What do you spend most of your time doing?
The majority of my time is spent educating myself and others on social and political issues. I do this by studying history. One of my favorite authors, Dr. John Henrik Clarke once stated that, “history is the clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day.”
I believe that once Americans are able to understand how current events in America are intricately linked to America’s past then, and only then, will they be able to implement meaningful solutions to the social problems facing Americans today. As long as Americans continue to sweep unpleasant issues under the rug, the American social structure will continue to advance the cause of the few at the expense of the majority.
How are you different now than when you first got locked up?
The word “conscience” is defined as: an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior. When I first got locked up I had no conscience and it took me many years to reconnect with mine.
All humans are born with a conscience and social experiences will submerge or cultivate it. This is why a sound, structured home is so important for a child. At an early age, my conscience had been submerged and left for dead. Through study I was able to reconnect myself with my conscience. No longer do I view life as “me, me, me,” but more of “how may I serve others.”
Being of service to the human family is how I now view life. I new see value in service, for as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said: “Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and very agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
What do you see as your purpose now, and why?”
I now see my purpose as a positive force against all forms of evil, like racism and the ideology of white supremacy. Let me explain.
America is made up of institutions, and like all institutions they serve the needs and interests of the people who created the institution. America’s banking system is an institution; America’s government is an institution; America’s judiciary system is an institution; America’s education system is an institution. All institutions in America were created to serve the interest of those who promote–whether directly or indirectly–the ideology of white supremacy.
Most Americans will find this statement hard to accept or believe because they do not understand that they have been conditioned to think that America is more colorblind today than it was one hundred years ago. Americans today fail to understand that just because racism is not as overt today does not mean that racism has diminished. Americans must understand that today racism depends for its survival on the tangible and intangible benefits that are provided to those who are responsible for the American institution’s maintenance and administration. Here are some examples:
• America’s Educational Institution – This institution is designed to promote the accomplishments of white people, thereby inspiring white children to be their best selves. This is arguably the single most reason why whites are more successful in education than blacks. White people can see themselves in the curriculum; Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagorus, Leonardo da Vinci, Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, etc., etc., etc.
• America’s Judiciary Institution – Unfortunately, white American’s understanding of racism is shaped by the most extreme expressions of individual bigotry, not by the way in which it functions naturally, almost invisibly, or not by the way it has embedded itself within the institution. Most Americans are unaware how historically American institutions have defined the meaning of race in its time. For example, the institution of slavery defined what it meant to be white, and what it meant to be black. The institution of Jim Crow defined what it meant to be white, and what it meant to be black. Today, America’s judiciary institutions defined what it means to be white, and what it means to be black. America’s judiciary institution functions the same way as the institutions of slavery and Jim Crow, and that is: racial control. In her book, “The New Jim Crow,” Michelle Alexander states:
“If someone were to visit the United States from another country (or another planet) and ask: ‘Is the U.S. criminal justice system some kind of tool for racial control?’ Most Americans would swiftly deny it. Numerous reasons would leap to mind why that could not possibly be the case. The visitor would be told that crime rates, black culture, or bad schools were to blame. ‘The system is not run by a bunch of racists,’ the apologist would explain. ‘It’s run by people who are trying to fight crime.’ That response is predictable because most people assume that racism, and racial systems generally, are fundamentally a function of attitudes. Because mass incarceration is officially colorblind, it seems inconceivable that the system could function much like a racial caste system. The widespread and mistaken belief that racial animus is necessary for the creation and maintenance of radicalized system of social control is the most important reason that we, as a nation, have remained in deep denial.”
