Victories.

“You, Hannibal, know how to win battles. But you do not know how to use your victories.” – Maharbal, Numidian Cavalryman Commander

The above quote is a portion of a conversation help between Hannibal, the Supreme Commander of Carthaginian Army and the captain of his Numidian Calvary. Hannibal has just handed the Romans their most devastating defeat at the Battle of Cannae and Maharbal was eager to ride ahead to the gates of Rome. But instead, Hannibal chose to enjoy the moment and celebrate his victory. Nevertheless, this African general was a military genius and one of the world’s greatest military leaders. In fact, the strategies he used during his 16 year war with Rome are currently being studied by military cadets in academies all over the world.

This battle was fought in Cannae, Italy in the summer of 216 B.C. However, it is still a relevant piece of black history today. Because like Hannibal, Black people in America have also won many battles. We have won battles against slavery and segregation. We have won battles for civil rights, voting rights, and even the battle to get Barack Obama into the White House. Yet, today, black men are still disproportionally living in handcuffs and chains. Black women are still overworked and underpaid. Black children are still receiving sub-standard educations when compared to their white counterparts. Regardless of how many battles we won, every black generation after Hannibal has lost the war – simply because we have yet to learn how to use our victories.

– Lord Serious Hakim Allah / J. Boughton Jr., Chesapeake, VA #1404741

Author of “Apotheosis Lord Serious Hakim Allah’s Habeas Corpus Appeal” and “The Powerless Pinky” both are available on Amazon.com. You can email him at: IamLordserious@gmail.com.

Prison.

“When I was in prison, I read an article – don’t be shocked when I say that I was in prison. You’re still in prison. That’s what America means: prison.” – Malcolm X

Every prison has a warden, and Uncle Sam is yours. When you’re in prison you have to work, because Warden Sam will throw anyone who refuses to work in the “hole” (debt). In prison, minimum wage is $0.27, for you its about $10.00 an hour. In here, we think we’re making big money if you get a $0.45 job, likewise, you think you’re advancing if you can make $17.00 an hour. But when we both get paid the Warden takes his cut out of our miserable checks first! Then with what we have left we get overcharged for the basic necessities we need to survive, in prison we call it commissary, but you call it going grocery shopping. With our remaining balance, we pay for the little comforts that bring us joy and find ourselves broke all over again. Now, we have to get a high interest loan just to make it through the rest of the week. In prison, we call the loan shark a store box, but you’ve been tricked into calling it a pay day loan. You get one soup, he needs two back, for two sodas he wants three back. When you’re in prison, you can’t earn a livable wage that allows you to sustain yourself so you find yourself miserable, in debt, and you’re left feeling like the walls are closing in on you.

Words.

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Choose your words, for they become actions.
Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.” – Supreme Understanding

The choices you make take on a life of their own, and they produce a culture of either success or failure. Ultimately, its up to you. In choosing which actions and attitudes you will make yours, you decide the way you’ll live. You choose your habits. You choose your addictions.

-Gangsta Pooh / D. Moore, #1414484, From Norfolk, Virginia

Education.

“As you shouldn’t expect another man to give you the clothing that you need to cover your own body, so you should not expect another race to give you the education to challenge their right to monopoly and mastery; to take for yourself that which they also want for themselves… if he will rob you of your wages, he will also rob you of your education that would enable you to know that he is robbing you of your wages.” – Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey was the founder of United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) which was he larger black movement in modern history. Marcus Garvey taught black nationalism and black independence from our enslavers and colonizers. He recognized that the white power structures secret to success was its ability to keep blacks all over the world trapped in a state of dependency – economically, politically, socially, intellectually, and spiritually. Marcus Garvey taught that blacks would never truly be free until we first establishes our own educational institutions.

This quote remains relevant today because the school-to-prison pipeline is a tool currently being used by this same system to suffocate our children’s thirst for knowledge by keeping them out of classrooms and pushing them into prison cells. In my book, Apotheosis Lord Serious Hakim Allah’s Habeas Corpus Appeal, I have an entire chapter dedicated to solving this problem plaguing the black community. I give a history analysis on how this system uses the financial hardships of their households, and our community’s lack of economic opportunity for them, to create the perfect storm for impoverished black youth. To solve this problem, my book offers practical solutions such as building our own charter schools and private schools. This is the only way to ensure that our children receive a quality education that addresses their needs – and that those who are teaching them will inspire black youth to unlock their hidden potential.

– Lord Serious Hakim Allah / J. Boughton Jr., #1404741, From Chesapeake, VA

Justice.

“An injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King was respected for his holistic outlook on human and race relationship. He sought to integrate black and white Americans into a better reflection of the virtue, equality.

Today, it is easy to get wrapped in a personal justice, that we disregard the general good and how they are so related. A personal justice now could become a great injustice for the generations to come. For example, the law enabled the inhumane practice of slavery to flourish. A subjective form of justice gave one man rights over another. The generations following the countless battles to reckon the flatter form of justice, now leaves a deep rooted animosity set to threaten any truer expression of justice from taken hold in a near future…

Justice is a vast principle. Ranging over billions of perspectives, yet has a common thread that resonates throughout the human spirit. The ideal justice may not have been realized. But the wounds of injustice steady healing. Just as the tides of injustice are greatly momentous, so too are the tides of true justice. For its arrival, there must be great faith and a practice to match. Because if an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… undoubtedly, a justice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere…

– Quadaire Patterson, VADOC #1392272, From Virginia Beach, VA

Introducing: Black America Inside Out

In commemoration of Black History Month, brilliancebehindbars.com is hosting an online event, ‘Black America Inside Out.’ Its purpose is to showcase the positive black thought of incarcerated peoples.

Participants are asked to select a quote from any historical black figure, and provide a short 8-10 sentence paragraph explaining the quote and its relevance to our present day.

Enjoy.

– Quadaire