What does it do to you when someone you love is ripped from the family, charged with a crime, wrongfully incarcerated, and – after nearly 25 years, continues to serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the infamous Angola prison – a national disgrace – despite evidence of his innocence, and still protesting his innocence?
Deborah G. Plant, author of the book OF GREED AND GLORY: In Pursuit of Freedom for All is my guest today. Informed by her own personal experience, armed with her skills as a scholar, author, and literary critic with a masters and doctorate in English. YES, this story could happen to anyone, and has too often happened to too many African-American Everymans and Everywomans
Deborah Plant takes moments that can bring you to your knees and gives us a book to bring us to our senses; to a knowledge of what is being done to thousands of people in our name as American citizens.
We close this episode with a profile of Angola Prison, the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary located on the site of 8,000-acre Angola Plantation—so named for the homeland of people enslaved there. Clint Smith travelled to the prison to research his #1 New York Times bestseller, HOW THE WORD IS PASSED: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. He spoke about Angola during his visit to the show in 2021.