By Tiffany Munoz

I would like to tell you a story about education, hope, leadership, and critical resistance. To do so, I must take you back to the fall of 2018. At this time in my life, I was a junior enrolled in a course called Social Problems taught by Megan McDrew at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It was a Tuesday & Thursday class taught at 9:50 am during the most perfect season. The weather was inviting and it wasn’t that cold in the early mornings. I would stumble through the door of this class twice a week, often wearing my favorite off the shoulder floral shirt, and sit in the second row, slowly inching my way up to the first row as the quarter progressed. Little did I realize how this class would change the course of my life.  

I stumbled into this class as a sociology student, but with no real direction of where I was headed and what path was calling my name. I knew I was a part of something bigger than me and I knew I was guided to every single moment that I experienced. However, it was not yet clear to me who I was and where I was going. But this course illuminated a path that I followed and it has brought me to this very moment in time. I was taught to consider what my role is in social justice and I was taught to cultivate the attributes that I want to be remembered by. I was taught to question the norms around many institutions that sit within this country and I was taught to think critically about every pocket of tragedy in America–from tribal land devastation by America’s violence and historical erasure of a people to neighborhoods lacking in resources, educational funding, accessibility to food, to prisons filled with men and women who are socialized into a role of “deviance.” I left that course forever changed as I now see the injustice in every facet of life. The most profound experience for me as a student of Megan’s was the experience of visiting prisons. These were fundamentally the experiences that left me as a changed woman and drew me to the work I am now doing.

I remember the first time I left prison after our very anticipated tour. I was deeply saddened and disturbed by what I just saw, and more so disturbed by how caging “deviant” men and women was normalized. I could not conceptualize how we armor seemingly normal human beings (guards) into the role of forcing prisoners into submission with violence and the weaponization of dehumanizing tactics to break their spirit. I sat in my car as all these feelings came rushing into my head.. How could this be so normalized? How could this be considered so socially acceptable, rehabilitating, and a form of “justice?” I had the privilege of going on 3 tours to two different prisons, Correctional Training Facility and Salinas Valley Prison — a minimum and maximum security. I then was able to volunteer a handful of times in the courses Megan taught within one of the prisons. These experiences were absolutely invaluable, in fact I am led to believe every citizen in America needs to go on a prison tour after this experience. During two-quarters of courses with Megan, I became incredibly drawn to prison work, activism, and developed a profound sense of hope that we can and will make a change in this country. 

A year and a half later, I am nearly 22 years old and have stumbled across the path of an organization where I would come to meet some folks who have become a second family to me. I have found a mentor within a profound man by the name of Ivan Kilgore. He has been incarcerated for the last 20 years, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. While incarcerated, he was able to found a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, United Black Family Scholarship Foundation (UBFSF), with the assistance of friends and family. From behind bars he has authored several books and built this organization. 

At the start of 2020, I was offered an internship with UBFSF and I will be accepting a position of employment with them post-graduation. We have a number of projects and programs we are working on to achieve our mission of “Rebuilding the Community from within the Community.” They range from internships, community reinvestment, working with youth, scholarships and community awards, and publishing books written by prisoners. I am incredibly humbled to be working with such an amazing and unique organization. We will rebuild communities that are plagued with high incarceration rates, poverty, drug use, and violence — we will empower those who are the most affected by the structural and systemic issues of race and class. We will challenge the status quo and denaturalize the reality laid before us. 

Two weeks ago I met Oklahoma Senator Connie Johnson while at UBFSF’s Nonprofit & Leadership Coaching Conference in Oklahoma City with guest speaker Glenn E. Martin. Mr.Martin notably has raised over $75 million dollars in the nonprofit sector. Without question, I gained valuable insight and networking opportunities. Glenn taught us how to navigate leadership and social justice. I tell you all of this because this organization and the amazing folks working within it and around it will create change. We will be leaders and we will advocate for the change this country needs.

All of this matters because Megan McDrew was the link to this connection — to finding my passions and direction in life, to connect with Ivan, to working with a non-profit who has become a second family to me, and to finding hope even when the future seems bleak. 

Never underestimate the power of education and experience. Megan’s courses offered this to me, both in the form of books that humbled me with knowledge and with experiences that left me deeply changed. I would not be here today, nor would I be embarking on this journey of social justice with UBFSF, without the beautiful and hard work of Megan McDrew.

–and when I author my own books, speak in front of crowds, and become an elected official one day, I will always remember and acknowledge the work of Megan McDrew and how she enlightened a path for me and hundreds of other students.