Dr. Howard A. Mims

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Black Studies

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Prester Pickett, M.F.A. was the keynote speaker for the Juneteenth Celebration at Richland Correctional Institution for this RICI NAACP annual event. Those in attendance were encouraged to start their process of re-entering the community by immediately applying their theme, "Restoring the Community," in particular regard to their activities associated with strengthening their families. Inmates were encouraged to pursue an education as well as support family members, who are pursuing an education. A positive letter writing campaign was promoted with the emphasis on the number of fathers who are incarcerated and their children, nieces, and nephews, who would heed to their messages.

The promotion of political awareness was also emphasized to remind inmates that the office of a councilperson is very significant when their grandmother needs her grass cut or a repair done on her home. The office of Governor is even more important with respect to the prospects for their children receiving a quality education that will allow them to compete in a global society. The influence that brothers have in the lives of the women that call them and send care packages proves their ability to still play a role in restoring the community. It was emphasized that the money that it costs to
incarcerate them exhausts dollars that could employ someone's mother to open a restaurant, while the millions of dollars spent on toilet paper and soap in the Prision Industrial Complex reminds all of the need to reflect on the Emancipation Proclamation and the period of reconstruction that followed.

A period of 100 years was examined from the lesson in the delayed communication in the reading of Emancipation Proclamation by General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas to the proclamation made by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. Poems by Naomi Madgett and Langston Hughes were also recited to remind individuals who are incarcerated of the parallel longing for freedom that is part of their current experience and the experience of those in the past. Hence, the reading of Black literature was regarded as very significant in efforts to improve relations between African Americans and European Americans, who are incarcerated in America.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

A Cultural Competency Workshop was presented by Prester Pickett, M.F.A. to a conference table full of CSU students participating in the 2007 summer component of the Link Program sponsored by the Career Services Center. These students were encouraged to celebrate their unique cultures and understand how they can meet other indivduals from different cultures in the Howard A. Mims African American Cultural Center. This workshop highlighted the importance of speaking more than one language and the ability to advance through a college curriculum by being able to both give and
recieve information.