Prosecutor Impact.Com
As I sat among my incarcerated peers within a prison chapel, I could feel the energy of thought begin to shift, as Mr. Adam John Foss spoke about his life and how he'd become the man that he is today. It made me think of a saying that came to my mind some years ago. "You can have all the knowledge and Wisdom in the world, but if you don't have Understanding than you have nothing!" What I found fascinating as he spoke, was the conundrum that he found himself in, as far as being a prosecutor, yet finding himself wanting to help the very ones with whom he prosecuted. He realized that many people who entered the system had no shield by which to ward it off. And that shield being the shield of "privilege". He spoke of how he was adopted at a very young age, and by the grace of Yah he was adopted by a good family. Therefore, he grew up under the banner of "privilege" which shielded him from some things that may not have allowed him onto the path that he took.
When he spoke I felt him as a truly authentic person and down to Earth. When he said "I had to ask myself what separates me from the men that are setting here in this chapel today?" His answer was surprising. He spoke about the extra chances that his privilege afforded him,and how that was probably the main thing that he saw which lead many men to becoming incarcerated. Environment, School system, Home, Finances, are some of the things that he used to define the Power of Privilege and what having the best of those thing will afford you. But one thing that really stuck out to me were the statistics of Parents who read to their children a half an hour a day verses those who don't, and the direct correlation of the lack of being read to, and the pipeline to prison. The stats were ridiculous, I believe from the time of birth until the first grade, children of color had approximately 8 hrs of being read to time versus their white counterparts whom had something like 2,000 hours of being read to time. "I asked my fellow prosecutors. How can you sentence someone to prison and you yourselves have never seen the inside of one?"
Here is a man who decided to take his time and go to different facilities and ask incarcerated men such as myself. "How did your life turn out this way?" So by listening to the voices of the incarcerated he began to have Understanding! Which was the key that he needed, that allowed and allows him to convey our voices to those of the upper echelon of society, that they too may understand the Root causes of Mass Incarceration, so that they may redirect time and effort towards reaching children while they are young because All Children regardless of ethnicity or background should all be afforded the great shield of "Privilege", second chances, and sometimes third chances! There was so much more to what he spoke of but his main message was that he needs all hands on board to help tackle the problem. REFLECTTRUTH77.COM is in full support of his mission and effort. I ask all of my viewers to please log onto his site and lend their support to this problem of Mass Incarceration.