Thinking about Noel’s Words

THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN IN DECEMBER, 2014.

            Noel is a 17 year old serving a robbery sentence in a California juvenile corrections facility. When he turns 18 he will leave the juvenile system and be transported to San Quentin. That’s no place for a teenager, even one who committed a robbery. Noel submitted an essay to The Beat Within, a juvenile justice writing workshop. I read his piece (sent in to me from outside). He writes in a mature style with a weariness not typically seen in one so young. He reflects on why “the system” – i.e. the prison system – is so successful. Much of what he writes on that subject is “prison myth,” the great government conspiracy theories that abound in here.

            But, his words have value and should be listened to if we really care about the young, disenfranchised, mostly men of color. He begins,

            “The way I see it, somehow, like a game of chess, the government has thought an incredible number of moves ahead …”

            The conspiracy we are told, is to destroy young men of color, to subjugate them and leave them and their progeny forever in poverty and helplessness. I have been told repeatedly by young African American men that this country hates blacks; that the law is used to enslave and annihilate them.

            “We are the state’s cash cows (we, being prisons), the reason why more prisons are being built than schools … There’s big money in slavery, pimping, extortion – just ask the IRS. These taxes are used to pay the interest on our debts as well as brainwash our citizens to fight and terrorize other countries who refuse to go along with America’s plans.”

            Another “myth” you hear inside prison – namely, that states make money off inmates and that’s why no one gets out. No, prisons drain scarce dollars from schools, healthcare, and roads. It is true, however, that our “words” don’t match our “deeds.” We talk of freedom and human dignity and yet we live daily with a prison-industrial complex that holds 25% of the world’s prisoners, that has more prisoners held in solitary confinement than the rest of the world combined, that allows the government virtually unfettered violations of our privacy in the name of “security;” that allows police to choke a man to death whose alleged “crime” is the misdemeanor sale of cigarettes without paying the tax. I understand how myths arise.

            “Mine is an imprisoned generation,” Noel writes. He explains his comrades attraction to street gangs and the exploitation of his community by the entertainment industry, “our men are being taken, or brainwashed into believing a righteous path includes maiming our brothers and abandoning our women, while robbing themselves of their most valuable possession – trust in the human race.”

            I understand Noel’s words. Each day I spend hours helping and talking to young men for whom hope is a 4 letter word. Like Noel, they are bright, creative men who have so very much to offer. We must find a way to harness that creativity, to re-instill hope, to create an environment of second chances. Too many lives are being lost. Noel’s words matter.