The Inauguration at Angola Prison

I had planned to spend January 20th either in DC or in NYC, but somehow it worked out perfectly to be in Angola Prison.  Something incredible about being there for first Martin Luther King Day and then the following day for the Inauguration.  I wasn’t the only journalist thinking that a former slave plantation was an apt place to witness history being made.  Gary Fields from the Wall Street Journal made it down as well. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123249731564600367.html.

I was on a row of cellblocks talking to men through bars who were given the day off and were watching all the proceedings on television.  One inmate said to me, “If my Grandma came back to life for this moment it would be one of the proudest and saddest days of her life.  Proud to see a black President. Sad to see her grandson serving a life sentence.”  He said Obama gave him hope. Hope for what? Hope to get out? “No,” he replied, “hope that future generations of young black Americans can really believe that anything is possible.”