I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all the best in
2017. 2016 was a VERY challenging year
for me, but a very productive year for Leroy.
I spoke early in the year of an illness that hampered my ability to
produce Word to the Masses with the same consistency you had become accustomed. I was not the one who had become ill. The near lose of my mother and corresponding long
recovery, took my time away from Word to the Masses.
I’m thrilled to say that my mother, although permanently
altered, has made a remarkable recovery. That makes it possible for me to
refocus my efforts on sharing Leroy’s expressions. We have discussed a pretty
ambitious schedule for 2017 and I’m looking forward to getting back to raising awareness
about the injustice of mass incarceration, the challenge of increased
recidivism, and the elimination of the death penalty. We are hoping you will come along for the
ride. Checkout Leroy’s summary of his
2016 activities.
Stay Tuned,
Rochelle
W2TM Editor
-------------------------------
Hotep,
Happy Kwanzaa!
As a tremendously productive year comes to an end and
another begins, I am inclined to look forward to bigger and better, in
2017. I have to admit, this uplifting
year was somewhat deflated when the realization of a ‘Trump America’ left me
speechless. However, it did inspire a
written expression titles, ‘Leaping Backward.’ It will be featured in the
upcoming online edition of Scalawag magazine (scalawagmagazine.org). Oh! Excuse me. I haven’t mentioned ‘Swag Mag’ on this
platform yet. So, allow me to do so:
Swag happens to be one of the great things that happened to
me as a writer in 2016. I made the
connection last summer through my good friend, Kris Agoranos, who is also the
co-founder of Life Lines. But, I will
get to that in a minute. For now, let’s
just focus on my first article being published in Issue #6 of Swag. Much thanks to my Swag editor, Matthew Witt,
for feeling the intensity within the words of, “3 Shifts Of An 11th
Hour.” [ http://www.scalawagmagazine.org/articles/letter-from-death-row-three-shifts-of-an-11th-hour
] So far, the journey with Swag has been amazing and one of several highlights
in our 2016 campaign for social justice.
The year began with our 3rd open performance of
Serving Life. I was hoping for our
artful presentation to be continuous throughout the year, but the prison
administration had other plans. Although
it seems the recent administrative shift has worked in our favor, because our
cast was recently given the green light to begin rehearsing again. The plan is to bring more outside audiences
into the fold of human beings Serving Life from the brink of death. The term, “break a leg,” doesn’t begin to
define my focus going into such a great opportunity. Na mean?
I feel as thought this year’s pace accelerated in March,
when Mr. Frank Baumgartner hosted a conference (Race, Innocence and the End of
the Death Penalty) in which the monologues from Serving Life resonated with the
audience of the Genome Sciences Building in Chapel Hill.
Our hard work and civil resistance was bearing fruit. People in the position to assist and mobilize
were hearing our plight. And by June,
the death row population was granted regular access to the telephones. Our family,
friends and loved ones salute this great accomplishment. But, there was still no room to grow
complacent.
Our motivation was high.
The conference room where we hold our weekly classes transformed into a
sacred ‘clearing’ where no manmade ceiling existed. The Life Lines movement was born by the time
my granddaughter turned 4 (7/20/16), and listened to me sing happy birthday (my
first as a G-dad) to her over the phone; a beautiful moment in time. SMH.
Death row is life that stands still, yet we were pushing
forwarding in a life-changing manner. We
started releasing spoken word expressions through [https://soundcloud.com/lifelinesjournal].
In a matter of 30 days the outside support for Life Lines grew
tremendously. The Life Lines website is
projected to launch after the first of the year. But the blessings continued and more doors
began to open.
I formed an alliance with Swag by mid-summer. The editing process with an established
publication has enhanced my work ethic.
It has also increased my coffee intake.
LOL. But, I would much rather be
busy working, rather than allowing myself to accept the racial inequality that
has me stuck in this long line for capital punishment. Swag is a great platform for attacking such a
grave injustice.
The combination of the early success of Life Lines and my
article in Scalawag caught the interest of the cohosts of
TalkingBullPodcast.com. My interview
with Josh and Adam was something special.
[ https://soundcloud.com/talkingbull/episode-9-life-lines-113016-120-am
]
I am also looking forward to an upcoming interview with
Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo, of the Across the Pond podcast, which
transmits from the U.K. Stay tuned for
more on that venture.
So there it is, 2016 wrapped up in the sum of 850
words. Holla if ya hear me, Chelle. LOL.
We can assure you that W2TM will remain committed to raising awareness
about the social ills of mass incarceration, racial injustice, and the
forgotten humanity that continues to exist on North Carolina’s death row. 2017 is an opportunity to be greater than
2016. Ya heard?
Much Love,
MannofStat
Copyright © 2017 by Leroy Elwood Mann
