solve ↓ this crucial problem, by those who have genuine concern, before the Martin racial powder keg explodes. A United Front involving all Negro Luther factions, elements, and their leaders is absolutely necessary.

King Jr. A racial explosion is more destructive than a nuclear explosion. If capitalistic Kennedy and commu- ↓ nistic Khrushchev can find some- thing in common on which to form a United Front despite their tre- July 31, 1963 mendous ideological differences, it is a disgrace for Negro leaders not to

26 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE be able to submerge our “minor” dif- If you cannot come, please ferences in order to seek a common send your representative. solution to a common problem posed by a Common Enemy. Invitations to participate have been se-tit to: Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, Dr. On Saturday, August 10th, from Adam C. Powell, James Farmer, 1 - 7 P.m., the Muslims are spon- Whitney Young, A. Phillip Ran- soring another giant outdoor rally dolph, Dr. Ralph Bunche, Dr. Joseph at 116th Street and Lenox Avenue. H. Jackson, and James Forman. Two previous rallies this summer at the same location, attracted An immediate reply would 5000 to 7000 Harlemites respec- be appreciated. tively. We expect our largest Your Brother, crowd this time, rain or shine. Malcom X. Minister

We are inviting several Negro MUHAMMAD'S NEW leaders to give their analysis of YORK MOSQUE NO. 7 the present race problem and also their solution. We will also explain mr. Muhammad’s solution.

There will be no debating, arguing, criticizing, or condemning. I will moderate the meeting and guar- antee order and courtesy for all speakers. This rally is designed not only to reflect the spirit of unity, but it will give you a chance to present your views to the largest and most explosive ele- ments in Metropolitan New York.

28 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Image from The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Stanford

30 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE To Gus Hall, Chairman W.E.B. Communist Party of the U.S.A. New York, New York;

Du Bois On this First day of October, 1961, I am applying for admission to mem- ↓ bership in the Communist Party of the United States. I have been long and slow in coming to this con- ↓ clusion, but at last my mind is settled. In college I heard the name of ↓ Karl Marx, but read none of his works, nor heard them explained. At the University of Berlin, I heard Communist much of those thinkers who had definitively answered the the- Party of ories of Marx, but again we did not study what Marx himself had said. Nevertheless, I attended the USA meetings of the socialist Party and considered myself a socialist.

↓ On my return to America, I taught and studied for sixteen years. I explained the theory of Socialism October 1, and studied the organized social life of American Negroes; but still I neither read nor heard much of 1961 Marxism. Then I came to New York as an official of the new NAACP and

32 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE editor of the Crisis Magazine. The and the Communists; I read Das NAACP was capitalist orientated and Kapital and other Communist liter- expected support from rich philan- ature; I hailed the Russsian Revo- thropists. But it had a strong socialist lution of 1917, but was puzzled at the element in its leadership in persons contradictory news from Russia. like Mary Ovington, William English Wallinl and Charles lliward Russell. Finally in 1926, I began a new effort, Following their advice, I joined the I visited Communist lands. I went Socialist Party in 1911. I knew then to the Soviet Union in 1926, 1936, nothing of practical socialist pol- 1949 and 1959; I saw the nation itics and in the campaign of 1912, I develop. I visited East Germany, found myself unwilling to vote the Czechoslovakia and Poland. I spent socialist ticket, but advised Negroes ten weeks in China, traveling all to vote for Wilson. This was contrary over the land. Then, this summer, to Socialist Party rules and conse- I rested a month in Romania. quently I resigned from the Socialist Party. I was early convinced that Socialism was an excellent way of life, but For the next twenty years I tried to I thought it might be reached by develop a political way of life for various methods. For Russia I was myself and my people. I attacked convinced she had chosen the only the Democrats and Republicans for way open to her at the time. I saw monopoly and disenfranchisement Scandinavia choosing a different of Negroes; I attacked the Socialists method, half-way between Socialism for trying to segregate Southern and Capitalism. In the United States Negro members; I praised the racial I saw Consumers Cooperation as a attitudes of the Communists, but path from Capitalism to Socialism, opposed their tactics in the case While England, France and Germany of the Scottsboro boys and their developed in the same direction in advocacy of a Negro state. At the their own way. After the depression same time I began to study Karl Marx and the second World War, I was

34 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE disillusioned. The Progressive Party and thus restore democracy Movement in the United States to this land, I will call for: failed. The Cold War started. Capi- tallsm called Communism a crime. 1. Public ownership of natural resources and of all capital. 2. Public control of transpor- Today I have reached a tation and communications. firm conclusion: 3. Abolition of poverty and lim- itation of personal income. Capitalism cannot reform 4. No exploitation of labor. itself; it is doomed to self-de- 5. Social medicine, with hospi- struction. univeral selfishness talization and care of the old. can bring social good to all. 6. Free education for all. 7. Training for jobs and jobs for all. Communism - - the effort to give 8. Discipline for growth and reform. all men what they need and to ask 9. Freedom under law. of each the best they can con- 10. No dogmatic religion. tribute - - this is the only way of human life. It is difficult and hard These aims are not crimes. They end to reach - it has and will make are practised increasingly over mistakes, but today it marches tri- the world. No nation can call itself umphantly on in education and free which does not allow its cit- science, in home and food, with izens to work for these ends. increased freedom of thought and deliverence from dogma. In the W.E.B. Du Bois end Communism will triumph. I want to help to bring that day.

The path of the American Com- munist Party is clear; It will provide the United States with a real Third

36 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Image from UMassAmherst Library

38 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Febb Dear Son, … Hurray and vote for Suffrage and don’t keep them in doubt. I noticed Ensminger Chandlers’ speech, it was very bitter. I’ve been waiting to see how you Burn stood but have not seen anything yet…. Don’t forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt with her “Rats.” ↓ Is she the one that put rat in ratifi- cation, Ha! No more from mama this ↓ time. With lots of love, ↓ Mama. ↓ Harry Burn ↓ August 17, 1920

40 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Images from The Knox County Public Library Calvin M. McClung Digital Collection

42 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE Walter Whitman, Esq. Ralph Care of Fowlers & Wells, 308 Broadway, New York. Waldo 21 July 1855 Emerson Dear Sir, I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of “Leaves of Grass.” ↓ I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit & wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in ↓ reading it, as great power makes us happy. It meets the demand I am always making of what seemed the ↓ sterile & stingy Nature, as if too much handiwork or too much lymph in ↓ the temperament were making our western wits fat & mean. Walt I give you the joy of your free & brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incom- Whitman parably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment, which so delights us, & which larger per- ↓ ception only can inspire.

I greet you at the beginning of a July 21, 1855 great career, which you must have had a long foreground somewhere,

44 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illustration; but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits, namely, of fortifying & encouraging.

I did not know until I, last night, saw the book advertised in a newspaper, that I could trust the name as real & available for a Post-office. I wish to see my benefactor, & have felt much like striking my tasks, & visiting New York to pay you my respects.

R. W. Emerson.

Images from Library of Congress

46 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE 48 INCOMING MAIL THE PRIVACY ISSUE APWU.org Incoming Mail is located at 10105 Wornall Rd. Apt. 102 Kansas City, MO 64114

Incoming Mail does ↓ not have an email. For any inquiries please send a letter to the usmailnotfor- above address. sale.org/save/ ↓ alexduncan. online/incom- ingmail.html

50 SEPTEMBER 2020 "...The mail, that great link between minds, today pene- trates into the heart of the wilderness."

→ Alexis de Tocqueville ←