When Terence got out of prison, he got a job with a powerwash company. It was temporary, but it was a start. The next job was ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. That was seasonal. His best job was in parks and rec with the City of Richmond. It lasted for more than a few years until the City switched contractors and the new corporation cut jobs. Terence kept scrambling for stability, decent wages, benefits, and room for advancement.
Category: Writing Our Way Out
S2 – E9: Who’s Afraid of Critical Race Theory?
Structural racism is built into America. America could not have been built without slavery. And after slavery, structural racism has haunted American history, leading to the mass incarceration of African-Americans. With these facts before us, who's afraid of critical race theory, the scholarly lens for analyzing structural racism in America?
S2 – E8: The Problem With Guns
Like so many things in America, we don’t agree about gun policy, but we do know that guns kill. Is there any way that we as a country can put down the gun?
S2 – E7: Don’t Shoot!
When Mohammad Taib first faced a man with a gun in his convenience store, he pleaded, “Don’t shoot.” He got shot but survived. Years later, he was shot again and died, leaving his family in pain and his daughter Zain searching for healing. But how? How do the victims of crime move beyond the tragedy that they know into a narrative they can control?
S2 – E6: Warriors or Guardians?
After Michael Brown, a Black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, President Barack Obama created a Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Its central theme: Police should be guardians not warriors.
S2 – E5: Locked Up
After you get caught by the police, you get locked up. Right or wrong, guilty or not, you go to jail.
S2 – E4: The End of An Eye for an Eye
Virginia once led the nation in the death penalty. Recently, that ended. How did a southern state that was once a leader in executions become, a leader to end it? And where do we go from here? What happens to the ethical and political dilemmas for and against the death penalty?
S2 – E3: Trust the Truth
When Tony Martin was freed from prison, he was not the same person. He had surrendered to Christ, written courageously about his life, and in these ways figured out the secret to lasting change. You have to trust the truth.
S1 – E10: The Prison of White Supremacy
After the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, protests against police brutality in Richmond targeted the monuments to the Confederacy. Most were spray-painted with anti-racist messages. Some were toppled. And others were officially removed.
S1 – E9: How to Play the Game
When Kelvin Belton was just a kid discovering his talent for basketball, he wanted to go to the NBA. But no one in his world even knew how to get him into college. Calvin Duncan faced similar personal struggles when he was young and discovering his talent for basketball. But he did get to college and was a draft pick for the Chicago Bulls. What made it possible for Calvin to succeed in the game?
Writing Our Way Out 