Community

Christian and Muslim Prisoners Forgive Each Other

Published

11 years ago

April 14, 2015

“The longer I held it to myself, the angrier I got. But, God had another plan. I understood that the killing of my brothers stops with me.”

By Juan Haines, San Quentin News Managing Editor

For years, a Christian and a Muslim prisoner lived in the same housing unit, mentoring their fellow convicts.

One was a church elder, the other a military veteran and self-help facilitator. Each knew little of the other’s past — one had murdered the other’s uncle, while the nephew vowed one day to avenge his uncle’s death.

When the two eventually met to reconcile the past, more than 100 inmates stood in a prison chapel, clapping their hands to the rhythm of a tambourine and singing, “I got a feeling that everything is going to be all right.”

“Twenty years ago, I committed a crime. I murdered Mr. Brian Thompson,” Derrick Holloway told the audience. His sermon centered on the importance of forgiveness.

Holloway compared un-forgiveness to dropping an anchor and saying, “This is where I’m going to be. Like with brothers and sisters, the justice system, cellies, friends, different faiths. The Lord is challenging us to pick up that anchor, because a storm is coming.”

Holloway invited the nephew of the person he murdered to the stage.

Abdul Raheem Thompson-Bonilla walked up to Holloway, embraced him and with tears in his eyes said, “I want him to share some words; it’s a funny thing, how men have thoughts, and God steps in. God has showed favor on me and opened my heart.”

The audience stood up and gave applause.

Thompson-Bonilla told the audience what 18 years of unforgiving and vengeance could do to a person.

“The longer I held it to myself, the angrier I got. But, God had another plan. I understood that the killing of my brothers stops with me,” he said.

“I could not deny the favor of forgiveness that God has given me. So, when it came to my brother, Holloway, I looked him in the eye, and told him that I forgive him.”

Holloway went on to talk about the meaning of true forgiveness.

“We need to forgive each other without condition,” he said.

“To be long-suffering with your brother,” he continued. “If you want forgiveness, you’ve got to give it. When you sit in that boardroom, you want forgiveness. We in prison have a way of pushing away some inmates who committed a certain kind of crime, but we have to forgive everyone. In order to have forgiveness, there must be dialogue. If there’s going to be real forgiveness, there must be some type of dialogue. I think that Victims Offender Education Group has it right when they make people write a forgiveness letter. You have to have a conversation.”

Holloway warned of the dangers of not forgiving, or saying, “I’m not going to forgive.”

“I believe that many of us, right now, are seeing the faces of those to who we are saying, ‘I will not forgive.’ Like the one who told on me, I would not forgive. My brother, I would not forgive. My pastor, I would not forgive. My enemy, I would not forgive. My wife, I would not forgive. This is not a Christian thing, this is not a religious thing,” Holloway said. “It’s a human thing. We all need to forgive in order to defeat our enemy.”

He said that the enemy keeps the door of un-forgiveness open. “There are a lot of us who have these places of un-forgiveness.”

“The foundation of what Christ did was forgiveness. So, if the enemy knows he can shake your foundation of forgiveness, then he has you,” Holloway warned. “Father forgive them, because they know not what they do,” Holloway read from the Bible.

Holloway invited everyone in the church to come forward if they had issues of un-forgiveness that they’d like to address.

More than half the church went forward as a pastor prayed that they’d find forgiveness in their lives.

“Dear Lord, I give you all the hurt that I’ve done to others. Today I give it all to you,” the pastor said. “Every bit of it. Today, you break the pain and anguish. So that the men here can walk out of here free. No one will leave this place the same.”

Thompson-Bonilla thanked everyone who facilitated the meeting, including other veterans and all his Muslim brothers, who he said didn’t know the particulars of why they were in church that day.

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Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

Published

21 hours ago

September 7, 2026

Oakland Post

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Business

Longtime BWOPA Member Brendalyn Goodall Appointed to California Workforce Development Board

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed longtime Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) member Brendalynn Goodall to the California Workforce Development Board. Goodall, an Oakland resident with decades of experience in public service, has held leadership positions focused on

Published

1 week ago

August 30, 2026

Post News Group

Post Co-Publisher Gay Plair Cobb with Brendalynn Goodall. Courtesy photo.

By California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed longtime Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) member Brendalynn Goodall to the California Workforce Development Board.

Goodall, an Oakland resident with decades of experience in public service, has held leadership positions focused on employment, aging services and assistance for underserved communities.

“Brendalynn will be a great addition to this Board,” said Gay Plair Cobb, who served as former state Assemblyman Sandre Swanson’s alternate to the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB).

“She understands that California’s non-profit organizations serve persons who have the most significant barriers to their labor market success and that the Board should help these groups navigate the complicated requirements of state funding.

“In other words, she will be a strong advocate for our most marginalized populations. Her voice is needed now, more than ever.”

CWDB works with the governor to shape workforce policies, programs and investments designed to strengthen the state’s economy. It collaborates with employers, workers, labor organizations, educational institutions, community groups and California’s 45 local workforce development boards to expand access to quality jobs and respond to regional employment needs.

According to the board, its work includes coordinating state programs and guiding investments in workforce training and development.

BWOPA California celebrated the appointment, describing Goodall as a dedicated advocate for workers, families and older adults.

“Her appointment reflects a lifetime of leadership, service, and unwavering commitment to strengthening California’s workforce and expanding opportunity for all,” the organization stated in a press release.

Goodall served as summer jobs program coordinator in the Oakland Mayor’s Office from 2012 to 2014. In that position, she helped connect young people with employment opportunities and job experience.

Before joining the Mayor’s Office, Goodall was division manager for Aging and Adult Services in the City of Oakland Human Services Department from 2002 to 2011. She previously served as senior services supervisor and program director for the city’s Department of Aging, Health and Human Services from 1990 to 2002.

Goodall is also a member of the California Commission on Aging, which advises the governor and state officials on policies and programs affecting older Californians.

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Black History

Jackie Wright Champions Bay Area Stories, Filmmakers and Cultural Institutions

As an award-winning communications professional, Wright has worked with corporations, nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, artists, and community organizations. In 2026, she expanded that work by launching an introductory public relations class for small businesses and nonprofits, offering practical tools for gaining visibility, shaping messages and building productive relationships with the media.

Published

1 week ago

August 30, 2026

Post News Group

Jackie Wright of Wright Enterprises. Photo courtesy of Wright Enterprises.

By Carla Thomas

Jackie Wright has spent more than two decades helping people, organizations and communities understand the power of a well-told story.

As founder and president of Wright Enterprises, a San Francisco-based strategic communications and public affairs firm, Wright has built a career spanning journalism, public relations, media relations, crisis communications, community engagement and multimedia storytelling.

Wright’s commitment to storytelling is also deeply personal. She wrote and co-directed the 15-minute documentary, “Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor,” which chronicles the story of her parents, Specialist Five (S5 Wyley Wright Jr. and Ouida Fay McClendon Wright. Her father, a U.S. Army helicopter crew chief, died in Vietnam in 1964 while serving as an honor guard during a visit by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Decades later, Wright and her siblings had their father exhumed from a segregated cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida, and their mother moved from her burial place in Georgia so the couple could be reunited at Arlington National Cemetery in 2014.

The family journey later took Wright and her sister to Vietnam, where they discovered the former military compound that had been named in honor of their father and another fallen soldier. The documentary, centered on love, war, family, racial understanding, and remembrance, earned festival recognition at screenings.

“It was quite an honor to learn about my family’s history and share it on film,” said Wright.

That filmmaking experience complements Wright’s longstanding advocacy for independent cinema. She has served as a media partner and brand ambassador for Bay Area film festivals, including the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Oakland International Film Festival, and the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa.

“It’s important to help filmmakers and underrepresented stories reach broader audiences,” said Wright.

Whether promoting a neighborhood organization, championing an independent filmmaker or preserving her own family history, Wright has remained consistent. Through Wright Enterprises, she has turned communications into both a profession and a form of community service, telling stories that might otherwise go unheard.

“Our stories are an integral part of our history, and our history is not only American history, but worldwide,” she said.