As a white person, I literally cannot be “black and proud”. However, as I have discussed in interviews and on record (see below), I have White Guilt and don’t feel guilty about it. I believe it is my duty as a white, heterosexual, middle-class male to do whatever I can to combat the inequality and injustice I witness.

http://www.awkwordrap.com/blog/awkword-gets-personal-on-dangerous-conversation-radio-with-scott-ledger

https://soundcloud.com/awkword/melting-pot-made-in-america-ft-chaundon-prod-numonics

1 in 3 black men goes to prison. Nuff said.

Approximately one-quarter of those people held in U.S. prisons or jails have been convicted of a drug offense. The United States incarcerates more people for drug offenses than any other country. And most of these people are not hard-nosed drug-dealing criminals.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate

I have a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Vassar College and a significant warehouse of information from past scholars, theorists and community workers. But times have changed and we need to develop our own plan of attack.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Activists-Handbook-Updated-Edition/dp/0520229282

http://www.amazon.com/Rules-Radicals-Saul-Alinsky/dp/0679721134

Police violence, mass incarceration, racial profiling, presumed guilt, recidivism, prison profiteering, etc., are not new issues, and I am not the first person to try to tackle them. But we will not give up until we have justice and equality.

The facts back this up. Look them up. People of color (and the poor) are disproportionately targeted and sentenced for crimes the rich (and white people) commit on a larger scale. Justice is what this country claims to pride itself on, but instead in AmeriKKKa we experience Just-Us, leaving the rest out to wither and die.

I do what I do not for me but for the people in need: the sick and the starving, the ones lost with no options. And it feels good to do good. In some cases, almost like resurrecting the dead. But I can’t and don’t do it alone. There is no savior and saved here. For empowerment we work together, and I am merely a facilitator.