1. Letter to My Brother, Everett, in Prison1
Author: Dr. Michael Eric Dyson
Dear Everett:
How are you? I suppose since we've talked almost nonstop on the telephone
over the last five years, I haven't written too often. Perhaps that's because with
writing you have to confront yourself, stare down truths you would rather avoid
altogether. When you're freestyling in conversation, you can acrobatically dance
around all those issues that demand deep reflection. After five years, I guess it's
time I got down to that kind of, well, hard work, at least emotionally and
spiritually.
I've been thinking about you a lot because I've been talking about black men
quite a bit—in my books, in various lectures I give around the country, in
sermons I preach, even on Oprah! Or is it the other way around, that I've been
talking about black men because I've been thinking about you and your hellish
confinement behind bars? I don't need to tell you—but maybe I'll repeat it to
remind myself—of the