Opinion

OP-ED: Taxpayers need to know what is happening in our Prisons

Published

11 years ago

February 1, 2015

By Richard Johnson, Folsom State Prison

I truly believe that the opportunity to present my views in the Post News Group allows me to bring a much needed fresh look into the prison system and why it’s failing. I hope I can add to the dialogue of what his system is supposed to be.

<p>I intend for my columns to be an outlet for the truths that are being denied to the public.

By working in conjunction with the Post, The San Quentin News and other media outlets it can be a teaching moment to shed light on the despicable state of affairs of the men and women of every race who have unattended issues.

By bringing attention to the plight of the helpless prisoners entombed in this dysfunctional system, that intensifies their mental and physical troubles, we can help the public understand the need for some changes.

I want the Post to be on the right side of history, not only leading the charge with quality information, but also with real practical solutions. Instead of meaningless inquiries that generate ineffective and ridiculous answers, we need plans that can aid the men and women in prison.

This isn’t to imply that other concerned outlets that bring light to the prisoners haven’t been helpful in the past. On the contrary, the more attention that’s focused on the Prison Industry Complex, the less that Complex will be able to ignore the truth. We need the eyes of the community to watch their every move.

It’s through communication that we will be able to bring the walls of deceit, corruption and abuse down.

It is indefensible what is happening to those loved ones trapped in prison. Unless change and/or rectification are brought to the horrors that are the heartbeat of prison life, the probability of prisoners returning to the community in a disturbed state will be very likely.

We need the media to convey forward progressive thinking to the prisoners and to the constituents whose tax dollars pay for the functioning operations of these maligned institutions.

My column can be a megaphone that speaks loud and clear for the incarcerated who are being denied a medium to express their concerns to the public. The gravity of the neglect is too immense and heinous to allow it to go unchecked and unaddressed. To do or say nothing would essentially be condoning the actions of the destructive prison policies.

The signal needs to be sent that the gig is up and change is a must. Prisons have moved from criminal punishment to persecution, and until this is made obvious to the public, it will continue. We need helpful, practical information about the need for education and true rehabilitation. I also thank the ministers and community leaders who are using my columns to teach against violence.

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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.