密歇根新闻广播 监狱的人生课程

 

In 2003, Flint resident Leon El-Alamin was arrested for dealing¹ drugs and gun possession. He was 19 years old. El-Alamin spent seven years in prison. He's 38 now. He spoke² to Eleanor Vassili about that experience and the M.A.D.E. Institute, the organization he founded to help people as they get out of prison. Their conversation is part of a series of StoryCorps interviews recorded in Flint.

Leon El-Alamin: When I got arrested my family members was there too. To see them handcuffed and placed on the ground along with myself was one of the most humiliating experiences. I put their lives in danger as well as my own.

Prior to that, I would say the streets was kind of like my religion. I didn't really have many goals or ambitions and then really no direction in my life or where I wanted to go.

Eleanor Vassily: I'm curious if you want to speak to what your prison experience was like.

LE: I had an opportunity to meet some lifers while I was incarcerated³ who became like mentors⁴, big brothers to me who really saw something in me that I didn't see in myself and encouraged me to dig within myself to pull out those talents and gifts and use them for a righteous cause and to better my life and help others. I really grew up. I discovered a lot about myself.

EV: I'd like to know what it was like once you were released from jail and what reentry was like.

LE: It was a different reality. I didn't even know what Facebook was. My nieces and nephews, they're talking about Facebook and showing me different things, technology. So I had to quickly adjust. Trying to adapt into the society wasn't easy at all. I was discriminated⁵ against in certain schools trying to, you know, get into college, temp services and housing because of the criminal record. You know if no one will give a give me and people like me a chance, what are we to do?

That was one of the driving forces behind creating the organization that I created – the M.A.D.E. Institute – which stands for money, attitude, direction and education. So our mission is to provide comprehensive programming in the areas of workforce⁶ development, life skills, violence prevention. We do a big piece on transitional housing.

The stigma⁷ is like you do serve your time and then when you come back our society still wants you to serve time. You know we preach this in our country about second chances and things like that, but are we really living up to it?

Michigan Radio is featuring conversations recorded at the StoryCorps mobile booth in Flint every Friday on Morning Edition during the month of September.

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

4 mentors   

n.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Beacham and McNamara, my two mentors, had both warned me. 我的两位忠实朋友，比彻姆和麦克纳马拉都曾经警告过我。 来自辞典例句
• These are the kinds of contacts that could evolve into mentors. 这些人是可能会成为你导师。 来自互联网

5 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

6 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

7 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。