Reboot Podcast Episode #179 – The Work of Getting Free: Redemption, Gratitude & Hope – with Shaka Senghor

Memorable Quotes:

“I was incarcerated before I ever stepped foot into a prison cell because I bought into a narrative that had very limited outcomes. And I believed it based on my surroundings, based on my older siblings and the older guys in my neighborhood who had followed these two pathways, dead or in jail.” – Shake Sengor

“How did I end up in a prison cell? You know, I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be an artist, I wanted to help people, I wanted to bring beauty into the world.” – Shaka Senghor

“And I just thought about like, man, what are the seeds I’m planting in my own mind? And then I was struck by this idea that I just didn’t know enough about my own life. And that’s when I began to think that, hey, I do have some agency over the rest of my life. I may not be able to control the past. I may not be able to control all the traumatic events that happened to me. But I can take responsibility for my contribution. I can be accountable for how I want to live the rest of my life. And I can create some form of agency even in an environment where you’re stripped of nearly all agency. And that agency was I can choose how I think about my circumstances and how I think about the future.” -Shaka Senghor

“I’ve explained to people that there’s a difference between solitude and solitary confinement. And within solitary confinement, I had to find solitude because that environment is extremely chaotic and barbaric, and inhumane.” – Shaka Senghor

“If you live long enough, you’re gonna offend, hurt, damage, disrespect, dishonor, someone along the journey, and sometimes it’s yourself. And so we’re constantly in a state of repairing. And if you’re aware of it and you’re conscious of it, you’re less likely to cause intentional damage or harm to others. But as we know what it means to be human, no one is exempt from causing harm.” – Shaka Senghor

“We want people to be punished indefinitely. And, you know, the reality is that over 90 % of people will get out of prison at some point. And we have a choice as a society to determine, you know, how do we want people to come home? Do we want them to come home healthy and whole, or do we want them to come home so damaged that they are no longer even able to contribute in a meaningful way?” – Shaka Senghor

“I went into prison at 19, and you know, I’ve been out now for 15 years, and there are still parts of my life where I still find myself maturing. It’s a full-blown adulthood.” – Shaka Senghor

“If you suffer from grief at an early age that you don’t free yourself from, you’ll be stuck at that age. Like there’ll be things about you that you’re suffering arrested development, as if you actually went inside a prison and didn’t come out until you were physically or biologically an adult.” – Shaka Senghor