Chapter Fifteen begins with Shake explaining how he met the mother of his son, Brenda. The first time he encountered Brenda, she was dealing at a house a few doors down from Shaka’s in Detroit. Brenda asked to borrow a pistol from him, which progressed into a few short conversations. After a little while, they began having longer discussions, which progressed into a romantic relationship. They came from similar familial backgrounds having been “callused by neglect, hurt, and heartbreak.” It was easy for them to bond over their pain and after moving in together, they began selling out of their home. Brenda then found out she was pregnant, which encouraged them to change their habits to make a better life for their child, but they always reverted back to their same ways.
In Chapter Sixteen begins with his account of his time in solitary confinement in Michigan Reformatory. He began to realize that life was moving on without him, his sisters were getting older, and his son Li’l Jay was becoming a teenager. This realization led him to become a spiritual leader in all institutions [Carson City, Oaks Correctional and Gus Harrison Correctional facilities] he was placed in. Shaka encouraged the men to become better versions of themselves, something he was still struggling with. He found himself contradicting the things he would preach to the other men: “I was teaching the brothers that white supremacy and facism were the enemy, but in the next breath, [he] was ordering the stabbings of other inmates – inmates who had brown flesh like [him].” Shaka then resigned as a spiritual advisor, and began writing about his experiences. One of his supervisors praised Shaka’s work and brought it home to his wife who is a magazine editor. This feedback almost served as a turning point in Shaka’s sentence, as it had “been a long time since someone said something affirming about [him] that wasn’t connected to violence.” Shaka began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, having reached the midpoint of his earliest release date.
Chapter Seventeen recounts the events that led up to the fatal shooting that landed him in prison. Brenda and Shaka were invited to a party at one of their close friend’s house, where Shaka was asked to DJ. It was the first party they had gone to together, but everything came crashing down when shots rang out. Someone who was a member of their “crew” had fired the shots, so for their protection, Shaka figured it would be best if he and pregnant Brenda went home. When they got home, a white sedan pulled up which was occupied by a frequent customer, Tom and a few others. Shaka was paranoid after the shooting earlier that night and accused Tom of trying to accuse Tom of working with the police. When another passenger began giving Shaka a difficult time, he began to reach for his pistol for protection. After things escalated, Tom’s friend started to open the door and exit the vehicle when Shaka fired many shots at him in fear of his own safety. The car sped off, and while Shaka had no idea who this man was or where the shots hit, he had a strange feeling that he killed the passenger. He walked into his house completely defeated as all his high plans for Brenda and their unborn child came crashing down around him.
Finally, Chapter Eighteen contains Shaka’s account of his experience at Muskegon Correctional Facility and how he landed another four and half years in the “hole”. He was excited to be transferred to Muskegon because the prisons were offered more freedom, even if it was considered the most dangerous facility. At this correctional facility, Shaka helped teach other prisoners the importance of being educated of their heritage and the great thinkers that preceded them. He enrolled in an auto-tech class while at Muskegon and while he was on his way back to cell after a test, he encountered a lockdown. He tried to use the bathroom before getting back to his cell where there were no bathrooms, before the lockdown. When he arrived at the bathroom, he discovered it was being monitored by an officer who had a vendetta against him because of a previous incident between them. The officer did not allow Shaka to enter the bathroom and he ignored the command because he knew he did not have another option. The officer followed him into the bathroom and refused to let him leave until he could show the officer his ID. Shaka repeatedly told him his ID was in his cell, the officer continued to be in Shaka’s space, disrespecting him. Shaka perceived this as a threat to his humanity and all the anger he harbored against white people for their historical racist practices came rushing over him. He issued the officer many punches, beating him unconscious. When other officers came rushing in to assist, they hauled Shaka off to solitary. On the way out of the bathroom, Shaka felt the judgment from his fellow prisoners, who seemed to be on the officer’s side, despite seeing the entire event unfold. From this altercation, Shaka served four and a half years of his sentence in solitary confinement.
These chapters left me with a lot of unanswered questions. Why did Shaka get more time in solitary for this incident than from his escape attempt and attempted murder of another inmate? How did he eventually get out of prison when he kept adding time onto his sentence, as he certainly did not get a sentence reduction for good behavior? There was more build-up to the officer incident than the murder that landed him in prison. Is this because Shaka sees this as a bigger turning point in his life? What would the officer do to him had Shaka not intervened? Why did the guys that witnessed the bathroom incident not assist Shaka if they were “his brothers’? Were there no cameras to monitor who went in and out of the bathroom, to provide evidence that the officer cornered Shaka? Why did Shaka not take his father’s and even step-sister’s positive comments to heart but did with the officer’s compliments on his writing? Finally, how does he earn the name Shaka if his real name is Jay?
In response to your questions about the ambiguity and inconsistency of in-prison punishment, I believe that, absent concrete factual answers, the takeaway that I ultimately landed on was that the prison system does not fully follow a rule book. Wardens and higher ups are merely interpreting situations, through their own biases and perspectives, and deciding what the punishment for an inmate’s ill-behavior should be. Throughout the memoir, Shaka highlights the ways in which the prison system is founded upon biases, manipulative tactics, and variability. The mere fact that there are so many unanswered questions and explanations pertaining to the punishment he received for his behavior and how this translated into his sentencing illustrates this fact.
Additionally, your question about whether the area where the “bathroom incident” occurred was under surveillance is also illustrative of the bias and corruption that plagues the prison system. As we have read throughout this semester, many scholars—including Angela Davis— discuss the hoops inmates have to go through to file a complaint about officer misconduct (or a lack of proper healthcare). While I am sure this incident was recorded, officers and wardens have little to no incentive to check surveillance for employee misconduct. In fact, they have incentive not to do so (and to bury the complaints that illuminate this improper behavior). In other words, I believe that evidence proving Shaka’s story does exist, but, as an inmate, Shaka’s ability to stand up for himself is rather limited, and, even if he did file a complaint, there is not only no assurance that it would be taken seriously but officers could also “take this out on him” and “make him pay” for his honesty.
I was wondering the same thing about Shaka’s time and how all these incidents he had in jail would effect the time he would have to serve. It does seem odd that the escape weighed less heavily than beating up the guard but I am thinking this could be because he was transferred pretty soon after the escape attempt so his punishment in solitary was not long. I also agree with what Sarah said that there is some room for interpretation in prison by the guards and the Warden and the punishments seem to be up to their discretion. It seems like all the prisons that Shaka was sent to had different codes and rules, which inherently must add to the reason that prisoners break rules in prison— perhaps they aren’t quite sure what the rules are.
The way Shaka poses events definitely have emaning in the significance in his life. The chapters that are flashbacks to him in his younger years are usually more fast paced with more things happening and less build up and focus placed on events that we would think as critical. Perhaps Shaka sees the events that happen later in his life as more formative because the ones in his teenage years were almost out of his control and a product of his environment, while as he gets older I think he is taking more responsibility for his actions, learning from them, and seeing them as critical elements of his growth journey.
I also think Chapter 15 was extremely important in understanding the dynamic between Shaka and Brenda. We have seen throughout the book the deep wounds as a result of abandonment that Shaka has and seeing his relationship with Brenda where they lived and sold drugs together was a telling sign of the life of many Black youths. Shaka talked about turning to alcohol to numb the pain of seeing parents addicted to crack, fighting off other dealers, and the blur that his and Brenda’s life had become. Chapter 15 concludes with Shaka talking about this vicious cycle of crime and desperation which is unfortunately a reality for many young Black kids. While we typically blame drug dealers for the death of many young children, sometimes what we don’t realize is that they are victims too and a product of the world we live in. In terms of your questions, I have been wondering the same about Shaka’s name change. I’m thinking it may have to do with his soul searching by converting to Islam but I imagine we will find out as the book goes on.
First of all, to answer your question: Why didn’t the boys who witnessed the incident in the bathroom help Shaka if they were “his brothers”? I consider that in spite of being brothers the existing friendship in a penitentiary center is moved by interests and by the situation in which all the prisoners find themselves (loneliness and the need to belong to a group unites them but the friendship between them has no basis whatsoever). On the other hand, there are also numerous issues that intervene at the moment of making a decision to intervene in a conflict, such as the fear of reprisals or the lack of capacity to intervene safely. Finally as to the question of how does he earn the name Shaka if his real name is Jay? The choice to adopt a different name is part of the process of identity and personal transformation that takes place inside the prison, especially after the very significant experience he is living inside that place and all that he is losing outside.
Thank you, Alexandra, for your summary and thought-provoking questions. I resonated with many of the same points of confusion. I do not understand how Shaka was able to be released in the time period that he was, given that he was constantly being relocated due to bad behavior. I wonder how that is determined and what factors are taken into consideration. I’m sure that becoming a spiritual advisor in the religious organizations and leading study groups was incredibly important for Shaka’s growth in this area. Giving him an element of responsibility for the development of younger inmates seemed to be one of the most transformative parts of his time in prison.
I too was incredibly frustrated with the way that the officer handled the bathroom situation, and I am continually surprised by the fact that officers have so much freedom with the manner in which they execute their roles. Thinking of all the witnesses to various injustices is another point of frustration; as Sarah mentioned, filing a complaint is tricky, and inmates have to balance this uncomfortable dichotomy of not wanting to be seen as weak or a snitch, but also wanting to defend themselves and demand justice.
One thing that stood out to me in Chapter 15 was how casually teenagers and young people talk about guns. Even Shaka was a little taken aback when Brenda asked for a pistol, but he understands the severity of the hustle and the elements of danger that come with it. If the culture of violence that is normalized to this extent could be changed, I feel so strongly that we would see incredibly different outcomes for people living in these kinds of environments. Obviously this is not an easy feat, considering how integrated guns and violence have become with the day-to-day lives of people living on the streets, but it breaks my heart hearing how Shaka felt so paranoid after being shot and the trauma that others like him experience.
This is a good discussion. Remember, prison procedures are arbitrary. It depends on the views of the Warden, Assistant Warden, captains, and officers. The murder of the young man in the car was an impulse. It cannot be explained in terms of cause and effect. When Shaka encounters the officer in the bathroom incident, it is a matter of dignity and manipulation, as the officer is demanding that he produce a document he does not have. We know that the officer wants Shaka to soil himself. Humiliation is an excellent tool of the oppressor.