It's Kina Hard Da' Cry
Art and Writings by Adults Incarcerated
Summary
"An amazing collection of writings and artwork. It’s Kina Hard Da’ Cry powerfully embraces the courage and spirit of its authors and doesn’t hold back in saying what needs to be said."
—Dr. Richard J. White, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
"This powerful collection of voices educates us from behind inhuman walls designed to create despair and hopelessness. It is a testament to the unyielding spirit of righteous defiance in the face of an unforgiving carceral culture."
—Dr. Peter McLaren, author of Pedagogy of Insurrection
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- CONTENTS
- FOREWORD
- PREFACE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- POETRY FROM ADULTS INCARCERATED
- NO WORDS
- SONGS FOR MOM
- EVERYONE
- THE FALLACY OF JUSTICE
- TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
- MY VIEW
- JUSTICE IS …
- TETHERED: WHAT I WANT TO SAY TO MY HEART, HOW MY HEART RESPONDS
- THE TEN WRECKS OF PRISON LIFE
- TEARS OF A PHEONIX
- BEDTIME ROUTINE (POEM)
- TIME
- SHATTER VISION AND OPEN HEART
- LIFE LOVE AND PAIN
- TIME
- KARMA
- DEAR ME
- TELL ME DEAR GOD
- LUV
- WHAT ABOUT THE NEIGHBORS
- PRISON MOTHER
- YOU KNOW HIM
- KEYON WUZ HERE
- MY HAND
- I SHALL NOT DIE
- UNFINISHED SONG
- WRETCHED OF THE EARTH
- FUGITIVE THOUGHTS
- RESPONSE TO ODRC COUNSEL TREVOR MATTHEW CLARK’S LECTURE ON ADVOCATING POLITICAL VIOLENCE
- THE JOURNEY HOME
- THE WHISPERS
- HOW BLESSED
- WHEN I ASKED HIM WHAT HE WAS READING
- A LADYBUG’S VISIT
- THE PILL (SCIENTIFIC KILLERS)
- HOPE FROM THE BACK OF THE CLOSET
- DUKE: AN ALLEGORY
- HOPE IN LIFE
- EDITORIAL BOARD
FOREWORD
FRANK HERNANDEZ
On January 18, 2000, I received a letter from my brother, who at the time was in the Mark W. Stiles Unit, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice men’s prison located near Beaumont, Texas. It was the first of many letters. And, while I was happy and grateful to receive these letters—and I received a lot of them—I always felt a pressing, unpleasant obligation to write him back.
I did write him back. But my letters got shorter while his letters got longer. He always had more to say to me than I must have had to say to him. I realize now that my letters to him, even if they were short, had a profound impact on his ability to detect hope and joy in a place where isolation and feelings of neglect are experienced every day and can permeate one’s entire existence. For my brother, there was something about hearing his name yelled out loud when he was being told that he had mail. This announcement conveyed to other inmates the message that someone on the outside cared about him. I learned about the impact of my letters once my brother got out of prison. He told me about their importance. Knowing the impact of my letters, I wish now I would have sent more of them and devoted more time to them.
I still have all the letters my brother wrote (including the ones he wrote our mother). As I prepared to write the foreword to this book, I began to read and re-read his letters for inspiration. I noticed a few things about the letters; they were always deeply reflective. My brother has always been a deep thinker, reflecting profoundly about almost everything in his life. But his reflections in the prison letters felt different. In these reflections he would contemplate his entire existence. A single comment would manage to draw everything together, ranging from childhood memories to his early adulthood relationships to how he made sense of his current situation. These were not the “I wish I had not made this bad decision” types of letters. These were letters in which he accepted full responsibility for his actions and the consequences that came with those actions. In this regard, I am keenly aware that prison offers one lots of time to be reflective, hence his long letters to me and my mother.
Details
- Pages
- XXVI, 106
- Publication Year
- 2025
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781636677378
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781636677385
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9781636677361
- DOI
- 10.3726/b22419
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2025 (February)
- Keywords
- Transformative Justice Hip Hop studies school to prison pipeline youth development sociology Criminology It's Kina Hard Da' Cry Art and Writing By Adults Incarcerated Save the Kids
- Published
- New York, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, Oxford, 2025. XXVI, 106 pp., 37 b/w ill.
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG
