Dreams Are Made Of
by
Frank Williams
-An Angry Man-
While in an incarcerated jail facility, I asked a question, "What ever happened to dreaming of becoming scientists, mathematicians, engineers, philosophers, architectures, teachers, or even the president?" I asked this question because I was curious as to why so many people are becoming incarcerated. As, I looked across the pod (dormitory) that I was in; I saw many faces of men who were from the ages of 18 to 60's. There were 47 of them of various background, predominately Black, and I was struck with a sense of urgency to increase the level of respectable inspirations that could turn into goals where plans could still be made to accomplish new desires.
There were youths with mouths full of gold and platinum with no money on their books. There were men who appeared uneasy when I asked this question and seniors who looked at me with a glazed stare. Who is this guy asking me this, I could sense was the question running through their minds. Although, I have a weekly group inside the county jails (a educational rap therapy group with two other facilitators) called End The Chaos, I am in a dorm to which, new entries are inducted into it, the process dorm. So some of the fellows didn't know me while some did.
End The Chaos is a group that works on belief systems, personal development and parenting. The other facilitators are Jim Martin (Personal Development and consultant of PCN in SF CA, and former regional director of the NAACP) and Corey Monroe (Parenting, work for Community Works-children of the incarcerated). Once a week we go into the county jail and conduct our group. It is important for us and for them. Because we work in the trenches and we care about this special population because they have caused harm to selves and the community. We encourage them and give them coping skills to uplift them, educate them on plans and goals, distinguishing the differences between good choices and bad decisions. I tell them during each opening, "The name of this group is called, End The Chaos, because how you believe determines your success and or your failures in life." Many of these guys' lives are in chaos and it is up to those of us who know how to reach them to create a change within their lives for the betterment of themselves and our communities.
The seed was being planted and you could see their eyes roll to the left and right of their head while they were in thought. Some would look at the other person sitting close to them. And there was a silence in the whole dorm. As I walked throughout the speaking area, interacting on a personal and professional level, back and forth and between the tables where they sat. I looked into the faces of these men and I said, "Who taught you to believe the way that you do to the point that your lives mean nothing to you and while you project the images of chaos, your behaviors are being emulated by our youths killing each other because they don't have a plan or goal of greatness. Who taught you this?"
Now the room was really in silence for a few seconds and a couple of hands raised, and one inmate said, "Where do I start at?" Before answering his question, I took them into some history and brought it back to today.
I told them how ethnocentrism in the 70's was exploited. The television show Julia was created as a sitcom about a Black sister who was a single parent raising her child the best way that she could. And, as gentle a message as it may have seemed, subliminal messages were being sent out. The man was not needed and the Black culture was so elated to see that a Black woman had made it on television that they didn't see the whole script. Now, today through movements like that and the feminist movement of equal treatment, etc., thing have been taken out of context to the point that the seeds were planted long ago for you men to be where you are today. You rebel and reject leadership and authority and the dangling of attainments like unto the mirrored sea, and as you dive into it, you crash because it is only a mirage.
Now many of you in here may be fathers and not playing the role of being dads. Many of you are sons who learn to disrespect your parent because the balancing of roles between mother and father was never seen in your house, which created an imbalance in your thoughts, behaviors and beliefs.
"Then came Superfly, for you ole g's sitting in here. Some Blacks from this era glorified Superfly, a big box office draw, and once again Blacks were glad to see themselves and on a motion picture screen. They were jumping up and down elated due to ethnocentrism, not seeing the real message in the movie about a drug dealer who wanted to get out of the game of hustling till he created a big hustle framing the police who were sending the drugs into the communities with hit squads to take you down, kill you or give you time if you would not continue to be their slaves and genocide your people, and they get rich off your foolishness. That was the message, but some glorified the clothes, the long hair and light skin of the brother to the point comedians still today say, "Now dark skin is in bro!" Some people from the Black community were buying town cars and Cadillacs and replacing the light covers with peace sign symbols and became extortionists, pimps, hustlers, and whores.
"They bite into it hook, line and sinker, and promote this dysfunctional way of life to those who are younger, who can't wait to grow up and live this type of life. This became a dream for them. Forget being a bricklayer. Forget going to school; I need money now. I don't want to work for no McDonald's and I don't care because the only math I need to know is how to add and multiply my money. Social modeling of this behavior was done and the seeds were planted for now. Here I am on a plantation telling the products of those taught this way of living."
I told how back in the day when there were any disputes one would fight with fists. Afterwards, the one who stood up and did fight, win or lose, gained the respect of the opponent because he stood up for what he believed. There was no other violence between them. "But you guys have taken it to a higher level because of what you allow others to give you: messages in your ears that entertain your minds with foolishness.
"You have your role models mixed up because you felt alone and some sense of comradeship from the messages they are rapping about and the similarities of what you are going through as a result of being raised the way that you were. The picture is bigger than your cries for false power; you are placing people in imminent danger. You are now portrayed across the globe to increase fear of what we are supposed be. You men have to learn to distinguish what is entertainment and what is reality.
"Sitting here with more money in your mouths than is on your books, none of you are home owners or own real estate and claim blocks as if they are your true investments, never expanding to go outside of your comfort zones, because the farthest some of you ever been were just to field trip when you were in elementary schools. The seeds were planted long ago to take away your desires to become creative and innovative.
"You have to look at the bigger picture of how you learned to hate self and each other. If you were sent to Iraq right now, I bet you would defecate in your pants, but you are quick to strike another brother for no reason at all, being full of rage and hatred, dwelling on what you don't have because no one took the time to tell you the truth about life. So, what you see on BET and MTV is real to you and that is the extent of your dreams.
"Your ancestors from Poland, Spain, Europe, and Asia came to this country and felt the sting of racism, yet they continued to build lives for their selves because they wanted something special for their children. Your ancestors who were forced to be here from Africa withstood the abuse and tortures of slavery, but their minds and wills were determined to give their children the ability to read and write a foreign language so that they could understand and create a way out of slavery; so their children could gain freedom and become a mighty force in this nation.
"Your ancestors died behind the N-word. Your ancestors died while families were torn apart on purpose to keep you alienated and confused. Your ancestors paved the way with their blood so that you would have the opportunities that were not available for them, and in God's name they prayed for the day that their oppressors would stop oppressing--never thinking of the day that their children would one day become the oppressors of one another, although some existed even then. What are your dreams made of?
"Today, there is too much idle time and you guys are reaching an all time high in incarcerations. You don't vote because you don't have time to make the right changes because you are being brainwashed to make improper decisions today. How can you vote when you don't have dreams? You have no knowledge of the raw affects your behaviors are placing within our communities. As you walk and plan and plot foolishness and mistreat your women, families and communities, policies are being amended and created to keep you guys incarcerated because of the chances you have squandered away. You know nothing about freedom because you know nothing about dreams and your beliefs are distorted between fiction and reality, covered with ignorance and all of that is translated into hate because you have not fulfilled an illusion; what do you dream of!
"So seeds have been planted for those who are more than willing to pick them up because they were not taught good judgment. They lack the skills to make good thoughts through cogent decisions. You are being taught to ridicule yourselves; you are being taught to show no love; you are being taught that love is an illusion and money is your God, and the forget it attitude comes from the confusion of being overwhelm when you come up against something bigger than yourself and you act out violently, destroying your lives and the lives of others.
"One out of every 32 persons in this nation has been incarcerated at one point in their lives. Is this what you dream of?"
The floor opened up, and inmates gave their views, but none stated that they had dreams of becoming any other the options I mentioned earlier, while some just didn't know.
"The dream starts when you want something healthier and great for yourself and others. When you think like a man, you realize the lives that can be affected from what your Higher Power has given you to do His Will. When you are a child you will develop dreams from the positive influences or the negative influences that exists in your environment.
"Once you figure out the right from wrong, you then know what to do to live right. There are too many opportunities being wasted. Now schools are closing and programs are being eliminated because you are not voting and are squandering opportunities away. So how will it look thirty years from now, when your children are leaving their influences. We have to think about what legacy we would like to leave for our children, our people, and the community.
"Believe it or not, people love you. Your one life affects a whole community. You are asked about. You are of people's concerns and conversations constantly. You still have a chance to humbly take control of the purpose of your lives, even if its becoming a counselor and coming back into these jails and prisons on a positive note to change inmates' lives from where you used to be. Your purpose is to educate yourselves and learn to engage in negotiating squabbles because you are best to know where they lead. Your purpose is to become the man who you are suppose to be.
"These are examples that you can now take and think about. I have planted seeds today. I am sure I have open some minds and poured in some knowledge for you to look at the bigger picture because your presences here is making the rich richer, and your cultural groups and families are left to defend your not being present in the communities and households that you abandoned due to lack of coping skills and irrational beliefs.
"Dream about how you can make our lives, households and communities safer. How you believe determines your success and/or your failures in life. Going back to school; doing volunteer work is a step in the right directions. Filter out noises that pollute the mind and destroy your sense of reasoning. It is up to you to end your chaos, and get back into your communities and protect our children and seniors from the predators. By your social modeling you change the predators that you may know. Then they can learn from you that change is possible, and you will have accomplished some great things worth more than money.
"What are your dreams made of? I have just told you mine. "
Republished 11.28.05