“... my son was beat up in the park. He came home and told me about the police jumping on him and I saw his face scarred up. And I went and filed a complaint. I learned then that the police don’t only get you when you’re bad, the police can get you when you’re good, and you better not say anything about it. So by me reporting to the police what they did to my son, they targeted him after that. See that’s the lowdown way they can destroy him, and all of us.
So I was feeling very bad. I started disliking all them white folks that I liked so much. ‘Cause everywhere I went I had to give my story to a white person. I saw all of them as being in charge. And I resented them so ‘til I rode the bus and I’d see a white person looking at me and I’d roll my eyes ‘til they’d turn their head. I said to myself, Don’t you even look at me, all the stuff you is. But then I came to realize that if I was a person of color and I didn’t realize what was going on why do I think they knew? They had been brainwashed also. They separated us so we wouldn’t know what was happening to one another. I got a lot of white friends. They like me, but they don’t live near me. They march with me and talk to me, but when we go home we part our ways. So that keeps us divided.
So I learned to speak up and talk about what was going on because I was really mad with white folks. Police, Santa Clause, Jesus. All of them. Because they had hurt my son and it was constantly going on. They told him they was gonna jam him, that’s what they say. And they put a case on him, put him in the penitentiary 17 years old. See, everybody in control is people that don’t look like me.”“So, I started feeling sorry for myself, but I was driven by my love for my son. I say, I’m gonna expose these sons of a guns. If there’s anybody out there with any kind of backbone they gon’ have to learn, until you overcome your fear you’re not even living. It’s not a good feeling when you can’t help your young ones...
I got an invitation to go [visit] death row and I got in, in spite of the rules. I was walking up and down death row. And when they saw me, they said I reminded them of the mother they hadn’t seen in years, I remind them of the sister they left behind. It was such a feeling for me ‘til I couldn’t miss going. I was going every month, I got addicted to it because I saw the good that I was doing for those guys. I couldn’t help my son, but I could help somebody else’s...
We’re in a battle to be fair. I don’t want you feeling sorry for me because I am Black and strong. I want you to have empathy for me. Put yourself in my position. How would you feel if it was your son? How would you feel if they took you child? You know, just like they did during slavery. Take them right out of your arms.
They take our sons, they beat them, and what can we do about it? Tell them to stay in the house and don’t go out. That’s not fair. That’s not right. Sympathy, no, I don’t need sympathy, but now empathy. When we work together we can do beautiful things.”