From Marisol Santos-Perez

First and foremost, I’ve got to thank everyone who’s been out here organizing, providing resources, and helping the youth to be successful.  

I’ve been able to sit at many tables and I know it’s not an easy role, but I am grateful for the opportunity. 

The Youth Consortium is a collaborative leadership of three groups: Creative Justice, Community Passage Ways & RBAC. I have been in the leadership team for about 2 years, among a few other YATTAS. Within that time, we have tapped into a few things like The Youth Achievement Center (YAC) a building in South Seattle where there will be affordable housing amongst other spaces inside of it. We had cyphers on what we should provide and what we want it to look like. We also worked with some architects to help draw up our ideas. 

The more recent work we’ve been doing is collaborating with the Inside-Out movement that was created by folx that are incarcerated. The culture presidents got together to organize and help folx that are inside get out by bringing awareness and making policy recommendations. I know a lot of people have many opinions about this, but we all know that black and brown folx always get more time than a white man would.

Last Tuesday, leadership held a vigil at Pritchard Beach for some of the folx that have been part of the movement and passed while they were incarcerated. These systems in place are not made for us to succeed. So I will make sure that I help do the work that’s needed to help my peers and the community. Healing is a need, so creating spaces like these vigils is part of it.  

I’ll leave you with this

 

I am daughter 

Whose parents did time 

So when you read this piece 

Understand the pain that comes with it

Cuz I’m not the only one.

 

There’s families that lose 

Son & daughters, nieces & nephews,

Mothers & fathers, siblings & cousins

Due to mass incarceration

Another system in place 

Slavery if I may say 

Giving them numbers instead of calling them by name

                          

Yall throw our black and brown youngins into prisons

Locking them up 

Like if they were animals at the zoo 

Knowing that a brain ain’t fully developed 

Until the age of 25 foo

 

Instead of working to help search for what the root 

Cause of their actions are

Yall charging them with years 

When a white folk gets months 

Or be out by the end of the hearing

 

Just cause they made mistakes 

It doesn’t defined them 

God said “He that is without sin, cast the first stone” 

You and me both know  

You can’t cast a stone 

 

Rip to Corey Lewis

36 years old 

He passed from a infection 

He was suppose to come home

But i know He found his purpose 

He’s an inspiration

Created art

Sharing wisdom & knowledge 

standing for what is right 

until the end of his days

Inside-out he was part of the movement 

Speaking thru his art 

Forever in our hearts 

 

My blood boils 

When I hear stories from the inside 

How correctional officers and the system mistreat my people

solitary confinement. 

23 hours 

By yourself 

A cell where 

no sun comes in, only lights 

4 walls and not allowed to no phone calls

That aint right

Destroying them mentally

People are fighting for their lives on the daily

 

We lost another 

Had him in solitary over a month

He took his own life 

Yall got me fucked up 

 

There’s not enough resources for care

Showing you they don’t Care enough 

So Why do we allow prisons to grow

Why do we put money into these systems 

When we got other problems 

That need solutions and funding 

 

Money comes and goes

so why not invest into

To movements and policy changes

Shout out to the YATTAS at RBAC & youth consortium 

Cause we been making moves nd working on changes

From being present in the neighborhood

To making policy recommendations 

Its not just a non profit and organizational thing 

We need the community 

Not just speaking on it 

But  practice what they preach. 

 

-Mae Dinero

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