Two participants from the Kewanee Life Skills Re-Entry Center are being awarded $750 scholarships after writing winning essays on the topic of tolerance.
Adisa Wheeler and Ojo A. Webb will be recognized by the Tolerance Means Dialogues at a panel event scheduled on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Kewanee center. Tolerance Means Dialogues holds essay contests and public forums with the goal of bringing together students and thought leaders to find approaches to living together in a diverse society.
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Wheeler grew up in Chicago and is the editor of the Kewanee Horizon newsletter. He graduated from Defy Ventures and is a member of Credible Messenger Mentorship Program (CMMP) and the Rotary Magazine. His essay focuses on freedom and diversity.
“Freedom & Diversity”
By Adisa Wheeler
1) the quality or state of being free: INDEPENDENCE 2: EXEMPTION, RELEASE 3: EASE, FACILITY 4: FRANKNESS 5: unrestricted use 6: a political right; also: FRANCHISE, PRIVILEGE
That is the exact definition for “Freedom” in The Merriam Webster Dictionary, the Home and Office Edition. I feel like the word Freedom can mean different things for different people at different points in their lives.
Personally pre-incarceration I really only associated the word Freedom in conversations and movies pertaining to slavery and racism. I started to see the meaning of freedom in a different light after spending year after year incarcerated. When my mind, my body and my spirit started processing the fact that so many things, even the things I realized I took for granted has been stripped from my way of life. So, that’s what Freedom meant to me pre- incarceration.
During my incarceration Freedom means; the longing for hope, family, community, peace, a future, a life and to finally have a home. Though I’ve heard a few incarcerated individuals say, “I might be physically incarcerated but I am mentally free.” that could be from their religion, reading books, their imagination or whatever the case-may-be. I’m not going to lie, that’s not me.
Now, I do have moments where I can block out all the prison noise but I can still feel that I am incarcerated. I believe post-incarceration Freedom will mean; release, family community, ability to breathe and the right to… Right to live. Right to earn a living. Right to be a part of a community. Right to contribute. Right to love. Right to be loved. The right to be giving a chance for the person I am today and not the charge I was convicted of over two decades ago. The right to build a future and the right to so-on-and-soon. I also know and understand that same Freedom is for everyone. Therefore, people have the right to see and feel about me as they wish. That version of Freedom happened and will happen in all stages of my life pre-incarceration, during incarceration and a high percentage of it happening post-incarceration.
And it is my Freedom (right to) be sad, disappointed and hurt by that reaction from others but still have that Freedom to continue moving forward on a positive grounding. I also believe that same Freedom ties in with the importance of having a Diverse society. It is the reason why we are where we are today and the never ending continuance of evolution.
People having the Freedom of having different thoughts, different cultures, different upbringings and having different ways of seeing things. Can only happen with a Diverse society. Just imagine a world without Diversity in it. No wheel. No fire. No buildings. No cars. No planes. No electricity. That would mean everybody would be thinking the same and not wanting or having the inspiration for change. No one thinking outside the box. No one thinking to make things better. We have to remember it was not 100% all blacks that helped free us from slavery. Do to the Diversity of the non-blacks way of thinking allowed them to believe that all humans have the right to Freedom. Would we be at the point we are at now without that Diversity in our struggle?
Don’t get me wrong. I know we as a human race still have some work to do. But without Diversity (non-blacks) Blacks/African American and us as a whole could be living in a worse society. Then on a different culture level living with Diversity is amazing. Being able to learn from a different group of individuals. Having a conversation with someone who speaks a completely different language. Yet, still be able to understand and communicate with each other on some level, is amazing.
We need Diversity to learn, grow, fellowship, be able to problem solve from different angles in order to continue on the path of making our society the best version we can make it. I know my definition/ outlook on Freedom and Diversity might seem simple but that’s the Freedom (post-incarceration) and Diversity I look forward to as I embark on my new chapter. Sorry I went over 500 words.
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Webb also grew up in Chicago and has been a resident of Kewanee for nearly a year. He is participating in the Defy Ventures Entrepreneurship Program and is a member of CMMP. His essay focuses on what freedom means to him personally.
By Ojo A. Webb
Freedom is infinite. It is the mother of all happiness and joy. Without freedom, nothing that has life can ever truly live and if it is living, their whole purpose in life is to attain freedom or die trying. Therefore, freedom is essential just like water, food and proper shelter.
For example, the essence of fire is heat and the essence of water is wet so, true is it that the essence of true happiness is freedom. Circumstances, environment, and bad choices can lead you not to value it. However, as soon as your freedom is took away from you the realization that it is priceless hits you in the face like a Mack truck.
I cannot help but to think about the African American struggle: for freedom from slavery, to Jim Crow, to Civil Rights up until present time. However, the quest for freedom is not unique to one group of people.
Every race ethnicity and nationality has struggled for freedom in some shape form or fashion. Therefore, freedom unites us all through a shared experience. Freedom is our identity. Is a fish really a fish if it does not have the freedom to swim? Is a bird really a bird if it does not have the freedom to fly? Are you really you if you do not have the freedom to express yourself? Freedom is a gift from God that comes with responsibility.
If you enjoy your freedoms then you should have grace enough to allow other people to enjoy theirs as long as they are not hurting anybody. Freedom is fragile. It has to be cultivated and nourished by tolerance. There should be a tolerance for people’s ideas, opinions, and lifestyles.
To be a part of a society, where our differences are not just tolerated but celebrated, is the ultimate goal for a truly diverse society. Look at the country that we live in and think of all the different races of people that have helped create and sustain the great nation, which is truly a melting pot that would not exist without diversity.
Think about all the music that sprang forth. If not for diversity, there would be no rock and roll, no country and no hiphop. Look at the movies, food, dance, architecture and medicine. I could go on and on. None of these achievement and advancements could have happened without diversity and freedom.
We are all brothers and sisters unique in our own right. We all have hearts that love and brains that think. We are all members of the same society and community that could not function without each other. Different races religions and cultures linked together despite our differences through respect and empathy. Understanding that freedom and diversity goes hand and hand, people are not perfect, life is not always fair but our ideals, and values help us to strive to be better and to do better than the generation before us and to me that is the definition of progress.
Looking at everything that is going on in the world right now makes me feel blessed to live in the country that I do. Thinking about that day in Washington D.C. when Dr. King gave his, “I have dream” speech I cannot help but to recognize that it was more than a speech and a dream. It was a prayer. A prayer for freedom for hope that the “Powers That Be” could see that diversity and freedom should not be something to fight against but something to fight for.
The fact that that speech resonates today as much as it did in 1963 means that we still have some work to do. However, by looking at the tremendous progress that this country has made, I know that we will make it to the promise land.
