Truth Be Told
PRELUDE – #YOLO (Land of the Thieves)
Jordan: Soldiers die, warriors cry, and time flies
we sit back and witness our own genocide
Its time to put our fear aside
Pick up our pride and tell the world we won’t comply
No more sittin witness
Its time to handle business
An ain’t no such thing
As being finished
It’s time we understand nothin’s ever free
Except for death would you like a receipt
And black bodies the officers favorite hobby,
Trip Over Trigga,
Facial expressions you can’t configure
Only 17 reported dead on his seventeenth,
Is it still the land of the free
if they took everything from me then blamed me
Is this the american dream?
Is this the land of the free?
Or is it the supremacy nightmare
In the land of the thieves.
KEITH/MICHAEL RAY RAP/LAMAR MONOLOGUE
(with body percussion)
IDEAL DAY
June: It's a summer afternoon, I'm walking on the beach, feeling the softness and warmth of sand on my feet. The sun is bright and the temperature is just right. The waves are softly brushing up against the shore -- worries I no longer have anymore. I'm calm and at peace. * I'm enjoying the sunshine. I'm surrounded by many people who are also having a great time. I have been anticipating this day for a long time. But unfortunately, my ideal day is just a dream of mine. Life is precious and full of trial and error. Bad choices do not define ones character. Healing does exist.** (repeat)
*Denisse: My Ideal day would be picking up my wonderful daughters Alara and Alani so we can go on our first Father-Daughter date. Ever since they were babies I envisioned this day. This day is a rare opportunity to provide an experience of what a 'man' should be like. Also, model how a man should treat women. This is my opportunity to break the cycle. The painful cycle of deadbeat dads, absent fathers and domestic violence. I am in front of my ow house, preparing to pick up my girls and I laugh to myself. Here I am, 32 years old and nervous before a date with a 7 and 8 year old. Talk about palms and forehead being sweaty. A lot is riding on this. Here we go. This is my motivation to keep going.
**Jackson: I see a chameleon color sky: purple, hot orange. I smell fresh air and I touch shells, clear water. I feel soft sand. I am on an island with my family watching a sunset.
Troy (June and Gabe dancing): It's a summer afternoon, I'm walking on the beach, feeling the softness and warmth of sand on my feet. The sun is bright and the temperature is just right. The waves are softly brushing up against the shore -- worries I no longer have anymore. I'm calm and at peace. * I'm enjoying the sunshine. I'm surrounded by many people who are also having a great time. I have been anticipating this day for a long time. But unfortunately, my ideal day is just a dream of mine. Life is precious and full of trial and error. Bad choices do not define ones character. Healing does exist.
Lamar (Red and Denisse dancing): My Ideal day would be picking up my wonderful daughters Alara and Alani so we can go on our first Father-Daughter date. Ever since they were babies I envisioned this day. This day is a rare opportunity to provide an experience of what a 'man' should be like. Also, model how a man should treat women. This is my opportunity to break the cycle. The painful cycle of deadbeat dads, absent fathers and domestic violence. I am in front of my ow house, preparing to pick up my girls and I laugh to myself. Here I am, 32 years old and nervous before a date with a 7 and 8 year old. Talk about palms and forehead being sweaty. A lot is riding on this. Here we go. This is my motivation to keep going.
Willie E (Jackson/June/Denisse and Chunky/ Drew/Dante dancing): I see a chameleon color sky: purple, hot orange. I smell fresh air and I touch shells, clear water. I feel soft sand. I am on an island with my family watching a sunset.
Alasia (Marion dancing): My ideal day: I see huge closed gigantic doors with every imaginable lock, opening. Rusty hinges cracking, dust coming off the door. A door that has never been opened, is now opening for me. I am walking through this great door and I can feel its coldness from keeping many men like me mass incarcerated. It's well-oiled steel always cold like a wintery day. As I am opening this door that has been closed all my life, I feel the sun hit my face and surround me with its powerful love. I smell all the wonderful smells that urban life can bring. I smell pastries freshly baked, fresh coffee being brewed and a candy store with all the assortments. And then I feel my loved ones hugging and kissing me with their long lost love.
(All RSVP movers and YAAWs flocking)
THE WAY IT IS
Alasia: The block is where family is
Full of the richly broke
All out to get the newest J’s
No focus on the future
Focus on the now
The next dollar
The next ickup bruh you know wassup
No one’s telling what to do or how to do it
Just forced to keep moving
Striving? No surviving!
Fried foods and top ramen miracles
use what you got
But when you’re given scraps and opps not much can be achieved
Still waking up like the rents due
More like passed due
Little know of the obstacles that are faced
Cause people stay fitted
Whether it’s stolen or crimes are committed
GUILT AND INNOCENCE
Audio voiceover (June dancing):
Criminal Building
neither friendly or unfriendly
I did watch an orientation video, which to me seemed dated and forced
I mostly felt relieved
it was an easy, stress free experience
I feel like I keep getting out of it
people who have the most respect for the jury system
people who wear red are perceived as more aggressive
less likely to be picked for a jury
giving a right or wrong answer,whatever that meant
expect the worse
living in this constant state of limbo
thoughtful
progressive
liberal
the law can often be confusing and cases can be complicated
gut feelings
the hard part is doing this without bias
the standard walk through the metal detector
not involving emotions
the guard working the x-ray machine flagged my backpack for manual search
accusatory look
everyone had the look of resignation
audience chamber behind glass partitions
the defending lawyer was charismatic
reluctant to serve
wondering what the story was with the city’s attorney
work-life balance
psychologically challenging
very inconvenient
illuminating
savvy about the rhetorical techniques of lawyers
many people milling around
the scene was familiar to me
I knew the expected behavior
empty pockets
tension throughout the room that never goes away
“I did and do feel that jury duty is extremely important and one of the thing that our country is founded on”
those that have complaints about the justice system but don’t participate or do their part to be involved in it
selection is first and foremost based on look
some on purpose and some subconsciously
who am I representing?
what result do I want?
impartial and empirical
patriotic images
to not be swayed by emotional arguments or other people’s opinions
See through the bullshit and find the truth
I always go for the underdog
cultural defense
He also said, since I was in custody that I had to be guilty
the DA got desperate because she was losing
deliberating room
the DA accused the woman juror and myself that we were making flirtatious smiles and eyes at one another
it was not true
never did I make eye contact or smiles at this female or did she do that to me
I am mumbling a prayer the whole time to myself
a paid lawyer
trust
what I am facing today
with you
WHAT HE KNEW WAS ENOUGH
Jackson: The walls arched
Blue and white trapezoids
Jack walked in, free to move about
the woman lay motionless
He heard a baby crying
Room 319, that was it
But there was no human nascency, just IT
He could only look at the scene with emotions that were crippled and arched
Jack had seen through the doorway—the intense but jubilant crying
There was life but he didn’t know it (all he saw were trapezoids)
humans system sitting motionless
Jack left for Sacramento at 5 o’ clock about
He drove through black headlit highways and thought “so this is what prison is about”
The pantsuit women, men, stereotypes, stereotypes, stereotypes, he, she, it
hunger pain, purples blues, fucked, thought things that people had already thought, she was
motionless
Lena stood on the corner, the sidewalk spreading in ways that were stringent and arched
She was even bigger than that, bigger than Jack’s trapezoids
Lena had a daughter fell in love saw her best friend die and it went from happy to crying, happy
to crying
He saw her, followed her, saw what her life was all about
The cycles lie, subtle stupid trickery by me, incised by edges of trapezoids
Jack saw her selling drugs, he saw her patting her daughter on her head, and that was it
Until she cleaned his hotel room, the towel sat on the silver spool, arched
He dropped it and stood there motionless
They acknowledged each other and Jack left, walking over the hallway’s embroidered trapezoids
Jack’s last case: he had pieced together all the job’s trapezoids
The next of the motionless
When Jack looked at the body, he remembered it
He stared with the emotion of endless crying
Jack had seen the woman laying before him move and it was then that he noticed that he was still
able to move about
The wall started to move from all direction inwards to a position that was purely arched
The last case, the last trapezoid puzzle, was Lena, the one who went from happy to crying, happy
to crying
His system changed what it was all about
Lena’s motionless back was arched
FLY
(Denisse dancing)
WE HAVE TO REMEMBER
Mariluz: We Have to Remember
What do you do when the world turns its back against you?
You go to a place where your name and face may be forgotten.
Do you let it help you?
or
ruin you?
Darkness surrounds your body,
and the space around you.
Yet you feel warmth hug you,
the rays of light creep, caress, and kiss your face.
Everything is blurry and becomes clear.
A rush of joy starts at the smallest of your toes,
up to the crown of your head.
Subconsciously thinking, “Today I will…”
Your muscles elongate as a reminder that --
You are awake.
You are alive.
You are free.
Walking along side them,
those who stand by you.
Regardless of how you may seem.
Their smiles fill your heart more than
cake fills a child.
With their ringing laughter in your ears,
all troubles you ever had are no longer near.
Walking hand in hand,
step by step you see,
A tall strong man walking past in a navy colored uniform.
(insert city here) Police Department.
Security and a sense of pride beams in your dream
An idol who serves his nation by protecting it’s core.
but…
What happens when the core rots?
Inside this fruit,
a seed of corruption is being born.
A hierarchical society hidden from the people.
We begin feeding an organism,
thriving on the sadness and suffering of others.
Social scientist have named it the PIC,
observing it wondering what it wants.
All of a sudden you are stripped.
What is left?
An echo of their voice,
goosebumps where they touched,
and an ache in your heart.
Justice was evil, unfair, vengeful, and oppressive
Unaware targets lost behind cold walls.
Caught in cycle of what is considered “crime”
Risking their freedom for a family.
A misunderstanding between two people.
Or simply a bad decision.
People are being taken away.
To a place where they’re supposed to rehabilitate,
but then places give up on rehabilitating.
What can you do?
There’s an expectation of change,
but how if there’s no support.
Stop funding jails,
start funding programs.
Take the logic,
“Get them while they’re young”
Take the target groups off the streets,
and introduce a passion
Let’s open the rusted door.
Remember…
Awareness + Action = Change
BOXES
Before Speakers:
Keith: (during grid walking) Truth be told, ever since I was a kid I only knew about the police but I had no idea where the police would take someone after arrest. I remember being arrested at 15 years old with two of my fiends. We had no idea where we were going or what was going to happen. I remember thinking that the police were taking us somewhere to do us harm, or even kill us. I thought to myself that it was time to start to fight for my survival.
K. Lake: (during beginning of box sequence) Before I came to jail I used to think to myself as I was growing up that I never want to end up in there. While I was 15 or 16 I attended a tour of San Quentin State Prison and listened to all the lifers and other spokesman talk to the youth about how it is behind the walls and they tried to instill fear in us. Then at 19 years old I found myself being brought back into the prison to stay. They gave me one of the small rooms I remember seeing on the tour as a youth. When I stepped foot into the small cell I hated it right away.
Alasia: (during partner sculpture) Before YAAW, I did actually know about the Prison Industrial system. Growing up, it was always present, with cops outside in my neighborhood and people constantly being arrested or harassed by police. After we learned the statistics, I was shocked but soon after began to see people I grew up with getting locked down. It was really crazy. The truth is that statistics, but hey that’s what happens when you’re in a system working against your favor.”
Anthony: (during partner measuring section) Before going through the system I thought it was a place where people can get swept under the carpet and forgotten. I feel like the PIC is a huge business that is really trying to break up our communities.
Lamar: (during passing of boxes) The Prison Industrial Complex was a distant vacation spot that I aspired to go to. Once I started gang banging, prison was discussed frequently amongst the older members'; the OG's or the Big Homies. I knew they had committed drive ups, robbed, shot guns, jumped rival gang members, done other things that at the age of 12 were fascinating to me. I was ready to do anything to be like them or better. I was ready to do anything in order to be the baddest, and going to jail (or juvenile) would only help my cause. It was a rite of passage.
Denisse: (during Chunky/Keith Box statue, June box tower) “Before moving here I lived in Mexico, a country that has gotten more and more violent and dangerous over time. I lost all my faith and trust in the government and believed that people who made mistakes should be locked up. I saw people ending other people’s lives, I saw people stealing, and other efforts, I saw terrible things happen to those surrounding me, and my mind closed. I didn’t understand that situations that could have lead them to such mistakes, or the consequences of being locked up… or rather, I think I preferred to ignore it.”
AFTER SPEAKERS:
Jackson (alone on stage during Tariq solo) : There is no denying that people are profiting of prisons. It’s not some big conspiracy. There is a whole private security industry that thrives on locking people up with quotas to fill beds. The connection between lawmakers, prison officials and private benefit is kept more secretive but it doesn’t matter because no matter what people are profiting off prisons and the war on drugs.”
Dante: (during walk down the center line) When I was still learning the ways of the world, the War on Drugs took my father away from my sister and I for trying to feed our family. This "system" has added to my family's economic hardship. So justice appeared evil, unfair, vengeful and oppressive. I think its very sad that a lot of the men that are lost in these places were targets and didn't even know it. Policing in Urban America was made to fill these beds. The irony of it is when you take one man's freedom, you are paying for another's retirement.
June: (during prayer phrase variations) Basically, after being informed I knew that jails and prisons have innocent people in them. I used to think prisons were supposed to keep dangerous people away; now I know that they are taking non-dangerous people away more. I learned that the US has the most people incarcerated than any country in the world. The land of the free is not so free after all.”
Mike Ray: (during prayer phrase variations) I only have a few things I can say and that is, Jail can only help or ruin a person. SO if you ever go to jail, use it to the best of you because if you don't it'll eat up your life."
Boxes break apart -- everyone disperses
Troy: (alone on stage surrounded by broken boxes) For a long time, I contributed to the problem of the PIC. I have been enslaved by tendencies that land me in jail. I hung onto resentments, anger, and blame, creating a negative attitude. Feeling victimized, I set myself up with a sense of entitlement and lowered moral standards. In order to rise above my thinking, I had to do some soul searching, which has enabled me to free myself from the insanity. Awareness + Action = CHANGE."
PRELUDE – #YOLO (Land of the Thieves)
Jordan: Soldiers die, warriors cry, and time flies
we sit back and witness our own genocide
Its time to put our fear aside
Pick up our pride and tell the world we won’t comply
No more sittin witness
Its time to handle business
An ain’t no such thing
As being finished
It’s time we understand nothin’s ever free
Except for death would you like a receipt
And black bodies the officers favorite hobby,
Trip Over Trigga,
Facial expressions you can’t configure
Only 17 reported dead on his seventeenth,
Is it still the land of the free
if they took everything from me then blamed me
Is this the american dream?
Is this the land of the free?
Or is it the supremacy nightmare
In the land of the thieves.
KEITH/MICHAEL RAY RAP/LAMAR MONOLOGUE
(with body percussion)
IDEAL DAY
June: It's a summer afternoon, I'm walking on the beach, feeling the softness and warmth of sand on my feet. The sun is bright and the temperature is just right. The waves are softly brushing up against the shore -- worries I no longer have anymore. I'm calm and at peace. * I'm enjoying the sunshine. I'm surrounded by many people who are also having a great time. I have been anticipating this day for a long time. But unfortunately, my ideal day is just a dream of mine. Life is precious and full of trial and error. Bad choices do not define ones character. Healing does exist.** (repeat)
*Denisse: My Ideal day would be picking up my wonderful daughters Alara and Alani so we can go on our first Father-Daughter date. Ever since they were babies I envisioned this day. This day is a rare opportunity to provide an experience of what a 'man' should be like. Also, model how a man should treat women. This is my opportunity to break the cycle. The painful cycle of deadbeat dads, absent fathers and domestic violence. I am in front of my ow house, preparing to pick up my girls and I laugh to myself. Here I am, 32 years old and nervous before a date with a 7 and 8 year old. Talk about palms and forehead being sweaty. A lot is riding on this. Here we go. This is my motivation to keep going.
**Jackson: I see a chameleon color sky: purple, hot orange. I smell fresh air and I touch shells, clear water. I feel soft sand. I am on an island with my family watching a sunset.
Troy (June and Gabe dancing): It's a summer afternoon, I'm walking on the beach, feeling the softness and warmth of sand on my feet. The sun is bright and the temperature is just right. The waves are softly brushing up against the shore -- worries I no longer have anymore. I'm calm and at peace. * I'm enjoying the sunshine. I'm surrounded by many people who are also having a great time. I have been anticipating this day for a long time. But unfortunately, my ideal day is just a dream of mine. Life is precious and full of trial and error. Bad choices do not define ones character. Healing does exist.
Lamar (Red and Denisse dancing): My Ideal day would be picking up my wonderful daughters Alara and Alani so we can go on our first Father-Daughter date. Ever since they were babies I envisioned this day. This day is a rare opportunity to provide an experience of what a 'man' should be like. Also, model how a man should treat women. This is my opportunity to break the cycle. The painful cycle of deadbeat dads, absent fathers and domestic violence. I am in front of my ow house, preparing to pick up my girls and I laugh to myself. Here I am, 32 years old and nervous before a date with a 7 and 8 year old. Talk about palms and forehead being sweaty. A lot is riding on this. Here we go. This is my motivation to keep going.
Willie E (Jackson/June/Denisse and Chunky/ Drew/Dante dancing): I see a chameleon color sky: purple, hot orange. I smell fresh air and I touch shells, clear water. I feel soft sand. I am on an island with my family watching a sunset.
Alasia (Marion dancing): My ideal day: I see huge closed gigantic doors with every imaginable lock, opening. Rusty hinges cracking, dust coming off the door. A door that has never been opened, is now opening for me. I am walking through this great door and I can feel its coldness from keeping many men like me mass incarcerated. It's well-oiled steel always cold like a wintery day. As I am opening this door that has been closed all my life, I feel the sun hit my face and surround me with its powerful love. I smell all the wonderful smells that urban life can bring. I smell pastries freshly baked, fresh coffee being brewed and a candy store with all the assortments. And then I feel my loved ones hugging and kissing me with their long lost love.
(All RSVP movers and YAAWs flocking)
THE WAY IT IS
Alasia: The block is where family is
Full of the richly broke
All out to get the newest J’s
No focus on the future
Focus on the now
The next dollar
The next ickup bruh you know wassup
No one’s telling what to do or how to do it
Just forced to keep moving
Striving? No surviving!
Fried foods and top ramen miracles
use what you got
But when you’re given scraps and opps not much can be achieved
Still waking up like the rents due
More like passed due
Little know of the obstacles that are faced
Cause people stay fitted
Whether it’s stolen or crimes are committed
GUILT AND INNOCENCE
Audio voiceover (June dancing):
Criminal Building
neither friendly or unfriendly
I did watch an orientation video, which to me seemed dated and forced
I mostly felt relieved
it was an easy, stress free experience
I feel like I keep getting out of it
people who have the most respect for the jury system
people who wear red are perceived as more aggressive
less likely to be picked for a jury
giving a right or wrong answer,whatever that meant
expect the worse
living in this constant state of limbo
thoughtful
progressive
liberal
the law can often be confusing and cases can be complicated
gut feelings
the hard part is doing this without bias
the standard walk through the metal detector
not involving emotions
the guard working the x-ray machine flagged my backpack for manual search
accusatory look
everyone had the look of resignation
audience chamber behind glass partitions
the defending lawyer was charismatic
reluctant to serve
wondering what the story was with the city’s attorney
work-life balance
psychologically challenging
very inconvenient
illuminating
savvy about the rhetorical techniques of lawyers
many people milling around
the scene was familiar to me
I knew the expected behavior
empty pockets
tension throughout the room that never goes away
“I did and do feel that jury duty is extremely important and one of the thing that our country is founded on”
those that have complaints about the justice system but don’t participate or do their part to be involved in it
selection is first and foremost based on look
some on purpose and some subconsciously
who am I representing?
what result do I want?
impartial and empirical
patriotic images
to not be swayed by emotional arguments or other people’s opinions
See through the bullshit and find the truth
I always go for the underdog
cultural defense
He also said, since I was in custody that I had to be guilty
the DA got desperate because she was losing
deliberating room
the DA accused the woman juror and myself that we were making flirtatious smiles and eyes at one another
it was not true
never did I make eye contact or smiles at this female or did she do that to me
I am mumbling a prayer the whole time to myself
a paid lawyer
trust
what I am facing today
with you
WHAT HE KNEW WAS ENOUGH
Jackson: The walls arched
Blue and white trapezoids
Jack walked in, free to move about
the woman lay motionless
He heard a baby crying
Room 319, that was it
But there was no human nascency, just IT
He could only look at the scene with emotions that were crippled and arched
Jack had seen through the doorway—the intense but jubilant crying
There was life but he didn’t know it (all he saw were trapezoids)
humans system sitting motionless
Jack left for Sacramento at 5 o’ clock about
He drove through black headlit highways and thought “so this is what prison is about”
The pantsuit women, men, stereotypes, stereotypes, stereotypes, he, she, it
hunger pain, purples blues, fucked, thought things that people had already thought, she was
motionless
Lena stood on the corner, the sidewalk spreading in ways that were stringent and arched
She was even bigger than that, bigger than Jack’s trapezoids
Lena had a daughter fell in love saw her best friend die and it went from happy to crying, happy
to crying
He saw her, followed her, saw what her life was all about
The cycles lie, subtle stupid trickery by me, incised by edges of trapezoids
Jack saw her selling drugs, he saw her patting her daughter on her head, and that was it
Until she cleaned his hotel room, the towel sat on the silver spool, arched
He dropped it and stood there motionless
They acknowledged each other and Jack left, walking over the hallway’s embroidered trapezoids
Jack’s last case: he had pieced together all the job’s trapezoids
The next of the motionless
When Jack looked at the body, he remembered it
He stared with the emotion of endless crying
Jack had seen the woman laying before him move and it was then that he noticed that he was still
able to move about
The wall started to move from all direction inwards to a position that was purely arched
The last case, the last trapezoid puzzle, was Lena, the one who went from happy to crying, happy
to crying
His system changed what it was all about
Lena’s motionless back was arched
FLY
(Denisse dancing)
WE HAVE TO REMEMBER
Mariluz: We Have to Remember
What do you do when the world turns its back against you?
You go to a place where your name and face may be forgotten.
Do you let it help you?
or
ruin you?
Darkness surrounds your body,
and the space around you.
Yet you feel warmth hug you,
the rays of light creep, caress, and kiss your face.
Everything is blurry and becomes clear.
A rush of joy starts at the smallest of your toes,
up to the crown of your head.
Subconsciously thinking, “Today I will…”
Your muscles elongate as a reminder that --
You are awake.
You are alive.
You are free.
Walking along side them,
those who stand by you.
Regardless of how you may seem.
Their smiles fill your heart more than
cake fills a child.
With their ringing laughter in your ears,
all troubles you ever had are no longer near.
Walking hand in hand,
step by step you see,
A tall strong man walking past in a navy colored uniform.
(insert city here) Police Department.
Security and a sense of pride beams in your dream
An idol who serves his nation by protecting it’s core.
but…
What happens when the core rots?
Inside this fruit,
a seed of corruption is being born.
A hierarchical society hidden from the people.
We begin feeding an organism,
thriving on the sadness and suffering of others.
Social scientist have named it the PIC,
observing it wondering what it wants.
All of a sudden you are stripped.
What is left?
An echo of their voice,
goosebumps where they touched,
and an ache in your heart.
Justice was evil, unfair, vengeful, and oppressive
Unaware targets lost behind cold walls.
Caught in cycle of what is considered “crime”
Risking their freedom for a family.
A misunderstanding between two people.
Or simply a bad decision.
People are being taken away.
To a place where they’re supposed to rehabilitate,
but then places give up on rehabilitating.
What can you do?
There’s an expectation of change,
but how if there’s no support.
Stop funding jails,
start funding programs.
Take the logic,
“Get them while they’re young”
Take the target groups off the streets,
and introduce a passion
Let’s open the rusted door.
Remember…
Awareness + Action = Change
BOXES
Before Speakers:
Keith: (during grid walking) Truth be told, ever since I was a kid I only knew about the police but I had no idea where the police would take someone after arrest. I remember being arrested at 15 years old with two of my fiends. We had no idea where we were going or what was going to happen. I remember thinking that the police were taking us somewhere to do us harm, or even kill us. I thought to myself that it was time to start to fight for my survival.
K. Lake: (during beginning of box sequence) Before I came to jail I used to think to myself as I was growing up that I never want to end up in there. While I was 15 or 16 I attended a tour of San Quentin State Prison and listened to all the lifers and other spokesman talk to the youth about how it is behind the walls and they tried to instill fear in us. Then at 19 years old I found myself being brought back into the prison to stay. They gave me one of the small rooms I remember seeing on the tour as a youth. When I stepped foot into the small cell I hated it right away.
Alasia: (during partner sculpture) Before YAAW, I did actually know about the Prison Industrial system. Growing up, it was always present, with cops outside in my neighborhood and people constantly being arrested or harassed by police. After we learned the statistics, I was shocked but soon after began to see people I grew up with getting locked down. It was really crazy. The truth is that statistics, but hey that’s what happens when you’re in a system working against your favor.”
Anthony: (during partner measuring section) Before going through the system I thought it was a place where people can get swept under the carpet and forgotten. I feel like the PIC is a huge business that is really trying to break up our communities.
Lamar: (during passing of boxes) The Prison Industrial Complex was a distant vacation spot that I aspired to go to. Once I started gang banging, prison was discussed frequently amongst the older members'; the OG's or the Big Homies. I knew they had committed drive ups, robbed, shot guns, jumped rival gang members, done other things that at the age of 12 were fascinating to me. I was ready to do anything to be like them or better. I was ready to do anything in order to be the baddest, and going to jail (or juvenile) would only help my cause. It was a rite of passage.
Denisse: (during Chunky/Keith Box statue, June box tower) “Before moving here I lived in Mexico, a country that has gotten more and more violent and dangerous over time. I lost all my faith and trust in the government and believed that people who made mistakes should be locked up. I saw people ending other people’s lives, I saw people stealing, and other efforts, I saw terrible things happen to those surrounding me, and my mind closed. I didn’t understand that situations that could have lead them to such mistakes, or the consequences of being locked up… or rather, I think I preferred to ignore it.”
AFTER SPEAKERS:
Jackson (alone on stage during Tariq solo) : There is no denying that people are profiting of prisons. It’s not some big conspiracy. There is a whole private security industry that thrives on locking people up with quotas to fill beds. The connection between lawmakers, prison officials and private benefit is kept more secretive but it doesn’t matter because no matter what people are profiting off prisons and the war on drugs.”
Dante: (during walk down the center line) When I was still learning the ways of the world, the War on Drugs took my father away from my sister and I for trying to feed our family. This "system" has added to my family's economic hardship. So justice appeared evil, unfair, vengeful and oppressive. I think its very sad that a lot of the men that are lost in these places were targets and didn't even know it. Policing in Urban America was made to fill these beds. The irony of it is when you take one man's freedom, you are paying for another's retirement.
June: (during prayer phrase variations) Basically, after being informed I knew that jails and prisons have innocent people in them. I used to think prisons were supposed to keep dangerous people away; now I know that they are taking non-dangerous people away more. I learned that the US has the most people incarcerated than any country in the world. The land of the free is not so free after all.”
Mike Ray: (during prayer phrase variations) I only have a few things I can say and that is, Jail can only help or ruin a person. SO if you ever go to jail, use it to the best of you because if you don't it'll eat up your life."
Boxes break apart -- everyone disperses
Troy: (alone on stage surrounded by broken boxes) For a long time, I contributed to the problem of the PIC. I have been enslaved by tendencies that land me in jail. I hung onto resentments, anger, and blame, creating a negative attitude. Feeling victimized, I set myself up with a sense of entitlement and lowered moral standards. In order to rise above my thinking, I had to do some soul searching, which has enabled me to free myself from the insanity. Awareness + Action = CHANGE."
