I AM A STATISTIC

By

Dortell Williams

(Approx. 310 words non-fiction)

I am a statistic in many ways. I am Black. I am a prisoner, and have been for the last 17 years. I am part of that astronomical count of 1-in-4 African American male youth seemingly magnetized to America’s penal bars.
Like too many youths of the inner city, my role models shined in an illusory sub-culture of drug dealing, womanizing, substance abuse, gang-banging, underachievement and miseducation. The array of potential trouble offered in the dark world of the marginalized, along with self-entrapment is endless. Now I am one of the 5 percent of California prisoners who may never – ever see freedom ahead.
Today I am one of many finally handed some guidance by an elder, an elder prisoner, but an elder nonetheless. Others along the prison path have advised me to read, and read critically, I was admonished. It was a first, a new beginning into a fresh new world of words and ideas. Others challenged me to augment my vocabulary, study the financial markets, learn to type and operate office equipment – even learn to communicate in Spanish; all of which I’ve done and so much more, in spite of the oppressive nature of prison. “Learn all the things they didn’t teach you in school,” I was told. “Remember, if they can do it, so can you,” Reggie told me. I have been slowly introduced to my own potential. He’s a great friend and ally.
It’s absolutely amazing what a little guidance and mentoring can do for a willing youth uneducated with a dead-end mindset. A once hope-forlorn and misguided kid can be transformed into an incessant reservoir of self-confidence and positive ability.
I am only one statistic who’s already met the merciless countenance of doom, but there are many, many more who, if just reached out to, could be saved from the piercing eyes of life’s end while yet still living.

August 2006