362: What if you wrote your way out of prison?

362: What if you wrote your way out of prison?

Cultivating rage as a solution to inherited trauma, a young man commits murder over a five-dollar dispute, but once in prison, he devotes his life to liberation from systems of oppression and the jailor within himself.

Today’s episode featured Emile Suotonye DeWeaver. If you’d like to contact Emile, please email him at emiledwriter@gmail.com or find him on social media:


Substack: @reframeconsults

Instagram: @emilesuotonyedeweaver

Bluesky: Bluesky

LinkedIn: LinkedIn


Emile’s first book, Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy, and an Abolitionist Future, comes out today, May 13, 2025, from The New Press.

Per Emile, “I wrote this book for many reasons. I’d been organizing for a decade in prison, and I witnessed the ways we in justice work have beautiful, courageous intentions and yet we often exacerbate the problems we fight against. Back then I felt like I didn’t have the right frameworks to have this conversation. I dedicated the next ten years to thinking them through. I wrote Ghost in the Criminal Justice System not as a solutions book. I wrote it as an offering of these frameworks in the hopes that you will share them in your communities, so that we can come up with solutions together.”


Confirmed Book tour dates in Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Chicago: https://www.reframeconsults.com/events - please RSVP!


Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy, and an Abolitionist Future is also a great teaching tool. A perfect fit for classrooms, movement organizing, book clubs. Get it for your community, then invite Emile to come talk to you! His goal is to take this conversation to all the corners of this country so we all can build a better future.


Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Aviva Lipkowitz

Content/Trigger Warnings: drug use and dealing, murder, bodily injury from attack, attempted murder, injury from gunshot, prison, white supremacy, racism, explicit language

Social Media:

Instagram: @actuallyhappening

Twitter: @TIAHPodcast

Website: thisisactuallyhappening.com

Website for Andrew Waits: andrdewwaits.com

Website for Aviva Lipkowitz: avivalipkowitz.com

Support the Show: Support The Show on Patreon: patreon.com/happening

Wondery Plus: All episodes of the show prior to episode #130 are now part of the Wondery Plus premium service. To access the full catalog of episodes, and get all episodes ad free, sign up for Wondery Plus at wondery.com/plus

Shop at the Store: The This Is Actually Happening online store is now officially open. Follow this link: thisisactuallyhappening.com/shop to access branded t-shirts, posters, stickers and more from the shop.

Transcripts: Full transcripts of each episode are now available on the website, thisisactuallyhappening.com

Intro Music: “Sleep Paralysis” - Scott Velasquez

Music Bed: Re-Entry

Services

If you or someone you know is struggling with the effects of trauma or mental illness, please refer to the following resources:

National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Text or Call 988

National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264

National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)


Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletter

Listen to exclusive episodes of This is Actually Happening ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/this-is-actually-happening/ now.


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(321)

394: What if you found yourself naked, starving and surrounded by cops?

394: What if you found yourself naked, starving and surrounded by cops?

After the sudden death of his father leaves him drowning in guilt, a man unknowingly spirals into a manic break that strips him of his freedom, his relationships, and his grip on reality, forcing him ...

17 Feb 1h 2min

393: What if your doctors weren’t allowed to help you?

393: What if your doctors weren’t allowed to help you?

After a lifetime of striving for control, a woman is thrust into unimaginable loss when a potentially catastrophic twin pregnancy collides with restrictive laws, forcing her to rebuild her life from t...

10 Feb 1h 7min

392: What if you were a whistleblower against your own father?

392: What if you were a whistleblower against your own father?

When a son discovers that the man who raised him is capable of unimaginable harm, he is forced to become a whistleblower against his own father, risking his family, his identity, and everything he onc...

3 Feb 56min

391: What if you forgave the neo-Nazi who killed your father?

391: What if you forgave the neo-Nazi who killed your father?

After a white supremecist killed his father at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, Pardeep Singh Kaleka pairs up with a former neo-Nazi to teach students about overcoming hate and finding forgiveness....

27 Jan 1h 2min

390: What if your unresolved grief led to a fatal decision?

390: What if your unresolved grief led to a fatal decision?

After killing a cyclist while driving drunk, a woman confronts the consequences of her actions and begins the long, painful work of rebuilding a life shaped by guilt and accountability. Today’s storyt...

20 Jan 51min

389: What if you were pushed into the path of an oncoming train?

389: What if you were pushed into the path of an oncoming train?

After surviving a stranger’s shove into the path of a subway train, a man confronts his mortality and viral fame, and finds himself transformed by community, clarity, and the everyday poignancy of bei...

13 Jan 51min

What if a devastating truth only deepened the mystery? [Rebroadcast Ep250]

What if a devastating truth only deepened the mystery? [Rebroadcast Ep250]

Growing up Black and queer in the South, a man finds an identity for himself through the arts and establishes a wonderful marriage with children, until one day, when his husband is late coming home, t...

8 Jan 54min

What if you survived the Bosnian genocide? [Rebroadcast Ep277]

What if you survived the Bosnian genocide? [Rebroadcast Ep277]

From an idyllic childhood in communist Yugoslavia, as a teenager, Mirsad’s world becomes a living nightmare as the Bosnian War brings shelling, torture, murder and ethnic cleansing to his village, lea...

6 Jan 1h 3min

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