After finishing the second half of Writing Our Way Out, I was glad to know that the men who shared their stories were able to begin “normal” lives after being incarcerated. I realize though that their normal is going to be different from my definition of normal and to them it most likely isn’t actually normal to them because of how we learned how early on in their lives they were hurt. Seeing how many of them gained a new outlet to motivate them and to keep them going, whether that was family or religion was comforting. This hard wired way of thinking was so unfortunate to see but knowing they didn’t realize how bad it was until they had physical copies of their stories on paper; seeing how this opportunity helped them reconcile with their pasts was very motivating. I understand how different it is to have a physical thing, for example their story on paper rather than in their mind. It was unfortunate to hear about the men who got arrested again, although I understand that there is no perfect rehabilitation for everyone. In some cases the word rehabilitation itself doesn’t quite fit for someone because that implies that, as I stated earlier, they were “normal” and it isn’t their fault but that’s just all they know and have known. This book reinforced my understanding that incarcerated people are still people. I was lucky enough to have a teacher in high school who shared this same idea and shared that with my class.
I feel that Naji’s story was one that I connected with because of how it involves his grandparents and how different his relationship with his grandmother is from mine. He had to live with his grandparents because his mother died unexpectedly when he was young and he never knew his father. His grandparents physically abused him and his brother, especially his grandmother. This caused him to seek love and acceptance throughout his life, which might have led him to do irresponsible things. This caused him to begin to use drugs and in order to obtain these drugs he had to steal. It also conditioned him into a life of hate especially toward white people, and it was only emphasized with every racist comment and encounter he grew up with. Although after being incarcerated he started to read and learn. It was around this time when he was introduced to the Nation of Islam. This changed his views on the world and began to heal the hatred that he had in his heart. When he heard that the first man on earth was black he changed his name from James Canady to Naji Faruk Mujahid. After he was let out of prison he learned that his grandmother had Alzheimer’s disease and couldn’t remember the abuse that she put him and his brother through. This caused him to have to take care of her and he did, even though he knew she couldn’t apologize for what she did. Both sharing his story in Coogan’s collection and his Muslim faith helped him on a path to restarting his life.