Ex-cons, homeless work with ancient Buddhist artwork

Discuss the application of the Dharma to situations of social, political, environmental and economic suffering and injustice.
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Mr. G
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Ex-cons, homeless work with ancient Buddhist artwork

Post by Mr. G »

The end of suffering is something that Keith Freeman — a former drug dealer, convict, alcoholic and crack addict — has been after for decades.

And after taking part in an intense, five-month program at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts that connected former prisoners and homeless veterans with ancient Buddhist artwork, Freeman thinks he may have taken a step closer to enlightenment.

The group is hosting 15 performances in the Pulitzer's galleries featuring rookie actors speaking scripts culled from their own group sessions as they wrestled with Buddhist truths and their own demons.

Growing up, Freeman's father was absent and his mother was often sick, so he raised his four younger brothers and sisters. But by the time he was 15, he had quit school, fallen in with the wrong crowd and was stealing from freight trains. By 17, he was locked up in the state penitentiary for a year. Before he was 30, he returned to prison, this time for selling drugs.

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  • How foolish you are,
    grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention!
    - Vasubandhu
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Qian Zheng Yi
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Re: Ex-cons, homeless work with ancient Buddhist artwork

Post by Qian Zheng Yi »

That is wonderful!
Thank you for posting it.
I'll repost it on the prison news forum that I work on. :smile:

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Buddhist Prime
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Re: Ex-cons, homeless work with ancient Buddhist artwork

Post by Buddhist Prime »

That's awesome and all,
but the biggest problem that ex-cons have is that the Department of Public Safety likes to sell potential Employees background Checks on certain individuals to insure that they do not hire somebody that will cost them potential money and so do not hire them. Ex-cons who cannot find work eventually will get tired of the major discrimination and go back to crime to make up for the loss, to pay their bills, and to just survive, and that's the bait of it all, the cops know this and are waiting to throw them back in Prison.

THe Criminal Justice System is Mara on Steroids, they do not care about Morality, all they care about is making money off the fear that they tell tax-payers is needed to house these dangerous individuals from public harm, and are supposed to spend it on the inmates for food and upkeep, but only spend a fraction of it on them and pocket the rest. It's Organized Crime gone way wrong. Inmates are the new slavery.

Something needs to be done about this.
As I have always said,
Once a person's punishment has ended,
then all record of their involvement needs to be ended as well,
yes allow the govt to hold the records, but why sell
them to potential jobs for profit, that is corrupt, that is evil.
Stop Crime, Hire a Felon.
It will happen, it has to happen, only because the Criminal Justice System does not Care.

I'm working on my end down here, but it is very time consuming.
My Profile, everything you ever wanted to know about me and why:
http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7649
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