Another week, another Beat! We want to welcome you readers back to another double edition, issue 27.27/28, of the one and only The Beat Within. What an amazing magazine full of light, hope, and most importantly the truth, from our amazing writing community. We are always touched and inspired by all you writers and artists – young and old – who courageously step up each week to share a part of yourself with our ever-growing community of readers from around the bay, the state, the country – inside and outside of the system. Thank you all very much for embracing our thought provoking topics, and finding the time to honestly reflect on who you are now, what you reflect back on, and where you are planning to go in the future.
Now as is the case in most of our issues, we pass the keyboard to our friend OT in Nicaragua, who will carry the weight of this latest editorial note. OT!
Salutations to all The Beat readers and writers within our community, I would like to thank everyone that had a hand in helping us put out this latest issue, all the editors, workshop facilitators, volunteers and any and all who support The Beat Within movement. This is more than just a magazine, it is an opportunity for us all to teach one another how to deal with life’s struggles in a more positive way.
Now, I’m about to touch on something that we’ve all experienced at one point or another in our lifetimes, and it’s something that we all will continuously experience even as we get older. We’ve all dealt with disappointments and doubters, and this can include your friends, your peers, your family, even those within your inner circle. There will always be those that underestimate you.
This editorial note was inspired a recent Beat Within article by BWO writer, Efren Bullard, keep your head up and keep betting on yourself Efren! In case you guys don’t find the time to read his piece (which you should) he talks about believing in yourself when no one else does. He writes about how even your family, may doubt you, or may even let you down at a time when you need them most, but that shouldn’t discourage you from continuing to fight for your dreams.
Many of you sit there in juvenile hall, YA (DJJ), prison, the ranch, a group home, an alternative program or even those of you out there in the free world, you will all be underestimated at some point in your life. Whether it’s at your job, at school, within your neighborhood, or even the fact that you’re trying to accomplish something like saving to buy a car, help your mom with the bills, working on your release, completing a certain program, graduating high school, enrolling into college. There will always be those that will underestimate you. That’s going to be a fact, and we can’t get discouraged when it does happen. Because it happens to us, it’s not okay for us to turn around and do it to others. There should be more encouraging going on, especially amongst your peers. You can’t be like crabs in a bucket trying to pull each other down. You need to encourage those, and yourself to move forward in life.
There’s a lot of joking around, a lot horse playing that goes on, I won’t say mainly in juvenile institutions, because I know adults have their moments too, but I have noticed, especially in a couple of workshops that I’ve been blessed to be a part of, that there is no peer to peer encouragement.
Back in my day, Juvenile Hall was way harder than what it is right now. I could tell because I was there back in the day, and now some twenty plus years later I’m in there again, as a workshop facilitator for The Beat Within, and with the chance to share my experiences with you all so you don’t go down the same road I went.
Now, when I mean harder, I mean it in all aspects, mentally, and physically. There weren’t as many books back in my days. We didn’t have wonderful people like Alison, David, Michael, Lisa, Ali, and there are too many more to name, with the ability to order drawing books, or reading books for us juveniles, not because they didn’t want to, but because the institutions didn’t allow it. We didn’t have staff bringing us pizza, candy, chocolates, ice cream. We didn’t have tablets. Even when there were sports events, we wouldn’t be able to watch them.
I know that you all have experienced some of these things in your current place of habitat, whether it be fights, or coronavirus lockdowns, but what I do see from some of our younger generation is that macho bravado don’t tell me shhh attitude. And I get it, I grew up in an era where you had to turn it up a bit and put up a front, an act or a show. I read about some of you complaining about the number of phone calls in one day is torture. Bro, I was lucky to get a couple of phone calls in a month.
Times sure have changed. But what hasn’t changed are the same mistakes that are being repeated. They say history repeats itself and it’s true. It does. But back in my day, there was a little less importance on how one would appear in front of others. Despite all the nuisance, all the fights, all the disagreements, we would always encourage, and push ourselves to do better.
We would never underestimate each other in the sense, if one of our peers wanted to rap, we would encourage him, hear him out, and tell him what he could improve on. If someone had a goal we would encourage him to reach that goal. If one of my bro’s was a one step and he wanted to get to two-step, we would all help him get there.
When it was time to have groups and share our personal experiences about our lives, whether it was street violence, substance abuse, or whatever what was on our mind, there was always a profound respect where we would hear everyone out and take turns talking.
There was no clowning. Yes, we had clowns, and trust me, we loved to clown, people would take turns roasting each other on a the daily, but there was always a time and place for that. But I perceive that some of that profound respect is lost from generation to generation because since someone underestimated you, or undermined who you are as a person, you turn around and do the same. Someone hated on you, so you turn around and hate on the next man. There is no trust because we all are afraid to show our vulnerability, because we are worried about looking a certain way. Don’t be afraid to be a leader. Don’t underestimate yourselves. All of you are leaders in your own right. Don’t let what someone else might think stop you from achieving your goals, or stop you from speaking up, or stop you from sharing a story, or even stop you from reaching your pushup goal.
I always read many pieces of writing about how someone close to you, whether it was your homie, your cousin, or your family member let you down. Now it’s time for you not to let yourself down.
Don’t underestimate yourself because if you do, others will do the same. Hold your chin up high. It’s time to be a leader and believe in yourself and believe in the power of your words. Believe in the power of sharing your story, because no one will be able to write your story better than you can.
So I challenge you all, young folks, middle age folks, and OG’s, but especially the youngstas, to share your story. There is power in the truth and there is power in sharing it to teach others. We’re listening…
One love to everybody going through the struggle. OT is signing out with the utmost love and respect…and The Beat keeps going and going…
Thank you, OT, for this reflection piece and bringing it back to your observations and what you see today. We always appreciate the love and inspiration that you share in your writings, as you reflect, share in the present, and what you hope for in the future. All right, Beat friends, we send you our love and respect. Stay writing and having your voice be heard. It is important more so now than ever before to share your story, your ideas, your poetry, your art, your stream of consciousness, and all your creativity. The only way our world can heal it by letting ourselves be heard. We are listening. Stay in touch.