Thank you so very much.
Dwayne, wonderful to see you.
Reginald Dwayne Betts barely knows me,
but he has absolutely changed my life.
He didn't know me at all when I walked into a Tucson restaurant
three and a half years ago, two months
removed from doing a 10-year stretch in the Arizona
Department of Corrections.
And I shook his hand, sat down with him
and a bunch of other folks with MFAs and other letters
after their names, and just started talking about my time
in prison, about race and politics
in prison, about an essay I wrote
from inside, about tattoos.
And an hour later, he told me to apply
for a MacDowell fellowship.
MacDowell, this place in New Hampshire
where Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker, and James Baldwin
had gone to write, a place I'd never even heard of.
So I applied, and they took me.
And Dwayne will not take credit, but without his advocacy,
either direct or indirect, they wouldn't have taken me.
And when the Art for Justice Fund
gave the Poetry Center a half million dollars
to use poetry to help change the system,
Dwayne, by this time several months removed from that one
dinner one night in Tucson, spoke for me again.
Three years later, we have a monthly workshop
called "Free Time" that Diana referenced.
It brings together local writers and artists
and pairs them with incarcerated writers all over the country,
building a bridge through the US Mail,
from the inside to the outside, creating space
for incarcerated writers to have their voices heard.
And who leads that workshop?
Me, because Dwayne advocated for me.
To a couple hundred incarcerated writers every month,
giving them hope in a place so desperate for it
because Dwayne advocated for it, he advocated for them,
he advocated for me.
I'm just another dude who did time.
Just another formerly incarcerated person
who wanted his voice heard.
Another fan, to be honest, who Dwayne barely knows.
So, on behalf of all the incarcerated writers
our workshop reaches every month, on behalf
of every other incarcerated person who barely knows you,
Dwayne, but who no doubt you have advocated for,
how many are there?
Who knows how many?
I just want to say thank you for changing our lives,
for changing my life.
Thank you.
Please welcome Dwayne Betts.