“We’re going to have to make sure we’re willing to police and check our young people, in particular our young black boys.
We’ve got to talk to them about what being a man is and what it isn’t.
We’ve gotta make sure that they understand that Alabama, the state of Alabama, put $1 billion dollars into a penitentiary. They didn’t put a billion dollars into public schools or pre-K or workforce development. They put a billion dollars into the penitentiary. They want someone to feel that penitentiary.
I hope it’s not our young boys and our young girls in Montgomery that are going to be doing that.”
If Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed needs to make a villain out of Alabama’s new billion dollar prison to scare young boys into manhood, so be it. But his message could be better.
Fear of punishment, fear of freedom lost, fear of being locked up unjustly in a cage – fear can be quite a motivator – but what a man fears makes all the difference.
Obviously, no man in his right mind would wish for prison time, especially if his residence is destined to be the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex in Elmore County.
I can only wonder if upon entry into the new facility new inmates will hear a recording of Ivey saying, “Do the crime, pay the time, shugga.”
What a legacy, Governor!
Yet, I worry that by ascribing villainous intent to the state of Alabama – “They want someone to feel that penitentiary” – Reed is undermining his own message to parents and kids, especially in making boys into men.
Reed seems to imply the state of Alabama isn’t building a new prison out of practical necessity, legal obligation, or any noble motivation to better administer justice in a more perfect way. No, according to Reed, “they” (whatever that means) have a sadistic desire to see the underprivileged feel punishment rather than offer them a helping hand in public education or workforce development (though isn’t the ETF for this fiscal year a record $9.3 billion? Are the billions of dollars the federal government sends to Alabama just not enough?)
Maybe Reed really believes this, maybe he is correct to cynically suspect the worst motivations of the state in building this new prison – I often suspect their motives myself – but is threatening the unjust sadism of the state of Alabama really the best message to turn Montgomery boys into men?
If injustice from “the other” is all a young man must fear, if the world is just dog-eat-dog, devil take the hindmost, why wouldn’t a young man try to be the baddest dog on the block or cleverest devil, taking what’s his while making sure not to get caught?
If the state of Alabama does indeed relish unjust punishment, why should a young man – especially a young black boy who feels “they” don’t respect him or care about his life struggles – respect and care about Alabama’s laws at all?
Wouldn’t a better message be to fear the justice of the penitentiary rather than suggest the penitentiary is unjust?
A guilty man who enters the penitentiary believing his sentence unjust usually finds no repentance as long as he holds such a belief. Until he changes his heart and mind, he will only find the torment of an assortment of devils and dogs stronger or weaker than him.
But what of a man who enters the penitentiary knowing justice has been served against him, that he has indeed gotten what he deserves? That man has genuine hope of repentance and mercy.
What is a man and what isn’t? That is a good question with many good answers, best provided by fathers to sons, less with moral words and more a steady daily example hammering home habitual grace.
Yet, if I could venture an answer, I might say – one who gives into his own depravity only to blush with shame as he learns to pray for justice and mercy – such a creature is man. What man, even the best, is not in need of repentance and forgiveness for bad things done and good things left undone? What man, even one whose habits mimic the angels and the saints, is not in need of justice and mercy?
One need not have the personal pervasive guilt of a Martin Luther or full-on embrace of Calvinism to understand this lesson in grace – all men fall short, not necessarily enough to land them in the penitentiary, but all stumble under the weight of the injustices they suffer and commit.
Yes, I suppose it’s true that there is always some other “they” to blame as unjust and sadistic, whether “they” be a hardened criminal raised on the streets of Montgomery or a deeply flawed and imperfect system of justice run by the state of Alabama.
“They” may even inspire fear enough to save a young boy from entering the penitentiary someday – but it’s always better for a man to fear Justice rather than injustice – to fear the Lord rather than just his fellow man.
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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