Injustice and “A Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (with Dwayne Betts)

Dwayne Betts: It’s really amazing because in my life, all the good things I’ve found – and I swear this is true – have come from trying to do something for others. Therefore, for the first time, the King’s family had authorized a collection of books, individual books to come out that were based on speech. Also, the first book was I’m a dream, and the introduction was written by the children of the Lord. Also, it’s cool. This book is actually written separately and laid out as the Lord spoke, so you can read it and match his voice, almost like a poem, almost like actually living in the words. They wanted to put books in prison.

And my friend, Brother Yao, Hoke S. Glover, whom I met when I came home from prison, less than a month after I got out of prison, I had read all the books on this. He was selling books from a cart and I had read, like, everything of them. He said, ‘What college do you go to?’ I hadn’t finished college yet. He said, ‘What school do you go to?’ I looked. I said, ‘Look man, I just got out of jail.’ And then, he asked me, ‘So, you’re a poet?’ Who asked that question after hearing the word ‘prison’?

I told him yes, and we became friendly; and I ended up working at this black bookstore called Karibu Books. So, a big part of my life came from that. But, he knew people from Harper Collins and they wanted to put a book in prisons. And, so, he introduced me to people and we talked. They told me about the project and I said, ‘Wait a minute. Did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did you ever write anything about prison?’

And, remember, I know him he did, but I must have been overwhelmed by the thought that—because I’d say we’re going to put 1,500 copies of this book in prisons all over the country. And, it made sense. Because that meant I had to do it on credit[?], I did it with Primo Levi. It meant that I was doing this important thing and I was doing it for the kaleidoscope of the world that I cared about. They said, ‘Yeah, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”‘ And, I said, ‘What kind of fool am I?’

And I said, ‘Wait a minute. Let me ask you something.’ Because they had people writing introductions. I said, ‘Does anybody write an introduction to that? Because I have to write that one. I’ll tell you why.’ But, they said, ‘Well, go ahead, let’s check real quick.’ And, they were like, ‘Weirdly, we have all of their people except that one.’

I said, ‘Look, let me tell you a story. Now I’m in jail on December 8, and on December 9, I go to court and find out I’m going to miss Christmas.’

And, I start crying uncontrollably, man, because the new PlayStation was coming out, and I just knew I was going to get it. But, again, man, I wasn’t going to see my mom until the new year. That’s what they told me. That tells you that I didn’t understand that I wouldn’t see my mother for a long time a lot For the New Year. But I told him, I explained that I only cried twice in prison, and it was that day; then it was the next year, and I was on the bed. And, it was one of these MLK days and I had heard this story many times, but, man, that day I heard it–The Bus Boycott, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the civil rights movement. And, I couldn’t stop crying.

I mean, I knew I just wasted my life, man, with a gun and $10. And, I tell them this story: I said, ‘Man, I’ve got to write this introduction.’ And, like, ‘Cool story, but the family, the permits, I don’t know if this is going to happen, bro. But I love you. We love you. We love Freedom Reads. Let’s check it out. Let’s see if the family will allow this.’ And, I thought to myself, ‘Why-why do they agree me?’ So, I give it up. And three, four days later, they hit me up and said, ‘Dwayne, you wouldn’t believe this. You are on the short list of people who have been authorized by the family to write any of these introductions.’

That’s hard to believe. In prison, you have to have faith especially if you are the most vulnerable person in prison. And, that’s when I was at least in the top 2% of high-risk people in prison–120 pounds, 16 years old in a situation I didn’t belong in. No friends, no cousin, no family. You have to have faith, you know. But, you come home and think that everything you do outside is controlled by your own hands.

And every once in a while, it’s just amazing how I’m reminded that, man, who would have thought this would happen? And that’s the story.