prison Archives - The Race Card Project

Prison made me fear black people

August 29, 2023August 30, 2023 anonymous, black people, corrrectional officer, fear, jail, police, prison, USA

Anonymous,
USA

I grew up poor, not terribly poor – I was able to receive a number of things that many people much worse off than me would never be able to have. Based on where I lived, I was surrounded by many black families, I never had any reason to dislike black people. I had many black friends growing up and therefore had no issue with black people. Years later, I had a desire to join law enforcement and make a change, figured joining Corrections was a foot-in-the-door. After three years as a C.O. and witnessing more violence than I can remember, my heart races around black men walking in a group with other black men. Talking to any black man who talks like a rapper, dresses like one or whatever else sets me on edge to the highest degree. I understand we’re all people. I understand the bias I have but I can’t shake it. The sick part is that part of me doesn’t see the sense in doing so. It makes me feel safe and I feel no desire to change how I think in this regard. I work down in a city and I think that every time a black man passes me I run the possibility of being jumped. I know this is probably some level of PTSD but at the same time it still feels rational.

Seeking humanism mutuality commonality above all

March 7, 2022 black man, conversation, humamism, in common, jail, Madison, middle aged, middle class, Pajarita Charles, prison, respect, restaurnat, white, white woman, WI

Pajarita Charles,
Madison, WI

My life as a white, middle-aged, educated, and otherwise very privileged member of society has left me seeking opportunities to find the simplicity of connection that can exist between myself and those different from me, those different by virtue of race. White women and black men — two groups who our country has pitted against each other since we brought slaves to this land — stand out in such interactions. Our job – my role – is to find humanity, mutuality, and commonality in everyday interactions with those who our society has taught us are less then. How do we find that element of connection? Of respect? Of honesty? Of truth? But at the basic core, most importantly, of humanness?

I sat down at a table in the airport. No one else there but a black man eating his lunch. I was there to do the same. I looked over and asked, “How’s your day going so far?” A simple question but one that opened up a 45 minute discussion about my work, my life, his work, his life, and their connection. He spent 15 years in prison; I spent 15 years working to support fathers in prison. I asked him questions, he asked me questions. We shared. We found a place of humanness. Can this bring us to a different and better place? One that is for everyone equally? Mutuality, humanity, commonality.

I Want To Know You, Too

January 17, 2022January 17, 2022 Casper, Deirdre Stoelzle, father, first experience, girl, hair, horror, interpreter, mother, muzungu, prison, Rwanda, shaking, skin, village, WY

Deirdre Stoelzle,
Casper, WY.

In Rwanda there were times that I was the first white person some Rwandans had ever seen. Mostly people wanted to touch my skin, my hair, but at one prison there were two little girls with their mother, bringing food to their imprisoned father. They saw me and screamed in horror. I crouched down, cooing my safety to them. They kept whimpering, shaking. “There’s nothing you can do,” my interpreter said. “In the village they say ‘If you’re bad the muzungu will come and eat you.'”

Faces: University, Prisons. Not the same.

January 17, 2022January 17, 2022 1965, anonymous, faces, Lincoln, Native Studies, NE, prison, same, South Pacific, teacher, University, University of Nebraska, unprogram, white faces

Anonymous,
Lincoln, NE.

I teach Native Studies (among other things) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and I volunteer with the Native groups in the state prison system. Walking across the quad I see mostly white faces– walking across the yard not so much. Makes me sad. And mad.

Also wanted to comment on your “South Pacific” segment. I memorized that show in 1965 when I was in the pit orchestra for the high school musical. Always thought it was a bit of a copout that Lt. Cable gets killed and doesn’t really have to face bringing a Polynesian war bride back to “Philadelphia. PA” and dumping the “blue-eyed kid” to whom he was engaged. Would his “uncle and dad make me part of the partnership of Cable, Cable, and Cable”? It’d be a lot easier if we were “carefully taught”–then we could just be untaught. But what about the white privilege implied by “Princeton, NJ” and its comfortable replication that is never challenged till war introduces one to “coconut palms and banyan trees and coral sands and Tonkonese”? I’ts much harder to unprogram things one takes for granted than things one was carefully taught.

My ancestors massacred Indians near here

September 21, 2020September 21, 2020 Ancestors, Bruce Hawkins, drug war, guilty, Indians, MA, massacre, Native American, Northampton, prison, responsible, slave, slavery

Bruce Hawkins,
Northampton, MA.

That doesn’t make me guilty, it makes me responsible. Prison is the new slavery, and the Drug War is modern slave-catching.

Black, humbling existence to maintain dignity.

April 16, 2018August 18, 2020 america, American, Black, change, criinal, current, Detroit, dignity, humble, jail, level, MI, name, prison, release, slavery, slow, Tony Williams

Tony Williams,
Detroit, MI.

Change in America is slow. I find it disheartening to witness the incarceration of African American men at this current level. The battle begins after the release from jail or prison. A criminal record is just slavery by another name.

They told me I couldn’t be Asian

January 24, 2018January 24, 2018 Asian, faith, GA, Midland, Phil Vongsavang, prison, religion, sheriff

Phil Vongsavang
Midland, GA

I volunteered to join a faith based prison ministry and was told by the local sheriff’s department that I was not allowed to join as an Asian. Said the deputy “we only do white or black. Do you want to be black today?” After more than a year, including receiving a phone call from someone saying they knew what I was doing and I should not try to participate in the prison ministry, I had an opportunity to speak directly with the sheriff. He told me he had no control over what his department does.

Skin not prison, come touch heart?

November 7, 2017November 7, 2017 Aryan, fear, heart, Linden Gibson, NC, prison, Raleigh, skin, Skinhead, touch

Linden Gibson
Raleigh, NC

I will never get used to being looked at by total strangers as a threat to their safety just by walking down the street. I see the fear in the averted looks, how they step aside or suddenly have something important to say to a companion, or seem to need to make an emergency stop at that next store on the block. I see the looks of disgust too, the eyes that tell me I am beneath their contempt, some lesser form of life. I did not choose the form or color I present to this world, they were an accident of birth. I wish people could just meet me with their eyes closed and their hearts open. I know they would be surprised that although I may look like the stereotypical Aryan of skinhead dreams, that is not what is on the inside.

Being a Black Male in America

October 18, 2017October 18, 2017 agressive, america, being black, black male, CA, CBU 311, community, complex, drugs, fight, gangs, Jim Crow, Joseph Brown, justice system, label, Lake Elsinore, Michelle Alexander, murder, people of color, prison, systemic racism, thug

Joseph Brown,
Lake Elsinore, CA.

Being a black male in America is complex. Not only do we have to fight systemic racism, we also have to overcome various obstacles that present themselves in our in communities. One example of systemic racism is what we’ve recently been witnessing from police officers murdering people of color and getting away with it. All of these cases are deemed justified because the victim was a so-called “thug” or labeled as an “aggressive man-child”. It is sickening how the media portrays the African American male as aggressive and violent. Another example of systemic racism that you have to face while being black in America is seen in the current prison system. In her book The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander describes how the current justice system is almost identical to that of the Jim Crow System.

Outside of these external forces, as a black male, you have to navigate the negative poison of your own community. These negative influences include opposition from a large influx of gangs and drugs that infest most black neighborhoods.

CBUHIS311

Skin’s a prison to the soul

April 11, 2016 Amelia, CO, Denver, prison, skin, soul

Amelia,
Denver, CO.

Stereotypes are earned, not just given.

April 13, 2015April 13, 2015 Black, crime, earned, judge, Mark, prison, stereotypes, USA, white

Mark,
USA.

This means that judging people doesn’t come out of nowhere. Assuming people are something because of what they look like is not okay. But, there is a reason that more black people are in prisons than white people. That’s because more black people commit crimes than white people do.

Fast track from slavery to prison

September 17, 2014 East Lansing, fast track, MI, prison, slavery, Tarah Zdunic

Tarah Zdunic,
East Lansing, MI.

Foreign black prison. Only white inmate.

June 11, 2013 David Swain, foreign, inmate, prison, RI, Wakefield, white

David Swain
Wakefield, RI

Four years in prison, away from family and friends in far away land, wrongfully convicted for murder, only white inmate, nearly died twice, much lost, learned, gained. Happily alive to live and share!

Black male in hoodie equals trouble

June 6, 2013 Doug King, El Paso, hoodie, menace to society, prison, Trayvon Martin, trouble, TX

Doug King
El Paso, TX

Popular culture in the black community has done a very good job of portraying young black males as a menace to society good only for killing each other and occupying prison space. Thanks a lot.

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