Free Minds Book Launch: They Called Me 299-359
October 15, 2020 @ 7:00PM — 8:00PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
A virtual conversation on the power of poetry with Free Minds Poet Ambassadors and author R. Dwayne Betts, celebrating the launch of the 10th anniversary edition of They Called Me 299-359.
A decade ago, we self-published our first book, They Call Me 299-359, a collection of poignant poetry from teen boys forced into the adult prison system. Their voices cried out to be heard. Today, we stand in a defining moment as the Black Lives Matter movement calls for us all to reimagine and re-invest in true healing and transformative justice.
The voices in this book are crucial reading for this time, urging us to reckon with the ways our carceral system has harmed our youth. If we want to create real change, we must listen to and learn from those directly impacted by racial injustice. To recognize and illuminate what’s changed in the past 10 years—and what has painfully remained the same—we are releasing a new edition of They Call Me 299-359 from our publisher, Shout Mouse Press.