| NEW ORLEANS, LA - June 24 - "Only in America, in this period of cynical paranoia and repression of civil liberties could a 'peace officer' deem a book about the power of kindness to be a threat to a security," said Dame Anita Roddick, upon learning that a copy of her new book 'A Revolution in Kindness' that she had sent to a prisoner inside Angola Prison in Louisiana had been rejected on ostensible security grounds.
The copy of 'A Revolution in Kindness' was intended for an inmate named Herman Wallace, who contributed an essay to the book. Wallace is one of the inmates known as the Angola Three, who have been in solitary confinement for 31 years because they were civil rights activists determined to improve conditions in what was considered the "bloodiest prison in America" in the early 1970s. Roddick has been campaigning for their freedom since 2000.
Officials inside the prison have confirmed that the book was rejected for security reasons, but refused to elaborate. In May, Roddick was ejected from the prison while visiting Albert Woodfox (another member of the Angola Three, who also contributed to the book), and prison officials have refused to explain why.
'A Revolution in Kindness' (Anita Roddick Books 2003) is a compilation of essays by celebrities, politicians, homeless people, activists, refugees, doctors, entrepreneurs, and philosophers about how the world might be transformed if kindness trumped other values, such as greed, revenge, and power. The book contains essays by Roddick, Ralph Nader, Angelina Jolie, Annie Lennox, Philip Berrigan and many more.
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