In the opening chapter Emery, Gold, and Braselmann (2008) there is a powerful

quote from Henry David Thoreau. He comments, “The law will never make men free. It

is men who have got to make the law free.” As a sentiment there has rarely been a truer

observation expressed. Understanding the context of how the law has been used to abuse

and violate the rights of Blacks in this country is instrumental in contextualizing the

examples of racism in this country. In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the U.S. Supreme Court

decided that a Louisiana law mandating separate but equal accommodations for blacks

and whites on intrastate railroads was constitutional. However, the caveat was that at the

time there were no Black-owned railroads to ensure that Blacks were receiving adequate

service. Furthermore, there were no Black judges, politicians, or policemen, to enforce

the equal part of the rule of the law. Yet, segregation as a policy and social practice was

maintained so that whites in this country were able to continue in a position of privilege,

and all of the aforementioned occupations as a collective whole made sure that the

separate was enforced.

While I was growing up, college was depicted as an unrealistic privilege, or a

place that was for individuals with the exact opposite cultural upbringing that described

my life. Most of the adults I knew went straight to work from high school, or simply

never did much at all. To me, they appeared to be fairly successful; at least in the sense

that they were not living on the street. My belief in this sentiment stemmed from the fact

that there were members of my community that called concrete crevices and deserted

entrances to liquor stores home, usually do to substance abuse. The resulting consequence

was that I adopted an attitude that reflected the negative light in which I viewed my

surroundings and myself. My life experience, or perhaps my life with a lack of

experiences, had created an anxiety or concern in which I never seemed able to fulfill my

own limitless potential. Instead, I seemed to only hold a steadfast belief in a negative

stereotype about myself, my peers, and the subcultural values that were often used to

define my environment and immediate social group as deficit.

The intriguing fact of the matter was that perhaps my observation of my

environment being obtusely insufficient was accurate. Even more pointedly, the notion

that I felt no interest in the remedial stages of my education was directly linked to a long-

standing history of Blacks not being given equal access to education in the United States.

In 1930, the NAACP commissioned a study of the state of civil rights that were granted

to Blacks in America. Exemplifying the idea of separate but not equal, were the way

schools were segregated in this country. Black children and White children went to

separate schools, yet the overall quality of education offered to whites was considerably

better in terms of textbooks, facilities, and an academic curriculum that demonstrated that

all things scholarly and ingenious were White. Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall

began addressing the issue of segregation with graduate schools with the understanding

that it would be easier to prove the fallacy of the policy at the graduate level while

simultaneously setting precedence for legal grounds. They were successful and the end

result was that on May 17, 1954 Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

banned segregation in public schools (Emery, Gold, & Braselmann, 2008). The point is

that laws are never created in a vacuum, and this is clearly an example of a law being

changed to address a social ill. In the same vane, today students assigned to public

schools are designated to their district school. In neighborhoods that are considered in

need or socio/economically challenged, the schools in these areas demonstrate the same
needs. Black people populate most low-income neighborhoods in this country, and there

is a further substantiated correlation between socioeconomic statuses and standardized

testing scores. The significance is that standardized testing is used to determine a

student’s viability of continuing education past the high school level, and low scores

alienate individuals from the possibility of higher education. Because Black children are

disproportionately poorer than whites they receive a remedial education in comparison,

and are systematically weeded out of higher education. This form of institutional racism

directly connects to my personal experience, and explains my disillusionment of pursuing

a collegiate career.

A continued part of my life experience, is that I am a member of the formerly

incarcerated community. Thus, my immediate mistrust of the law and its corresponding

bureaucracy. For this reason, I wanted to organize an event connected to an organization

that works to address a social ill perpetuated by the system of law enforcement. I chose

to do an event with Project Rebound. Project Rebound, as a service-providing entity, is a

special admission program at SFSU, housed under Associated Students Inc., deals

exclusively with formerly incarcerated students, both current and prospective. Assisting

both men and women who wish to enter SFSU, Project Rebound provides an academic

and social network, that allows its students to redefine and “rehabilitate” themselves, with

education as the primary vehicle.

The “Spread Off” was an event where formerly incarcerated

individuals, some of whom currently attend SFSU prepared

“traditional” prison foods that consisted of junk food items- potato

chips, ramen noodles, beef jerky, pork rinds, kool aid, etc. The
combination of these and other items to make more traditional types

of dishes such as sweet and sour pork are tangible examples of making

something innately undesirable into something edible and more akin to

home style cuisine. The purpose was to demonstrate that even in a set

of circumstances as purposefully degrading as imprisonment there are

traceable strands of humanity. There are traceable strands of

humanity because prisons are filled with the mothers, brothers, sisters,

fathers, and children of the rest of the living world. Part of dispelling

any variety of stereotypical myths is illustrating that generalizing any

group of people based of the inaccurate perceptions of individuals is

wrong. Watching fellow students and current faculty members taste

the various dishes and ultimately decide on a winner was unique and

refreshing as an experience. The most astounding aspect of the event

was that even after a winner had been declared, and all of the dishes

had been sampled, the judges and audience members finished the rest

of the food. The highest compliment that could have been paid to the

men and women who have grown accustomed to being looked at as

less than.

My intent was to give a face to an issue that is ultimately

regarded as uncomfortable. I wanted the guest and participants to

realize that there are probably more factors unifying them as people

than there are separating them as formerly incarcerated and

upstanding citizens. The event was less about social justice and more
accurately described as a reckoning; the reconciliation of conflicting

ideologies. All people make mistakes, and the sequence of events that

eventually lead to making a mistake can never be undone. However, to

force an individual to be defined by that mistake and ultimately be

treated as less than for a lifetime is the biggest crime of all.

The organizing of the event was a challenge in and of itself. Part

of my plan was to promote coalition building amongst other ASI

entities and to foster personal relationships and community building in

the school as a whole. I went to the varying other programs housed

within ASI and they all vocalized their intent to attend in the event as

active participants and contribute to the success of the event. Several

organizations have tied the issues of their own served populations to

that of Project Rebound’s and stated that they would integrate

themselves into the event and engage in an initiated and possibly

ongoing conversation about how each of our student groups could

benefit from continued collaboration. The general consensus was that

we were all trying to correct some social injustice that had been

created by a system that is inherently racist, sexist, elitist, etc. I had

counted on the integration of these other points of view to add to the

richness of the event. Because I attributed the success of the event to

a projected diversity among its participants, the event, although

successful, was hindered because these individuals were unable or

unwilling to fulfill their commitments to attend.

 In dealing with this disappointment, I learned in the end that

there were contradictions in the way that varying programs and

individuals wanted to evoke social change not unlike the differing

perspectives between civil rights’ organizations like SNCC and SCLC.

These two organizations, fighting for the same cause, had conflicting

perspectives. The culmination of these differences was evidenced in

the incident nicknamed “Turnaround Tuesday.” During the Selma to

Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965, SNCC and other groups

faced physical persecution at the hands of embittered white southern

racists, crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge out of Selma. “Bloody

Sunday,” as it is also known, gave rise for SNCC to call for support from

Dr. King’s SCLC only two days after the violence against SNCC. The

following Tuesday, instead of facing the enemy head on and facing the

consequences boldly endured by SNCC members, Dr. King, in an effort

to protect his people, chose to “turnaround” and turn his back on the

possible infliction of harm on other human beings.

The concluding result was that we were able to cultivate new

relationships and re-establish existing ones with the individuals and

specific organizations that were in attendance. Understanding that it is

not always about the quantity of people that are willing to attend an

event is essential. Sharing a common bind with a few individuals that

hold in their hearts the same passion for change is all you need to

create a movement.