Voices From the Row: Scoring A Point

Hotep,

With every breath we take, there is a reason to be thankful for something.  I am thankful for my family, loved ones, and a support system made from old friends, new acquaintances, and the anonymous sector within the blogosphere, eager to experience the humanity encaged on North Carolina’s Death Row. 

I am especially thankful for the recent events (9/2/2014) that led to the release of Henry McCollum.  For the first time in 3 decades Henry will sit at a table – not made of steel – and give thanks for being a free man.

Mr. Blue will turn the page of this successful transition, to the chapter where scoring a point for the men who continue to fight for one more day is a story waiting to be told.  Feel me?

100,

MannofStat
Copyright © 2014 by Leroy Elwood Mann

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Scoring A Point

The spirit of the entire death row at Central Prison here in Raleigh, NC has been buoyed by the release of Henry McCollum, an innocent man wrongfully convicted and held under threat of death for 31 years.  We celebrate along with him and his family, a happy and joyous day. 

However, though the state of North Carolina was unsuccessful in their attempt to kill him, he was robbed of his life nevertheless.  He entered the penal system as an 18-year-old teenager, and leaves as a 50-year-old middle-aged man.

There was cursory coverage in the news media, but then it was quickly on to the next story.  However, this is a story of monumental importance, and will not be soon forgotten by lovers of justice around the world.

The evidence that eventually freed Mr. McCullom, affectionately known by all here on the row as Big Hen, was obvious 31 years ago.  He was sent off to die capriciously and maliciously, by a system that was supposed to protect him.  The district attorney in the case, defense lawyers, judge and jury are all culpable; their hands are dirty.  However, they will not be called to account for their actions.  The will not face even one day in jail after illegally confining an innocent man for 31 years.

So, while we celebrate Big Hen’s freedom, we do so with blood in our eye.  For we know that his case is not an anomaly. It is standard operating procedure in D.A. offices in every state to withhold evidence favorable to the defense, a violation of the United States Constitution. 

Prosecutors understand that they act with impunity, and where there is no accountability, there is recklessness.  To withhold evidence in any case is morally repugnant, to do so in a capital case is no less than attempted first-degree murder.  Prosecutors, who withhold evidence, act deliberately, willfully and with malice.

During interviews, conducted before and after he left death row, Big Hen said he was able to stay strong throughout his ordeal because of his faith in God.  He is an extraordinary profile in courage.

As we continue to struggle on here, we are encouraged by his example and that a bit more light has been shone upon another unscrupulous prosecutor attempting to do murder in the name of the people of the state of North Carolina; the worst of the worst indeed.

It is easy to understand how a man sentenced to die, told that his life is no longer worth living, no longer of value, isolated from society, cut off by friends and family, would give up all hope; but still, we fight.

At times during the volleyball tournament, tempers flare and points of contention are heatedly debated.  This is an example of the heart, conviction and passion in men, who in spite of decades of brutal oppression and injustice, have not given up.  When these issues are resolved at the net with integrity, humility, grace and mutual respect, score one point for humanity.

Score a point for men who look in the face of death daily, and don’t flinch, but are able to continue to live, learn, and grow; and fight for one more day, one more volley…

We thank Big Hen for the lesson, and we wish him well.  It’s more than just a game.

Mr. Blue
Copyright © 2014 by Paul Brown

Voices From the Row: The First Noel

Hotep,

God. Family. Hope.

These are the three elements you will find in the following expression.  William C. Gregory, a.k.a. “Chris,” is back to spread some holiday cheer and share with this W2TM audience how humanity can thrive in the direst of circumstances. 

Although our families differ in names and bloodlines, “Chris” will always be my younger brother.  We discuss family dynamics regularly, so its only right that he feel like a member of everything I love.

Happy Holidays, Blogosphere!

One,

MannofStat

Copyright © 2014 by Leroy Elwood Mann

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The First Noel

“The best part of life is when your family become your friends and your friends become your family.” Robin Roberts (Good Morning America)

This quote rung true for me over the years.  I’ve spent 20 long weary years on N.C.’s death row.  I’ve met some really good men.  Some made huge mistakes in the heat of the moment; others were at the wrong place at the wrong time, while others were victims of circumstance. Whatever the case may have been, I’ve met some good brothers who I consider family!

Christmas is all about sharing time with loved ones, putting petty differences aside and enjoying the celebration of our Creator’s birth!  I had to celebrate with my family here.  Whether it’s breaking bread together over a meal we prepared ourselves or watching some NBA Christmas games, I’m still grateful for another Christmas each passing year.

Due to the circumstances I’m under, I know I’m not promised another Christmas to celebrate.  So I’ll cherish this Christmas as I have all others!

Our Maker took it upon His shoulders to redeem all of humanity and creation to Himself.  He prepared the way, that Jesus, His one and only begotten son, could reconcile all future generations into His heavenly kingdom.  So as you sit around this Christmas enjoying the festivities, let’s not forget to prepare room in your hearts for the One whose holiday this represents!

The birth of our savior born in a lowly manger.  Continue to keep your eyes posted on the bright morning star.  He gives hope to the hopeless; love to the broken hearted; joy to the broken spirit and peace to the weary!

Every Christmas, the radio stations play a variety of Christmas songs.  My favorite song is by Nat King Cole “The Christmas Song.”  It really brings so many fond memories to my soul.  As I close, may it spark a fond memory for you as well!

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,

Jack Frost nipping at your nose.

Yule tide carols being sung by a choir,

And folks dressed up like eskimos.

Everybody knows,

A turkey and some mistletoe,

Helps to make a season bright,

Tiny tots with their eyes all a glow,

Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know Santa’s on his way

He’s loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh!

And every mother’s child is going to spy

To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I’m offering you this simple phrase.

To kids from 1 to 92

Although its been said

Many times, many ways,

Merry Christmas to you!!

Have a wonderful Christmas celebration Rochelle, Daveante, Deuce, Tear, Mr. & Mrs. Dabney, D, Nyse, Deb and all of the blogosphere!!  May the coming New Year be bright and filled with good health.

Peace and Blessings,

William C. Gregory

Copyright © 2014 by William C. Gregory

Give Me A Sign

As a child, the Christmas season was always the “feel good” time of year.  Enduring asthma and Mom’s lengthy punishments could not deter me from feeling the warmth of the holiday spirit.  

However, Christmas behind a prison wall can cause the greatest of holiday troopers to repress those childhood pleasantries connected to the season of giving.  Prison is not the place where a man wants to be known as a warm and giving individual.  At least, that was my perception when I was living on the other side of the wall.

Just before the turn of the century, I can recall a Christmas inside of this box, where the state supplied the prisoners with humanlike eating utensils.  A plastic folk and knife replaced the primitive food shovel, known as the spork.  The pantomime of the state’s overseers insured me I was eating something they preferred to have on their own dinner tables.

I pressed my fork into the remaining chunk of petite sirloin while simultaneously absorbing the laughter and holiday spirit dwelling amongst the prisoners in the chow hall.  The atmosphere was much different that usual, but once the meal concluded, the vibe of animosity and envy boomeranged; a reality check never far from its toxic starting point. 

The walk back to D-Block consisted of at least 60 red jumpsuits bouncing down the tunnel at once; most of us fighting to live while anticipating the upcoming executions of others.  This was 1998, three executions had already preceded this particular holiday, and four more would come the following year.  A hefty number of the death row population would slowly be depleted in the months to come.  A slow death in its truest sense.

My stomach appeared to be full, but my spirits were declining fast.  It was my 4^th Christmas without the laughter and authentic gestures of love that comes within a tight-knit family unit.  The closer I got to D-Block the more helpless I felt.  

In here, these feeling could easily be construed as weak, therefore my frustration festered until another red jumpsuit asked me to block the officer’s view while he removed some of the holiday cheer from an artificial Christmas tree standing outside of the death row housing unit. 

Without the slightest hint of hesitation, I obliged.  I had no idea as to why we were doing this, but when I looked back at the prison’s artificial display of Christmas, I saw a faux representation of life stripped by the real lives given expiration dates.

Back on the block, the organizer of this holiday season coup used construction paper, glue, tape and straws to produce a D-Block Christmas tree.  There was a sense of collective admiration for this symbolism of our unity as the ornaments were placed on a tree made from a tree.  Then an older cat instructed everyone to look out of their cell windows.  I was stunned by what I saw.

A line of people stood on a bridge – yelling, waving, and holding a sign that read: Merry Christmas!  Complete strangers gesturing humanity.  I’m in here struggling to maintain my humanness and people that didn’t know my name were reminding me of it.  This place wasn’t home, but it was definitely Christmas. 

Happy Holidays,

MannofStat

Copyright © 2014 by Leroy Elwood Mann

A Friend Seated As a Stranger

Hotep,

A conference room bearing frigid temperatures is the setting for my bi-weekly forums with the Hidden Voices Foundation.  

Discussions of injustice and redemption are common themes amongst colleagues meeting on the wrong side of the prison wall.  To the eyes of authorities figures we are seated as strangers, engaging in an experiment where logical explanations are few.

By the time this goes to press, our social trials will be a year old.  The earliest results support my spiritual theory of true friendships being predestined – not manmade. How else can we explain a condemned Mann befriending someone who once supported the usage of capital punishment?  Common logic would also deem a genuine bond between a victim eyewitness and a suspect seated at the defense table to be highly unlikely.  Yet it happens for reasons unknown to basic human understanding.

My friend, Mrs. Jennifer Thompson – Cannino is a New York Times bestselling author.  After reading her memoir, “Picking Cotton,” I was deeply moved by the experience of shedding a dark period in her life only to emerge as a ray of hope for those who have been blanketed by the injustice that plagues the North Carolina judicial system. 

Her story involves Mr. Ronald Cotton, a victim of a wrongful conviction.  His case was the first of its kind, in the sense of North Carolina permitting DNA testing to have the final say in what many believed to be an open and shut case.  Eleven years after Jennifer’s life was altered by a man she believed to be Ronald Cotton, DNA evidence set a historical precedent that is now the foundation of a genuine friendship between the two.  Word is bond.

Jennifer is a magnetic element in North Carolina’s Innocence Commission and now dedicates her life to the elevated side of the disturbingly imbalanced scales of justice.  In my opinion, admitting you are wrong retains a high social value. 

Conversing with such an individual regularly has helped me to broaden my degree of objectivity, concerning the furor and malicious attacks stemming from a victim’s family support system.  I also understand how incompatibilities between strangers can lead to productive and meaningful friendships.  Feel me?

W2TM is a platform where the talk of injustice is the common lingo, but in no way is this atmosphere foreign to “the profound nature of human grace and the healing power of forgiveness.” As a writer, it is my due diligence to expose the masses to the education within “Picking Cotton.” As a friend, I am honored to just say, thank you Jennifer.  Your truths are saving lives.  Ya heard?

Congratulations are in order for Mr. Ronald Cotton, for maintaining and moving forward with your life when it could have been so easy to live in neutral, while blaming the world for your misfortunes.  I thank you for not being that brother.  Na mean?

And last, but not least, I would like to thank Ms. Erin Torneo for the design behind this story’s influential structure.  Your writing is a service to the world.  I pray that your motivation for doing so continues to flourish because “Picking Cotton” is the type of change we need in this world.  Keep punching those keys, Erin.

Nuff Said,

MannofStat

Copyright © by Leroy Elwood Mann

Voices From the Row: Checkmate

Hotep,

For the duration of 30 years, Henry McCollum was labeled as a murderer by the state of North Carolina.  Sentenced to death at the age of 19, Henry had been on death row for 14 years when I arrived in 1997.  We rarely spoke, but talking heads made it known that Henry had been wrongfully convicted. 

Today (9/2/2014), he was acquitted of all charges by a Robeson County Superior Court Judge.  The tear in his family’s eyes is a true testament to how a milestone of this magnitude can affect people on both sides of the concrete barrier that separates us.  The death row population exhales another injustice.  Good luck Henry.  You bore the burden of the red jumpsuit for far too long.  Be easy on the other side.

Back on this side of the wall, another milestone is brewing.  Rodney Taylor (my associate, partner, and pen brother) has been inspired to chronicle the history of the death row chess club.  As the official chess tournament coordinator, Rodney records every game to the finest detail, in a weekly commentary called “The Death Row Gambit” (formerly known as Checkmate).

The following expression will be an in-depth experience of a milestone on the horizon.  Do what you do, Rod.  In this case, Checkmate is a beginning.  Ya heard?

Always 100,

MannofStat

Copyright © by Leroy Elwood Mann

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Checkmate

“Chess On Death Row”

Checkmate is the ultimate goal in the game of chess, by which the enemy king is checked (threatened with capture), and has no means of escape.  Checkmate ends the game immediately.  Simply put, it is a declaration of victory.

The origin of chess is shrouded in mystery.  The earliest date to which chess can be traced is about 600 A.D.  Travelling from India via the Arab world to Europe it has spread worldwide attracting players from a wide range of cultures.

Chess can be likened to a war between two military forces battling for control of a specific region.  It is a mental battle between two people striving to outthink one another, maneuvering their pieces around the board to a position of victory.  This requires focus and the ability to strategize – analyze a situation and act methodically to achieve a desired goal.

An intriguing factor about chess is how its principles are applicable to real life situations.  If a person wants to be successful in life they must be able to strategize, meaning they must be able to plan a course of action to achieve their goal.  Furthermore, they must be able to maintain focus to follow through with their plan to fruition.

There is a saying in chess: “Think b4 you move.” Such is the case with life.  It is necessary to think about whatever it is you intend to do, taking into consideration both the best course of action to take and the potential consequences.  In chess a bad decision (move) can lead to checkmate.  Likewise, making a bad decision in life can lead to failure, which is a checkmate of sorts, if they don’t learn from their mistakes and make better moves (decisions).

The reasons people play chess vary.  Some play simply for the enjoyment of it and others as an occupational sport.  Then there are those who play chess for mental conditioning.  Playing chess relies on memory, the ability to calculate sequences of moves, and the recognition of patterns all of this is relatable to real life situations, from social interaction to operating a business. 

Some of the world’s most successful people play chess and have employed its principles in their lives.  Even parents and teachers introduce children to the game of chess for the purpose of developing analytical and problem solving skills that will enable them to have successful futures.

Chess grandmaster Dr. John Nun said, “Simply put, chess is a beautiful game. For all of the supposed complexity of chess, the geometry is simple and elegant.  A well-played game has a certain crispness about it.  Simply seeing a good move on a board can give chess players pleasure.  It is a glorious feeling to play a great game flowing from start to finish.”  This is why chess is so popular. 

We have this chess class going on here.  Though everyone in it knows how to play chess, the class has created an opportunity for us to get a more comprehensive knowledge of the game.  It has also given us a deeper appreciation of chess we have been playing chess more lately especially with the pending chess tournament.  What was once on occasional pastime is now a daily routine.  Not a day goes by without multiple games of chess being played “think b4 you move,” is a principle of chess that can be used in our daily lives.  Chess isn’t just a game; it’s a way of life.

Check,

Rodney Taylor

Copyright © 2014 by Rodney Taylor