Writing Our Way Out

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. No one had to tell him to pull himself up by his bootstraps and find a job. But where are the good jobs for people willing to work? Bootstraps is now available on writingourwayout.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Featuring: Terence Scruggs, author of Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail and Victor Tan Chen an associate professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy (https://victortanchen.com/) Check out our website: writingourwayout.com Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WritingOurWayOut Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/writeyourwayout Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/writingourwayout

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?

Some people love their guns. Guns mean hunting, protection, freedom, and even identity. Other people fear guns and want more regulation to protect themselves from people 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?  Listen on our website: https://writingourwayout.com/2021/02/... Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1wyu... Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Check out our website: writingourwayout.com Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WritingOurWayOut Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/writeyourwayout Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/writingourwayout

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?  Listen on our website: https://writingourwayout.com/2021/02/... Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1wyu... Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Check out our website: writingourwayout.com  Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WritingOurWayOut Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/writeyourwayout Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/writingourwayout

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. Five years after that report came out, George Floyd, another Black man, was killed by another white police officer, Derek Chauvin, in another city, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Too many other men and women, boys and girls, died in between. Too many to list here. Is it possible to retire the warrior officer? What would it take to create a force of guardians?      

After you get caught by the police, you get locked up. Right or wrong, guilty or not, you go to jail. There, you have to figure out how to live with all of these other people and the ones in charge, the ones keeping you locked up. Is that possible? What do you do to keep the peace? What can the ones in charge do?

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? 

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. He was blessed to see that vision come true in his new life. He died from natural causes at home and at peace in February of 2021. In this episode, we remember his story, his spirit, and his secret for lasting change.

In this tribute to Black history month, we take a literary journey into the ways race consciousness emerges in our everyday lives. What can these moments teach us about our collective history and future life in America? 

While Dean and Kelvin were being incarcerated for marijuana in Virginia, it became legal in other states. Now, the Commonwealth is poised to legalize it. Will they get it right? Or will Black people still struggle for freedom and justice as they did before? 

After the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, protests against police brutality in Richmond targetted the monuments to the Confederacy. Most were spray-painted with anti-racist messages. Some were toppled. And others were officially removed, drawing large and diverse crowds eager to be set free from the prison of white supremacy. What will happen next? Will this challenge to the public narrative about the past change the racial injustice we face in the present? 

When co-author 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. They knew how to sell drugs, so Kelvin watched and learned from them instead. And he excelled at that game. Calvin Duncan faced similar personal struggles when he was young and discovering his talent for basketball. But he did get to college--to Virginia Commonwealth University, earning a place in VCU Basketball Hall of Fame, and a draft pick for the Chicago Bulls. What made it possible for Calvin to succeed in the game? What can we do to help the young Kelvins and young Calvins of today learn how to make it in life?

What does it mean to have good character? When Owen learned that his brother, Mikey, had overdosed on heroin and was in the hospital, he blamed himself for being the one who first got Mikey high. And he beat himself up for the time in his life when he was getting high. Then he remembered what he did to stop using and what he needed to do to help Mikey.

How do you plot the kind of change that can really stick? When Robb discovered booze as a 12-year old, all of his problems went away: the abandonment by his mother, the anxiety about his racial identity, the relentless physical and mental abuse from his father and step-mother. Years later, he hit his rock bottom. That’s when everything changed.

How do you deal with troubling memories while living in the moment and building for the future? After being sexually abused by older boys, Ronald learned how to use sex to manipulate older boys, and after watching the grown-ups abuse substances, he learned how to get high, too. Eventually, he learned how to see another version of himself.  

How do you recover from the psychological wounds caused by physical abuse?  Dean knew he was going to get a beating that day. But when his mother came at him with a pair of scissors and began stabbing him, the pain went much deeper than the blade.  

Is it possible to write your way into a better life? G wrote his way out of the feelings of abandonment and anger that led him into the criminal justice system. But when he came home from prison, he struggled to turn the corner.

In episode 2 of Writing Our Way Out, the hosts are joined by Dr. O’Shan Gadsden, a Professor of Psychology at Norfolk State University, to explore the meaning of manhood. We’re looking at our childhoods and upbringings, our earliest experiences, and how our early backgrounds shaped our adult lives. This show is taped in Richmond, Virginia and hosted by David Coogan, Kelvin Belton, Stan Craddock, and Terence Scruggs. The theme music is by Chris Coogan. The show is produced by Robb Crocker. The executive producer is David Coogan.

In episode 1 of Writing Our Way Out, the hosts are joined by Shawn Jones, a clinical psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University to explore the race question. How do African-American boys apprehend the reality of racism? Does this reality influence their behavior, including the turn to crime? If so, how? If not, why not? This show is taped in Richmond, Virginia and hosted by David Coogan, Kelvin Belton, Stan Craddock, and Terence Scruggs. The theme music is by Chris Coogan. The show is produced by Robb Crocker. The executive producer is David Coogan.

The show where we probe all the conditions, traps, and turning points on the path to prison and the way out. On this episode, we preview how the show works and what to expect from Writing Our Way Out: The Podcast.