MOSES NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER ROC Wisconsin Campaign Launch! WISDOM is continuing to push for changes in the state's parole system. They are calling on the state Department of Corrections to release the names of the more than 2,000 paroleeligible inmates. MOSES members joined more than a hundred other activists from churches across the state on Tuesday in Madison to launch a "prayer for reform campaign." Some MOSES members attended a press conference in the afternoon, while others distributed ROC literature to all of the Wisconsin legislators. Karen Julesberg of MOSES stated, “the press conference was energizing, informative and gave a real sense that WISDOM is making a difference by making things forward. WISDOM is passionate and cares. It was good to hear what is happening. I know that I am part of something larger than my own effort.” Lisa Munro also from MOSES commented, “I was heartened by successes of WISDOM, the federal order to ban the box on federal employment applications, the decrease in solitary confinement in Wisconsin and I was challenged by the needs that still exist getting more people released on parole by ending crimeless revocations.” On the whole, everyone reported being refreshed and inspired by Tuesday’s events. Let’s keep this momentum going!
The Testimonial Project
Excerpts from a letter written by Rudy Bankston to his daughter. Rudy was serving a life sentence and wrote to his daughter at the birth of her first child. Rudy was incarcerated for most of his daughter’s life. One of the last prison letters I wrote to my daughter:
“The way you see yourself now, as a grown woman, was shaped early in life, in the years you were a little girl… Women learn from their mothers what it means to be a woman. If a woman is comfortable with her own femininity, her beauty, her strength, then chances are good that her daughter will be too… Whether good or bad, whether redemptive or destructive, our relationships with our mothers affected us to the core of our beings, helping to shape us into the women we have become… If you want to understand any woman, you must first ask about her mother and then listen carefully.” Stasi Eldredge
Diamond, With you having a newborn daughter, I take it that the above quote struck a few chords. Although Dior can’t really talk right now, she does hear, feel, and absorb a great deal. The first year of a baby’s life is the most impressionable. In the case of Dior, she’s closest to you, so your every word, emotion, and action in her presence dominates in influence. You are youngin’s first teacher and mentor, directly and indirectly, just as your mothers was yours. You’ve picked up patterns of thought and behavior, any number of patterns, from Chasity. The way you relate to others, engage and talk to others, and the whatnots are in one way or another the offshoots of those early years under her influence. This isn’t necessary all negative nor all positive. It was what it was, is what it is. Had I been free and active in your daily life, I’m sure I would share more of the credit and blame for your strengths and shortcomings, highs and lows. My absence has done it share of wrong, I will admit. However, that’s a childhood thing, and while conditions shape girls, women shape conditions. You’re grown now and have to take full ownership of yourself. You need take control of Diamond. Giving up control is childish. Acting as though you can’t control how you think about and react to any given situation is a convenient copout. It’s no different than when a kid falls out in a fit at the store because s/he didn’t get what s/he wanted. An adult acting out in a similar way appears far worse. Failing to control yourself in relationships can bring them to ruin. Failing to do it at work can get you fired. Not doing it at home can bring down the roof and leave the household crushed. Not controlling yourself in the streets can very well end in a fatality. First and foremost, it about controlling your own thoughts. Everything in existence, everything said, carried out, and/or created began in someone’s mind. Everything! This makes it crucial to keep a close eye and tight leash on how you think. More importantly, it boils down to how you process. Do you hear the voice of your worth and potential louder and more often than you hear the false propaganda of your insecurities? How do you distinguish between them? Which voice builds you up and which voice tears you down? Hearing either one is actually normal. Listening to the right one is pivotal. This duality is in all of us in some form or another. If you are interested in reading more, you will find the complete letter on our website mosesmadison.org . You can also read more of Rudy’s work and support a formerly incarcerated individual by visiting his website and purchasing his first published novel, Shed So Many Tears. The website is http://www.iamweclassics.com/ . Submissions for the Newsletter and the Calendar Send your submissions to newsletter@mosesmadison.org! Do you have an upcoming social justice event that you think MOSES members might be interested in? Send all event submissions with necessary information to the MOSES communications committee at calendar@mosesmadison.org!