A Baca in every cellblock - Letters to the Editor

Thanks so much for the Jimmy Santiago Baca interview (January issue). It is spiritual soldiers like him who give acolytes like me hope.

There are a slew of convicts like myself who are soon to be ex-convicts. Some of us sat around in this sludge long enough to hatch an original thought or two. Like our Ph.D. peers, our job is to carry the torches of our predecessors. I don't need no stinkin' suit; just give me any clothes other than khaki.

Love and laughter can come from the unlikeliest places. If there is a Baca in every cellblock, then we've got a chance to make a move on peace and justice.

Bruce Reilly
Cranston, Rhode Island

Why The Progressive would regard Jimmy Santiago Baca as someone worth interviewing is way beyond logic or decency in my judgment.

As a Protestant chaplain for nearly thirty years in California prisons, I did counseling almost all day. I am retired now, but while working in prisons, I was daily exposed to the subculture language, and Baca still uses vulgar language. Yes, Baca has a good intellect with above average verbal skills, but emotionally and socially he still has a long way to go before becoming a believable and mature human being.

To give national exposure to Baca and his low-life language is, to me, totally obscene. What ever happened to standards of decency?

Eugene Anderson
Orland, California

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