Among the words I live by are these: “You don’t know her/his story.” When I keep that in mind I tend not to be too quick to pass judgement on someone concerning a comment or action that I may passionately find inappropriate or beyond the pale. One never knows what kind of abuse, assault, neglect or harm that the next person has suffered through. Thus, one must be careful.
That is my policy, so please know that I am not being judgmental or in any way cavalier in sharing the following quotes with you. I know the stories of these young men. Their story is, at least in part, my story.
“Who that is?”…..”Hey C.O., what time it is?”……”Nigga, you really think that green beans is better for you than Ramen noodles? If I open up a can of green beans and let them sit while I’m out trappin (hustling), when I come back tomorrow them shits is gonna be spoiled. I open a Ramen noodle and not eat it till next year! How the fuck is green beans better?”
Oh, but there is more, so much horrible more.
“Nigga, if you can’t dunk the ball for these people, catch the ball for these people, or blow up on YouTube with your spit (rap), you know you got one choice after that; get your pole (gun) and check a bag (sell drugs). That’s what’s real, that’s a nigga’s Fortune 500.”
These are constant, every day, and all day statements and conversations with very little variation. I find it overwhelming. I do not simply mean the apparent illiteracy to construct a proper sentence, the hopelessness, and open talk of criminality, but I too mean to stand here as a modern day witness of classical philosophical theory, the Cave. They cannot see beyond their immediate environment, thus they believe that nothing else is available, that there is nothing more within their reach. They do not realize that there is more to be had because they have never intellectually, and quite often physically, ventured beyond the Cave, the hood.
To a certain extent they are correct, at a certain level of un-education [cue up Stacy Lattisaw] “it’s gonna take a miracle” to live wholesome and productive lives, the vicissitudes of a capitalistic economy dictate as much.
With that as a part of the backdrop I quite easily contend that among the horrendous things that were done to Black folk during the Clinton years was the barring of prisoners from receiving Pell grants. College education is a peep into the world beyond the Cave, but Clinton obstructed that view and yet we are smiling, shuffling and propelling his literal bedfellow back to the White House. Enough said, I do not want to be disagreeable simply because I disagree.
Post-secondary education is the only known and proven method of arresting recidivism, not slowing it, but stopping it. (Shameless plug: see my book “New Slaves, Same Ol’ Economy” coming to you soon). It is high time that the Department of Corrections start CORRECTING, bring PSE back to prisoners by reinstating Pell grants. Maybe then we will have a few more green bean eaters. That alone will save the country billions in health care dollars, and offset the cost of education.