I knew hundreds and hundreds of women like me, who had traveled in and out of prison in a revolving door. They needed support and help just like I had received. And it could make a difference, just like it had made a difference in my life. I wanted to see them come back to the community and have a chance at a different life, too.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of support for individuals reintegrating into society after incarceration.
Susan Burton's quote reflects on her experience and the experiences of many women who cycle through the prison system. It advocates for the necessity of support and resources to help these women transition back into the community successfully, allowing them the opportunity to lead different lives instead of falling back into old patterns. This highlights the systemic issues faced by those who have been incarcerated and the transformative power of compassion and assistance.
In practice
This quote can be used during a community meeting discussing rehabilitation programs.
People are released from prison so unprepared. They give you $200. We call it gate money. And you have to pay for a bus ticket back to L.A. You get off the Greyhound bus, downtown Skid Row, and you're supposed to make a life from that.
Many times, I left the prison thinking, 'I'm smart. I can make it. I won't get caught up again.' But you get off downtown Skid Row, and you're a target for all of the environmental harms in that area. The pain and trauma in that area is so thick, you can almost reach your hand out and touch it.
We're willing to spend countless dollars putting people who need help in cages, and then when they get out we say you can't have a job, and you can't have housing, and because you don't have either, we're going to take your kids, too.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it' is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It's an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms.
So I cut off my hair and I rode straight away, to the wild unknown country where I could not go wrong.
The customs and fashions of men change like leaves on the bough, some of which go and others come.
One of the immutable patterns of history is the rise and fall of great powers. Those that survive are the ones that adapt as the world changes.
If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.
we are the ones we have been waiting for
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