The only thing that went right for me on day 13 was waking up early enough to catch a glimpse of this cloud. It was very powerful. I couldn't find support from Danville, VA across the border into North Carolina. I was stuck. I didn't want to fall behind on miles so I got up before sun up and walked 15 miles then turned around and headed back to my hotel. I did get to cross the border into NC seeing it was only 7 miles away. I then got on the phone looking for a way to move my gear ahead. I really thought that by this point things would be going smoother but, they weren't.I took advantage of the time I had and caught up on the video blogs, contacted press, wrote some and prayed a whole lot. I held tight to my faith. I wasn't going to let anything shake my faith.
By the time I was near passing out I still hadn't made a connection with anyone so I did what I was trying to avoid at all costs; I called and reserved for a car service to pick me up early and drive me and my gear ahead into NC. With that done I tried to get some sleep.
As I lay there trying to sleep I thought of all the brothers I left behind when I got out of prison as I often do. Most won't be coming home anytime soon, some will never come home. I also thought about all the brothers and sisters on the row. It drives me crazy how prisoners are treated worst then animals in prison, I'm not exaggerating. Here in America they capture wild animals and keep them captive in environments close to their natural habitats. It's all artificial but they try to make it as close to the real thing as possible. For prisoners it's the complete opposite. They literally go out of their way to make your life a living hell. People for some reason think that prison should be a place of torment when nowhere does it say in the law books that prisoners are to be subjected to less the human conditions. Hell being removed from existence, from your family, your spouse is a punishment nobody will understand till they themselves live through it. To make matters worse, most guards take it upon themselves to make your time behind bars 100 times worse than it already is. Some guards are extremely cruel, making some prisoners lash out violently. I believe this is exactly what they want because then they don't feel so guilty keeping their own brothers and sisters in cages.
The dehumanization one goes through in prison to me is torture, there is no other way to put it. Having the name your parents gave to you taken away like the slaves back in the day was something I had a big problem with. I did time in the hole (Solitary) many times for refusing to answer to 305375. They tried beating it into my brain. This is just one of many factors in the dehumanization process. This is what the prisoner dedications is all about. For a day I bring their name out, their picture if I can. I want everyone to know these are humans the state are killing; not numbers, not monsters but sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers. Many people will say well they are getting what they deserve. Let me tell you, if we all got what we deserved, there would be no one left walking this planet. I think it's time we all stop pointing our fingers and start taking social responsibility, but that's just me talking. I myself made a lot of wrong choices in life, but in truth I didn't have many options at the time. It takes a village to raise a child.
Meeting with high school students involved in future leaders program in Maryland. Each one teach one!
On this day, I walked for Woody Wilson - CA death row
Michael Morales - CA death row.
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