Your voices exploded in the room after listening to Cornel West explain why he considers himself a "Revolutionary Christian", but the room reached a certain sense of understanding when he explained why he studied Buddhism, why James Baldwin considered himself agnostic, or how Malcolm X was a revolutionary Muslim. As a peer educator I may indeed be walking a fine line between this being a religious based class, a politically conscious class, or in fact creating a revolutionary way of thinking as prisoners. I have repeatedly been punished for this before. Yet, truth needs no alibi. And, rules should be abided by based on principle, equality, and even when those fail to render justice. When we stay within the rules, well, we build character. In the Bible a powerful question is asked: "What is the reward of loving those who love you?" It is very hard to love those who persecute you, hate you, and intend to cause you harm. Yet, if we just try... Perhaps the reward is nourishing to our soul, if you believe you have one. As fears of Donald Trump taking power terrifies us, we discussed Christianity. We discussed how slaves were taught to believe in salvation, forsake everything on Earth for Paradise, while slave owners profited greatly. To use a good doctrine as a tool of oppression is not just cruel, it is evil. It is why so many black men come to prison and become politicized through learning history while suffering all the same. It is hard for some to separate religion from acting as means of control. That is where the class was divided. Some argued that Jesus, Yahwah, Allah, Elohim, and the notion of God was not religion. Some argued that religion was man made based on traditions and politics. For the man who listened without arguing points, perhaps he gained the most. After all, we were born with two ears and one mouth. Lastly, we journeyed through Black history. There would be no true impact of Martin Luther King Jr. without Malcolm X, there would be no W.E.B. DuBois without Booker T. Washington, nor could we appreciate Ida B. Wells as a journalist without Harriet Tubman making nineteen trips to hell and back. So when we discussed the 13th Amendment, there should be no need for the 14th Amendment that ensured that we all had protected equal rights, nor should have need of the 15th Amendment that gave voting rights. This debate educated us. This debate was a learning tool for whites, Hispanics, and blacks alike. Sadly, all of you agreed that most rules and politics are used to persecute you instead of help you, used as a tool to punish you instead of protecting you, and as Donald Trump enters office you believe parole will further be denied than granted. After two hours of passionate debates and interesting lessons on history, neither religion or politics, rules or regulations, can take away your growth as human beings. When you can control your own citizenship by belief, right action and use history as a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block, you change the future. When you belief in something instead of nothing, dare belief in the ideals that uplift people instead of tearing them down. So if they ask me in the administrative office did I stick to the "Peer Education Curriculum", I did. I did because as my peer I see the beauty in diversity, hope in the midst of suffering, and our discussions on politics, religion, history and race as a necessary tool for growth. After these last couple of classes, I saw people instead of prisoners. I know names instead of your assigned numbers. I know your voice instead of painful silence. I see my peers. I see my community. I see something more in each of you than I saw before. In closing, write about how Cornel West described what it means to be a " revolutionary". And remember, the greatest revolution takes place in yourself.