LET US BE UNSHACKLED

BY BIGMANN

This maximum-security prison has a special unit that singly encages 192 men for a 24-hour lockdown period. This special management unit is known as solitary confinement. I have been confined to one of the cells in this special unit for 3 years. 

America cannot conceal their problems away by over-incarcerating and warehousing individuals—these are the sentiments expressed by Attorney General Eric Holder. I listened to Mr. Holder on television as he argued that mass incarceration is our new Jim Crow. The racist veil of discrimination and criminalization of Black and Hispanic men is responsible for the overwhelming overpopulation of prisons. I am one of the many who has been wrongly accused, falsely imprisoned and over-sentenced. We are living in a time of war, a war that has been waged on the impoverished, disadvantaged, disenfranchised and underprivileged. Black and Hispanic people are subjected to cruel punishments and inhumane acts by our own government. A government that tortures its people through a system of injustice. 

“We must unshackle our minds in the name of liberation.”

Oppressive systems have been set in place to provide plight. The system is designed for failure and suffering. Schemes perpetuating oppression brings adversity to one's life, but we are responsible for allowing that adversity to have power. We must see life beyond the schemes of oppression. A change must take place. We must not tolerate having to endure injustice. We must unshackle our minds in the name of liberation. Until the criminal injustice system is corrected, it has the authority to confine your body—but it does not have the power to imprison your mind. Set a new course to your life, allow positive thought to outweigh any negative; use your voice and your life to make change. Use the power within you and aspire to set a fire of positivity and change upon the world.