 Why do you think that the media portrays a lot of Latino leadership, not so much as they don't bring the right community to think about it? That's a very good question, and I'll take you to answer for my question, I have various theories, but you know, if you look at history, number one, I mean, in this country, particularly in the Southwest, Latinos in the land have had a huge thing, right? Immigration. If someone brings up immigration, Latinos are on that, like white on rice on a paper plate and on a snow storm, you know what I'm saying? The black community is very intimate with police brutality, you know, we have these historical incidents that have happened throughout the years, whether it be Rodney King, whether it be MLK, whether it be M2, you can go all the way back, it's police brutality. So one incident of police brutality happens, the black community is ready to mobilize. For us, it ain't really there yet, but it is there for immigration. An example of this would be plain and simple, if anyone's paying attention to the Donald Trump saga. As soon as this guy says something about Mexicans coming into this country, oh, you got Lulac, you got NCLR, everybody's making press releases statements that say, hey, who is this joker? It's these historical things. I've been trying to get the Latino community to pay attention to some of the injustices that are happening, but then again, you talk about our upbringing again, one of the things that most people don't know about Latinos in this country, that they were lynched by Texas Rangers, because after the Mexican American War, they wanted the land. To get us out of the land, we didn't want to leave, what are they going to do? Call the Texas Rangers, the posse, and get us out of here, right? Again, who fought back, Joaquin Murrieta, Gregorio Pervez, we had those guys who tried. So even though we have the Chicago history, we should have a movement that's down from all of that, we're talking about, we're talking about why aren't we having a knowledge about the community and why they're at the vision, when is it ever going to end? I mean, we're in San Antonio, which is the text-mexed meadow of the world. Right? We're in the Southwest, right? We're Tejanos, we're Prado, we're Chicanos, right? LA, San Diego, Arizona, right? Where we at? I'm trying to mobilize. Listen, I'm going out to New York at the end of the month to talk with like, you know, justice And man, we're about to get this thing popping because we can't we're gonna continue to sit around and take this for a man You don't get teams that have it. We need to keep we need to mobilize And we need to get with it. You don't get you know moratorium happen. You know, who is it? Salazar? They got popped by the police out there in LA, right? Was that his name? Ruin sounds are popped by the police right because he was a journalist talking about the injustice in the corrupt LAPD Listen, Rampart police brutality and the injustice from the courts to the prisons to the police They've all had it on us. Man, we've been pegged with a target with a target sign on our chest, man I know in public health, we talk a lot about there's a lot of conversations going on in the national level on substance abuse You know, there's a focus on epidemic and they're talking a lot about Decriminalizing that Everybody knows that they're having this conversation now nationally because that is overwhelmingly now affecting the rural white people So now it's a policy priority So any thoughts on that? Because I know that hasn't really, you know, the neighborhoods that we work in in San Juan, we're not seeing that because it's more of a rural phenomenon But I just wanted to get your opinion on that Oh, and by the way, just so you can, um, in San Valor and Honzones are the motor capitals of the world And also the femicide capitals of the world So we're essentially putting these women back into a death sentence So that's even more than Iraq or Syria or Mexico And that's never really mentioned I think the detractors will always say, hey, why does this always have to be a racial issue? Why is it that, you know, again the anti-immigration sentiment is why are these people that are coming here? Why is it our responsibility to take care of them? That's what the detractors will say I mean, I think also when you talk about immigration, which we're having a discussion on Sunday as a part of Dream Week, you check your Dream Week schedules I would encourage everyone to come to that You know, when we talk about this country being one of goodwill, right? That's what the sentiment is, that if you come here, we'll take care of you as a nation of immigrants And everyone deserves a chance to achieve the American dream We see that not so much, right? We're talking about children, women getting locked up People who come in here, you know, from the border and getting tossed right back to where they're at and it is a death sentence What can we do to stop that? I don't know You know, I think everybody felt good about the State of the Union address last night, which it sounded great But one of the questions before that, the dem forum was, hey, will you be the next deported or achieved in Hillary Clinton? Right? Because these deportations, these raids, I mean, man, it's tough Can you imagine seeing some of that stuff? Like firsthand, you know, a camera falling on a ring Someone coming into your home and just destroying the family In the end, America as a capitalistic society has to figure out a way to maximize profit, right? So if it's marijuana, if it's cocaine, if it's crack, if it's opiates If my brothers up here have it, or if everybody has something on them The individuals who are going to pay the price the most are the black and the brown communities, right? Now, when studies come out to show that white men, white women, or the white community use the same drug just as much But are criminalized less, then as Maximo keeps using this word, true, comes to light People are saying, wait a minute So the same goes to how the prison population reflects that it's just the way we incarcerate So the impression talked about decriminalization So now we got to figure out, okay, well, too many now when you say they start to take the policies When white people get affected over in the NEISD district, you know, they have the same amount of drug use as they do on the east side and the west side But Ray Ray is getting locked up more than Johnny Why? Because Johnny's dad works in city hall And Ray Ray's dad is locked up So when Jose does the same thing, that's how it's looked at us So we have to now, so America says, we got a problem, it's only a problem when it affects white dollars and capitalism And that's just the way it is, because that's how this, again, this country was built I wanted to talk a little bit more, some things Mike said earlier and that have also been said here About the social construction of crime and laws When domestic violence prevention activists worked so hard to get some laws on the books So that there would be mandatory arrests of batterers What they did is actually increase the rate at which, so yeah, they're sending people to jail They increase the rate at which women were arrested related to defending themselves And we have a self-defense waiver on this book, y'all know that we're more popularly by the term Stand Your Ground Law after Florida and Trayvon Martin But Marissa Alexander wasn't allowed to use that law When her batterer broke into her house and put her in a stranglehold and beat her And she went and got her gun and shot into the ceiling, was given 20 years Got her convictions overturned and then the prosecutor said, I'll get you 60 Where's the Department of Justice on that? And she was released about this time last year, that's where I met Marissa the first time We were part of an action that was downtown of about 20 different groups Supporting her, having a rally to support and release Marissa Alexander is an African-American woman with an NBA And I believe she's still on an ankle monitor now Again, that's Florida here under chapter C of the Texas Penal Code Section 9.31 is our self-defense waiver If you're an MNM hard, you can defend yourself Section 9.33 is our defensive third party waiver And that's where you can protect another person if there's imminent harm And you have to do that We have a lot of women incarcerated And other persons too, men are too I just don't have the statistics on that And I'd like to get that because of the Those recommended for partners under STR 26 and 91 There were about 30 women, there was one man He killed his uncle, his uncle had been molesting him These laws are on the books But they're not, one of the things we're talking about So part of it is the way the laws are written And then part of the ways are that Part of the problem is the unequal way That the laws are interpreted and applied With regard to race, with regard to gender So if there's a man And a burglar breaks into his house Especially here in Texas And he shoots to death that burglar That guy probably won't even face arrest He'll probably be no-built if he even Makes it to a grand jury That will not go further But if you're a woman and you're in imminent harm And you're being gathered The choice is, and it's not really a choice You can not defend yourself and die Or you can defend yourself and you can go to jail and prison So these are some of the things we have to be Have to be considering criminal justice reform So thank you I'm Martin Luther King in peace In the world we face today So I'm just going to ask the general question of the panel About religion and peace and violence in the world today And how do we address that, you know Right here in this land in San Antonio Or how do we address it anywhere else Because, you know, I think everyone here Has talked about the pain and the violence In our society, right? You know, we have a global problem also Dr. King believed in nonviolence I don't know how he did it You know, I know a guy who was telling me a story The day he was part of the back in the 60s It was a student nonviolent fortnight He was at a march in Chicago And they were marching Dr. King was the nearly-missed man Brick thrown at his head I mean, I would have been Hey, you know what? Who just threw that brick? That's what I would have done, right? But Dr. King didn't believe in that, right? And how they were able to do that Was just unreal You know, we talk about today The United States being this democracy, right? And instituting democracy around the world How do we do it? We do it through violence Violence, man, it's so nasty So ugly, you know I want to live in a peaceful world I do, I talk to young men all the time About peace About having to put their hands on anybody Particularly women I talk to young men all the time I try to serve as a mentor to young men Unfortunately, we see as violence Young men in our communities We see violence as an acceptable means of solving problems We even joke around about it When we talk, we say, hey, let's go handle this outside Ah, man, let's handle this at the table So, you know I want to talk about spirituality And all that, but again You know, this country Quote-unquote was founded By spirituality, right? They came to this country with a Bible And a sword And say, take this Bible Or we're going to cut your head off We're talking about troops today, right? We're talking about what things we really are You know, so I think a lot of the stuff Stands from fear And I think the source of that fear Is ignorance And until we get to know our neighbor Until we start to talk About some of these issues To educate ourselves about it We can't solve So, let's get out there And talk to our neighbors And see what we can do To make changes peacefully And not through the fear-mongering That we see a lot of the political enemies do Basically Acknowledging that violence is real And get to the root of the cause And really do your research And understand it and do some soul-searching But then do some fierce loving And that's the easiest thing That we could be doing as we're dealing With the fact that We are perpetrating violence Around the world As the biggest military In the world And so, you know We're on a macro level We are violent And it goes down to the prison Industrial complex And it goes down to domestic violence And how we take care of Asylum seekers So it's on every single level That we see it And we have to just try every day To love each other And find ways to Multiply that My name is Sampana Villalos I come from Michigan I have a son who is in prison And she's been there for Seven years now Has four more years to serve A young man, very young man Young teenager who won't come out At all Life is going to be very different So I don't really have I could have a lot to say I just want to make two points of interest Of things that I have seen That I have That I would like to see addressed At some point The first one is the treatment of families When you go in there And being in prison Their sentence is a family sentence Because a whole family Is involved And it just changed And prison guards There The way they treat the families Is also very It can sometimes be just degrading Okay The other one is The box And the promise of a job You know Are going to be released They want you to have a job ready But at the same time They have this little box That says you can't get married You have a pony My son He was blessed And then I had a couple of connections He got a job Because of a friend But then after that When that job was over He couldn't find a job It's a cycle The other one is The charging For everything They have to pay To send the money They have to pay To send the emails They have to pay They have everything they charge So if you're going to put $20 on the phone It's going to cost you $25 You're going to send them $50 on the counter It's going to cost you $5 Everything is charged And there are a lot of families Who can afford that They can't be paying all that money out for that And then the prisoners on their side If they want to ask for your email And they want to call you back They have to pay it also But then I give them any money And if they do get a job Like my son, he gets paid $30 a week No, $30 a month And they have to pay For everything in here also And then the other one is The privatization of prisons And I don't know What this idea Of privatizing prisons For is just It's a joke It's a joke because they take so much advantage Of what is going on there And Education Because they took all the education away They can give them GED But that's it So Like my son, he's been there for 10 years When he comes out He got his high school in there But when he comes out With the world changing so much He's going to be lost He's going to be lost In that area Not trained for anything Then the last But a very important one to me Is the school of prison If you know this If you have kids in Especially middle school And how they're being built You know where I'm from They built a lot of new schools And Ford Middle School In the Black neighborhood Burton Middle School In the Latino neighborhood They're built by prisons I'm sorry about Irving school When I walked in School here in Texas It was like Prison levels Walk in That's where we have to start That's where we have to start Because there is where They are producing All their future presenters That's where they're starting to take Our children to work here I was told a following year ago When I came home And I was registered under the workforce Commission Then employers are supposed to Reviewing on a case by case Basis based on the facts Of your case Now I don't think that's really Happening. I think it's getting Thrung in the shredder pretty much But he told me that and he recommended Eye Contact, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. So I emailed The federal EEOC and I got a really Long detailed email back That was very nice Because I don't want to be dishonest On an application but I also don't Want to have to disclose what I don't need To disclose. In my experience since I got out Again I have a PhD and I have 29 years Of professional communication experience If I have to send in just my resume A cover letter and maybe my publications Then I get a job interview But if I have that application We don't have to disclose those families It's all over So the EEOC told me If you have a question about Who thinks discrimination File a complaint with us So I want to make that clear for everybody That there's the need to file a complaint For those of you who don't know Prison legal news Whose parent company is the human Justice campaign I've got their information in the Hand outfits in the back. They've been doing This phone justice campaign and They have just succeeded In getting the FCC to order A cap And decrease I think in phone rates When somebody is incarcerated In prison in jail And family members have to accept those Collect calls. They've been playing Exorbitant rates. So here's another player In the prison industrial complex In terms of capitalism, Securist And all these other phone companies That provide these services In prison. That's one thing You can get involved with As for stripping of education From the prison system It's terrible. And I want you to know That here in the Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, the men can get Master's degrees. The women can only Get a bachelor's degree. So I just wanted to point that out About the FCC ruling Families paid 36 million last year How much it is 36 million Is what it costs As far as The degrees they're going from 24 cents To 11 cents. So we'll cut that 36 million and a half For Ban the locks, we had a valiant Effort at the state capitol to get State government To remove that locks off state Applications. But we ran out of time Because we got logged down And paid our Carey. Another thing With the Pail Grants The community colleges In Texas and the prison system Have applied to be part Of the pilot program To reinstate the Pail Grants In the prison system because That was that Education is one of my matters It's what got my son through It's what got his job Three weeks out of the system So that is another thing About the treatment of families Tiffa works with TDCJ On this issue We did not Us against them type of We educate our families About what to expect How they should be treated To know their rules and to help them That way. And then if we have problems With guards, we report them We report them, we fill out reports So that's some of the things That we do at Tiffa So we work For all those things When you're told something You can't do, you can't do that They give you a list in prison These are all the places that will hire you The first one on the top of the list Is like Walmart It depends on your crime It really depends on a lot of things On why you're in prison A lot of places that will hire you But it's not about It's about who you know It really is. And I I singlehandedly done a lot of things While I was behind bars The first factor in my head Of what I've done to get that going I had a job a year Before I came home from prison So the day I got to the half of the house I had a job, but they wouldn't let me go to it They had to check this out They already did it They already know everything about me I took blood while I was in prison They don't know everything about me There's nothing I can't hide And the thing is this Whatever they say Honestly, I've never said anything About my past on the application It's none of your business Because I qualify for the job It's not like I'm going to go I can't go work at a bank I can't go work at the government jobs Like being a postal worker Because they say if you had a felony You can't get a government job Exactly So those kind of things Like I said, I don't put I don't question My record It's none of your business I'm here to apply for a job and I have qualifications That's just my thought I'm not suggesting you do it But being a business owner Personally being a small business owner Small businesses need a band together Also because a lot of us I don't require it When I go ask for help I go through all of them No, I don't care personally I have a lot of trust So we've got a network We've got to keep everybody talking And get everybody together Because if we don't, there's no way We're going to be able to fix these little problems That we're having with our government With our drug problem With our gun problem How can someone who has a gun Get held up with a gun And you have open carry now There's a lot of things that we have a lot of problems with In our world right now Things that I'm willing to help I just want to point out that When I was taking a re-entry class In the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Apparently the old fashioned way Of handling the question was to say We'll discuss an interview in that space The way we were taught to handle it Was to say he attached When we were taught to write an attachment letter The problem with Sasha's Format is that you're Lying on your application You can get fired later For lying on your application I think what I had a friend who Was in for felony DWI Why is there a felony DWI? Anyway, she had a master's degree She paroled out And she was having trouble finding jobs She got, would get a job For a while and she was telling me She had trouble, then she Would just close the felony on the application She gets some job that Was not in line with Her professional and educational background And then they would go ahead and fire her Anyway, say they had done it because she was a felon When they already knew she was a felon But they hired her So this is a big issue Our school looks like a prison right now It's very similar to what we're seeing across the country We use punitive measures And systems in our schools And even in my classroom Because I have to abide by, you know The campus policies Compounded with the fact that a lot of our kids Have parents in prison currently I'm just curious that if y'all Were invited into a classroom How would you introduce or Creatively express this issue With kids? Let me talk to them kids I think an important thing with families Is we can't normalize prison Prison can't be the normal It's not a good place You know, when kids go to visit Their prison, they're here It's in prison, they go It looks forbidding that they get Inside and they feed them Candy and snacks And pop And It's not a good thing And I think I don't know how else Since I didn't deal with the child issue Because it was my son I don't know how to stop him I think part of it comes from the expectation That, you know, because You did this, you will go to prison Because once we plant The seed in their mind That they're going to be a failure Or they're going to go To prison It will happen, I promise you So that's where we have Stars in schools letting Them know that they have a problem How can we fix it because You too count and you're Important and you can succeed I would really like To see the parents Of those kids coming to Things like this or holding Meetings themselves And, you know, uniting And saying this is not I mean, at the prison they can't Understand that but Whoever their guardian is Or if one of their parents is available Because, you know, the kids Can do I don't know if they can do so much They can't do much I think having them Express what they're going through And what they think and what they feel is very healthy But in terms of getting Any change within the schools And the school districts, the adults Around them are going to have to Take a stand This is the fact That the Carnes and Dilly Prisons Are reconsidered as child care Facilities The federal judge, G, from California said You can't keep children in prisons And you have to let them out So what State of Texas did The Department of Family and Protective Services did Is they lowered the standards And now they're calling those two prisons Child care facilities To allow children as young as Six months old, 18 To be there with their mothers I don't care if they were there a day Or two days or a week or whatever But they're already getting in their brain At that very young age That they are in prison They have guards, they have They have to pass through mental detectors They have to do all of these things And these are kids I just can't believe that we're doing that But that's what's happening in the state And once you normalize that What she said And people get in their brain And they're going to go to the other ones I want to say that If I was going to go into a school I think the most important thing That I do anytime Because Our media frames and other things They dehumanize So I spoke about Getting an op-ed piece In Express News this weekend On Saturday and then the next day They put on the opinion front About A female prisoner in Batesville That she's a monster So I sent an email out about that yesterday I think Jennifer said this Really well earlier Several people have said different versions of that Which is we're talking about human beings Who make mistakes At worst now There are different levels of mistakes And different laws and different severity And as a batter Because if I were I don't want to deny that But When we can So if I go into a school I would want to humanize The issue often when I bring up the issue Of wrongful rest of battered women I don't have a handout that has What our current self-defense And defense of third party waivers On what SCR 26 says And then I will bring up scenarios Of different incarcerated battered women I'll mention them by their first name And their scenarios and just the current law Apply and I think that's the best way To get through So all of us who are on this panel Who have actually been arrested Or put in jail or put in prison by the state We provide one perspective These are all ways of humanizing it So it would be some kind of humanization You know Because they need to know that That the school as institution Has taught that process And then maybe we'll go up with people Who will think about what real justice is As opposed to the I remember when they were doing the War Deer for my career I think the prosecutors said There were three ideas There was rehabilitation to turns And punishment And mentality that is not justice And also I'd like to say That we do, I mean we got to look At the structural inequalities And we need to get more people activated In fighting for Political representation And bringing dollars into their communities And those are the things that we're not Thinking about when it's You know we see things around us But we're not really analyzing Why is it that way in that community But it's different In an affluent neighborhood And that high school looks way different And their programs are way different And the race, the people That represent them As black and brown people I mean they don't actually see their teachers That look like that And so all that really comes into What's going on in your head My name is Nat And I work in schools On the East Side Well here's our teamwork Cause I mean Good morning We all work together on the East Side And on the West Side But for us it would be It's similar to the But what kind of advice would you give To our students I mean I work in a middle school And on a regular And I know that there are gamers in high school On a regular it's something That's normal for them I might not be back next week Cause I might get shot Or I might be in prison And that's something that to them Is very normal to say to me And a lot of times talking to them Well my am is in prison Or this person is in prison So for them it's something that It doesn't matter So what is it What is something that I can say That we can give as advice To kind of help them see That we go to prison for life I don't know If I would even address that with them I mean I would Take the opposite Tax and I would talk to them About how this is not your destiny Your destiny is what you create You know it's In your mind it's what you think of yourself And I would Just present as many opportunities For them to imagine And build and create About the life they want And being the most that they can be And that it doesn't mean That their parent is a bad person Or can't have a different life When they retire I agree with that And I think we need to give them As many opportunities to succeed Because I think With my looking back Is it seems like We perpetuate the failures And so we want to create Opportunities where they can Make these successes And that they can make Something out of themselves But help them dream big And study in state school Because education is the most important thing For our youth these days I think one thing that I do I spoke to a batter intervention For men to class for women in November So these are women Some of them are women Who defended themselves against batter Some of these are women who have committed This kind of class And I say this at every level But I think it can be taught in the school system It needs to be And I mentioned it earlier To teach students to use Their channels of grievance And part of that Is learning about our laws And how our system is constructed And what the court system is But to really know that That constitution is Supposed to be for everybody But that constitution is for everybody And then there are Title 42 of the United States Code Section 1983 says If somebody violates your civil rights You can sue them We hear about this a lot With conditions of confinement Lawsuits in prison But this can be used for any civil rights violation So oftentimes when you hear about A civil rights offense A lawsuit that's what it is So some of it is the legal subject Just writing skills or jewelry schools Reading, learning To go talk to whoever it is Whether you're in school, whatever your workplace is There's always a grievance process That's part of it To feel active And then to know And Sasha mentioned this earlier And I didn't talk a lot about it But she said it very well When you use that grievance process There is a chance you will be retaliating against There's a good chance There's a great grave that And I know when I was in prison If I was utilizing the internal grievance process And it was working Then I'd have to remind myself Okay I'm going to write letters to legislators for a while I'm going to write a piece that I'll put out there To a media or to A criminal justice reform group There are different ways Different channels of grievance So those are some of the things That I would suggest along with what Sorry, so articulate I'm going to talk to the kids And I have one more comment to that Is when it comes to grievances And to kids They need somebody to watch over I know When they're in the system It's the family members That can best protect them When there's wrong going With the grievances Children the same way They need their parents involved You have to keep them involved Let me talk to the kids But to you as teachers and educators I'm the son of an educator My mother worked with Severely autistic To use that term then But the behavioral challenge Of willing young kids She was also battered for 13 years So I'll watch that So my psychology when it comes to Pouring into young boys And young girls Especially young boys and young girls They need to know that whatever they believe Whatever they dream they can achieve You already know that so there's really no Rule Rule, book or formula To keep pouring into those kids Because their reality As it was said Doesn't necessarily determine their destiny But we cannot negate their reality Because when they leave the confines For lack of a better word Of their school They go back to that reality As a whole whether it's No heat, no water, no food They come back the next day Like we cannot Say well that doesn't matter Because that's what makes them who they are And so Their environments, our environments made us But you have to continue to just Continue to bond, continue to connect, continue to pour I'm like Max, I'm willing To come to your classroom as well I just wanted to ask Was any of these organizations addressing Any of the issues Other than just to talk about the Constitution The 13th Amendment It says that Needless slavery Nor involuntary servitude Should exist Except as a punishment for a crime Whereupon Parties shall have been newly convicted Shall exist within the United States For any place Subject to their jurisdiction Formerly abolished And slavery in the United States The 13th Amendment Was passed by Congress On January 31st, 1865 So As My talk about earlier And so many of us tonight Delivered so eloquently It's a system If we're not studying The system said the system Then we're upholding the system We just went out Just passed holidays Spent thousands and thousands of dollars Supporting corporate America That sustains the system They put money into the system Young sister talked about The privatization Of prison I'm from Michigan And I came through to the prisons And I was working in the control center Where Corporate executives came Into the prison No badges Walked into the prison Into a front boardroom office And was looking at prison Catacombs To open up prisons Of their own in small times To provide jobs for those people In those times So that's what the system Is all about So if I have this as a foundation Of the 13th Amendment And I need free labor As we know In the late 70's The prison system went from Real dilapidation To industrialization So if we know all of this We have to teach this to our children Because they didn't begin To understand Why the condition of the neighborhood Is as it is And the condition of the neighborhood On the other side Is as it is Because one side of the freeway Is the living And the means of existence For the other side Of the freeway So my question is Is any of these organizations Filling with the true understanding Of the constitution That it is for everybody But it don't mean the same For everybody Having our sons That it is an industry And it will be hard to dismantle This industry Some of the most disheartening stuff In the state Looking for new revenue streams And I'm getting hungry You've been battling this here in San Antonio With the video visitation They keep looking at ways To get more money out of families During the last session They took some of the products That these prisoners made And they made them available To retired state employees What's up with that Why does that get passed By our legislature And I'll present that to you Mr. Clark It just doesn't make any sense They do it on the backs of our loved ones To perpetuate it I know some guys are so worried That they do their job so well But they'll never get out Because they don't want to keep them in their work And thank you brother Terrence for your question I'm not sure I can say that Free Better Texas Women specifically Is working on Some of the direct questions That you're talking about But there's no doubt That that amendment was written So that when the slaves were freed They could be Made to work again On plantation And in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice They had copper fields Where the inmates worked in And they have host squads And as somebody who entered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice With a PhD And with professional communication experience I was supposed to work on the host squad And I refused to do it Because I went into TDC With computer-related repetitive strain injuries In my hands, arms and back That I'm supposed to have lifetime medical Through the World Respondensation Commission Order with That's been a whole thing I'm refusing to do that But I refuse to do that So I was told by a host squad officer When I got in Why host squad officer That you need to look at what you're wearing Nobody's going to pay attention to you And if you don't do what we say Then when you come up for parole You're going to say that you're not adapting To the institutional environment So this definitely Is an issue that needs to be dealt with TDCJ prisoners are not paid Like they are in some other states Or like they are in the fence And it's a It's a huge issue I could go on and on about this I just wanted to give you another And thank you Real quick, just so you know The Black and Deep organization They work diligently hard Every single one of them They work really really hard to abolish prisons And to get rid of the prison industrial complex They work every day There's a lot of ways to go around this And jump through new polls To go visit people inside Just keep an idea and keep an update As to what's going on in certain prisons Some are worse than others, they're all bad Nonetheless, some are worse than others And they try their hardest to get into those To just infiltrate basically Just find out what is going on To make it better for someone Who has to go to prison And the thing about that Is with that organization It's grown from the start of 10 people In the beginning And in 10 years it's grown to 2,500 individuals Who helped fight to do that So as long as we network And keep doing what we're doing We can make it bigger and bigger and bigger To where one day we won't have any more offenses To where that won't happen anymore And we did work With President's leadership at the helm To close two prisons in Texas With the one in Mineral Wells and one in Dawson But that's only by network And working together that we can get this done And that's the importance of us Being here and working together And closing more prisons And getting some more of these laws passed And bringing our loved ones home