May 25th, 2020, George Floyd is murdered as the world watches the air literally being suffocated from his lungs. Four officers eventually were charged in his homicide. The outcome? Who can predict. But if contemporary history is any indicator, the likelihood of a conviction for murder is slim. Even more, any resulting conviction will be a slap on the wrist. This is the world I live in today. It is a world that it still grapples with good old American racism some 46 years after I was born in 1974.

That I write this from a medium security prison cell in Northern California should come as no surprise to America. After all the social death of the African American has always been part of the American Experience. It is a truism I think about too often: How did I find myself, by the age of 26, twice charged with capital murder and eventually sentenced to life without the possibility of parole? What brought me to the point of killing another black man? What circumstances created this wanton disregard of life?

It would take me years to eventually find the answers to these questions. In fact, I am still searching for answers. I guess, in part, it is why I am writing the next chapter in my life having been asked, “How is it you keep going under such circumstances?” Then they say, “You are in prison doing more than most in the streets!” I would be lying if I said prison did not inspire me, to some extent, to step up my game and learn how to see beyond these walls. But I want to be clear, prison does not always inspire people in such a way. In fact, in most cases it does not expire at all. Nor is prison the driving force behind any measure of success I am perceived to have. My drive and success comes from the values and work ethic that was instilled in me long before I set foot in a prison. I often tell people that prior to my incarceration, I was already building the foundation to be successful….