Opinion

OP-ED: “My Belief in God gives me the Strength to keep the Faith Behind Bars”

Published

11 years ago

January 20, 2015

By Richard Johnson, Folsom State Prison

What has kept me optimistically hopeful is my belief in God, not man. I truly believe that He never puts too much on our plates for us to contend with.

Each day is a test of our ability to move beyond the trials and tribulations no matter how hard or difficult they may be. I haven’t always been so passionate about a higher power.

The contrary would best describe my previous mindset.

However, my spiritual awakening came as a result of observation coupled with experiencing unimaginable life strengthening situations, that if it were not for divine intervention, all would be lost.

In these situations, my life was clearly at stake, and only by the hand of God was I spared and saved.

I lived a careless existence from day-to-day, not caring what the next held or if it came or not. This attitude was born out of having a thuggish street mentality, under the influence of narcotic stupors that ruled over my entire being.

My most endearing revelation was that being blessed with a god-fearing, devoted mother, whose daily prayers for her wayward son, has helped to shape and open my mind to the necessity of faith, trust and the belief in higher powers.

We’re mere mortals who occupy time and space on this planet by a purposeful design, constructed through a heavenly power. How else can man explain his existence beyond his own conceited illusions about his origins?

The truth is man can’t without arrogantly showing his ignorance and foolish self worth.

Being in prison with a life sentence could bring anyone to a state of inconceivable uncertainty. It can raise questions such as is life worth going on under such conditions?

But, thank God, I now know that when you have a true foundation of faith, conviction and unquestionable belief, that prison isn’t the end of life as you once thought it to be. Faith and optimism is comforting.

My life has been one of ups and downs, mostly downs, instead of conceding to the ills of oppression. My optimistic approach and my faith have given me the power of endurance to prevail as long as it takes.

Some folks seek booze, drugs and foolishness to escape the harsh realities of their imprisonment. These diversions only shade the horrors. They don’t remove them.

Through optimistic introspection and faithful study, I believe if one is steadfast in their conviction, dedicated to a better life, through a spiritual alliance with God, then nothing can detour their life’s course.

Thanks to an alliance with the higher power, I have used critical and exploration thinking to gravitate toward reality, rather than being subjugated to foolery or crusted in nonsensical beliefs and mannerisms that result from one’s perceived hopelessness.

For someone of my faith, it’s unconscionable for me to not realize that without positive insights, constant dread becomes one’s truth.

To avoid gloom and despair, you must reach deep down in your consciousness and awaken your passions to move out of a state of denial and come to know what it is to gain faith, belief and to come to know God in your life and receive all his blessings.

Post Publisher Paul Cobb has informed me that many inmates and their families and supportive congregations are reading my columns. Thank you.

Please send your thoughts and prayers to the Post to be noted online to inspire other inmates. Seize the Time!

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

COMMENTARY: Black Music is the Sound of Black Freedom: Let Us Reclaim Both This Juneteenth

Black Music Month started when Black Music Association members Ed Wright, Kenny Gamble and his wife, journalist and radio host Dyanna Williams were able to persuade President Jimmy Carter to establish the observation on June 7, 1979.

Published

21 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is thought of as the godfather of blues music, especially Delta blues. The 29 songs recorded by him during his short life have been of massive inspiration to guitarists and musicians over the last 80 years. Public domain photo.

By Wanda Ravernell

Black Music Month and Juneteenth are inextricably linked – Black music is the sound of our freedom.

From the plaintive moans of the enslaved Africans’ ‘sorrow songs,’ to the fields of Civil War battle where Black soldiers picked up abandoned bugles, to the upright piano played in juke joints on Saturday night and churches come Sunday morning, our ancestors’ innovation in the face of want, fear, degradation, and hopelessness has yielded genres of music imitated ’round the world.

In 2000, Congress made it official. In 2009, Pres. Barack Obama changed the name to African American Music Heritage Month and in 2023, Pres. Joe Biden changed it back to Black Music Month, two years after he declared Juneteenth a national holiday, the result of a movement led by Opal Lee.

Our ancestors battle for freedom over these last 400 years and the music that allowed them expression of their humanity deserved to be honored.

But we may be losing sight of the value of their sacrifices.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Faith That the Dark past Has Taught Us…’

Along with the long-known exploitation of Black musicians whose recordings were stolen by record companies, the commercialization of Juneteenth feels like another kind of theft.

I had never heard of Juneteenth until I moved to the Bay Area from my hometown of Philadelphia. I didn’t know it was one of many freedom festivals celebrated by descendants of enslaved people in the United States.

Emancipation Day was Jan. 1 in Pennsylvania, April 16 in Wash., D.C., May 20 in Florida, and Aug. 8 in Kentucky. But Juneteenth, June 19, has the most renown, known in Texas as the ‘colored peoples’ Fourth of July.’

It was marked by parades, beauty pageants, rodeos, backyard barbecues and church picnics.

Yes, church.

The formerly enslaved began the day praying in thanks for their freedom just as they had prayed for Jubilee – the day of freedom – when they had chains on their feet and hands. They ‘testified’ about their past suffering and how they had managed to overcome.

And they sang.

Although, we will not hold it this year, Omnira Institute’s Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance recalled this part of Juneteenth with prayers in the languages of the African captives. In the middle of the ceremony, a soloist would lead us in singing “Many Thousand Gone” while we took turns reciting portions of the Emancipation Proclamation, the news of freedom that took more than two years to reach Texas – two months after the Civil War ended.

“Many Thousand Gone” was famously recorded by Black luminary Paul Robeson in 1947:

“No more auction block for me,

No more, no more

No more auction black for me

Many thousand gone.”

Other verses refer to the ‘pint of salt’ and the ‘driver’s lash,’ the realities of enslavement that they had survived.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Hope That the Present has Brought Us’

All of the genres of African American music have at their root songs like that, the essence being, as Stevie Wonder, wrote, “the joy inside our pain.” So Black music is not just music. It is our story, our history, our very strength.

During the Civil Rights Movement, which peaked 100 years after slavery ended, the people testified that it was the freedom songs – based on spirituals – that gave them the heart to march, face attack dogs, fire hoses, beatings, and shootouts with vigilantes.

The music reminded them that power was in the people. That music, our music, can do so again. We don’t have to accept the commodification of the products of our culture.

The power of those songs is showing a resurgence across the South as we battle again for the right to self-determination through the ballot box.

Those songs are the voices of our ancestors, voices forged in their blood, their sweat, their tears, joy and, above all, faith. Those songs, those prayers live in our blood and our very breath.

This Juneteenth, let us reclaim those holy voices expressed in Black music for ourselves. It is our birthright. It can neither be bought nor sold. No more. Never again.

Wanda Ravernell is the executive director of Omnira Institute, sponsor for 18 years of the Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance and Oakland’s 11^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, which will take place on Sept. 12.