I have putting this off but a response is overdue…

You opened your e-mail to me with this:

“As a white male, I would enjoy your blog much more if you weren’t so obsessed with black people.”

I immediately sent up a prayer to the Lord for patience.

It was only a matter of time before I received this type of e-mail. I am frankly surprised that it took this long.

I blog about prisons and injustice.

How can I write about these two things without addressing race and racism? Without talking about black and brown people?

The answer is simple… I cannot. It would be impossible.

By entering the public domain, I invited you in. So now I have to be an accommodating hostess.

You wrote: “You can make your point about prisons being unjust without constantly making it about black people.”

Oh Lord, give me strength.

Actually no. Black people have been the canaries in the coal mine for the current epidemic of mass or hyper or mega incarceration. Black people have historically been and currently are disproportionately targeted by the long arm of American INjustice.

I am a only tiny part of documenting this reality.

I’ve thought about what to say to you for a few days now.

I decided to [as one of my favorite poets Nikki Finney has written] “step into the shoes” of your words.

So I would like to declare unequivocally today that YES I am in fact obsessed with black people.

I am obsessed with black people because black bodies are being incarcerated, tortured, and killed all day every day. This is a matter of some urgency for me as I myself am black and have black family members and black friends and black non-friends. So for me this is a matter of survival.

It is open season on Black people, always has been.

But my obsession with black people is more expansive than the topics that I address on this particular blog.

I am obsessed with black music (Salif, the Roots, Talib, Lucky, Ella, Louis, Bob, Michael, Sarah… the list is endless).

I am obsessed with Patricia Smith, Pat Parker, Sonia Sanchez, James Baldwin, Claude Brown, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker.

I am obsessed with Ella Baker, Malcolm, Paul Robeson, Fannie Lou, Angela Davis, Harriet Tubman…

Come to think of it. My obsession with blackness and black people knows no limit.

But my obsession with black people does not crowd out my compassion for others. Particularly those of all races, ethnicities, genders, religions who are striving for liberation and justice…

Take it away James…