Greetings! Hard to believe we are now in the month of July! Half the year is gone!! We hope 2021 is moving in the right direction for you all! We can’t thank you enough for your continued support, as readers and stories. The recent work coming from our very insightful writers is so impressive. We are honored to showcase the amazing talent and heartfelt writings from our young and old, who courageously step up each week to teach and share through their journeys, free and incarcerated. This latest double issue, 26.25/26, will truly not disappoint. We are incredibly moved by every single one of you writers and artists who play such a huge part in the success of our one of kind publication. Thank you all for touching lives through your truths and creativity! As has been the case in recent weeks, our dear friend OT, will take this editorial note home with his latest insights, as he too plays a key role in our day-to-day success. It is truly an honor to give him this platform, as we have been working together for 20 years now. We first met OT, when he too was a youngster in the hall, a long time ago… OT!
I welcome you Beat Readers back to another double dose edition of the one and truly only The Beat Within. This is the only publication where people speak their truths without judgement and the only publication that welcome opinions from all walks of life, from all different type of people, from different ethnicities, different backgrounds, different beliefs and different upbringings.
This is OT reporting to you live from the hot and humid climate of Managua, Nicaragua. Once again, I’m privileged with taking on the task of writing this issue’s ed note with a positive message, for all the contributors out there lending their eyes and ears onto this page. First, I want to extend a warm embrace to all the ladies and gentlemen that make this publication possible, to the workshop facilitators, to the people that type up the writing, to the funders and the marvelous people who donate their time and resources to our youths behind the walls, and also the incarcerated men and women behind the walls.
How many times have you heard, help, is here? Help is coming. Who doesn’t need help? That’s what being a community is all about. We can go back to the early days in time, where everybody had to play a role so your daily functions aren’t as strenuous, and you can go about your day. Let me go ahead and give some examples so you readers can get the picture of what I’m saying.
Back in the day before all this technology, there existed a Milk Man that would drop milk off at your door. Before all this technology back in the days, and I’m not even talking about the cave-man days let’s say late 1800’s turn of the century toward the 1900’s you would have had to kill your own cow, pig, chicken, etc.
You would’ve had a barn to raise all your cattle, feed them, clean them, inject them with their respective shots to prevent illness, and so forth. In this day and age, we could go to Burger King and get a whopper. We could go to Popeye’s and get some fried chicken. We don’t have to kill chickens and cows, there is a system set in place.
Heck, we order meals through our phones, and we order groceries through our phones, we order drinks through our phones. A couple of taps, and you can send your mother roses for Mother’s Day. Heck, even folks have cell phones in the inside texting their families. This technological era, it’s no one’s fault, if you want you can blame it on Silicon Valley but let me continue on with my point.
Life has gotten easier in that aspect, but that doesn’t mean technology ends the struggle. There are other challenges that we need to attend too, not just food. We still have poverty-stricken communities, COVID-19 eliminated a lot of useful resources and programs in many communities. The country is slowly opening back up, but jobs are still a little bit hard to come by for many people. A lot of jobs and useful programs were put on pause during the pandemic. We’re fortunate we have been able to keep The Beat Within going with the help of all of our partners, so shout-out to everyone that works with us, believes in us, to do the workshops online, (though many sites are now opening up), ‘cause that also allowed me to participate in the Santa Clara Workshops and I was able to meet all the great young folks that write for our publication.
So the struggle is real. We’re all dealing with something at home. We all deal with problems at home. Alcoholism, parents not there, no food in the house so we need to fend for ourselves, and that gets us in a do or die mind set. Chasing the bag is all we think about plus all the other extra-curricular activities that might get us in trouble. We’re forced to grow up faster than we actually want to. We all make mistakes and take wrong turns in life where we feel like we may dig ourselves in a deep hole.
“Like damn, I got to do a couple more years.”
Many of us go to court, I’m going to include myself in that category, ‘cause I was a little bit of a trouble maker back in the day, and I remember going to court wishfully thinking that the judge would let me out. Heck, I never thought I would get deported back to my country. But let me stop right there, because this isn’t about me, this is about you! Help. We could all use a little bit of help in life.
No one goes through life without some kind of help. When I was in the adult system, sometimes we needed the guards to pass a welcome package to the newly arrived inmates so they could have soap, shower shoes, and a little bit of coffee and food. Because no matter how much money you have on your books, if you just got transferred from a different institution, chances are you didn’t make commissary (get to go the store) and you’re going to need food and basic hygiene to get by for at least a few days or a week. So, that help goes a long way.
I’m using that as an example to show you that even when we’re locked up the same guards that we claim to dislike, we have to have some type of working relationship with them so they can do us those small favors that allows us to help others. So, what am I getting at here?
Help is all around us. There are more people aware about mass incarceration and many people in the communities that are doing positive things advocating for the young people in our country. There are people like David, Lisa, Alison, Alyssa, Michael, Kurt, Sarah, Jill, Zach, Ronnie, (there are too many to name) willing to help out every week! Just look at how the death of George Floyd created a tsunami of change throughout communities all over the world.
Listen the magnifying is on the people that are in charge of enforcing the laws. I’m not saying that all of a sudden you have to be cool with the system or anything of that nature. All I’m saying is that there comes a point in your life, where you have to be willing to accept the help. Whether that be from a teacher, a coach, a neighbor, your counselor, whomever. The help is there, but you need to be willing to help yourself. The help may come from someone you least expect, and you need to take it. You can’t be too prideful.
To strive to be great or to strive for success means accepting help and constructive criticism from someone who has love for you or cares for you. A loved one has to let you know what you may be doing wrong that keeps bringing you back to where you’re at. Help is here people, but you have to be willing to accept it and use it. No one knows you better than you. If you know the areas you need help in, reach out to someone and ask for help to help better your situation.
If any of you guys, have any trouble getting a job when you get out, reach out to me. I will at the very least help you with your resume and offer up ideas and possible contacts. I can’t promise you a job, but I can promise you to help with whatever I can do.
The only thing that I will ask you ladies and gentlemen to do in return is go ahead and turn around and do this for someone else. Help out someone that needs help or that’s in a time of need. If we all help each other, we all win, that’s without question. No one goes through the struggle alone. We all move forward together.
One love to everyone going through the struggle. OT signing out with the utmost love and respect for each of you!
Thank you, OT, for your message around help. Yes indeed, The Beat Within is a resource and support, just reach out to us and we will do our best to support and assist. At the very least, we will listen and brainstorm with you. We have been doing the good work for nearly 25 years. We know how important it is to many of you to be there for you, especially when one returns home, back to the free world. We are a part of your community, embrace us, use us, ask us! Reach out anytime. Until the next issue, take care and do your part to better yourself.