Fifteen-minute phone calls and video visits have become the norm since the COVID-19 pandemic. But receiving mail in prison is still the highlight of the incarcerated person’s day, next to in-person visits. When we hear the guards’ keys jangle as they walk the tier during mail call, we pray that the guard will stop by our cell and call our name.
This small act of writing a letter means that someone loves you or, at least, someone is thinking about you. Communication, verbal or written, is about the expression of thoughts as well as the give-and-take of ideas.
Those of us who are incarcerated find empathy through communication, but society as a whole has found itself using communication for the cancel culture concept of opinion bullying. Any slip of the tongue or opposing opinion can get you ostracized. I don’t know who is behind this phenomenon, but I do know extremes breed extremes.
We, the incarcerated, know about extremes and the damage on one’s psyche when one is declared an “outcast.”
Harm is sure to follow. This kind of, “You hate me, I hate you” mentality foments more harm as exemplified by former president Donald Trump’s “America Uncanceled” speeches.
This mentality is also what led some Americans to storm the U.S. Capitol building.
Communication helps us learn each other’s stories, helps us to cross barriers and form bonds. This may be the only way to break our collective, selective and selfish bubbles.
Communication is how we should build solidarity. That begins with having tough and honest discussions.