Reverend Dr. T. Anthony Spearman devoted the last year of his life, serving the needs of those of us who society values the least. 

Those who have been convicted. Convicts.

Today is the two year anniversary of Dr. Spearman’s return to the God he lived and sacrificed his life for, I wanted to share something I wrote soon after he was struck down in the prime of his life on earth. 

I share this out of gratitude to the man who, soon after we began our communications, told me in no uncertain terms that I was his son and asked me to call him Pops. 

I am also sharing this out of obligation to a fellow traveler who, even in old age, was willing to challenge his own views as much as he confronted the powerful structures that obstructed the realization of his expanding vision for himself, his political allies and foes, and humanity as a whole.

Sounded good, but it wasn’t quite accurate enough.

The reality we both embraced wholeheartedly was that everything in existence is ONE and that the divisions between people, the separation of humanity from GOD and from the material world we are in is, and always has been illusionary as a result of our own limitations in perception and in compassion. 

Our task was not to “build” relationships. Such a goal implies inherent separation, the lie that every abuse of power, privilege and prejudice is based on. The proposition we wanted B.R.I.D.G.E. to affirm was that we are all already in a relationship. Nothing and no one can change that. 

Racism, race mongering for political gain, wealth, religious intolerance, lack of resources, war, addiction, mass incarceration as a genocidal instrument, gender discrimination, political gangbanging… none of these can alter the reality that we are all in relation with one another and that we will rise or fall together.

We don’t need to build relationships, we need to BALANCE our relationships and our access to the resources that are essential to maximizing our potential to the degree we desire and are willing to work for. 

BALANCED RELATIONSHIPS, INSTILL DIGNITY, GROWTH AND EMPATHY.

B.R.I.D.G.E.

Balance, of course, is necessary for justice. To the extent that the criminal and civil processes are rendered unlevel by the influence of wealth, special interest, and prejudice, the further from Truth the end result will be. 

The fact that we, as a people, are so willing to accept such injustice is not proof of sound beneficial policies, it is an indication that people have lost faith in the ability of the laws of the land to protect us if we speak truth to power in the same way that we speak ABOUT those in power that abuse it when we are out of their earshot.

Muzzling ourselves isn’t freedom, it’s an admission that we feel powerless and are under siege. Silence can’t be the solution because humanity as a whole is crying out like a dying canary in a poisonous mine. 

Because of our collective failure to acknowledge humanity as one life wave in the infinite ocean of Being we can’t even see the symptoms of despair for what they are much less treat them

Those who don’t have faith in their courts will increasingly resort to extra judicial adversarial forms of conflict resolution, such as violence. Some may work to sabotage the system from within. Some will self-destruct through apathy, addiction and indifference to the inestimable value of their own lives.

But some will resort to extra judicial forms of conflict resolution such as leading with compassion and agape love. The kind of love that is to us as gravity is to our solar system, keeping every heavenly body in its proper place. 

One of the last conversations that Rev. Dr. Spearman and I had was about our recognition that when it came to mass shootings, gangbanging, and the drug epidemic/biological warfare being waged against us and through the perversion of us, we were not having the right conversations.

Instead of viewing these things as just harmful acts of sick or sociopathic individuals we have to accept that they are expressions of pain from the human organism we ARE.

B.R.I.D.G.E. was envisioned as an intersectional bridge between servants and the served. Between need and the people who could meet the need.  We didn’t want to duplicate the work being done by older venerated organizations nor by nonprofits that had recently come into existence. 

We certainly didn’t want to compete with them in ways that undermined our ability to connect with one another.

We simply wanted to introduce people to the resources that would empower them to govern themselves intelligently, cooperatively, compassionately and with the knowledge that just as we are governed by the ideas, accomplishments, and failures of past generations, we owe it to posterity to be bridges conveying the highest aspirations of our time.

Just as importantly,  we have to be transparent about the lessons gleaned from our failures so that our children can work out the problems of their time with greater efficiency and wisdom than we have in ours.

I have been in prison here in North Carolina for almost 33 years, since I was a child imprisoned for a wrongful conviction that the Court overturned and the prosecutor dismissed. 

In all of these years I have never seen any political organization come into the prison and talk to us directly, to ask US what the conditions were like, whether we were being accorded the rights and privileges codified by law and basic human decency, and what we needed to better ourselves.  No civil rights organizations, none of the nonprofits and for profit organizations that profit from our imprisonment…None at all.

Someone from the state suggested that he come in and tour Nash Correctional Institution. Nash, for decades, has been one of the premier flagship prisons in NC.  Their educational programs have always been top flight. But they were known to be very selective about who they accepted. The criteria for being accepted in many beneficial programs included being infraction free.

That makes sense. 

But the reality is that many prisoners, who have a lot of infractions, have them not because they can’t or won’t follow the rules to the same extent as model inmates, they have them because staff retaliate against them for initiating civil process to enforce their Constitutional and statutory rights. In other words, they are targeted with “nuisance write-ups” for utilizing the law to resolve their grievances and to settle conflict in the same manner as the founding fathers who crafted this democratic form of government to begin with.

I asked Dr. Spearman to visit the North Carolina prisons which housed those whom the prison system treated as chaff to be separated, isolated, and discarded  The actionists who relied on law and civil disobedience to assert the protections and privileges provided by policy and law.

The gangbangers who were birthed by political expediency, corrupt social engineering, thirst for power, and the desire for security and respect.

The mentally ill who, because they are undervalued and feared and because mental institutions aren’t as profitable as prisons, had been rerouted into the criminal justice system.

I asked Dr. Spearman to come to this prison, Tabor Correctional Institution, known as “The Rock”, and Albemarle, a medium custody prison known as a torture chamber due to its unrelenting 115 degree cell blocks and its reputation as being embedded in racist surroundings.

This was the message I sent him: 

Pops,

Christine seems to be implying that I am lying when I told her about numerous letters I have given to staff to mail to her that she claims she hasn't received.

To support her implication she wrote :

" I also checked with Reverend Spearman and he said although you say you sent him letters, he has never received one. No doubt you will say this is because of tampering by the prisons with your mail." ( 5/12/22)

I will respond to her that you acknowledged receiving the two letters I wrote to you last year, the book of letters I sent to you that includes letters addressed to the Jordan's, Sonya Patrick of the Wilmington chapter of BLM, WECT reporter Francis Weller and others; and that although several times I did tell you I would send the writings for BRIDGE work I did not send it b/c of being transferred, my books and paperwork being held for weeks while I was in the hole under false pretenses and some I still have not received from Warren, and my case work preventing me from sending it when planned. Then I obtained direct access to source materials from the US and NC legislature, prisons which compelled me to rewrite the report on the House Gangster Program but I never gave you the impression that I actually mailed it except for the initial mission statement piece on BRIDGE which I mailed ,and read to your voicemail, to you. Please don't have any conversations regarding me with her unless it is in writing or recorded to avoid dilatory issues with her b/c she will lie.

.BRIDGEWORK @ Tabor Correctional

1) ACCESS

Tabor Correctional houses close and medium custody prisoners. Therefore you should be allowed to tour both custody levels. Medium custody is on Red unit, upstairs. It consists of only three pods. I am in F block. Closed custody is on Blue and Green units.

Since prisoners in both custody levels are locked in the cells from 9:45 to 11:05am, and from 2:45 to 4:05pm, please make sure you are taken to the units outside of these time periods to assure you have access to prisoners directly. Conversely, the above times will be the perfect time to tour lock up on Grey unit and lower Red unit.

Access to the prison also, obviously, means access to prisoners and staff. Don't hesitate to shake hands. That will go a long way because since the pandemic we have not been able to touch anyone but other prisoners. We are never allowed to touch staff. Before the pandemic we could shake hands with volunteers and clergy. (This is essential to Being human.)

Also, feel free to address who YOU want. If you have flyers, that would be a good time to pass them out to prisoners. Also, leave flyers to case managers and the warden to post in the blocks.

Please specify the flyers be posted behind the plexiglass in the post board areas in the cell blocks. In lockup, each cell needs a flyer since guys on lockup can't come out of their cells to view the post board. They will likely respond quicker than regular population. 

The major concerns of the population are as follows:

NO  CONTACT VISITS

No contact visits, and only one visit per month. Non contact visits are only for 30 minutes. Video visits are only 15 minutes.  Before covid there were four contact visits a month, including the weekends when most poor people don't work and could come. Visits were two to two and a half hours long. The lack of physical contact desensitizes people and makes guys more vulnerable to being drafted into gangs, losing community ties, and losing mental well being and hope.

NO RELIGIOUS SERVICES

Speaking personally, if not for religious services and the effect comparative religious study has expanded my mind and self, I would have not been able to evolve. The grace and compassion that I have is a product of religious based programs here that creates space for us to organize, debate, and search for meaning in a place that operates most efficiently when we are treated as chattel to be domesticated or objects to be warehoused.

NO VOLUNTEER-BASED PROGRAMS SUCH AS NA., AA, YOKEFELLOW, ETC.

The effect of the above is that it keeps more objective eyes out of here.  Volunteers from all walks of life have the credibility that prisoners are not afforded and, thus, provide reliable transparency which prevents the abuses that naturally occur in any adversarial institution without substantive checks and balances. 

This prison is holding educational classes such as GED, Human Resource Development, etc. which bring federal funding and other profit laden incentives so there is no security risk to having groups come in as before the pandemic.

MENTAL HEALTH

What is being done to protect those with mental health issues? Why are they not being placed in separate blocks from the regular population where they will not be victimized and recruited into gangs? (House gangs recruit people with mental issues because they can't think through the consequences of their actions and they are incompetent to serve as state witnesses.)

Why are people struggling with untreated mental health illnesses being locked in solitary confinement (they now call it restricted housing but it is still the same) when they do things people with their mental issues do? The recent suicides here prove that staff pay needs to be increased to attract people educated in providing mental health care and staff need more resources, guidance, and training to deal with this demographic that shouldn't be housed in prisons to begin with.

GANGS

Gangs are presented as dangerous terrorist organizations that require any place they are in to be locked down and placed under military-like occupation.  (Refer to the House Gang memo.)

Yet, the government and organizations whose survival and profits rely on the growth of gangs, play a significant role in spreading gangs and gang culture through social media, nonprofits, and the militarization of police whose presence, tactics and policies create conditions that compel those who can't access criminal and civil processes to protect themselves.

I sent these emails to Dr. Spearman because he asked me to help build BRIDGE and to be its Executive Director upon my release. 

I wrote the mission statement for it, helped to identify short term and long term goals for it and worked to promote involvement and support for it in free society and among my fellow convicts.

I told Dr. Spearman that I didn’t feel qualified to be the Executive Director of BRIDGE. I didn’t even know what the position was nor  what it required. 

I didn’t need a title; I just wanted to see the work get done without being impeded by egos, the greed  of those who take advantage of the needs of those who are often most vulnerable, and dilatory diversions.

He told me that those things are what made me more than qualified. His faith in me motivated me to venture into areas of study that would fit me to not only serve as the Executive Director of a nonprofit, but to coordinate with others with far more expertise than I would ever have time to gain upon my release. 

I began analyzing and studying parliamentary law to understand how organizational intelligence is applied to deliberative assemblies of organizations formed to advance human rights in a manner that created space for all voices to be heard and influence policy.

But more importantly, how could we adapt parliamentary procedure to teach my peers how to move in an orderly fashion in all areas of life?

I had followed the Moral Monday protests that Rev. Barber, Dr. Spearman and others had used to bring attention to civil rights issues.

Even where the Governor knew the person was innocent of crimes that they were convicted of, he still had to consider the political fall out for him if the person he pardoned had been criminalized while unjustly imprisoned and, after being pardoned, committed crimes like sexual assault on minors. It had happened before. 

For the Governor, the most prudent action was no action at all.

Dr. Spearman understood the Governor’s plight. The government’s responsibility is the security of the people. But people who had been falsely imprisoned had been victimized by the government and deserved immediate compensation for their own basic needs and for the liberty they lost and needed to make the most of their remaining years.

Dr. Spearman and I also started having discussions  about teaching people  how to properly use the criminal process (pressing charges) to gain greater control of investigations into violations of law by officers, officials, and adversaries of those seeking to vindicate the rights of we the people. 

Marches, rallies  and protests were an excellent way to bring attention to shocking abuses of power such as police unlawfully kìlling citizens of all races.

Yet, while the gatherings were used in conjunction with civil suits to win money for victim families, organizers and lawyers the deterrence value of lawsuits weren’t strong enough because the officers didn’t individually have to pay anything.

Further, marching to demand police to release video evidence, and  demanding police to charge their own was often counterproductive and revealed ignorance of the law. In NC, the judges had the authority to release police videos; not the police. 

If police were forced to investigate and charge their own, a clear conflict of interest, they could throw the case by bringing changes not supported by evidence or charging lesser charges where more serious charges were warranted and needed.

If we the people who witnessed crimes knew how to include all pertinent information in affidavits to show probable cause for arrest warrants and summons to be issued we would have the power to use the courts as the instruments they were designed to be. 

Instead of just presenting affidavits to magistrates who often shared work space with the police, the people could be easily taught how to submit affidavits directly to all judicial officials: magistrates, clerks, judges in the district, superior, and appellate courts, and in the NC Supreme court.

If the judicial officials refused to press charges, or if the district attorneys refused to prosecute the charges the law allowed them to be removed from office or voted out of office.

Instead of masses of people uneducated in performing their civic duties walking in circles until they were exhausted, they could be empowered.

Instead of just dealing with civil lawsuits that often took years to resolve and which still left communities vulnerable to repeated victimization by the same people until it escalated and ended in violence, initiating criminal processes, if meritable, would see the offenders immediately brought to justice to answer charges. No matter who they were. 

A few weeks before he died local influencers began a concerted effort to defame both Dr. Spearman and Rev. Barber. It was obviously an attempt to undermine support for them,  to make them vulnerable to even worse attacks. I hadn’t seen the allegations but a field organizer for Black Votes Matter talked in circles about “in house conflict” caused, it seemed apparent to me, by greedy men & agent provocateurs

I advised Dr. Spearman to press charges instead of just filing a civil suit that could take years to resolve. 

He asked me to discuss it with his attorney, Mark Cummings but I couldn’t reach Mr. Cummings. 

On  7/14/22 I emailed Dr. Spearman:

Pops I tried to send you this earlier. 

The defamation about you and Reverend Barber was sent to me. Please consider pressing criminal charges against them. It would be quicker than a civil lawsuit and to defend it they would have to bring forth evidence to prove their allegations are true. Time is of the essence. 

Please read Sutton v. Figgat ,280 N.C. 89, 93, 185 S.E. 2d 97, 99 (1971)  It’s about a party using the writ of mandamus to compel a local magistrate to take their sworn testimony so that they could press charges against the police. Remember the discussion about pressing charges in the NC Supreme Court? It’s applicable to that but also perhaps to compelling the gov to issue pardons where the conviction was vacated…unless the pardon is discretionary. But even then it could be used to get him to rule on it…

He responded:

…. I am also reading Sutton v. Figgatt.

Five days later, on the last day of the NAACP National  Convention in Atlantic City,  four days before Omega Psi Phi held their Conclave in Charlotte, NC on July 23, an event I know he was looking forward to, and two days before Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the Omega men in Charlotte, Dr. Spearman’s death was announced. 

I had talked to him the day before he died. He was as energetic, focused, and determined as ever despite being assaulted and robbed at gun point days earlier. He told me to call him the next day to discuss his visit to a NC prison a few days earlier and his plans to initiate criminal process against his defamers.

What could cause someone to murder a 71 year old man? 

Where are the people who attacked his character and body the last weeks of his life?

Why did he insist on his friends not playing into the divide and conquer techniques being executed against the NAACP , between all races, and between Republicans and Democrats?

As my trial judge, Gregory Weeks, encouraged me to do the last time I spoke to him after Dr. Spearman re-introduced us,  we will continue to bring light on this and other matters in the coming days. 

If the judge who sentenced me has the compassion and wisdom to give me guidance and the courage to surrender his law license to protest the same kind of prejudice that unduly put a lot of us in prison for too long, how can we the people turn a blind eye to our duty to ensure that none is judged prematurely?

We must salute truth in all areas if we are survive long enough to evolve pass our petty differences. 

If not now, when? 

If not us, who?

One Love Universal, 

Daniel Green