Are prisons obsolete?

Are prisons obsolete? Why or why not?

"Prisons as they're done now are obsolete because it's set up to put people back in, not change and rehabilitate them."

"Prisons have a purpose. A purpose that is now lost. Instead of being a place to help criminals and rehabilitate, they have become a modern day slave house, Using the lives of people of color as a money maker. Prisons are now a business. This created something obsolete, unsustainable, unjust."

"I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it. On one hand I understand human behavior and human nature and all its potentials and dangers that arrive with it. So i definitely believe in systems of consequence, otherwise the world will be a mess. However, I believe that those systems of consequence can't function like they do today or in the past. Prisons do nothing to increase and rehabilitate the human. In fact, it can create more trauma, pain, and despair and people targeted. It isn't fair."

"Prisons as they exist are definitely obsolete because people are profiting off of "correction" facilities that don't correct shit. People come out more fucked up than they went in and people going in for dumb shit. People that should be in there never will be because they own the prisons!"

Street Harassment

How does street harassment effect you and the community you live in?

"Harassment makes me feel like I must look like prey or like something people can access easily. It can also make me question myself on what may have made me prey. I also began to carry an angry guard to be on the defensive, even to people who mean no harm. When my community doesn't act or defend me I feel alone or if anything was to happen and my loved ones are not around I would be fighting alone. I wonder how they would feel if there child was in my shoes."

"Street harassment affects me everyday of my life when I ride public transit, am waiting for the bus, or running errands. Even at work! I get approached and treated like I'm not human. Because of street harassment and my previous experiences I feel vulnerable and scared as a Black young woman, especially when I'm alone which is a lot of the time. It affects the community greatly. I know I'm not the only one who feels the way I do. Other women feel like I do. Men feel entitled to any women at any time. It really negatively impacts young boys because they grow up thinking that's ok. And youth are the future. I think the way to stop it or lessen it is to teach young children how to respect each other by setting example."

"I feel very vulnerable, especially when I'm not having a good day and my brain may not be right. I'm pissed off at having to be hyper vigilant whenever I am in public. My community is split – my friends and chosen family understand, but years of shame and victim blaming from my biological family is hard to let go of. While I wouldn't put that on another person I do sometimes ask myself, 'did I make myself small enough? Guarded enough?' I don't know how much the men I interact with daily actually think about the very real and very constant street harassment the people in my life face."

"I feel very helpless when I'm being harassed. When I try to stop them, it's treated as a joke and that my feelings don't matter. I feel like I'm not a human being. It's been happening to me for a long time and I try to learn how to avoid attention. Trying to keep myself safe all the time makes me unhappy and like I'm not actually living. I have so much worry because of harassment."

"I don't want to accept things as they are. I want change. Not feeling comfortable makes me feel like I can't be myself. Street harassment makes me want to stay in the house and be on my lonely. I feel like nothing will change."

"Street harassment really pisses me off. My friend was raped in 7th grade by some 9th graders. She came to school crying and everybody said it was her fault. They said she dresses like a hoe and she should cover up. But me and my friends comforted her and made her feel safe and protected."

Conviction

Monday, August 15th, 2016

My conviction lies in ____________. 

"My conviction lies in the circular movement of most things. Repair can come in forms of reparations and reaping what you sow can tie into that. Giving as much love as possible in confidence that it will be returned. Pursuing knowledge."

"My conviction is that black people/of African diaspora must be free, free to imagine, free to feel pleasure, free to love, free to anger. If the human condition and civilization wants to evolve and grow at large, the human race's progression lies in freedom of the blackest thing."

"I stand behind my sexuality. People tell me it's wrong and how it's disgusting. But I'll love who I want to and that's all that matters."

"My conviction lies in my body and emotions. If something doesn't feel right it ain't right. As I change my needs change, but following those feelings stays the same."

"My conviction is rooted in social justice. Everything I do, from painting to sculpture to music all comes with the idea of creating a more just realm. I look to leave my mark on my community through my craft an my ideals. Bettering the existing conditions so that the next generation can stand stronger than we did. Leaving by example, breaking sigmas, paving the way."

"My conviction lies in God as God is the highest power over all. With belief in His son, Jesus, all things are able. Faith is also a very major conviction. I believe when you have faith to fall back on all your needs with be met your wishes and wants will come to pass. Faith and religion is what my conviction lies in."

Liberation is...

Tuesday, August 9th, 2016

Liberation is ____________. 

"Liberation is self-determination, just distribution of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual resources, and love (respect, listening, affirmation, sharing, receiving, affection)."

"Liberation is the ability to experience liberty. You get the "promised" American things like the ability to vote or work where you want to work or freedom of speech. But laws have put that out of reach for Black men."

"Liberation is the breaking away from a system or leader that is restricting one from being free."

"Liberation is boundless Black imagination. Being all you can conceive, see, and feel."

"Liberation means to be free. The freedom to do what you want to do and taking control. Being released from oppression. Having nothing to hold you down. Having choices."

"Liberation is the ability 2 make human mistakes and still be treated as a human. The death sentence and the prison industrial complex are not examples of liberty, life, or pursuits of happiness. Liberation is the act of being freed from past and existing systems."

"Liberation is being free, living in a society where you are not faced with discrimination, prejudice, oppression, or otherwise biased obstacles based on factors that are beyond your control. It means having all the basic rights others are granted."

"Liberation is...freedom from all shackles. It s not having to worry about being victimized based on appearance because in a liberated state, one would be treated justly. Liberation is rebirth and a new beginning with resources and resolutions."

On Wellness

Monday, August 8th, 2016

How do I contribute to the wellness of my community?

"The way I contribute to my community is trying to do my best to hold a positive attitude and greet others. I mentor because they are the upcoming generation. I try my best to intake knowledge and educate about things in my community."

"I contribute to the wellness of my community by bringing positive energy as an African American young lady. I bring my open mind and words and try to make the community a better place."

-       "By contributing 2 the wellness of my friends

o   Showing them free places for fresh fruit

o   Making healing work and spaces

o   Being open to conversations and teachings

-       By contributing 2 the wellness of myself

o   My presence on social media and other public spaces

o   Looking people in the eye when walking down the street"

"Start with small things I can do on my own o help people who need it, with as much support as I can. Contribute to programs and movements how I can, like raising funds or public awareness. In terms of groups like BLM, I can do my best to help without speaking over the people that it’s supposed to be about, i.e. being a “savior”. On the other hand, I can bring my voice to movements and groups where people like me may be under represented. I can create safe and happy spaces, step in to help other females facing street harassment, and dressing expressively and unconventionally to encourage others to do the same if they want."

"I use my talents and my combined passion for pleasure, black health, and art to service, employ, and build my people and community. I help to re-establish, support, and encourage structures of black self-reliance to create surpluses in our community mentally, spiritually, physically, and agriculturally."

Migration

Today's Black August prompt for thought was:

How has migration touched your life?

"Without migration, I wouldn't be who I am. My mother, who raised me, and her family have resided in Minnesota for generations. My mom grew up in Floodwood, MN though, which is a tiny town up north. Her Scandinavian family comes from northern MN. She moved down to the Twin Cities for college and has been here ever since. My father is Kenyan, born and raised. He is the first generation to come to America. Now he lives here with his wife, kids and grandkids. Both parents often visit their homes. I have been in MN my whole life, Twin Cities to be exact. Grew up in the Cities and found my true place in the Cities."

"My life has been filled with migration. From age six I had moved houses four times. Different cities, neighborhoods, and states. My most major migration was moving to the East Coast in 2009. The experience was a sour one at first, but I've come to value moving to Boston. It put my mind into perspective seeing a whole new part of the country and seeing how others live. My migrations definitely bettered me, making me more social, accepting and well rounded. Everyone needs to move and experience change in order to change your own way of thinking."

"My grandma and older Aunties and Uncle, two generations above me, are refugees from a war in Uganda. The dictator Idi Amin took over the government and kicked out other cultural influences that were not "truly" Ugandan (migrant workers). This was for cultural preservation, but tribalism meant some groups were targeted, and we had to leave. My grandma always thinks of "home" as Uganda and I do not know what that means to me. Because of how my mama raised us I wasn't very connected to the traditions and mentality. I think like an American. I connect to immigrants and other uprooted people. I am still trying to figure out what home means to me, but I can say I've found family with other descendants of migrants from wars, slavery, poverty...We know how to create connection where we're at."

“How has migration touched my life? I would not have been born without it. Most recently, my maternal great grandfather came here from Finland and my maternal great grandfather from across the globe. So many of my ancestors come from all over Europe, North Africa, and North America that if any one of them had not migrated I would not exist. On top of that, most of my neighbors and friends were immigrants and I would be very different without them.”

“My family is from Natchez, Mississippi. They didn’t travel up to the North during the great black migration during the Reconstruction. They were those that stayed. When my great grandmother who had diabetes was sent to Minnesota for better care (supposedly the air and hospitals were better) in 1980. Her eight children followed her. The middle child, her namesake, came with her two daughters. One of the daughters was my mother. Then came me. First Minnesota Born generation.”

“Migration has touched my life by not feeling al the way complete. I’ve had to move so much throughout my life that I don’t know if I would actually be comfy and welcomed into a place because I’m not comfy with it. So now when people ask me where I be or where I live I wouldn’t know how to say it because I travel a lot.”

Epistemologies of BlackHouse(s

"I believe a black house is one that is familiar on multiple levels of understanding to the mind both (conscience and subconsciousness) to the black mind."

• comfort 
• safe space
• good music 
• food
• lovely people
• feeling of home

"Music playing in the back ground, different kinds of scents, comfort food warm welcoming environment when you walk in the door."

• music playing in background 
• different kinds of scents
• comfort food
• warm/welcoming environment when you walk in the house
• old photographs

"In a literal sense, it is a home inhabited by majorly, if not entirely, Black people it is also a safe space for Black people and is dominated by what may be interpreted as Black culture and aesthetic"

"Soul and the spirits make a House black. It's just like how you make a house a home you got to put your love into. In order for a house to be black you gotta put soul and grace and faith."

"The Black house is a space filled with tradition, flavor and healing. The come in all forms but the pillars remain the same."