Written by: Omar Gent
Omar shares his journey from incarceration to freedom with the world on Facebook. I'm always greatly inspired by his insight and perspectives.
Greetings. My name is Omar Gent.
On October 5th, 2023 , I boarded flight 444 , traveling from Denver International Airport to Miami Airport, finally heading home to Florida after serving fourteen years in Colorado DOC for a crime I didn't commit. While I sat in the airport waiting to board my flight, a plethora of thoughts came to mind.
I thought about my Elder(a fellow Warrior who I was incarcerated with ) who lost his life at the hands of his cell mate, a much younger Black man, shortly after I was released. I reflected on the fact that even though my Elder is gone , if i continue to sharpen my discipline & improve my warrior spirit, the guidance of my beloved Elder won't be for naught.The ancestors & my Elder will live through me & his Legacy of resistance will carry on inspite of the enemy's wicked manipulation that turned Brother against Brother, cost my Elder his life. I thought about my former cell mate (who became family to me throughout the years) and the fact that he's a Black man serving a life sentence for a crime he didn't commit, the murder of a Caucasian Woman. I thought about the vow I made to him to expose the truth about his case to the public. I thought about the different changes I've experienced in my personal relationships as time & distance began to test the fabric of the bonds of affection.
I thought about how the prison system continuously tried to break my mind & soul because the powers that be know that I'm on a mission to expose the wrongful conviction machine I've encountered & worked to expose during my incarceration- the same Wicked & illegal machine that railroaded me to prison.
Furthermore, I thought about what I would say to you all. My fellow Warriors; the chosen ones. The above-mentioned plethora of thoughts has my mind going very deep into a zone of sharp focus & fiery determination. The opportunity that I've been given to write to the imprisoned but soul-free masses has intensified the focus & determination that has carried me through my long journey of incarceration.
So many people look down on formerly incarcerated people or incarcerated people for a long list of reasons, but if we are determined to break the chains that have shackled our community to the cycle of incarceration, we know that the insight that's been given to us by our painful trial of imprisonment, is a gateway to a brighter future for the people and ourselves. If we are willing to share the jewelry/ knowledge of our insight & bring solutions to the table it will bring life & empowerment. Tupac once said, "America eats it's children. No matter what ya'll think of me, I'm still your child. You just can't throw me away ".
So many of us know exactly what Tupac was saying; we can relate to this in every fiber of our being. To be thrown away isn't a good feeling- to say the least. But if we can move in solidarity & self-determination to help stop the future generations from being eaten alive by the System or from eating one another , we truly can hold ourselves accountable to the greatness we have within us & we can turn our pain into great fire for change & true revolutionary power.
Just the other day I was telling a friend of mine that whenever you speak about or write about prisons & jails, there is always going to be many people who will always present the one size fits all " those people (meaning convicted people) made their decisions " mantra, or they'll say " if you can't do the time don't do the crime ", or they'll suggest that if people would just "watch the company they keep " the prison system would never fasten it's grips on people, end of discussion. Of course, preventive measures need to be taken to make sure that more of our Sisters & Brothers never fall into the grips of the prison monster. Yes, We need to address our behavior & habits that help to lead us to prison. Yes, we need to seize our own destiny instead of having it seized by the powers that be.But we must realize, there are Generational policies deliberately put in place to perpetuate poverty, failing schools, the generational wealth disparities between the average black family versus the average White family, along with the Jail & prison empire. If we study these policies & implement our own solutions & programs , we ( the scapegoats) can help to turn things around for ourselves & the future generations. Our collective mind has the power to break the shackles that have fastened to us.
We are Warriors & great thinkers. They can't keep us from creating a brighter future if we refuse to give up. The power of the people is truly amazing.
Peace & blessings.
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