Choice.

Greetings and Salutations,

My name is Jay Strode and this is my first entry participation in Brilliance Behind Bars submission.

So to begin my definition of freedom, I would start with the premise that one is bound by something. Whether these things be natural physical means or psychological/mental and even spiritual means, to be free is to be afforded the opportunity/privilege to choose. To choose what you may ask? Well, I would say to choose life to choose love, hope, peace, and prosperity just to name a few things. If we as people are truly free why on earth would we choose things that would be to our detriment or counterproductive to our overall wellbeing? Could it be because we are bound by something? Ignorance, philosophical anorexia, or even lack of the ability to simply critically analyze people or situations, these can be root causes for the lack of freedom. My personal prescription for obtaining, securing, and maintaining freedom is a daily dose (in the midst of penitentiary living) of humility, forgiveness, and love.

We must remain open to knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. For without understanding, there is no application of the things we’ve learned. And I believe that freedom is not only linked to choice, but also process as in the learning process. Choice is just that powerful. I never intend on belaboring a point or proverbially beating a “dead horse”.

So for that point and that point alone, I will close for now but never forever. Shalom. Meditate on these things.

The Battle is Within, by Brandon C. L. Hope

Greetings to the readers, my name is Brandon C.L. Hope. I am 19 years of age. I am incarcerated at Lawrenceville Correctional Facility in Virginia. I have been incarcerated since the age of 14. Through the process that the judicial system has put me through, I have become enlightened to many beautiful things of this country that we live in, but I have also been enlightened to many detrimental issues.

Right now, I would like to speak to the topic of “What’s free?”

Despite my obvious lack of freedom, and despite all the complaints that could be brought to society’s attention, that is not the aspect of free that I would like to indulge in at this particular time.

The lack of freedom that I would like to bring attention to, is that of not the oppressed, but that of the oppressor. Yes, the oppressed obviously lack freedom, but freedom is not just physical. There is also a mental and spiritual aspect to freedom. Although we, the oppressed, often view the oppressors as powerful and free, that is not truth at all. The truth is that the mindset of oppression has enslaved humanity.

Often times, the oppressor only oppresses because of demons and struggles they battle within their personal life. So, the simple fact is, that the battle for freedom is not the oppressed against the oppressor, nor the oppressor against the oppressed… the battle is within. The fight is humanity against physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional slavery. Unity is key.

Thank you for your time…

– Brandon C. L. Hope, From Hampton, VA

What’s Free?: Writing Prompt For the Incarcerated

Following the ‘What’s Free‘ essay exploring freedom, we’d like to invite the incarcerated community to explore their own definitions of freedom.

“The 2020 Virginia General Assembly has ended….and the outcome has dejected many of incarcerated peoples who were seeking some relief from extensive captivities…

The biggest hope was HB 1532, a bill that was set to change the world of Virginia men and women circulating the VADOC system, adding more good time than the current 15%. A lot of the incarcerated population and our caring families set their hearts on a comprehensive plan that would grant earning captive citizens some relief from their imprisonment. It also had a decent turnout of the public in support. To the disappointment of many, the bill was continued to 2021 due to the fact that the patron, Delegate Scott hoped it could to be more inclusive next year.

The fact of the matter is: the current good time mechanisms set in place to ‘help encourage’ Virginia’s incarcerated peoples, continue to brand Virginia as a state more in favor of human warehousing, than rehabilitating its’ citizens most in need of the system’s help… and not the system’s wrath.

But let’s imagine the alternative future… if Virginia’s HB1532 had passed…

What then? The doors open up for few faster than most. “Free” to roam as they please – but all are still bounded by tremendous amounts of suspended sentences looming overhead, stigmas, outdated legislation needlessly restricting ‘ex-felon’s’ career choices, and restrictions of rights that keep reentering citizens from being able to fully partake in the processes that establish citizens as functional participants in society. Not to mention, the lapse in life development due to lengthy imprisonment…

It begs the question: “What’s free?”

We are incarcerated, but we don’t have to be imprisoned. Freedom is initially a state of mind. One must be free in mind first in order to obtain true, substantial freedom, physically. For those who wish to change their trajectory and stake in life, they first must be free to do so. Though they control the cell doors and gates, they do not control your mind.

What do we do to obtain true freedom? Free in mind, free physically, and free financially. Freedom will not be willfully be given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed (Martin Luther King Jr.). What plans do we have to obtain, secure, and maintain our freedom?

Write an essay defining for the readers your definition of freedom. If you would like, describe a plan following your release for obtaining, securing, and maintaining your form of freedom.

Don’t forget to include what you want readers to know about you…”

– Quadaire Patterson, Creator, Organizer, Writer VADOC #1392272,

Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know wants to write on this prompt this month and be featured on BrillianceBehindBars.com, send an email to yourlovedoneq@gmail.com with the essay and bio to review, or we can add inmate numbers to our Brilliance Behind Bars JPay to allow them to contact us directly. 🙂

Revolution

“You can jail the revolutionary, but you can’t jail the revolution.” – Huey P. Newton

It’s a scientific fact that energy cannot be destroyed. It only transfers or transforms… Pertaining to the quote above, the body of a revolutionary can be contained, but the spirit of the revolution can not be bound.

Today, the spirit of the revolution is as pervasive as ever. While countless bodies are confined to prisons, the spirit of freedom is leading the movement against mass incarceration in the land of the free. In this sense, the flames of the revolution are only stoked as more bodies of men and women find themselves on the darker side of social disparity.

The revolutionary of ‘then’ are the freedom fighters of now. Prevalent and pervasive the spirit of the revolution is uncaged. Now, more of the American people are imbued with this spirit, and the revolution has taken on a form better fit for a nation centered on the virtue of freedom. Long live the revolution… long live freedom.

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

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

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