Unfettered freedomUnfettered freedom
By Brandon Astor Jones and Sarah Nurses
"The African is conditioned, by the cultural and social institutions of centuries, to a freedom of which Europe has little conception, and it is not in his nature to accept serfdom forever. He realises that he must fight unceasingly for his own complete emancipation; for without this he is doomed to remain the prey of rival imperalisms." — Jomo Kenyata (Kamaou Wa Ngengi), 1891-1978.
The above quote from the first president of the Republic of Kenya seems appropriate here. In 1964, while speaking to the white settlers, he also said, "We must try to trust one another".
There is freedom to be had sometimes in trust. For a prisoner, one of the few freedoms to be found is the sharing of what prisoners have precious little of. In my case, that is this space. So then, for a while I will be sharing this space with the writer who shares the by-line above. I trust Sarah. Perhaps in time you will too.
I am sharing this space because I feel the need to share her loving soul and spirit with you. It is my opinion that she is a very gifted and unusual writer. In the future, I plan to share excerpts of her works so that you can get to know her as well as a friendly next-door neighbour. In fact, while she resides in London, she is figuratively speaking "that nice young lady" that we all have wished lived next door, at one time or another.
She and I are looking for the right publisher, so if I/we write about something in this column that you think might interest a publisher you know of, please drop me/us a line. We are not high-flying darlings of the industry, but the sort that "mainstream" publishers would rather not give space or ink to. In this shared space, we will endeavour to write about many things with a revealing, familial, unfettered freedom.
AT WORK the other day, a colleague mentioned that a friend of hers cannot stop eating. Her friend has reached the point of locking up her food at night and giving the keys to her son for safekeeping. She is divorced, working full time and supporting her younger son, who suffers from manic depression.
My colleague smokes 40 cigarettes a day and acknowledges that she cannot stop. She says that if someone took her cigarettes away, she would fall apart. Her husband died 10 years ago of lung cancer caused by asbestos poisoning.
Another friend needs a drink every evening. He has to meet his sales targets regularly; otherwise he loses the bonuses he needs to pay his mortgage.
The national lottery has an average weekly jackpot of £14 million. All the people described above spend £5 a week on tickets. As for so many others, it is their only hope. Every Saturday night, the plastic numbered balls collide their way to someone else's deliverance, live on television.
Everywhere I look there is a wall. The streets are not safe. Most doors on most houses have double locks and chains. Rape and other violent crimes increase as exponentially as the rich.
I cannot get a publisher to read my words, let alone print them. At the end of April, I went to Georgia to visit with Brandon in jail. That particular fortress protects those inside from those outside, depending on which way you look at it.
Brandon suggested I write part of this column as a way of finding a readership. He cannot even see the wild flowers grow, but he is teaching me about freedom by giving it away. For that I love him.
[Sarah Nurses is a freelance writer who lives in England. Brandon Astor Jones is a prisoner in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, Georgia State Prison, HCO1, Reidsville, GA 30453, USA. For the first time in 17 years, Brandon has the real hope of his sentence of death being mitigated. If you can help by contributing to his defence fund or in other ways, please contact Australians Against Executions, PO Box 640, Milson's Point NSW 2061. Phone (02) 9955 1731, fax 9427 9489. Cheques can be made payable to "Brandon Astor Jones Defence Fund".]