Show and Tell

As a fourth grader, Fridays after lunch would be the highlight of my week.  The fact that I was two hours closer to the weekend school bell ringing played a minimal role in my midday enthusiasm.  

You see, this was the designated hour for Show & Tell.  A frozen moment where Ms. Warner (our teacher) would put down the chalk, place the text books to the side, and allow her pupils to step into the proverbial spotlight of public speaking.

I would relish in this opportunity to share the particulars of an autographed photo of New York Jets’ running back, Bruce Harper; the relevance of my latest Hot Wheels carrying case; or my last kite flying session with Pops in Fairmount Park.  I believe this is the reason being on stage has never felt foreign to me.

It was not evident then, but my teacher provided a platform for her students to get to know one another outside of the raised hands and test scores.  This was an occasion where an individual could freeze time despite the clocks ticking closer to the finale of a school week.  It was the moment to show people the real person standing before them.  A time when there was no right or wrong answer; just me.

All of the Hollywood buzz surrounded the latest installment of George Lucas’ STAR WARS saga, on December 18, 2015.  However, this was also a day that saw history being made in the most non-fictional way.  Six death row prisoners (myself included) captivated a standing room only audience (70 or better) within the walls of Raleigh’s Central Prison.  We gave them a story for the ages entitled: SERVING LIFE.

In some circles we are men remembered as no more than walking relics of much simpler times.  But, in this space that provides no access to rehabilitation for men of our kind, this cast of MAINE, DIEGO, PHILLY, BROOKLYN, WINSTON, and RALEIGH made the most of the 90 minutes bringing the how to the people and unveiling the realness often eclipsed by the daily attire of the red jumpsuit.  Staying in the moments of our lives-before and during the capital ploy of justice being served-proved to be an emotional roller coaster for anyone within the space.

When the scripts were issued last June, I was a bit daunted by its entirety.  I mean, I was prepared to orate a couple of monologues, but SERVING LIFE required far more responsibility than reciting a spoken word piece, then returning to my seat until the rotation came back to me.  This handpicked ensemble of six literary expressionists were groomed by Mrs. Lynden Harris (executive producer) to become a unified body for the purpose of sharing the plight of being human, while the judicial sands of time assures cruel and unusual punishment.

Initially, I thought the portrayal of multiple characters would detract from the energy of my role as PHILLY.  The tutelage of our stage Director, Ms. Kathy Williams, helped me to understand that SERIVING LIFE is the embodiment of art, that is our lives.  So every word spoken every gesture made, and every tear shed is simply who we are.  There is nothing to add or subtract from that.  Once this was understood my script was no longer a tangible object.  I can honestly say that I remain “in character” as this goes to press.

By taking on the roles of a racist school principal from DIEGO’s past; the no nonsense persona of BROOKLYN’s grandmother; an overly aggressive C.O. that stained the memory of MAINE; and a lackluster bus driver who dodged the responsibility of being anything more to WINSTON than a means of transportation to and from school.  I have grown closer to the traumas of their past, as they have mine.

Our cast opened the play walking in the manner of ankles restrained by the state’s shackles.  We left the stage, walking upright to the harmonious tune of a standing ovation.  It’s funny; prior to this experience Christmas was not official until I heard the classic Donny Hathaway joint, THIS CHRISTMAS. In SERVING LIFE I get to sing the opening verse,

“Hang all the mistletoe

I’m going to get to know you better…

This Christmas!”

Feel me?

My classmates from the Duke Divinity School sat in as the audience for our December 8^th dress rehearsal.  The hugs and tears that follow the performance was a strong indication that this would be a special Christmas season, where the ears and eyes outside of Unit 3’s walls would get to know the “people” within these red jumpsuits better.

Much like Show and Tell many years ago, I am looking forward to the next installment of freezing time – helping people get to know me through a show that will tell them everything this red jumpsuit cannot.  SERVING LIFE is death to capital punishment.

Still Livin,’

MannofStat

Copyright © 2016 by Leroy Elwood Mann

Pawn Sacrifice

“…every minute aspect of the ‘Match of the Century’ (Bobby Fischer vs. Boris Spassky) has been put under chess, psychological and socio-political microscopes.  There is not much new or original that many be said about this match – it was simply an event that gripped the entire world…”

Karsten Muller

Just recently I had the opportunity to see the movie “Pawn Sacrifice.” It is loosely based on the life of Bobby Fischer, but focused mainly on his 1972 match against Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship title.  Due in large part to Fischer, what was once simply a hobby people indulged, became an international event that captivated the world.

An eccentric genius, Fischer was a chess ‘rock star,’ a monumental being, the type of person who comes along every hundred years or so and has a profound effect on the world.  Of record, no one before or after him has impacted the sport of chess in the manner that he did.  His very name is virtually synonymous with chess.  Prior to the release of “Pawn Sacrifice,” if you had asked anyone who knows anything about chess to name the most famous chess player in the history of the game, most of them would have answered “Bobby Fischer.”

Before this, the computer age, he was considered a genius of chess, a true evolutionist of the game.  He loved it so much that he is quoted to have said, “All I want to do, ever, is play chess.” Thus, he sacrificed so much else in life and as a result, is revered as a chess legend.  Perhaps even, the greatest player to ever live.

There is a saying that goes, “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.” This type of iron-willed determination is what propels people to greatness, motivates them to achieve the seemingly impossible.  Being condemned to die for over seventeen years and counting, I have both witnessed and experienced the ebb and flow of the desire to live.  It is an everyday struggle to not succumb to the gloom and despair of an American “death house.”

When your friends are being executed and also, just simply dying all around you, it is impossible not to be affected.  It is difficult to be optimistic and not question the point of continuing to live in such a state. Yet we persist.  Mourning our fallen comrades, we immortalize them in word and deed. They are not forgotten. Whether it be with hopes of receiving relief through the courts or merely in accepting life for what it is and living, making the best of our situation.  Regardless of the circumstances of our incarceration, we endure the sacrifice of fate; suffer the loss of our freedom.  We refuse to resign.

A pawn sacrifice is the sacrificing of a pawn to achieve a positional advantage.

Approximately two years ago we were honored with our first visit from Eugene Brown, the man who inspired the movie “Life of a King” in which he is portrayed by Oscar award winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr.  During this visit and the others that have followed, he has shared with us accounts of his experiences and overall objective in life.  After years of living the life of a criminal and being addicted to drugs, he has “habilitated” himself and become a productive part of society. 

He is the founder and CEO of The Big Chair Chess Club, has a book (“From a Pawns to a Kings”), scheduled to be released in spring of 2016, and is a community activist mentoring youth.  He has also spoken at jails and prisons around the country.  An undeniable inspiration, he is a truly dedicated agent of social and penal reform.  For him, chess isn’t just a game, it is a way of life.  It is a vehicle he uses to navigate through life successfully and he counsels others to do the same.

Now what, one may ask, does this have to do with men who have been condemned to die?  Mr. Brown has discovered among us a light of hope and source of inspiration and motivation for those in need of it.  He has witnessed our humanity and thus, has sacrificed his time and efforts to provide us with an opportunity to reaffirm it to the world, through the noble game of chess.  As the newly appointed National Ambassador for Chess in Prisons, it is his desire to establish our unit as the headquarters for the National Prison Chess League. 

Through this league prisoners will compete against one another via Skype and/or Internet links.  The league will also organize events in which prisoners compete against civilian players.  Furthermore, the games played will be published in books, (The Death Row Gambit) and magazines (Lethal Injection), for the world to see, documenting our legacy in the annals of chess history, a major ‘life’ accomplishment for us.

Times are changing.  Chess is becoming more popular in the 21st century.  Chess programs are now commonplace in schools.  Recently, school children right here in Raleigh competed against children in Nigeria, and the youngest U.S. female chess master is an eleven-year-old girl.  Chess clubs are being established all around the world and on the Internet tens of thousands of games are played daily.  Then there is the release of the movie, Pawn Sacrifice. 

All of this is a sign of the rebirth of chess popularity.  For us on North Carolina’s Death Row, chess is a productive pastime, hence our association with Eugene Brown.  He has recognized that with us, chess is more than just a game.  It is a means for us to mitigate our humanity.

Check

Copyright © 2016 by Rodney Taylor, Sr.

Sounds of a Superhero

Can you hear that?

“Around the way you’re like a neighborhood jewel.  All the homeboys sweat you so you’re crazy-cool.” 

Sounds like my SUPERWOMAN.

Flawless as the quality of a Stevie Wonder piano scale

Unbreakable like Ms. Keys

She’s harmonious as A-minor

Able to exceed the need for Al Green’s, Love and Happiness

She is the heart that beats like a ?uestlove drum solo

Look, it’s a guitar, it’s a drumstick, nah, its MUSIC.

By day, MUSIC makes memories

She can be life’s timetable

MUSIC gives us opportunities to grow

Helping us get to know others as well as ourselves

MUSIC can be peace, offering neutral ground where battles are forbidden

MUSIC holds love in spades when hate is brewing on the horizon

She bleeds tranquility in the midst of chaos, ignorance and envy

MUSIC offers redemption when society chooses to condemn.

By night, she is the soundtrack for the peaks and valleys of my being

She familiarizes me with the success and failures of a Mann on the come-up

MUSIC is the SUPER AROUND THE WAY GIRL

Basement parties, the Goody Shop, or

Just going in the store to purchase Mom’s pantyhose when my masculinity wouldn’t allow me to do so.

Her image remained close when I moved far away

Her voice is rhythmic

Her actions are certified platinum

Her passion has been the microphone for the transmission of my expressions

Without MUSIC, what would life be?

She is a cornerstone in the construction of me becoming a better Mann.

She engineers the sound of my melodies to the Masses

Her existence is a gift to many

The efforts of MUSIC are amplified through speakers that reach those in need of that 1^st dance, to shake off the butterflies and really get their party started.

When she’s ringing through my headphones, her sound not only encourages me to produce hits for the Masses,

She reminds me to never stop singing the song of FREEDOM.

“She likes to dance to the rap jams.  She’s sweet as brown sugar with the candied yams.”

I love MUSIC

My around the way SUPERHERO.

Copyright © 2016 by Leroy Elwood Mann

Waves of Trauma: No Justice…No Peace

Editor's Note: I feel the need to explain the gap in the postings to Word to the Masses (W2TM).  Let me start by saying that Leroy is fine and writing as much as ever. As his editor for W2TM, I take great care in making sure his expression is representative of the Mann I know.  

A crisis in my own life has prevented me from performing my duties consistently over the past year. As things take a turn for the better, my focus can now return to W2TM.  Leroy appreciates your continued support and looks forward to sharing his literary expression with you for the foreseeable future.  Rochelle

This is dedicated to Ms. M. NourbeSe Phillip (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._NourbeSe_Philip ) the author of ZONG!

Capital punishment is the tumultuous waters surrounding my being.  It seems the soul of a Mann is suited to sail the swells of where I don’t belong; like a ZONG!

Holding precious cargo, water wherever my eyes go.  Waves of destruction, currents of extinguishment.  Lives enveloped by seas of greed.  Various cultures and tongues trapped and bereaved.

* Evidence is sustenance

                   is support

                   is the law

  the ship is the captain

                is the crew

  perils is the trial

            is the rains

            is the seas

            is the currents

  the case

               is

                    murder * (ZONG! #24)

ZONG! Is bubbles under water

ZONG! Is literary rock climbing.

ZONG! Is the blueprint of watery skies, within the eyes of one forced to swallow their demise.  The soul never dies.

Drown me in your corruption and my voice grows louder as it rises beyond the surface of insidious mental entrapment.  Once suffocated by your law, my legacy now levitates above you all.  The wave of contempt crashing against my physical existence stings my flesh but strengthens the tendons and bones of perpetuated literary expression.

The Who? Where? Was…

The It, When? How?

What have I become?

ZONG! Is my parallel experience.

ZONG! Is a story that must be absorbed because it can’t be told.

Like a building burning with children screaming at the tops of their lungs.  Voices rising within the flames, leaving behind burnt flesh without names.

The 60-plus homes incinerated.  The city’s fraudulent response to restore what was lost.

Is this ZONG!?

Or is this the concrete coffin encapsulating my memories?

It is frustration.  It is chaos. It is the cacophonous eruption of voices impeded by violence.  Where is the justice?  Why is there no peace?  

I can only sing a song with the Earth, Wind and Fire cascading my desires, for freedom, racial equality, and the reparations for the men thrown overboard – into the abyss of a death chamber – as I stood on deck and did nothing but remember.

Who is this that proclaims my life ends on a particular day?  My hour is unknown to man if it is in THE CREATOR’S plan, my exhumation from the depths of reproof is already at hand.

Still Livin,’

MannofStat

Copyright © 2015, by Leroy Elwood Mann