Friday, October 3, 2008

Introduction

Hello and good day!

My name is Daryle Brown and while I've started a couple of blogs, I have yet to be faithful to them, failing to update them on anything resembling a regular basis. I think that is because I was being too broad in defining them. I was trying to address too much. While I have opinions on many topics, I am most passionate about justice. Therefore this blog will focus entirely on issues of justice, fairness, and lapses, as I see them, in our societies approaches to a level playing field for all.

A bit of background: I've been accused of being an activist by my friends for over 25 years. While I first joined an Optimist Club soon after college, it was really to provide an opportunity for me to gain experience in public speaking. Well, for those of you that understand God's way with us, He will place you in places and situations that are for reasons you may not realize, to do things you were not expecting. In my case becoming a member of the Optimist Club of Renaissance Detroit was the beginning of 25 years of service to my community. From there my work expanded to Junior Achievement of Southeast Michigan as a volunteer teaching business principles to high schoolers, the founding of the Africare Detroit chapter of Africare, an "on the ground" development organizations focused on providing real solutions to those in need on the continent f Africa, and over the years a host of other community service projects.

My family moved to Chicago (Oak Park actually) in 1997, and soon joined the Trinity United Church of Church. Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. was a pastor that we had become familiar with as a frequent visitor to our church in Detroit, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church. He was (is) a good friend of Rev. Dr. Charles G. Adams, who baptised me, and our children, and married my wife and I.

Trinity is important to this introduction because it was there that my community service inclination led me to join the Prison Ministry. My involvement with prison ministry focused my attention on the cause of justice. For the last 8 years I have visited many prisons and jails in Illinois, and Wisconsin. Our ministry writes to over 150 inmates across America, and we have developed a variety of programs to both try to keep our youth from getting caught up in the justice system, and programs to assist newly released prisoners start a new life.

While most see this population as the discards of society, I have seen the potential they represent. Of course many folks in prison deserve to be there, but a vast number would never see the inside of a prison if not for a society that believes in punishment far more than rehabilitation.

My goal with this blog is to raise awareness of the issues with our law, and the application of it, as our communities are deprived of vitality and hope. Instead we are greeted with despair and hopelessness. I am looking for open dialog that will form consensus toward humanitarian reform of our criminal justice system.

In closing, I would like to encourage allies and opponents alike to contribute their ideas and passion to the commentaries that will be forthcoming.

Daryle

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