Voices

Scott read a letter to us today that was from one of the inmates we met at Avery Mitchell. The whole letter was amazing, but the part that really affected me was where he talked about the political systems--specifically that felons lose the right to vote, rendering them voiceless. I get to perform the theme song for the play, also called Thousand Kites, which begins with the lines, "A voice for the voiceless/ I represent the ones that yearn to be heard/ So every word is a testimony/ This one is for my homie." Linking those two together, I almost broke out in tears. The gentlemen that we met, and the other inmates that we saw but did not meet, are truly voiceless, unable to speak out and be counted; by doing this play, we do become their voices, raising the questions they can't, and finding the change in our system that will keep our prisons from becoming a permanent dumping ground for our people.

If our every word is a testimony, this one is for Tony.