Journal Entry: Celeste Monette Blair-10/03/2024-Changing the System

Journal Entry

Changing the System

In 1991, when I was arrested at the age of 21, I was a stranger in a strange land. I was unwilling to co-operate and there -fore, against the recommendation of my attorney and every jailhouse lawyer in Tarrant County Jail, I took it to trial.
They were offering me 60 years! I was charged with something like 6 counts of delivery and one count of conspiracy.

The jury gave me 7, 10, 10, 12 and 25, I think. I really don’t recall. I know was very niece in so many ways. It all seemed like an social adventure, degrading, true enough, but there was value in the experience.

I found a population of women that I had no idea existed in America.

The disenfranchised.

I remember driving with my grandmother down this old school, boulevard in Fort Worth on the way to our big church downtown. Early Sunday morning there would be people on the move, looking like they hadn’t slept- having a real rough time of it. She told me that if I didn’t follow her guidelines for my life, I could end up there.

This is not the advice she would have given any of my cousins. My daddy was someone she didn’t approve of. I am not certain if she knew that he was a drug smuggler but I know she understood him to be dangerous and reckless, a part of the drug culture. Genetically, she was concerned. She had probably seen REEFER MADNESS.

Years later, I did plenty of drug deals in that neighborhood. She called it, ” the fringe of the low “

I went down to TDC and enrolled in College and did my best to pay attention.

Back then, there was a different stigma concerning ex-offenders. When I got out, I swore I would never sell drugs again.
I had an “X” on my back. I was released to a loving family, a husband who adored me and had a good career but there was this funk on me; a part of me that no longer felt confident in polite society; like I no longer fit in my own beautiful life.

Prison was a place meant to strip you of your power, your confidence, ” knock you down to right size”.

The truth is, I left TDC with PTSD and agoraphobia. Somewhere in between the time my Bunkie stabbed herself in the neck, producing enough blood to saturate my table- top radio to the point of not working and the time that the probation officer told me that he would kill my family if I told anyone about his invasions of me- I sort of became unhinged.

Once I was free, I had to make the choice to either let the probation officer get away with it, and hurt others, or to pursue the situation with my all. I formed a class action law suit and as a result, this placed distance between my husband and my other family members. They wanted me to just walk away, not to be so public about the situation that took place in prison.
I was on Hard Copy and Inside Edition.

I knew I had to change the system.

When I was released from TDC ( Texas Department of Criminal Justice ) I was 27.

I hit the ground running though when it came to business.

The attorney who helped me sue the State Of Texas, hired me and trained me as a paralegal.

I worked at a photography studio on the weekends, assisting the master photographer with high end weddings.

Eventually, I saved up enough money to open a tire shop where I provided a great service; I created contracts with local business’ who has vans and trucks for the maintenance of their vehicles, I sold tires and wheels, did audio and tint installation.

I joined the Fort Worth, “CLEAN AND GREEN ” committee to clean up the area surrounding the shop.

I was on parole for 20 years, there was no room of error.
When I made the decision to enter into a relationship that seemed more suited for my ex-offender, low sense of self-esteem, it was all over.

Now, I do my best to educate the women here as to the many ways in which we can, ” get caught slipping ” , once we are free.

It sounds weird to say it this way, but toxic relationships are one of the things we can no longer AFFORD to entertain on probation or parole, or HERE AND NOW, in the phase of rebuild.

George Bush was the governor of Texas when we sued TDCJ-ID and brought to light the things that were happening there.
Mass incarceration was a messy business. The war on drugs had and still has, as many casualties as any other war in history.

One of the first things Bush did as president, was to sign PREA. I know that my efforts to, CHANGE THE SYSTEM, had long term effects. Although at the time, I wanted to walk away and forget about it, I am so grateful that I shinned light on the issues and stuck it out.

The details can be found in the article about the ME TOO MOVEMENT, online at MOTHER JONES MAGAZINE.

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