By
Spoon Jackson
The
call for racial peace came from Pelican Bay SHU - the hole - and I
read about it in the San Francisco Bay View, where my poem “Go On”
was published. I think that was a brave, human, and needed call for
racial harmony. Since I’m a believer in peace and realness - one
people, one race - I must echo their cry and add my voice to the
chorus. I think it is a call all peace groups around the world,
inside and outside of prisons would welcome.
I
always tell my creative writing classes that you must stand up for
what is human, true, and real. You must stand up for how we want our
children, parents, grandparents, and spouses to live. Who would want
loved ones to live in violence anywhere on the planet? It is a call
to peace, love, growth, truth, and harmony. No one wants to see their
sons or daughters in a bloody pool on the side walk or in someone’s
back or front yard, or in some prison yard or cell.
We
must pay the peace call forward. We must call for racial peace among
all prisons, not only in California, but around the world. It is said
you know society by its prisons, and if are a microcosm of society,
it is time to make harmonious change inside, and perhaps peace will
spill over to the free world. We can hold peace and love in our
hearts like a sunset, ocean breeze, or soft bird song.
In my
family, there are many colors and cultures. One of my grandmothers
was half Caddo Indian. I have brothers married to Asian, Mexican,
White, Native American, and Black. I appreciate them all and I am
happy my family is like it is.
I have
shared the call for peace article with blacks, browns, and whites.
I’ll share some of their words in this article. This call may
translate to the streets, if only to affect a few people, a few
youngsters. It is time to embrace, each moment, and repeat what
Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and John Lennon said about
unconditional peace. I cannot sit idle as a poet and artist, while
brothers of all colors in the hole call for racial peace and not echo
those thoughts, vibes, hopes, and wishes.
We are
all human beings and something that affects one of us touches all of
us. Nothing human is foreign to any of us.
The
Way Light Breaks Apart
By
Marty Williams
I
don’t believe for a moment that someone doesn’t see race. It
looks back at me like a mirror image of everything I’m not sure of
within myself. I clique, I flock, I herd, and the struggle to do
otherwise makes me dizzy with anxiety. My phony holiness says, “There
is no race,” but if that were true, the history of the world would
be much different, and chains would mean something else entirely. But
here I am, and my liberal guilt wants to prove to you how very
inclusive I am, while the truth is I don’t know enough about how
deep my own racial preference is buried. So what I want is first to
just know what I’m missing, to know the depth of someone else’s
difference, and the depth of where we are the same. First meet me on
the field, and then I’ll deserve to live with you, and you with me.
Not in harmony (another phony holy ideal), but in human beingness,
that needs us to be different, the way light breaks apart into
colors. One light. We are just colors.
Our
Struggle
by
O.G. Woody, Watts (Solid & True)
I’m
Brown, he’s Black, you’re White, so what?
The
question is not why, the question is how. How did we let ourselves
become so divided, so narrow-minded, to where we can’t see the pain
that we’ve caused ourselves in our own struggle? Racism is the wall
that blocks our vision to a future vast and beautiful.
Wake
up! Open your eyes! This struggle is real. The pain that you have
inside is the same pain that I feel. This is our struggle; our
struggle is real. What will it take for our kids not to have to go
through this pain that we face? What will it take for us to be just
one human race? This is a battle that we can’t afford to lose.
A
better future is what we choose. How grand will this world be if you
would only look past my color and see me? Get to know me, know who I
am, and look into my heart. All I’m asking for is just a start.
Though I’ll continue to try, I know I can’t do this alone. But
I’m doing my part here within this poem. So stand at my side, every
color and creed, open your minds so that we may succeed.
How
Do You Improve Race Relations?
By
Soto
Race
relations are quite difficult to come to a successful outcome where
everybody is
respectful
and loving. I have always said that in order to resolve a problem,
one must conduct an inner examination, come to terms with its causes.
As
a society and young country, it would benefit us to learn about our
dealings with Asians, Native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics. The
learning of culture should be done not only as current events. The
study should go as far as the very foundation of this great nation.
Although it would be extremely difficult to be objective when
learning about racism, genocide, injustice, and straight out
executions, this step of acknowledgement must be taken as soon as a
young mind is able to comprehend the paths between right and wrong.
Once the true history of races is known, the second step should be a
quick course of culture learning. This course would involve a study
of any given race’s religion, music, spiritually, costume, dances,
sports, etc.
Without
a true knowledge of other races, costumes, and habits, a peaceful and
understanding relation among different races would be impossible.
How
Do You Improve Race Relations?
By
Joseph Ennis
Well,
this is a big issue, bigger than one could imagine, though not so big
that we can overlook or ignore it. In my opinion, to im-prove race
relations you first must find common ground between two open-minded
people. The ways of growing up are all similar, even if in a
different place or street. Relations can be built on real life events
and experiences, and what I may find in common, three can, then five
can, and so forth.
Change
is the most fearful thing one can experience. I know ‘cause I’m a
walking testimony. That’s what it’s all about though, not being
afraid of change, positive change. Just think of the doors that can
open through having a good relationship with someone not from your
own race. Why shut those doors? If there’s one thing I’ve
learned, it’s that I don’t know it all. And if the next person
knows more, or even less, that’s someone I could learn from, no
matter the race.
Simply
Saying Good Morning
By
V. Tapia
Racism
has its periods and changes of heart. I guess some people just need a
key moment or to hear words of gratification to make them feel at
peace with a different race. My moments of peace, while riots were
occurring in prison, came through words of gratification expressed
through the vent in my cell, directed towards my neighbours. These
were a simple good morning or good night. And my moment of peace was
when my neighbour put the trust in me to lend me a book, even though
tensions were high between our two races. We found the key mo-ment
and words to look past our difference and vibe together.
That’s
what it’s about, coming together and sharing. Whether it’s a
moment of your time or simply saying good morning or good night.
Posts
Sending this everywhere, and posting, posting, posting. Thank you Spoon and all your peeps!
ReplyDelete