Blog | United Black Family Scholarship Foundation
We Care For Our Pets Better Than Our Incarcerated Citizens
He’s gone years without touching or being touched by another human being (except when the guards put handcuffs on him to escort him from his cell).
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY NEGRO BECOMES FIERCE SCHOLAR!
In Souls of Black Folks W.E.B. Du Bois tells of the story of John Jones, a happy-go-lucky Negro from the small town of Altamaha, Georgia. John is a free spirit who’s always laughing, smiling, and singing. He’s loud and boisterous. Unfortunately, John is not very...
Michael L. McKuin: Fighting Injustice Through Science Fiction and Horror
Michael L. McKuin: Fighting Injustice Through Science Fiction and Horror By Michael McKuin and Laurie Tang For some, writing is a hobby, a means of creative expression. But for Michael L. McKuin, author of Kill the Bastard, writing is a lifeline, using it as a weapon...
PRISON SLAVE MOVEMENT–AN ABOLITIONIST CRITIQUE
Not Worker, But Chattel Ivan Kilgore Whereas the positionality of the worker (whether a factory worker demanding a monetary wage, an immigrant, or a white woman demanding a social wage) gestures toward the reconfiguration of civil society, the positionality of the...
Can You See Yourself With It?
By Mandrel Miller G29534 P.O. Box 1902 Tehachapi, CA 93581 In 2006, I was in the Wayside facility of the LA County Jail fighting at three-strike case for robbery when I met this OG pimp named “Dark Gable.” Dark Gable was in his early forties, about 6' 2” with dark...
The Pen v. the Sword
Opportunities Are Created!
FACING DEATH PENALTY, AGNOSTIC STARTS TO PRAY–RADIO INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR IVAN KILGORE.
FACING DEATH PENALTY, AGNOSTIC STARTS TO PRAY–RADIO INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR IVAN KILGORE.
Black August: Black Incarcerated Voices Shape Society By Isabella Cain
Black August is a time to remember the history of Black resistance within and beyond the carceral systems. Rooted in the experiences of incarcerated Black activists and organizers, the month is a time for political education, solidarity, remembrance, and reflection....
LIFERS WITH OPTIMISTIC PROGRESS
Truth as told by those in power has been formatted to fit into the scheme of their agenda, which makes it a product propaganda. Truth as told by the powerless is a truth unscathed by such distortion, which makes it a reality. As such, the truth as told by the...
From Prison Cells to the State Capitol: How Incarcerated Voices Reshape Nonprofit Advocacy By Ivan Kilgore
From Prison Cells to the State Capitol: How Incarcerated Voices Reshape Nonprofit Advocacy By Ivan Kilgore An inside-out perspective on lived experience, storytelling, and nonprofit advocacy For more than 26 years, I have lived inside a system that has often tried to...
Systems Can Change Through Storytelling By Timmy Young
Systems Can Change Through Storytelling By Timmy Young Systems do not change simply because people recognize problems. Systems change when people see themselves inside the solution. Storytelling creates that bridge. It connects information to emotion, vision to...
The Power of Labels: Murder & Society
one day he’s doing a life sentence deemed a threat to public safety, and then the next, “poof!” With a mere change of the law he is no longer a threat and is free after almost three decades in prison
From Sundance to San Quentin: Cori Thomas
From Sundance to San Quentin: Cori Thomas By Isabella Cain, UBFSF Media & Marketing Director When playwright and advocate Cori Thomas first walked through the halls of San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (formerly San Quentin State Prison), she carried assumptions...
Community, Culture and Healing By Tavia ‘Tay’ Pennington
"Community, Culture, and Healing" By Tavia ‘Tay’ Pennington “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” While this proverb expresses a sentiment of growth beyond individuality, it can get lost in theory when a community is choked by...
Lessons Learned Through Life, Service & Building People By Timmy Young
Lessons Learned Through Life, Service & Building People By Timmy Young Healing does not begin in buildings. It begins in people. I’ve learned through experience that communities don’t collapse overnight, and they don’t heal overnight either. Healing starts when...
Reclaiming Our Humanity: Community, Culture, and Healing
Reclaiming Our Humanity: Community, Culture, and Healing By Ivan Kilgore For much of my younger life, I believed crime was primarily the result of individual choices. I accepted the common narrative that if people simply made better decisions, our communities would...
What Change Means on the Inside By Ivan Kilgore
What Change Means on the Inside By Ivan Kilgore People often ask whether people can truly change in prison. It’s a fair question, but I believe it’s the wrong one. The better question is : What does change actually look like on the inside ? For many people, change is...
A Tool in Your Hands By Gregory Ringler
A Tool in Your Hands AI will not save anyone. But in the right hands, used for the right reasons, it can help a person save themselves. Here is what that looks like behind the wall. By Gregory Ringler There is more being written about artificial intelligence right now...
Socialism vs. Capitalism: Food For Thought!
It done got real UBF fam! Tomorrow (Sunday, August 18th ) our most recent addition to the organization, Cedric O'Bannon, informed he will be conducting a video interview with the following individuals for an international conference on socialism. On behalf of the...
Inside Leadership, Outside Impact
Inside Leadership, Outside Impact By Isabella Cain One of the most overlooked employment pathways for formerly incarcerated individuals begins long before release. It starts inside prison, where individuals take on leadership roles in educational programs, peer...