“For the people, by the people,” but we need the people!
I am a good man, but it took some work to get there.
My parents were divorced, and my father was part of my life, but not always a daily presence.
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I was pretty much your typical kid growing up in an inner city of America. My city happened to be Boston, MA. I was raised by a single mother, who was very ill for my entire life. She struggled with kidney failure, diabetes, and other illnesses. She was also a school teacher, taught school, and three days a week would spend her evenings at a dialysis center. My parents were divorced, and my father was part of my life, but not always a daily presence. I lost both of them too early: my mother in 2000 and my father in 2009.
During my teenage years, I practically raised myself.
At the age of thirteen, I first got caught shoplifting.
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Recently, a news story caught my eye.
A young teen was accused of stealing a backpack valued at less than fifty dollars. His fate was a lot different from mine. He was arrested and held in solitary confinement for thirty-three months awaiting trial. He could have been released if he admitted guilt, but he never did. Eventually, the judge dismissed the case. After doing extensive research on solitary confinement, I can safely say that the criminal justice system has scarred this young boy for life.
In the early nineties, the school to prison pipeline had not taken full effect.
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During my my teen years, I would eventually be arrested two more times for drugs and alcohol. I spent a combined seven hours in a jail cell at a local police precinct and was never in an actual prison.Why is that I was treated very differently from this young boy who was accused of stealing a backpack? Part of the answer lies in the fact that I attended school in an affluent Massachusetts suburb for most of my life, and all of my high school years, and part of the answer lies in the time period in which I was a teen. In the early nineties, the school to prison pipeline had not taken full effect. Inner city schools were just starting to install metal detectors, and still did not have police working on site.
They put the cuffs on him, and placed him in a solitary confinement cell for nearly 3 years.
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Even when youth do violate the law, most often non-violent offenses, we treat them like criminals.
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My friends and I are perfect examples of how times have changed.
We are good men, who are positively contributing to society, but it is only because we were fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to do so.
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Many of us engaged in illegal activities at one point or another, and we got caught from time to time, but we were never treated as criminals. We had support from family, our school, and in some cases, law enforcement themselves. Because of this support, we were given the opportunity to become good men. All of us hold degrees from a college and/or university. One of us works in social services with troubled youth, another runs his own real estate and development company, another is a program coordinator for an early childhood program, and I am the co-founder and CEO of Think ten Media Group, a company that uses narrative films to shed light on social issues, and to help shape behavior. We are good men, who are positively contributing to society, but it is only because we were fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to do so.
Instead of treating them as good men (and women), who need a little guidance and support, we treat them as criminals and punish them as harshly as we possibly can./span>
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When I hear of the school to prison pipeline, it breaks my heart. Kids are sent to prison for fighting, smoking marijuana, being accused of stealing a backpack, etc. Once in prison, they’re treated like they are criminals, not as young person learning in need of support and assistance to make good choices. This system fails these kids. Instead of treating them as good men (and women), who need a little guidance and support, we treat them as criminals and punish them as harshly as we possibly can.
I love this country, but I am ashamed of our criminal justice and prison system.
My show, The wHOLE, deals with solitary confinement and mass incarceration. It looks at a system that makes it an insurmountable task to become a good man.
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I could easily have been one of these kids, which would have resulted in there being one less good man in this world. I am proud of my past, and understand that I was lucky. I also understand that many are not. This is a major impetus for the work that I am doing right now. My show, The wHOLE, deals with solitary confinement and mass incarceration. It looks at a system that makes it an insurmountable task to become a good man.
Find out more about The wHOLE
Photos courtesy of the author
I survived the war on drugs and wrote about it at the urging my daughters. I missed almost 20 years of their lives; Of which, they
wanted me to tell my story to my, then, 7 grandsons. My grandson coming of age and I am here for them. I have been a consistent part of their for the past 15 years. I can’t tell you the difference it has made my life. I pray that will make the difference in theirs
I’m trying to connect the war on drugs to this?
Great story. Thank you for sharing this and for all your work. There are so many levels to the problem I sometimes feel focus can be a difficult thing. It’s refreshing to see this type of perspective and speaks to me about how self-aware you are. You posses an empathy to be admired!
You can partially blame the War on Drugs for this mass imprisonment of men plus Nixon’s War on Crime which cause every judge, district attorney, and police chief to tried to outdo each other in proving who was the most toughest on crime.