He never wants to talk about it…

So I don’t bring it up.

We usually talk about sports when I see him.

We don’t like the same teams.

Yesterday afternoon, I asked him if he would join a conversation that I am co-organizing about youth confinement next week.

“No thanks,” was his response.

I didn’t follow up.

“Don’t you want to know why?” he asks.

“If you want to share,” I say.

“I don’t.”

That part of the conversation is over. We talk about some other things. Then he leaves.

I get home late. I check my e-mail. There is one from him. I open it. It reads:

“Maybe I’ll talk about it one day.”

That’s it. Nothing else.

Locking children up in cages is inhumane and immoral. The fact that our country does so to so many children, most of whom are black and brown, without a national outcry says something terrible about us. It suggests that the Roman Colosseum mentality continues to animate us. We have a generation of traumatized people who are unable to speak about these experiences and so perversely they remain hidden in plain sight. It makes me want to throw up. Sometimes I do.

Next Wednesday evening (September 26), some young people who have found a way to survive the ordeal of spending time behind bars have generously agreed to share their stories. You are welcome to join us to listen and to hear. You are welcome to stand in solidarity with these young people. Information about the event can be found here.

In the meantime, I will continue to pray that the young man who I care so much about finds a way to talk about “it” one day…