Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership
Development:
Parishioner Advocacy
Development:
Parishioner Advocacy
By Jonathan Gramling
Rev. Alex Gee, pastor of Fountain of Life Church and head of the Nehemiah Center for Urban
Leadership Development, has witnessed some of the issues surrounding racial disparities in
the criminal justice system. As a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an author
and a pastor of a multicultural church for almost two decades, Gee has played a distinguished
role in Madison, especially in South Madison. Yet he has experienced some of the same
problems that other African American males have experienced on the street.
While he doesn’t talk about it all the time and admits that Chief Noble Wray and the Madison
Police Department are working on the issue, Gee also admits that he has been the victim of
racial profiling.
“It has happened to me twice within a stone’s throw of my church,” Gee said. “Not every police
officer does that. But almost every prominent African American man whom I know has a similar
story here in Madison. So when we are talking about racial disparity and prisons, one of the
things that I want to look at is some of the gatekeepers or some of the points of entry into the
system. And one of them is profiling. I know we are doing a better job of it, so I don’t want it to
appear that I am bashing them. But we have to look at the system from law
Rev. Alex Gee spoke at a community
forum on Racial Disparities in the
Criminal Justice System on December
5th.
forum on Racial Disparities in the
Criminal Justice System on December
5th.
enforcement on up and not only how we can help people as they are supposedly being rehabilitated and helping them with reentry.”
In Gee’s view, the causes of the disparity are pervasive and complex, involving things that kids, parents, schools and the criminal justice
do that contribute to the disparity. And it is important for Nehemiah to focus on the racial disparity because it impacts the lives of his
parishioners.
“By having individuals in our congregation who have been incarcerated, have come out with a desire for rehabilitation and a great sense
of community and what I call holistic revitalization and spiritual renewal, I’ve watched them turn their lives around,” Gee said. “And so
many people who have a sordid past, one that involved the criminal justice system, have become not only pillars of our community, but
also leaders in our church. I believe in transformation and rehabilitation, not just from a theoretical perspective, but I also put it in practice.
I’ve watched people with the right kind of support walk away from their past lives. As I have watched these individuals become full
participants in our community, it begs the question. How many more Jerome Dillards [Dillard runs a program called Voices Beyond Bars]
are out there who just need someone to surround them, encourage them, mentor them, coach them and believe in them?”
For the past year, Nehemiah has focused ion strengthening the African American family and due to the high number of African American
males involved on some level with the criminal justice system, Nehemiah has had to look at the disparities issue.
In Gee’s view, faith-based models have been successful in helping ex-offenders navigate the gauntlet of barriers and restrictions that may
prevent them from successful reentry into society. And the key is how the ex-offender is viewed by the person providing the service.
“Traditionally in human services — I am including probation and parole here — they continue to focus on what the person’s issues are,”
Gee said. “Even in recovery, they focus on ‘I am an addict.’ They focus on the persona that is intertwined with what they have done. The
parole officer and the social worker/case manager want to rehash stuff you did 15 years ago. A faith-based approach acknowledges the
wrong that has been done, the bridges that have been burned and the rules that have been broken and the laws that have been violated.
But it also believes that underneath all of that, before any of that, there was an individual who was a part of the divine creation or created
by a Divine Being. They were put together and created before they became troubled and were incarcerated. So the faith-based effort not only
reminds ex-offenders that they have a purpose and a beautiful one, but they also talk about inner strength, personal and spiritual
transformation that enables one to attain that. It’s not just some fluffy ideal or philosophical construct that you read about that isn’t practical.
The faith-based approach is you have been created. You are not a mistake. You’ve made mistakes. We believe that as you turn your life
around and become responsible, you can believe in yourself and that will lead others to believe in you.”
While Gee has great faith in people and the power to transform lives, he is also a realist in that he understands people. And while there are
those involved in the criminal justice system who are criminally-minded, there are also those who got caught up in it through a twist of fate.
“Now a lot of people say that they are innocent,” Gee admitted. “I’ve been around the block a little bit and I can tell when I’m being played
and I can tell when I’m being lied to. But you have some who feel that they are falsely accused and falsely treated, yet they will try to work
within the system because they understand that they can’t buck the system. You need internal strength to do that. They try to function within
an unjust system. If we are interested in true rehabilitation, we have to look at whatever it takes to get an individual strengthened. And in
my case, the people whom I know personally, people whose homes I’ve been in and have been in my home and we have travelled together
and become friends who are ex-offenders, there is a strong spiritual components that helped them not only take control of their own lives
and say no to the old life, disconnect from the bad presence and then go back into those same environments to rescue others. They feel an
onus to go back and help others out.”
As a part of their look at the criminal justice system, Gee feels that it is important to hold the Department of Corrections accountable for its
policies and practices to make sure they are not counterproductive to the ex-offender’s successful reentry. That is why Gee is forming the
Nehemiah Reentry and Recidivism Council, which will be composed of clergy, professional people and community members.
“Here is a system that is engaging our families — I barely know an African American family that isn’t touched by the criminal justice system
— how do we take a look at this,” Gee asked. “How do we send a message back to the Department of Corrections that says, ‘Hey, I know
your job is to keep the community safe. But it should be part of the community’s responsibility as well.’ How do we partner in that? And part
of the way that we think is not treating safe people as if they are criminals. Criminally-minded people, we want them treated like criminally-
minded people. So we are creating the Council to just take a look at some of the policies. We would like to sit down and talk with the
regional chief, the person who oversees all of the agents and the agents’ supervisors. We want to sit down with them and ask questions
about rules, questions about the use of polygraphs. Who decides if these men and women can be in reentry programs?”
“We want a regular meeting with the secretary of Corrections and his chief staff because they want things to change, I know,” Gee
continued. “And we want change. We can’t do it alone. They can’t do it alone. This has to be a partnership. We want to understand how
revocation works. We want to look at some alternatives to revocation. We want to come together as a community-based group and make
sound recommendations to Community Corrections and the Department of Corrections.”
The next meeting of the Nehemiah Reentry and Recidivism Council will be February 20, 6-8 p.m. at the Fountain of Life Church. Last
December, Nehemiah held a forum at Fountain of Life Church at which a panel discussed the racial disparities problem from several
different angles. At the February 20th forum, the council members will at Fountain of Life to hear the opinions of community members on the
subject and for people to tell their stories.
In Gee’s view, the causes of the disparity are pervasive and complex, involving things that kids, parents, schools and the criminal justice
do that contribute to the disparity. And it is important for Nehemiah to focus on the racial disparity because it impacts the lives of his
parishioners.
“By having individuals in our congregation who have been incarcerated, have come out with a desire for rehabilitation and a great sense
of community and what I call holistic revitalization and spiritual renewal, I’ve watched them turn their lives around,” Gee said. “And so
many people who have a sordid past, one that involved the criminal justice system, have become not only pillars of our community, but
also leaders in our church. I believe in transformation and rehabilitation, not just from a theoretical perspective, but I also put it in practice.
I’ve watched people with the right kind of support walk away from their past lives. As I have watched these individuals become full
participants in our community, it begs the question. How many more Jerome Dillards [Dillard runs a program called Voices Beyond Bars]
are out there who just need someone to surround them, encourage them, mentor them, coach them and believe in them?”
For the past year, Nehemiah has focused ion strengthening the African American family and due to the high number of African American
males involved on some level with the criminal justice system, Nehemiah has had to look at the disparities issue.
In Gee’s view, faith-based models have been successful in helping ex-offenders navigate the gauntlet of barriers and restrictions that may
prevent them from successful reentry into society. And the key is how the ex-offender is viewed by the person providing the service.
“Traditionally in human services — I am including probation and parole here — they continue to focus on what the person’s issues are,”
Gee said. “Even in recovery, they focus on ‘I am an addict.’ They focus on the persona that is intertwined with what they have done. The
parole officer and the social worker/case manager want to rehash stuff you did 15 years ago. A faith-based approach acknowledges the
wrong that has been done, the bridges that have been burned and the rules that have been broken and the laws that have been violated.
But it also believes that underneath all of that, before any of that, there was an individual who was a part of the divine creation or created
by a Divine Being. They were put together and created before they became troubled and were incarcerated. So the faith-based effort not only
reminds ex-offenders that they have a purpose and a beautiful one, but they also talk about inner strength, personal and spiritual
transformation that enables one to attain that. It’s not just some fluffy ideal or philosophical construct that you read about that isn’t practical.
The faith-based approach is you have been created. You are not a mistake. You’ve made mistakes. We believe that as you turn your life
around and become responsible, you can believe in yourself and that will lead others to believe in you.”
While Gee has great faith in people and the power to transform lives, he is also a realist in that he understands people. And while there are
those involved in the criminal justice system who are criminally-minded, there are also those who got caught up in it through a twist of fate.
“Now a lot of people say that they are innocent,” Gee admitted. “I’ve been around the block a little bit and I can tell when I’m being played
and I can tell when I’m being lied to. But you have some who feel that they are falsely accused and falsely treated, yet they will try to work
within the system because they understand that they can’t buck the system. You need internal strength to do that. They try to function within
an unjust system. If we are interested in true rehabilitation, we have to look at whatever it takes to get an individual strengthened. And in
my case, the people whom I know personally, people whose homes I’ve been in and have been in my home and we have travelled together
and become friends who are ex-offenders, there is a strong spiritual components that helped them not only take control of their own lives
and say no to the old life, disconnect from the bad presence and then go back into those same environments to rescue others. They feel an
onus to go back and help others out.”
As a part of their look at the criminal justice system, Gee feels that it is important to hold the Department of Corrections accountable for its
policies and practices to make sure they are not counterproductive to the ex-offender’s successful reentry. That is why Gee is forming the
Nehemiah Reentry and Recidivism Council, which will be composed of clergy, professional people and community members.
“Here is a system that is engaging our families — I barely know an African American family that isn’t touched by the criminal justice system
— how do we take a look at this,” Gee asked. “How do we send a message back to the Department of Corrections that says, ‘Hey, I know
your job is to keep the community safe. But it should be part of the community’s responsibility as well.’ How do we partner in that? And part
of the way that we think is not treating safe people as if they are criminals. Criminally-minded people, we want them treated like criminally-
minded people. So we are creating the Council to just take a look at some of the policies. We would like to sit down and talk with the
regional chief, the person who oversees all of the agents and the agents’ supervisors. We want to sit down with them and ask questions
about rules, questions about the use of polygraphs. Who decides if these men and women can be in reentry programs?”
“We want a regular meeting with the secretary of Corrections and his chief staff because they want things to change, I know,” Gee
continued. “And we want change. We can’t do it alone. They can’t do it alone. This has to be a partnership. We want to understand how
revocation works. We want to look at some alternatives to revocation. We want to come together as a community-based group and make
sound recommendations to Community Corrections and the Department of Corrections.”
The next meeting of the Nehemiah Reentry and Recidivism Council will be February 20, 6-8 p.m. at the Fountain of Life Church. Last
December, Nehemiah held a forum at Fountain of Life Church at which a panel discussed the racial disparities problem from several
different angles. At the February 20th forum, the council members will at Fountain of Life to hear the opinions of community members on the
subject and for people to tell their stories.
