25 Years of The Beat Within

 The Beat Within Since 1996

Thankful to have the opportunity to reconnect with a program and publication that had the kind of impact on my trajectory towards being a part of education as a teacher. In the early 2000s, as I thought about what I would focus on after being selected for the Robert E. McNair Program at NMSU, I noticed a copy of The Beat Within amongst the scattered chaos of my undergrad studies on the living room floor. I had to meet a deadline for what I wanted to focus on when it came to continuing my education in the criminal justice field. That copy on the floor of The Beat Within magazine was the answer to what would matter most to me as a student of Hip Hop and a person that wanted to support and create platforms that allowed for more voices to be heard. At the time, I wasn't aware of how education would work it's way into what I wanted to do with my life. In my experience growing up in public education, during the formative years of my elementary and secondary life, what I wanted to be was far removed from ever working in a school. Looking back, it would take a bit more growing up and connections with teachers like Susie Castro Clark from high school and my 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Barkley for me to realize the kind of impact educators can have on students that aren't quite sure where they're headed. Over the years I'd see how the value of education didn't start or stop with a school building, but existed in those that raised us, the peers we connected with, and the experiences we attached ourselves to. When I started visiting youth at a local juvenile detention center, it was the young people there that helped me see how I could start to fulfill the responsibilities of an educator, a teacher, and a guide towards creative expression. The youth of Voices Behind Walls helped me see how in our own world out here in the Southwest, we could do our thing too and connect with our creative power to rhyme, write, and share our thoughts and stories. I'm honored to continue to have that chance to think about this experience through the pages of The Beat Within. 

In the 25th Anniversary issue, I got the chance to share a reflective piece titled Tupac Shakur & The Beat Within Legacy. The writing focuses on Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur and a text she helped usher into the public's hands titled Tupac Shakur Legacy. Shout out to The Beat Within founder, David Inocencio, for the chance to share a space in The Beat Within publication for a monthly column I titled VBehindWColumn. I encourage everyone to please support The Beat Within. Spread the word about this publication and encourage your local juvenile justice systems to make the publication available to their youth and reach out to The Beat on ways that youth can share their stories and learn from the stories of others in this magazine. Online you'll find The Beat at: thebeatwithin.org and please see the Subscription info thebeatwithin.org/subscription.

Here's to the next 25 years.

check.

Mr. Lee

COVID, Death, & Corrections in Texas

COVID & Corrections: A Profile of COVID Deaths in Custody in Texas
Download: click here

"COVID-19 has had a uniquely devastating impact on prisons and jails across the country. At one point, prisons and jails represented 44 of the top 50 COVID clusters in the United States. Criminal justice advocates, policymakers, and public health specialists alike are seeking information about the toll of the crisis and possible solutions to address it." To view the report please visit the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs click here.

The End of Policing

 

The End of Policing Making Contact Soundcloud click here
A conversation with Alex Vitale

"Alex Vitale is Professor of Sociology and coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College. Vitale’s book The End of Policing, is an accessible study of police history as an imperial tool for social control that continues to exacerbate class and racial tensions. Vitale also goes deep into the shortcomings of reform and in contrast, deepens the conversations around meaningful alternatives to ultimately ask the people to consider the end of policing."

Amazon: click here

The Prison in 12 Landscapes

An incredible film! Highly recommend.

You can watch on Vimeo click here

2019 Distinguished Resident: J. Paul Taylor

2019 Distinguished Resident: J. Paul Taylor

For his wide-ranging contributions locally and statewide, J. Paul Taylor has been named the Sun-News 2019 Distinguished Resident by Diana Alba Soular click here

"From working in the registrar’s office, Taylor shifted his career sights back to his childhood goal of education, becoming a sixth-grade teacher at Mesilla Park Elementary. It was the only job opening available to him at the time. He may have been the teacher, but, as he recalls, he was a student, as well. He spent his first year overcoming a big learning curve.

“Boy did I learn a whole lot,” he said with a chuckle. “I’d gone from college students who were just back from the war and who were very serious about their education to these little sixth-graders, who seemed very little then.”

A deep write up about the life of J. Paul Taylor. This note is to congratulate Mr. Taylor. I first met Mr. Taylor at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church on South Espina for a meeting with him, my CJ professor/mentor, and staff from the J. Paul Taylor prison. My goal was to propose an idea for a creative expression Hip Hop workshop at the J. Paul Taylor prison. He was a kind man, very open to ideas. He was very encouraging and overall the meeting went real well. For the next 10 years I'd have the chance to volunteer teach at the facility through our Voices Behind Walls program which had started a couple of years before at the Delta Youth Facility in El Paso.

I've always been interested in learning more about Mr. Taylor's involvement with juvenile justice issues in New Mexico. I've heard and from time to time saw him speak on the importance of addressing the juvenile injustice issues that seemed to be deeply rooted in New Mexico. I hope to learn more this in the future. There may be a few photographs I have somewhere of J. Paul Taylor's work with some of the programs I was involved in. There's not much mention of his connection to juvenile facilities one of which is named after him, the J. Paul Taylor Center. It's something worth exploring though, especially if there are any papers or reflections documented in J. Paul Taylor's historical records. 

Much thanks Mr. Taylor! I still remember that day at the Justice for Children symposium, when in a rare occurrence the facility had allowed a bunch of our participants that were incarcerated at the time to attend. You got up and asked one of our poets, "what can we do to help you? What can we do to help change things for the better?" And they answered your question. It was one of the most honest moments I'd seen in thinking about juvenile justice reform and just finally having a platform where an incarcerated youth could engage in a conversation with the public with a mic in his hand after having read his poetry. It was definitely a day to remember. Thank you for being kind to me and for encouraging me. It led to nearly a decade of connections with youth inside who were able to express themselves and document their voices. Some of them have passed on young, some of them are incarcerated for longer stretches of adult time, and some are finally expressing themselves outside the walls.What we refer to as our VOWs (Voices Outside the Walls). 

Thank you.

Kids for Ca$h

The Movie

In 2013 as I prepared for the following Spring semester 2014, I searched for a text that I thought would compliment our reading of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.  I was looking for something that revolved around juvenile justice when I stumbled upon another New Press title by William Ecenbarger through an email blast about his book Kids for Cash: Two Judges, Thousands of Children, and a $2.6 Million Kickback Scheme.  I felt this text would be fit the focus on history we get from Alexander's text connecting mass incarceration to the roots of slavery and the modern day practice of zero tolerance and an American juvenile justice system in Luzerne County Pennsylvania that fed off the vulnerabilities of American children cycling them into an unnecessary costly detention binge. 

Over the course of the semester I had no idea a film would reveal itself based on the Kids for Cash scheme.  I finally got the chance to watch Kids for Cash the movie on Netflix and encourage everyone, especially CJ students, justice professionals, educators, policy people, etc. to watch and continue to pass the word on this film, especially the text.  It's an informative and detailed account not only of the Luzerne County story, but how it reflects a much bigger problem nationwide when it comes to both adult and juvenile incarceration.

This film puts a face to injustice unlike any documentary film I've ever seen.  By the end I wondered who's face sat behind the bench when Kalief Browder was remanded without bail having to endure three years on Riker's Island. 

For more information on the film visit kidsforcashthemovie.com

The film is available as DVD and stream from Netflix.  You can access Netflix through the app and watch on any mobile device.  You can also purchase your own copy through Amazon click here.

The Beat Within 2020

The Beat Within 2020

Taking a moment to honor The Beat Within, a publication of art and writing from the inside...Here's to another year & all its challenges. Check them out at thebeatwithin.org.