the spread off (prison food made edible)
DESCRIPTION
reflection of an event organized by a SFSU student working with Project ReboundTRANSCRIPT
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.