Transcript
Dear reader(s), Hello. Wassup. Greetings. Homage. I must write to the APWA family on a subject that seems taboo in the Prison Industrial Complex. This letter (essay) started off with different forms of introductions because new is not the normal. The viral pandemic is not making it any easier on any of us who are forced to live in the day to day affairs. The taboo subject on which I would like to mention envolves opposites. Up, down. Left, right. Fact, opinion. Inmate, officers. On today of May 30, 2020 I must say that the heart of a family in the world is full of grief, pain, and heartache. Officers notified some of the inmate population that a correctional officer passed away. The taboo part of his passing is the normal functioning of a prisoner in general population, and long term solitary confinement is not anything that society would smile on. When we learned of his departure it would be false of me to say applauses and cheers were not shouted. Although this 1# individual in my opinion was not an a**hole by human standards I, Christopher Reginald Cox Jr just had the pleasure of speaking with this man from the other side of the tracks, river, and road, and seen that what made him different was mostly our geographical location, age, and his bank statement. The taboo part was I was so ready to defend him being white and me black. Him a police instead of a correctional officer. I couldn't because his questions were "Cox how is it in Baltimore?", "Cox why are so many vacant houses over Northwest Baltimore?" It was my opinion of the situation that he wanted history because our conversing lead to us speaking on the gentrification that has happened in neighboring counties. It is taboo to speak on this out loud to other prisoners if you're seen as sympathetic to an officers lives. Especially if you are in the standing like me. I am a STG member by law, and by DOC's standard. A STG is Security Threat Group member. It is taboo for those who do not understand that hate and dislike only comes from experince or history. I can admitt that I am not capable of hating unless I've been personally dealt a bad hand. It becomes taboo when prisoners are not given the proper tools and avenues to show how a lost of a family member effects them, let alone a person who works on the day to day with us. How can I tell my homies, brothers, or friends that we all gain understanding in our own time? How do I tell the convicts in population that the pictures on CNN of the officers committing a legal lynching on T.V. in Minnesota was the police and not the correctional officer? Ignorance will breed more ignorance. The dumb must educate those who want to remain deaf and blind. This also includes those who've been tasked with being some of our temporary or long term guardians. 1# of 2# By the people who want to remain ignorant educating their own others may feel the need and desire to further their education. They being the me, you, them, and us and we. The time that asking for help is seen as a praise, versus the lack of. The time when a prisoner can tell an Prison Official that he has made a card for this officers family and not be stabbed from his fellow convicts, or be seen as a person that accepts the behavior of all officers. From taboo to experince. From experince to rehabilitation, I and those who require a better look at life than what we had before must now look to those who have experince in the field of rehab. If no such place is made available then "Of course" we will go back to being the very people who society has dubbed a menace without a society. Thanx APWA family, and I hope this is the start of bridging a generational gap, and a gap that says it's either you or us. Devine Embrace Christopher R. Cox 2# of 2#
