On Wednesday, November 6, 2022 the Northern State Prison inmate population received a surprise visit by former New York Mets baseball all-star Darryl Strawberry. The event was promoted for two weeks as an “Empowerment Workshop,” aimed at self-improvement. When those of us that signed up to participate arrived, we discovered that Mr. Strawberry was coming to address the attendees on behalf of his Christian outreach program, Strawberry Ministries.
After signing mandatory press releases in order to participate at the event, Ms. McGill, the Northern State Prison Administrator, arrived with Mr. Strawberry and asked the prison band to open up with a short selection. After the music performance ended, Ms. McGill spoke to the roughly 150 inmates in attendance for about five minutes. The pride on her face at seeing the turnout was unmistakable, and she asked her administration to applaud the inmates. She emphasized that our decision to attend was the first step in transforming our lives for the better. She then gave Mr. Strawberry a very warm introduction.
Mr. Strawberry approached the lectern with confidence and picked up the microphone ready to address the crowd. He opened by thanking us, the inmates for showing up. His first message was to assure us that our attendance was no accident, and that it was all part of God’s plan. He then disclosed that for the past twenty years, every time he drove past Northern State Prison on his way to Newark Airport, he felt a calling to “go inside of there.” He described it as God’s voice speaking to him encouraging him to deliver his message to the men most often forgotten by society. He reiterated the fact that we were not forgotten, and he repeated the fact that he heard the calling “every time I went past this place.” He wanted us to know that no matter how long we were here for, God never abandoned us.
The most surprising aspect of his sermon was his complete candor in the trials and tribulations he had endured throughout his own life. He discussed his own troubles with the law, substance abuse, and his self-sabotaging before he accepted Jesus into his life.
He made a profound impact on me when he said that putting on a baseball uniform did not make him a man, it made him a ball player. He did not become a man until he abandoned his selfish ways and began to follow the teachings of Jesus in all aspects of his life. It was only then, he said, that he realized that he had an obligation to himself, to his people, and to God to share his insights into life and purpose.
He recounted the comments of naysayers when he first began to follow Christianity, people asking “how long is this going to last?” He answered it this way: “It has been twenty years and I’m still going, and I’ve never been more fulfilled in my life.”
Mr. Strawberry’s honesty and openness was well received by the entire population in attendance, and he left the room filled with inspired individuals as demonstrated by the comments many men gave at the event’s conclusion.
Mr. Strawberry was not the first celebrity that I have seen and met throughout my incarceration. I have been present for actors filming scenes inside of New Jersey Prisons over the years, people like George Clooney, Denzel Washington, and Charlie Murphy. While seeing a celebrity is exciting at the time, Mr. Strawberry’s visit holds a special place among others, such as the United States Senator, Cory Booker.
Almost twenty years ago, long before the modern social justice movement began, Senator Booker was an up-and-coming politician who made East Jersey State Prison a stop on his itinerary. There was no huge fanfare about his visit. In fact, none of the inmates really knew who he was. At the time, I was graduating from the first part of the culinary arts program, and as part of the process, my class prepared the feast for the GED class and all of the visiting dignitaries.
I met Mr. Booker as I was wearing my chef’s uniform and served his table the food we had prepared. When Mr. Booker stood up and addressed the graduates, he gave one of the most inspirational speeches I have ever heard. He spoke about the power an education gives to every person to overcome not only disadvantage, but the mistakes that each of us had made in our lives.
Mr. Booker was a strong proponent of the “Ban-The-Box” legislation which prohibits employers from asking about criminal histories early in the application process. He made us, inmates, feel like we were not forgotten, but that society had hope for us.
Mr. Strawberry’s visit left me feeling the same way. It is when those individuals make a conscious decision to include us, inmates, in their own efforts to improve the world that change can occur. By standing before a group of men, all of us wearing khaki clothing and assuring each of us that we matter, Mr. Strawberry, like Mr. Booker, provides us with hope. Hope that we can achieve more in the future. Hope that our past will not forever define us. Hope that we can become beacons of HOPE just like them.
For all of the people who claim that they support social justice initiatives and criminal justice reforms, why is it that so few actually take the time to speak with those of us that are impacted by the very system they proclaim as broken? The axiom is true, actions speak much louder than words.
And Mr. Strawberry and Mr. Booker can stand on their records of ACTION!
