BLACK LIVES MATTER | Page 15
Using Your Painful Past to Help Others Conquer It was a hot summer day on Wednesday, August, 15, 2018 and the fall term was opening for all students at Alabama State University (ASU). An invite from the Office of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management was soliciting the support of campus administrators to distribute cold bottles of water and breakfast juices to new and returning students. The purpose of this initiative was to assist students with getting to the right building and sharing a cool drink on a hot summer morning. In our quest to continue our distribution of refreshing cold drinks, led to my meeting a vibrant, carefree and ambitious young man who was on a journey to completing his fall term as a theatre major at ASU. I met Mr. Kuntrell Jackson. He made me chuckle as I asked if he was interested in water or a juice. He said, “nah man. I don’t want no drink. I’m good.” There was something about Mr. Jackson that I could not pin point but I found myself saying, if you ever need anything, please feel free to stop by my office. To my surprise, he stopped by my office three times after meeting him and I was finally available to connect and learn more about this student.
I had some time to chat, so I started asking him questions. The first was, what’s your story? There is something about you that’s different. He initially said, I will tell you next time but he moved on to say, type
in your computer, Kuntrell Jackson. Before I was able to type Jackson, his name appeared. I hit entered and learned about Mr. Jackson and what happened to him over 17 years ago.
I was surprised and speechless to learn that this young man was given a sentence to die in prison and by the grace of God, his sentence was reduced because of God and the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) fighting for his freedom. He was released for a crime he did not commit. When I learned this, I was compelled to continue my pursuit in learning more about Mr. Jackson. It was his life story to further confirm, that we should never judge a person by their outward appearance. We don’t know the story of the person, nor the hand they were dealt in life and what they had to do to survive in a cruel world. I’m please to know Mr. Kuntrell Jackson who is the best-selling author of Through All the PAIN, I Still Evolved. He is a popular speaker who is using his voice and story to discuss the injustices in this country against young people and what EJI has done to make a difference in his life and thousands of others around this country. Kuntrell is sharing his story and strategies for educating, engaging and empowering young people and parents about mass incarceration. I have traveled with Mr. Jackson and have witnessed him speak with college students, high school students,
