Transcript
Pg. 1 of 4 (Speech) M.R.L.A. Enslavement, Killing, and Lies For, at least, the last decade, there have been a vast number of people in this country who talk about slavery, or enslavement, as if it has somehow magically disappeared. Well, I'm here to tell you that it hasn't! Slavery, the way schooling history books how it, has instead become re-incriminated. We, as a country, have normalized this new form of slavery. And we, as a society, have accepted this change without issue. Why? Because we, as a people, have become dependent and selfish. The only thing that starts to shed light in our eyes, that slavery is still going on today, is when we see innocent Black people, colored people, killed. I'm not a big follower of trends so don't expect me to say that every killing of a person of color is because of racism and that's why it becomes a big deal. No, I believe that psychologically this impacted the public masses because we unconsciously made the connection - This is wrong and so many people, of the same pigmentation, suffer injustice on similar levels. Do you know what I believe is worse than dying? Torture. Being kept alive to continuosly suffer. That's what enslavement is, a form of torture. And that's what happens to those people who suffer the injustice of the Criminal Justice System. Again, we see this and acknowledge this after a horrific tragedy. Rodney King, Travon Martin, Brianna Taylor, George Floyd and so many others. Names that we know. Names that we hear and keep present for other relevant topics. But do you know [redacted]? A Young man who had sexual relations with a young woman at a notable college and for fear of having her college funds cut off as well as her family disowning her, the young woman conceeds to allow her parents to file rape charges. Do you know [redacted]? An older gentleman, an ex-school teacher who has 2 daughters and 1 grand daughter. Who wants to open up an after school 2 of 4 study program, not for profit but for his love of teaching and being able to help "under privileged" youth. This white man, was arrested almost 20 years later, after an inital investigation had been completed and he was found to have had no involvement. No new evidence, factually, had come up. It was a cold case that some detective decided almost 20 years later to reinterview a witness who'd changed their story too many times to count. Guess what that same witness did this time? Changed their story 2 times within 2 different interviews. Yet this detective decides to yank this elderly man out of his life and put him jail, for what? Ruin his life for what? Lose his home for what? Alright, do you know this name... Marcus Ross Larenzo Alston? me. Accused and wrongfully convicted of a Murder, so out of character, with no evidence proving any wrong doing on my end, having called police and providing life saving treatment, having fully and completly cooperating with authorities, and after a 3-year long investigation turned up evidence pointing to someone completely different. Someone who lied continuously (and that's proven), someone who's GPS phone records confirm their lies and opportunity, someone who had a very real reason to commit the murder and the means by which to carry it out, and someone connected with the police. The worst part is that the police and prosecutors knew they had evidence pointing to a different person, closer to the beginning of the investigation, but decided to lie about it in court hearings and attempted to cover it up. Then during trial the judge concludes that "there is no evidence of guilt, which is reasonable doubt and the presumption of innocence"-The very things which are, legally, supposed to exhonorate a person. Obviously, that's not what happend. The people named above, and so many more, have lost their lives. Some in a Physical-sense and others in a figurative-sense. Injustice continues to go on, and this injustice has created a type of new-aged slavery. You may have some who argue pg. 3 of 4 (Speech) M.R.L.A. Enslavement, killing, and Lies (Continued...) that incarcerated people don't work like the rest of society, in a general sense that is. However, the truth is that first, incarcerated people do work. They work at staying safe and sane from the injustices of external and internal issues in the prison system and criminal justice system as a whole. Some have institutional jobs that pay a dollar a day, at most. $7 a week, if you work everyday. On average, that's $28 a month, with telephone calls prices and institutional store food pricing skyrocketing. Would you be able to live, even in your parents home, rent-free, with $28 a month? Does that sound reasonable? Secondly, regardless of weither an incarcerated person is working or not, money is being collected by the government (local and state), money that funnels into society, the economy. And we've become so ingrained in this, so dependent and selfish, that to do the right thing and end the many injustices, the modern day slavery, would collapse our economy. My view on this, however, is that maybe that's what we need. Because continuing to do something wrong only encourages other things to be done wrong, for nothing to change, and for us, as a people, to keep moving in the wrong direction. Think about this, no one likes to use blood-money, correct? Well, the next time you're paying for your Starbucks coffee, your getting cash from the bank, your handing out money to your child-remember that there is a good possibility that that money was made and cycled through because of an incarcerated person who more than likely has suffered injustice in the criminal justice system. They may be guilty as can be or they may be innocent, but i can almost garantee you that in some way or another, injustice rigned in their criminal justice journey. It always does because that is the new norm. Or the old norm, depending on how you look at things. So, again, remember that money you've got in your hands is money from injustice. Maybe not Blood-Money, but deffinitely Lifer's money. 4 of 4 here is what we need to do, It's pretty simple. We need to go back to the basics. "The Golden Rule": Treat others the way you want to be treated We need to set a norm and follow it. It won't be perfect, perfection is a lie, but it will be fair and isn't that what we're always talking about? Why do we speak about "injustice", because someone was done in a way that wasn't fair. "Enslavement", because people are unfairly pressed into servitude. "Killing", someone's life was unfairly taken in the physical form. "Lies", because you're not fairly giving someone information to help them. What we need to do is be fair and stop lying or down playing what has happened, what will happen, and what is happening. We need to acknowledge the issues and we need to end the Enslavement, the killing, and the lies. That only happens together. We don't need to "make America great again", we need to revise our slogan, for it not only be said that we are the land of the Brave and the free. But to actually be the Land of the Brave, the Free, and the Fair. [Signature] M.R.L.A.
