Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with a sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained. -Helen Keller

My commitment name is James Jones/CK8648, aka Sundiata Chaka Pollard, my mother’s given name to her son.

My introduction to social justice, according to Delores Rene DeWitt, aka Sista’ DiDi, my mother, came on July 2, 1997. Let me share: 

“Gwen came by last Sunday. Isn’t it something, that Gwen and I live in Northridge (kinda where it all started) and that God had already blessed us! It’s true—the first school that you ever went to was California State University, Northridge. My goodness, your introduction into the world of how it is going to be. 

“At that time, it was a struggle to attain higher learning in a world where that is obviously a threatening proposition to many. It is a known fact, combined with our natural gifts and talents that God creates in us, together with wisdom and knowledge, that there isn’t anything they cannot conquer. Especially with one mind and one heart. 

“We were detoured, distracted but determined to make it. Well, anyway, to make something, whatever that has turned out to be for each of us—the first twenty-eight students of African descent who attended the university.” 

My mother was a product of the Civil Rights Movement. Her mother, who was an elementary school dropout, homeschooled my mother and her three younger sisters and later acquired her GED while I was attending school. They were involved in activism through our church, their schools, and community. Delores visited South Africa on several occasions during Apartheid, returning as “DiDi” (Elder Sister). And between all of that, was the youngest at that time to graduate magna cum laude and valedictorian from UCLA. 

The opposite of my mother, I was the first to serve a state sentence of life without the possibility of parole, followed by numbers. As of June 2021, I have spent twenty-eight years within the Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections. 

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Throughout my incarceration, now with more than ten news stations, I hear a lot about ‘social justice’ and every time its brought up it’s in the wake of death—James Byrd, Oscar Grant, Sandra Bland, Atatiana Jefferson, Breonna Taylor, Bettie Jones, Tamir Rice, etc. etc. They all complied and died, then were charged with stacked felonious crimes. 

In truth, one of the above were killed for economic justice, political justice, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, social, civil rights or committing a felony.   Instead, each of them were murdered simply for the color of their skin. While those who murdered them received immunity and their actions were called socially justified—it was actually social injustice for those who look like me. 

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What is social justice? 

SOCIAL JUSTICE MUST BEGIN FROM WITHIN STOP LOOKING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF!