1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: Dear Governor is a production of I Heart Media and 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: three Months Media. Dear Governor Newsom, Dear Mr Governor Newsom, 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: this is an open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, Dear 4 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: Governor news Problem. To read Jarvis Master's book That Bird 5 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: Has My Wings and Autobiography of an Innocent Man on 6 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: Death Row is to know that his opportunity for success 7 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: in living the American dream was hijacked long before He's 8 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 1: So much is inhaled his first breath, and tragically, his 9 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: story is anything but an isolated experience. There's a disturbing 10 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: phenomenon in this country in which a population of babies, 11 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: more specifically babies of color, and even more specifically impoverished 12 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: baby boys of color, are pushed out of the womb 13 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: onto a direct pathway to prison. Marian Wright, a woman 14 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: President Emerita and founder of the Children's Defense Fund, who 15 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: identified this trend and coined the phrase cradle to prison pipeline, writes, 16 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: the most dangerous place for a child to try to 17 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: grow up in America is at the intersection of race 18 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: and poverty. Folk, you know, we're losing it and we're 19 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: going backwards in just one or two generations here and 20 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: this in my belief is that this is the worst 21 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: crisis based by the black community sent slavery in that 22 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: incarceration is becoming the new American apartheid. We're feeding poor 23 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: children about the hundreds of thousands each year into this 24 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: pipeline to prison and the dead in lives um and 25 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: um at younger and younger ages um. And we've got 26 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: to stay stopped because it's gonna under the last fifty 27 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: years of progress. Jarvis grew up on the corner of 28 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: race and poverty, but his particular intersection was so perilous 29 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: it spit him right past the cradle the prison pipeline 30 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: straight to the cradle to death row pipeline. We've enlisted 31 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: in Little McCray, a personal mentee of Jarvis and a 32 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: member of the Truth Workers Theater Company, to help us 33 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,639 Speaker 1: tell Jarvis's story in his own words from That Bird 34 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: Has My Wings. It was the late sixties when my mother, 35 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: Cynthia and my stepfather Oldis from among the biggest heroin 36 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: users and deals in Long Beach, California. From the outside, 37 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: the house didn't look like a dope house. My parents 38 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: had lots of money from being in the drug underworld, 39 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: so they could afford a front house that drew no 40 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: suspicion or complaints from the neighbors. The house was a 41 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: place where my parents clientele and whoever they chose to 42 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: bring with them could always, the matter the time of day, 43 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,680 Speaker 1: walk right in and shoot their dope indoors off the streets. 44 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: Many of their customers would nod themselves to sleep right 45 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: there on the living room or bathroom floor and stay 46 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 1: for hours and hours the house. You know, Heroin was 47 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: a big thing, Jarvis masters. Everyone had those little things 48 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: wrapped around on their arms and had a little uh 49 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: shaving kit. They shot dope in the kitchen, They shot 50 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: open in the living room, they shot dope in the restroom. 51 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: They argued about who was who had more dope in 52 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: the other and dope was like all over the place, 53 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: you know. To avoid the prostitutes and the narrow dwells 54 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: drifting in and out of their home, Jarvis, his older 55 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 1: sister Charlene, his younger sisters Bertie and Carlette, and baby 56 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: Dean found comfort in the safety of the attic, their 57 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: own private treehouse. We love that attic that at It 58 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: was somewhere where we just love staying at. You know, 59 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: when we when we thought there was gonna be violence downstairs, 60 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: We're going to that attic when we felt like, you know, 61 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: we were too hungry to move around, we'll go up 62 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: in that attic. We would that mean, Uh, it was 63 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: something that we found it. We thought no one in 64 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: that house would walk in that house or leave that house. 65 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: We know that exists. It was a good place for 66 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: us to be when we thought that there was something 67 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: going down in that house that we didn't want to 68 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: be around. So yeah, we we we were living that 69 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: attic and it was a really really good place for us. 70 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: It was here that they could sleep soundly like babies, 71 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:25,599 Speaker 1: despite their empty stomachs, the lack of electricity, and their filthy, 72 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: ragged clothes. An old white woman lived in the house 73 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: behind us. Every morning she will put food off for us. 74 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 1: She someone knew that we were being left to starve 75 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,799 Speaker 1: in our own house. We counted on her food sometimes 76 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,600 Speaker 1: when no adult was around the house for days. This 77 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: was the only food we had. The white woman used 78 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: to set food out for us to and that was 79 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 1: our breakfast. You know, we always thought that's what we 80 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: had coming. You know, we didn't know if she was 81 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: a parent, and she was doing this for my mother. 82 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,280 Speaker 1: We didn't have no idea about what that step was 83 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: going on, but we we survived off of it. Jarvis 84 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: has only one vivid memory of his father, just before 85 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: his stepfather Otis came into the picture, and little McCray continues, 86 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: We were all in the bedroom where Mama had been 87 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: trying to pack our stuff. In the chaotic frenzy, My father, 88 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,480 Speaker 1: whose name I never knew, banked open the front door, yelling, 89 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: where are you, bitch? I'm gonna kill you and your kids. 90 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: Panic stricken, Mama grabbed me, jerked my face up to hers, 91 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: and shook me, saying if anything happens to me, you'd 92 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: take care of your sisters, and she crammed the three 93 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: of us under the bed, one by one, with me 94 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: on the outside. Now I heard my father yelling where 95 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: are those kids, sweat dripping from her face. Her mother 96 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: ran out of the bedroom, hearing the bam bam bam 97 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: about father's fists against her flesh. I knew what happened 98 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: when she got to the next from my sisters, and 99 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: I shook with every blow as if our mother's cries 100 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:10,159 Speaker 1: or our own and one cries stopped. We can still 101 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: hear the blows. But that wasn't all we heard. The 102 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: furniture was breaking in, glass was flying as the pictures 103 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: fell down from the walls. My father had slammed it 104 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:25,039 Speaker 1: to us like hurricane. Then with a kick of his foot, 105 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: the bedroom door smashed open, and the storm stood at 106 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: our threast hold From under the bed, while I could 107 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:38,159 Speaker 1: see was these shoes, the scariest sight I've ever seen. 108 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: I freezed my eyes to catch a glimpse of the 109 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: man who filled the shoes, but his voice interrupted me, 110 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: where you motherfucking kids at. I'm gonna kill you too. 111 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: Thankfully he never thought to look beneath the bed, but 112 00:06:55,480 --> 00:07:00,480 Speaker 1: the violence their mother endured is indelible. Hearing our dreams, 113 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,360 Speaker 1: a neighbor came in and called an ambulance from home. 114 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: After that, I never asked about my father. I've always 115 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: remembered those shoes trying to stump out the light, of 116 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: my mother taking me to paint the house lass of Forever. 117 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: Though only six point five percent of California's are black, 118 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: African Americans make up of the prison population and thirty 119 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: six percent of those condemned to death. The pipeline from 120 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: the intersection of poverty and race to the execution chambers 121 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: in California's state prison is difficult to refute, and along 122 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: the pathway looms largely a highly dysfunctional foster care and 123 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: juvenile justice system. Jarvis and his siblings were removed from 124 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: their mother's care after she was beaten within an inch 125 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 1: of her life. Though separated from his siblings, Jervis's first 126 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: four years in foster care was a brief, albeit profound 127 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: example of what's right with the system. Dennis and Mamie 128 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: PROCs were elderly, god fearing Christians who first took Jarvis 129 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: into their loving home and under their nurturing wings of 130 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: the Proxies. He writes their faith in the power of 131 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: loving hearts gave me the best years of my childhood, 132 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: somehow erasing many of the horrors I experienced before I 133 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: walked into their lives. Mammy and Dennis was my very 134 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: first foster home, and it was the first foster home. 135 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: It was the first place in my life that I 136 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: saw all the contradictions of where I had came from 137 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: and what I had now. They loved me morning anything 138 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: in the world. You know, I was the only kid, 139 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: you know, I had my whole little bedroom. I had 140 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: a whole huge backyard, a real huge backyard. Uh, the 141 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,319 Speaker 1: red porch, the whole thing. You know, how was the 142 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 1: darling in the house, the darling in the whole block. Actually, 143 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: you know, it was when I first really went to school, 144 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: when I first really got the great first really played 145 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: in the sandbox. Uh, everything you know, and the difference 146 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,480 Speaker 1: between there and where I came from was shocking. It 147 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: was it was like I didn't even want to tell 148 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 1: the stories after a while, and they didn't make each 149 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,840 Speaker 1: other stories near they didn't need to know the stories. 150 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: Whatever Social services had communicated to them. They understood where 151 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:35,640 Speaker 1: I had came from, and they were very understanding of 152 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: that life. They didn't show sadness for it because they 153 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: didn't want to wear that off on me. But they 154 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: understood it. They understood it, and they knew their role 155 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: and having this opportunity, you know, to care for uh, 156 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: to care for me. What are some of your Oh man, 157 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 1: what are my favorite memories? M hmmm, Uh, Christmas is 158 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: and my first bike and my first real day in 159 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:14,400 Speaker 1: the first grade, in the second grade, and ah made me. 160 00:10:15,559 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: I loved her so much. Um. What was she like? Uh? 161 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: She was. She was rolled off. She was rolling into 162 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,679 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of things. She was your your mother, 163 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:35,440 Speaker 1: your auntie, your grandmother, uh, your disciplinarian. It was all 164 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: these things, you know, and she would try to be 165 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: all those things to be one kind of person, and 166 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: that's where she made herself into For me. Uh, Dennis 167 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,520 Speaker 1: was the same way. You know. They were older folks. 168 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: They made life very very comfortable for me. You know, 169 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: I didn't have to do a whole lot. The child 170 00:10:55,760 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: in me just came rolling back, and I didn't know 171 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 1: how much hurt and pain I had suffered, um being 172 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: abandoned like that. Hm. You you you tell a story 173 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:23,440 Speaker 1: about them taking you to church? What was that like? Oh? Wow, yeah, 174 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: you know. I at first, let me just say this, 175 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 1: I have never when I first went to church with 176 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: with Mammy and Dennis, I had never ever had seen 177 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: so many black folks in my life. So that was 178 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 1: the first thing that had just blown me away. You know. 179 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 1: Mammy was a very very light, loved, appreciative person in 180 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: the church and she always got the best seats. Jennie 181 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: was a deacon, so he always set way up there 182 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: and her friends were They were the most bizarre women 183 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:10,199 Speaker 1: I never saw in my life. You know. Well, they 184 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 1: they would have them. They would go through these holy 185 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: ghost moments, you know, where they were, they were where 186 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 1: they be trying to get the devil out of them, 187 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:22,760 Speaker 1: you know, and they'd be spinning on the ground and 188 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: sweating and kicking and like she's having a seizure or something. 189 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: And then Mammy would then down and put a fan 190 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: on her face, and I'm thinking, oh God, I got 191 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,679 Speaker 1: you out of here, you know what I mean. They 192 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: didn't call the they to say we need some help 193 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: here where we need some help, We need to get 194 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: this woman off the ground. No, they just get real 195 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: close to her and fanner fan and woman on the 196 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: face like everything she's doing is okay. And I just 197 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: knew that wasn't cool. You know. I didn't like it. 198 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: I hated it. So I gave my life. I gave 199 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:02,200 Speaker 1: my allowances back just so I don't have to go. Um, 200 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: so you gave your allowance back so you didn't have 201 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: to go to church. Yeah, they said they made it deal. 202 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 1: And they said if you go to church, which I 203 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: can't remember because they used to say three bits, four bits, 204 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: so they never said fifty said they I was calling bits, 205 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:19,720 Speaker 1: you know. And at first I was collecting the money, 206 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: you know, coins and everything, and then one morning I said, 207 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: you know what, you guys can have this pack. You know, 208 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: I'm not going you know. Yeah, I was one of 209 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:35,880 Speaker 1: the first executive decisions I ever made in my life. 210 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,440 Speaker 1: This is not confident. Did you stay home? And they 211 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 1: went to church after he gave the money back. The 212 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: people a cross street babysit at me. I was cutting 213 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:49,320 Speaker 1: their loss was twice as much, it was. That was brilliant, Yeah, 214 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 1: I was. I was cutting their lives with twice as much. Um. Yeah, 215 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: tell me about how it all came to an end. Well, 216 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: it was the reality that I lived in, and there 217 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 1: was reality that I learned later. The reality that I 218 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: lived in was that they were getting old and they 219 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 1: were just not able to keep up with me. It 220 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:16,560 Speaker 1: just couldn't keep up, you know, and it broke their 221 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:21,000 Speaker 1: heart to have to let me find me another place. 222 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: But in reality, Mamie was diagnosed with cancer and she 223 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: was dying. And that's the story I never got, you know. Um, 224 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: So they Dennis couldn't do it by himself. As soon 225 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 1: as I left, maybe a month or two after I left, 226 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 1: she died. I was crushed. That really spuned me in 227 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 1: a way where I compared everybody to her and no one, 228 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: no one ever got as close to her in my life. 229 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: Then she was. If the proxy showed what's right within 230 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: our foster care system, Earl and Florence du Pomp showed 231 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:13,640 Speaker 1: quite the opposite. This was the next household. Jarvis was 232 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: shipped too, and it was nothing short of a nightmare. 233 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:18,640 Speaker 1: He was little more than a paycheck to them, and 234 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 1: a lot less than an innocent nine year old boy. 235 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:25,280 Speaker 1: This is what happened to him for confiding his grievances 236 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: to Mamie and Dennis. Florence looked down at my hands 237 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 1: and told me to wash before I left the house. 238 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: I was at the sink later in when she suddenly 239 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: came up behind me, gripping one of my hands. She 240 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 1: forced it down into the drain for split second. I 241 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: imagine she thought I dropped the soap and was wanting 242 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: me to retrieve it. And I saw a flip that 243 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: gob was disposal switch. Tips of my fingers felt bits 244 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: of food, bouncing multi role taking blades. I tried to 245 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: put my hand out as Florence kept pushing it down 246 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: for towards the blades. We were like two arm wrestlers. 247 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: I didn't know why Florence was doing this. She was 248 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: not only mean, she had become totally possessed. I could 249 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: feel her evil. That's willing to hear my screams. The 250 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 1: seconds felt like minutes thanks to the soul. She kept 251 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: losing her grip, which may have been was saved my fingers. 252 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: If you ever, Florence said, spinning into my air, try 253 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: calling somebody else about what goes on in this house. 254 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: You won't have this hand, don't you ever? Ever? She 255 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: seed it through her teeth. Do you hear me? Do you? Yes? Please? 256 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:47,440 Speaker 1: I won't. I won't, I promise I won't. What the 257 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 1: trip tell me about him. I've been thinking about this 258 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 1: for many, many years before I even wrote that book, 259 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: and I realized there so many people in prison, not 260 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:08,640 Speaker 1: just on death row, but in prison, had known someone 261 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,960 Speaker 1: like that in their younger life. These are the faces 262 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: and names of people we can I can go out 263 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:18,480 Speaker 1: to any yard and we can talk about for you 264 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 1: for for for hours. We can compare life experiences with 265 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,960 Speaker 1: these people. We could show our rooms where we was 266 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:30,160 Speaker 1: hit when we were first hitting, second hit, and third hit, 267 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,400 Speaker 1: you know, and what that did to us when we 268 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 1: ran away from that, and we ran away from something 269 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:40,719 Speaker 1: just like that and something just like that again, and 270 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,080 Speaker 1: then we found the most safest place is in some 271 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 1: juvenile hall with the dormitory that had in the structure 272 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 1: that we went to school early in the morning. We 273 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:53,520 Speaker 1: came back and when we got in trouble, we got 274 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 1: uh thrown into a hole. So the dew Ponts is 275 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:03,440 Speaker 1: very much in that in that way they stack you up. 276 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,879 Speaker 1: You went in there and there's five or six maybe 277 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: more than that, foster kids, and they're in a very 278 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 1: small room and there were three bump bets, so two 279 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: bump bets but three three decks. I was put at 280 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,360 Speaker 1: the top. I was the smallest. I can raise my 281 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: arm halfway and I can touch the ceiling. It was 282 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:32,200 Speaker 1: It was junky, it was stinky. It was just completely 283 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: utterly different from where I had been to me raised 284 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,080 Speaker 1: with Mammy and Dennis. It was completely utterly different. I 285 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:46,360 Speaker 1: didn't understand it at all. And even though I had 286 00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: a little with my mother and we had that experiences 287 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: that I can always think about it and reflect back on, 288 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: this was totally different. This was a machine a systematic 289 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:02,000 Speaker 1: way of because I'm in wealthy by the by the 290 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: exploitation of kids and a juvenile system that was just 291 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: bursting out the scene with what do we do with 292 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:13,919 Speaker 1: these kids? So that story is a story that you know, 293 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:18,280 Speaker 1: has all the environments everything you need to be horrified 294 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: to be that. So many people I know in jail 295 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,199 Speaker 1: and prisons and wherever I've been know they know the 296 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: DuPonts Dupontsism very very It is one of those well 297 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: written books that we all can talk about. I was abused, 298 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,000 Speaker 1: I was whipped, I was thrown, I was dropped out 299 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 1: of stairs. I was my hand was forced into a 300 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 1: a garbage disposed machinery type thing, a rotor everything you know. Um, 301 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: I was made to eat food out of garbage as 302 00:19:55,840 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 1: a distillery action. And it was the pits. It was 303 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:06,400 Speaker 1: the pits. And I watched people for the first time 304 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: in my life at that point endure pain. Earlier, I 305 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 1: didn't know what I knew would being very hungry, starving, 306 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: you know, wanting to eat so bad that there was 307 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: nothing there to eat. I understood that. That's fine. I 308 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,479 Speaker 1: did that, that was cool. I understood it. It was 309 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:32,359 Speaker 1: something of an experience that Mammy and Dennis told me 310 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 1: that is not what real people do. Only sick people 311 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,360 Speaker 1: do those things. And your mother and your father and 312 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,439 Speaker 1: their friends were not well. I dug it. I understood it. 313 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 1: Maybe did I want to believe it so I don't 314 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,720 Speaker 1: have to tell no hard story about my mother. That 315 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,879 Speaker 1: might be the case. But this was systematic. This was 316 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:01,399 Speaker 1: a design way of treating children. It was a way 317 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 1: of raising kids that were not your own. Their kids 318 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:11,359 Speaker 1: lived upstairs, their vituals were flushed. We weren't allowed to 319 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:16,080 Speaker 1: go up there, and we had to sleep down there. Um. 320 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 1: It was hell. It was real hell. And someone told 321 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 1: me how to go to juvenile Hall instead. They showed 322 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,199 Speaker 1: me how to run away just so I can go 323 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,679 Speaker 1: to juvenile Hall instead. So that was the kind of 324 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: place it was. I don't wish that only anyone you know. 325 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: It was not write at all. Jarvis eventually found the 326 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:47,359 Speaker 1: courage to escape the bondages of the DuPont House of Terror, 327 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:50,640 Speaker 1: only to find himself at times homeless or bouncing from 328 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: one foster facility to the next, in and out of 329 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: juvenile detention centers, from the notorious McLaren Hall Children's Center 330 00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: to the even more notorious boys Town of the Desert. 331 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:04,440 Speaker 1: McLaren Hall incidentally was shuttered years ago under dark clouds 332 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: of rampant abuse and molestation. Boystown the Desert was a 333 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,400 Speaker 1: turning point in my life. It was because of where 334 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: I went after Boystown, After Boystown where all hell broke blues, 335 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: whereafter DuPonts was very abusive on every level. The academy 336 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: was very structured into a military cadet type school where 337 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: every act of violence was justified, every show of cowardness 338 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: were treated with the most disrespect, and it was a 339 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:51,159 Speaker 1: challenge to keep up with that stuff. We were forced 340 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: to fight. We was forced to learn how to fight. 341 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: We were forced to run. We were forced to endure pain. 342 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: We were forced to give of pain, to issuate pain, 343 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: to to to enjoy it, to make people feel they 344 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:11,119 Speaker 1: deserved it. We were programmed to be very very violent people, 345 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:16,959 Speaker 1: young kids. We challenge each other by putting cigarettes between 346 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: our arms and to see who flinched. Counselors, cadet counselors 347 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:26,680 Speaker 1: were bet on that, and I was trained to be 348 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,480 Speaker 1: very very violent. That was a turning point in my life. 349 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:35,919 Speaker 1: That child that was abandoned, that that small house and 350 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 1: that kid that that that toddler who was with Mami 351 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:45,680 Speaker 1: and Dennis, that kids that didn't understand why people treated 352 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 1: people so bad, and the DuPonts, then the peer pressuret 353 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: boys town nothing. None of those compared to the California 354 00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: Military Academy. Nothing. We were made to hurt people and 355 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: made to endure pain. I was pretty good at it 356 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: because I kind of looked up to these guys, you know, 357 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: the counselors, you know, who showed me how to kick 358 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: box and showed me how to fight, and showed me 359 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:22,680 Speaker 1: how to not lose, and show me how to take 360 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 1: pain by cigarette butts, and who would buy me a 361 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 1: six pack up Sodas if I can keep my arm 362 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:36,160 Speaker 1: there the longest. It was a very, very very painful thing. 363 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: I compared its training bulldogs at an early age. It 364 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: was training bulldogs at an early age for me to 365 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:52,280 Speaker 1: a flick violence. I've seen guys get buffed in their 366 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:57,080 Speaker 1: head with sticks and they did not had cried, you know, 367 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,359 Speaker 1: and they didn't if they had a has to have 368 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:04,240 Speaker 1: a pistol that was shut up everybody in there. Then 369 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,359 Speaker 1: I see that a lot when I think about some 370 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:10,120 Speaker 1: of the virus I see today. I was taught violence 371 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: and then and I don't never think I I really 372 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:18,000 Speaker 1: came back from that. In my early age teenage years, 373 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: I learned almost everything that I needed to learn to 374 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:25,119 Speaker 1: defend myself, and I got pretty good at it. Just 375 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:29,280 Speaker 1: something about me just locked up, just locked in, you know. 376 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: It was something about me that just said that you 377 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: on your own. Now, you know, when you were the way, 378 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:36,960 Speaker 1: you know, make sure no one hurts you when you 379 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,120 Speaker 1: any other place you go to, you know, make sure 380 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,679 Speaker 1: no one hurts you. You're not going to depend on 381 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: asking people are telling on anyone or you know this 382 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 1: guy he hit me in the face. There was none 383 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,480 Speaker 1: of that, no more. There was none of that. And 384 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: I met all these guys in prison almost you know, 385 00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,000 Speaker 1: this is what blows me and where even when I 386 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: think about it today, it was based on your performance 387 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,159 Speaker 1: in the academy that reflected who you were when you 388 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:16,679 Speaker 1: got to prison. If you were week depended upon someone else, 389 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:23,280 Speaker 1: scared taking advantage of in the academy, you was expected 390 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,919 Speaker 1: to be that same person when you got to prison, 391 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:30,160 Speaker 1: and people made you that same person when you got 392 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,959 Speaker 1: the prison got stabbed because they were that same person. 393 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: So that would make me strong that would make me survive, 394 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: because my track record as a kid really reflected everywhere 395 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 1: else I've been. Even today, I know, I know that 396 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: young kids who are in June all they're trying to 397 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,679 Speaker 1: get out of for who they were when they were 398 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: in June the hall when they come to prison, because 399 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: the history follows you. Those life experiences as children in 400 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:11,840 Speaker 1: foster homes, boys homes, champs has follow us where we 401 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:16,120 Speaker 1: go if we're going in the direction of prisons. Dear 402 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 1: Governor Newsome, I want to tell you about a man 403 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:23,440 Speaker 1: I've come to know, someone extraordinary. His name is Jarvis j. Masters. 404 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: He inspires people and helps them. Indeed, he's changed lives 405 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: and save them. But what's most remarkable is that Jarvis 406 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,399 Speaker 1: has done this while being incarcerated on death row in 407 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,119 Speaker 1: San Quentin. He's there because he was framed for a 408 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 1: crime he didn't commit. There's in controvertible evidence to prove this. 409 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:43,400 Speaker 1: But in spite of that, he's been on death row 410 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,720 Speaker 1: for three decades, including twenty two years in solitary confinement. 411 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,480 Speaker 1: Even amid that injustice and in those appalling conditions, he's 412 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: been a force for good. My name is David Chef. 413 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: I'm a journalist who has written about social justice, politics, 414 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: mental health, and many other issues, most recently folk sing 415 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: on our nation's drug use and addiction crises. In addition, 416 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: I'm in the final stages of a book I've been 417 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,479 Speaker 1: working on for three years, a biography of masters entitled 418 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,719 Speaker 1: The Buddhist on Death Row. When I met David Scheff, 419 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:16,119 Speaker 1: he convinced me, with very few words that that I 420 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: had a story. It's an extraordinary story. And when I 421 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:23,159 Speaker 1: hope and believe will enlighten and inspire. She did not 422 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,159 Speaker 1: just come here one day in this start tape of 423 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:30,440 Speaker 1: me and that was it. She came here consistently going 424 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:34,440 Speaker 1: over things, going back over the finding out things, wondering 425 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: about this. I mean, he is a real biographer. I 426 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 1: suspect that he has at least fifty takes, you know, 427 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: two hundred, three hundred, maybe fourred of tapes. In the book, 428 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: I chronicled Jarvis's journey. He had a difficult childhood characterized 429 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,960 Speaker 1: by neglect and physical abuse, and as he fully admits, 430 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 1: he committed crimes when he was a teenager. Jarvis has 431 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,480 Speaker 1: never killed. I'll say that again. He has never are killed, 432 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,880 Speaker 1: but he's open about the crimes he did commit, and 433 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: he's repeatedly described his remorse. When Jarvis was incarcerated in 434 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: San Quentin, it was different than it is now. A 435 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: former warden described it to me as a war zone. 436 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: Jarvis was thrown into that war zone when he was 437 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,560 Speaker 1: still an adolescent. He was only nineteen. Four years later, 438 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,959 Speaker 1: a terrible crime was committed. A correctional officer was murdered. 439 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: Jarvis wasn't involved with the murder, but he was framed. 440 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: He couldn't defend himself. He would have been murdered himself 441 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: if he had. As a result, Jarvis was condemned and 442 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 1: sentenced to death. Tragically, we've all heard similar stories about 443 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,800 Speaker 1: wrongful convictions, innocent men being locked up in our nation's prisons. 444 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:44,120 Speaker 1: Far too many languish there for the remainder of their lives, 445 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: and many in that situation grow angry and bitter, and 446 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:51,000 Speaker 1: many have killed themselves. Jarvis went another way. As I said, 447 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: he has changed lives and saved them. Jarvis has taught 448 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: so called troubled teenagers non violence and challenged them to 449 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:02,000 Speaker 1: rethink their definitions of man hood. He's taught them that 450 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:04,840 Speaker 1: being a man isn't what they had been taught someone cold, 451 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: hard stock and violent, but instead is someone conscientious, open 452 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: and loving, a good father and friend, a citizen who 453 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,640 Speaker 1: contributes to his or horror community. A condemned prisoner told 454 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: me about Jervis's breaking in viable prison codes, intervening in 455 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 1: conflicts on the yard that would have led to violence, 456 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: and helping inmates who are vulnerable to attack even more improbable. 457 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 1: In my research, I found examples of Jarvis's preventing murder 458 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: of prisoners, and in two cases I've documented preventing the 459 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: murder of correctional officers. I am now writing you to 460 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 1: look to ask you to look into Jarvis's case and 461 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 1: right a terrible wrong that has been done to him. 462 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 1: He has talked to me about one of the things 463 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,160 Speaker 1: he would do he's freed from San Quentin. He would 464 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,640 Speaker 1: return to the kinds of neighborhoods in which he grew 465 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,800 Speaker 1: up to teach California's lost children. He guide and mentor 466 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: kids and teach them to value themselves and live authentically, 467 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 1: with the aim of helping them avoid gangs, drugs, and violence. 468 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 1: I want to thank you for listening, and I want 469 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: to send my respect David Chef. I'm left side you 470 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:13,720 Speaker 1: know this opportunity to have someone like him sit down 471 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 1: for all these as, to spend this time with me 472 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 1: answer right about my life. The system taught Jarvis how 473 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: to fight, and while still a boy, defined for him 474 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: what it meant to be a man, fierce, angry and proud. 475 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,760 Speaker 1: There were times when he tried to rise above and 476 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:33,200 Speaker 1: escape the cradle to prison pipeline, but the gravitational pull 477 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: was too strong to resist. Next week, we'll hear directly 478 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: from Jarvis about the crimes he committed the first put 479 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 1: in behind bars. In we'll hear what manhood meant to 480 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,080 Speaker 1: him then, and what manhood means to him now, and 481 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:53,200 Speaker 1: how that transformation came to be. Today's episode was written 482 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,840 Speaker 1: and produced by Donni Fazzari and myself, Corny Cole. Our 483 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,719 Speaker 1: theme song sentenced his compliments of the band Stick Figure 484 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: from their album Set in Stone. Excerpts from Jarvis's memoir 485 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,040 Speaker 1: That Bird Has My Wings, a Harper One publication, were 486 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,480 Speaker 1: read by n Low McCrae, a member of the Truth 487 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 1: Worker Theater Company. To learn more about the outstanding work 488 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:19,760 Speaker 1: they do, please visit truth Worker dot com. Stu Sternbach 489 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: has composed the original music. Nate Dufort did the sound design. 490 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 1: Visit free Jarvis dot org to find out more about 491 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,360 Speaker 1: Jarvis's case and to sign your name to our Dear 492 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,520 Speaker 1: Governor Newsom petition. And if you have questions for Jarvis, 493 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 1: please leave a message on our hotline at two zero 494 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,680 Speaker 1: one nine zero three thirty five seventy five. That's two 495 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: zero one nine zero three thirty five seventy five. And 496 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:47,240 Speaker 1: you can also preorder David Chef's biography about Jarvis, the 497 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: Buddhist on Death Row, How One Man Found Light in 498 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: the Darkest Place. Dear Governor Newsom is a production of 499 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:57,320 Speaker 1: I Heart Media and three Months Media. For more podcasts 500 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,480 Speaker 1: from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 501 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 502 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 1: H m hm