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Most states give money to people leaving prison. But some formerly incarcerated people say it's often not enough to meet their basic needs. EXCERPT: When Taj Ashaheed was released from prison and dropped off in downtown Denver with $100 of gate money on a debit card, he used it to buy a cheap cell phone. Then he went to Subway and ordered a meatball sub. Ashaheed was able to stay with a family member for the first month or so after prison. But for people who aren’t so lucky, housing is an expensive and immediate need, said Sean Taylor, the deputy executive director of the Second Chance Center, a reentry organization in Colorado.Taylor, who himself was released from prison and received $100 in gate money about eight years ago, said the shelters his center can refer people to cost around $60 a week, and a bad motel might cost about $350. For Ashaheed, $100 felt like a “token gesture” on the part of the state, not like a real attempt to help people get on their feet. “It fel

By Brother Taj   - June 2019 In 2007 and 2008 while working as a political market research manager I had the privilege of having then–candidate Barack Obama as a client. However, I would have voted for him anyway on the basis of one consideration: he was Black. Voters who would admit to this motivation are decried as reverse-racist and a traitor to the idea of post-racism, but given a national culture that rides on 4 centuries of enslavement and exclusion, no apologies are needed. We have had enough of inhumane consideration and treatment. Enough of institutionalize bigotry. Enough of racially motivated violence and murder. Enough scourging by drugs and brutal policing. And, enough of mass incarceration. It should all cause Black Folk to rise up in protest, refusing to perpetuate anything similar with our own hands. What more effective repudiation to white supremacy and its insidious effect, then for a Black person to refuse to shoot, rob, assault, rape, cheat, s