An Open Invite

As most of my readers probably already know, I'm a formerly incarcerated person. For the rest of you -- Surprise! Surprise! When I'm not toiling away at my keyboard I spend a goodly amount of my time working in the field of prisoner reentry through my non-profit organization Neighborhood Solutions, Inc.

I attempt to shed some much needed light on the problem of individuals returning home from a period of incarceration, and I do it mainly for one reason: I don't want these dudes whacking me upside the head in a robbery attempt because they are desperate. I'd much rather they were able to find some kind of honest way to earn their daily bread so that we taxpayers don't have to foot the bill for them to once again be incarcerated.

As sane as the foregoing might sound, you, dear reader, have no idea how many folks feel that these folks don't deserve a second chance ... unless, of course, they happen to be a blood relative ... then it becomes another story entirely. Please note that I used the word "feel" in the last sentence, not "think" simply because no "thought" processes are not involved in pejorative decision-making and mindless hating.

Part of my efforts at educating the public in regards to prisoner reentry resulted in the producing of a pilot documentary, entitled "The Long Road Home ... The Story of Prisoner Reentry in America." I'm hopeful of locating funding so that it becomes a regularly-scheduled half hour cable TV program that helps to reduce recidivism. The 40-minute film, which features a number of experts on reentry (as well as currently incarcerated individuals), will make its debut on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 3 pm at Scott Auditorium on the campus of MetroHealth, 2500 MetroHealth Drive, on the near Westside. No reservations are required, so I hope to see you there.

New Legislation Needed

There has to be a special place in Hell for folks like Eric Gein, the owner of the Los Angeles-based Internet company that sells "memorabilia" from serial killers like Anthony Sowell. While laws have long been in place to prevent individuals who commit heinous crimes from profiting from them (say, by writing a book) Gein has found a clever way around them: He has these monsters write letters instead.

Here's how it works: He has a group of serial killer groupies write letters to incarcerated high profile killers befriending them, and in turn they write back. At one point, supposedly Charles Manson was receiving mail sacks full of letters, and it's my understanding that he still receives more mail by far than any other prisoner in the State of California.

Gein then puts the letters from these twisted killers up for sale on his website. The asking price for an "original, signed" Sowell letter is currently $200. And don't think for one minute that Gein is not going to have someone send a money order to the commissary account of Sowell when and if the letter is sold. Geez, there are some real creepy motherfuckers out there!

Eight states have already made it against the law for people like Sowell to write letters to companies like the one Gein owns; it's time Ohio joined those other states.

The families of the 11 victims of the Imperial Avenue killing spree should band together and approach state lawmakers to request such a law be put on Ohio's books. While it won't bring their loved ones back, it will, in a sense, empower them to some degree ... they will feel as if they have gained some degree of control over the monster who has so impacted their lives.

The Amazing Dr. West

For all of you who missed Princeton Professor Dr. Cornel West at Baldwin Wallace's "Enduring Questions Lecture Series" on Friday, Jan. 22, I did see someone from the college filming; do yourself a favor and see if you can get a copy of his remarks, it will be worth your effort.

One of the amazing things Dr. West said (that I had known, but somehow had forgotten) was that, at the time of Martin Luther King's death in 1968, an astonishing 55 percent of African-Americans had a negative perception of him and his work. This was due mainly to his anti-war sentiments on Vietnam.

This takeaway bit of information was, for me, well-worth the trip out to Berea, and encourages me greatly to continue to speak truth to power. It arms me against the slings and arrows of my detractors who wish that I would just shut the hell up. Again, as Chuck D. once said "You should rather be hated for what you are, than loved for what you are not." Hush, truth.

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier's From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.frombehindthewall.com.