{"id":28917,"date":"2026-03-12T09:58:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/darajapress.com\/?p=28917"},"modified":"2026-03-12T11:44:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T15:44:35","slug":"mentorship-and-the-political-mind-coming-of-age-in-the-era-of-mass-incarceration-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darajapress.com\/staging\/mentorship-and-the-political-mind-coming-of-age-in-the-era-of-mass-incarceration-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentorship and the Political Mind: Coming of Age in the Era of Mass Incarceration: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This second part of a three-part podcast focuses on James’s time at Coxsackie (the “Cat”)<\/strong> and Greene Correctional Facility<\/strong>, where he began to “decolonize his mind” through the guidance of mentors. At Coxsackie, he met an elder named Pops<\/strong>, a former Black Panther who introduced him to revolutionary thinkers like George Jackson, Frantz Fanon, and Am\u00edlcar Cabral<\/strong>. Pops taught him the vital philosophy of “doing time” rather than letting “time do you,”<\/strong> encouraging him to use his incarceration as an opportunity to build his mind and body. This period marked James’s first “doctorate,” as he became a voracious reader and began to see his struggle as part of a broader historical foundation of slavery<\/strong> maintained by the 13th Amendment. Later, at Greene, he met Bliss<\/strong>, who helped him find the power in his own voice through the Youth Assistance Program (YAP)<\/strong>, where James shared his story with at-risk children. This section also details the devastating impact of the 1996 immigration laws<\/strong>, which resulted in James receiving a retroactive deportation order<\/strong> while already serving his sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n