Greetings readers and writers of The Beat Within! It’s been a while since we’ve published the voices of our hard working high school interns, who often transcribe pieces that come to us through adult institutions, published in The Beat Without section. We’re happy to welcome Catherine who has been working with us over the past few months. In her reflection, Catherine talks about her ability to relate to the writers she encounters, regardless of how she and the writer appear on the outside. Thank you Catherine for your contributions and believing in our mission.
Relating On An Emotional Level
The Beat Within has completely altered the way I think about not only incarcerated individuals, but also the entire justice system. Before working with The Beat, I believed that since I had never been incarcerated, I could never understand the lives and decisions of those who were. I didn’t understand that incarcerated people ended up in jail for so many reasons, many of which they have no control over. These include conditions in which they were raised, the culture that has preceded them in their communities, their socioeconomic status, and even the color of their skin. I now see the falsehood of the common misconception that all people who end up in jail and juvenile detention centers are there completely of their own merit.
I was accepted as an intern at The Beat for the purpose of typing up the letters written by inmates, and I feel that I have gained the most from reading these letters, and listening to the stories they tell. Often times, inmates will address The Beat staff or the people reading the magazine in their letters. When I read these messages, I feel a strong connection to the writer that I never thought I would experience when working at The Beat. I think that connection between writer and reader is what sets The Beat Within apart from other magazines. When you read the letters, you can empathize with what they’re writing about and create a bond which gives both the inmate a voice that can be heard by the public you, the reader, a connection to incarcerated individuals. This connection is imperative to changing the stereotyping and stigma around formerly and currently incarcerated individuals. The Beat Within has opened my eyes to this, and now that I have learned my lesson, I hope I can do my part in the future to educate others too.
Before working at The Beat, I didn’t relate on an emotional level to the lives of these individuals. Now, I feel comfortable talking about the incarceration system and the injustices it perpetuates in many communities. Growing up in the Bay Area has given me a privilege to experience first-hand unique perspective to social issues like these. I live in Marin County which is very sheltered and not very similar to the rest of the Bay, except location-wise. However, I go to high school in San Francisco and the Haight and interact with the homeless community every day. My dad works in an office in Downtown San Francisco, so I’ll often take the bus to his office and pass through the Tenderloin. My parents met and I was born in Berkeley, so my family and I will often go to the East Bay for a day.
So, while I live in Marin, I have been exposed to different cultures in the Bay Area, and have grown from it. While I’ve been lucky enough to educate myself, I recognize that not everyone is able to live in such a diverse area and experience first-hand so many different people’s lives. My work at The Beat Within has helped me listen to the perspective of incarcerated individuals, as well as gain an understanding of the different backgrounds people come from, and why they end up where they do.Â
-Catherine, Urban High School in San Francisco, CA
Thank you, Catherine for your reflection essay. With that said, we hope you all enjoy this fabulous issue of The Beat Within. There is plenty to read and share. We hope you will do just that. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if we can be of any support to you. The Beat goes on…
A Dedication. RIP, Jacob Green
The Beat Within wants to dedicate this powerful issue to Jacob Green, a longtime leader of our San Bernardino Beat workshops, who we lost in a car crash this week. Jacob grew up in Long Beach California where he thought the only ways out of the streets was through football or the military. He found another path to college at the University of Redlands and dedicated his life to trying to create more paths for young men and women to find knowledge, love and freedom.Â
Jacob was a true leader. He knew how to connect with everyone and motivate those who needed an little extra nudge to get going. He was fully committed to everything he was a part of and during his time working with the students inside the juvenile hall he was a role model. His kindness, intelligence and sense of humor captivated classrooms and inspired all of us to be better. He loved the students he worked with and he will he dearly missed by those he taught and those who had the privilege of working with him. Â
Your smile could easily brighten someone’s day
Make us forget about life’s hardships and take all the pain awayÂ
I hear you telling me to live for today
but I hate the fact that you have gone awayÂ
Your laugh proud and strongÂ
the laugh of a man who always recognizes when he’s wrong
Never afraid to bump any of your favorite Beyonce songsÂ
You had a clean style and a smooth walk but damn, man, could you talkÂ
basketball, football, girls, and all the hardest questions life has to offerÂ
but you’d swear up and down the tat of your mom was your daughterÂ
you light skin hood ass ninjaÂ
every day you learn something new and your heart always got biggerÂ
we are a product of your love an angel down here on earth and now aboveÂ
my heart is torn in two
but with time just as you were here you will still be my glueÂ
from this day on I know what I must do
I will live and live Strong, Mr. Green, for me and for you
-EmariÂ
I don’t want to make it real
Words can’t ever do you justice,
and I don’t want to use them to express how I feel
It was me and you, every day, on this rideÂ
I was down for you, still am, call on me I’d be by your sideÂ
I know it was the same for youÂ
I’ll miss your laugh, your wisdom, your phone calls out the blueÂ
Conversations about anything and everything, that’s what we would doÂ
I want to keep writing, give details, describe who you were,
but my tears build-up, this hurts foo’!Â
So much to say all I want to do is feel,
how do I rightfully celebrate a man who was the definition of real?
Relive countless memories, relive laughs, relive shared mealsÂ
And this is just the beginning to a bigger pieceÂ
If I’m writing about you I’m writing for weeksÂ
I love you, I miss youÂ
Long Live, Rest in Love, my brother, Jacob Green.Â
-Javi