While attending an English class at a New England university in the 1980s, a new world of computers, and a ‘world wide web’ opened millions of curious eyes with an audience navigating endless bits and pieces of data connected to a heavy monitor about people, places and marketing . Subsequently, this piece is not about computers, but an article of a legendary writer long ago from behind prison walls on death row that clutched my attention, having inspired me for a passion for writing at the opening of a computer age.
Wilbert Rideau (born February 13, 1942) was a 19-year-old, illiterate, eighth-grade dropout when he walked into the Gulf National Bank of Lake Charles, Louisiana in the winter of 1961 and stole $14,079. In the commission of that crime, Rideau murdered a white bank teller, Julia Ferguson, and was convicted that same year for first degree murder serving in solitary confinement on death row awaiting execution (electrocution) for twelve years, until the Supreme Court in 1972 overturned the ‘death penalty’ to life in prison without the possibility of parole and throughout Wilber’s forty-four year incarceration, he became an author and award-winning journalist at Angola State Prison, Louisiana.
Rideau’ speaks of a ‘developed feeling‘ of the years following the U.S. Supreme Court’s nationwide suspension of the death penalty as he faced the ‘electric chair’ for twelve long years. “This is undeserved but undeniable blessing… There is no other word for it,” while purposely remaining vague on his religious faith. Obviously on death row, how little faith one might have to look ahead for relief and freedom.
Of the New Testament, Apostles were hand-picked from various backgrounds; fair to say, some were of little faith: On the coarse of a storm at sea, the apostles in a vessel feared for their safety and Jesus aboard with a firm compassionate voice said: , “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm (Mat. 8:26,NKJ).”
Rideau believes, that ‘religiously‘ salvation, is a term by convicts and often forgotten when one is released . Throughout Jesus’ ministry, some apostles were doubtful and perhaps skeptical of Jesus -especially Thomas’ belief of Christ’s appearance after the resurrection: 26. “And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God, (John 20: 26-28,NKJ).” Wilber Rideau’s faith or belief in God might have narrowed throughout twelve years of solitary confinement and death row. Has Rideau ever thought God would set him free someday, developing his skills as a writer that touched lives with hope and faith through Christ? Rideau is a witness to a miracle and the Spirit of God that took a reprehensible crime and converting Rideau to write forty-four years in prison before releasing him. “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed (Acts 16: 25-26,NKJ)”.
In 1975, C. Paul Phelps was installed as Secretary of Corrections, with directives to boot the nostalgic (good-old-days) penitentiary into the 20th century. Rideau developed a close bond with Phelps, expressing “a quiet and growing feeling”. At that time Angola was cited as one of the worse and most dangerous prisons in America. ” Not only I survived, I thrived…It’s like something’s happening on a level that I don’t understand… My success… the Angolite’s were the latest signs in what I had long since begun to feel was a charmed existence .…I had twice narrowly avoided being lynched following my arrest, then had been rescued from three consecutive life sentences by three unexpected landmark decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court.” “So, You’re getting religion?” Phelps concluded with a smile to Wilber Rideau.
“You’ve been blessed by an extraordinary amount of good fortune. You want to make sense of it and you will eventually. Most important, understand that your uniquely postered to make a difference in the lives of so many and do much good, while educating the public regards to the world of prisons. This should be your personal mission. regardless of a supernatural force nudging you toward it or not,” Phelps concludes
Rideau replies: “I had indexed come to see “The “Angolite” (prison magazine), “as my mission life, my path to redemption. It allowed my the satisfaction to help others, whether by educating them or solving problems. This also helped in keeping touch with people outside of prison., normal people, so I could mitigate some of the effects of being institutionalized. The magazine gave me a measure of control over my life; I was able to decide what stories to pursue and set my own schedule. Each day held a promise of unpredictability and discovery.- giving tours, travelling, sitting in on meetings with administrators and checking the levees that kept the Mississippi in place, researching Angola’s history, photographing the annual Angola Rodeo, and speaking to scholars, media, and government officials from Louisiana and elsewhere; most of all, tackling difficult subjects the magazine became famous for, such as inequities in the system, long forgotten prisoners, including the brutal reality of life behind bars” Rideau explains.
“What probably guided me most in writing my memoir was the spirit of my mentor, C. Paul Phelps. He was a great man, and I wanted to make him proud of me, of the faith he had in me,” Rideau said. He added that he now knows that “being a journalist is one thing, writing a book is something else. During my years as a journalist, I always strove to adhere to the profession’s standards for balance, objectivity, fairness, and truth. I rarely, if ever, included my personal opinion in what I wrote. A memoir, on the other hand – at least as I interpret it – is completely different. It’s like describing the landscape of your life – the highs, the lows, the open meadows and hidden valleys that give your life meaning and texture. You want the facts to be right, but it’s not about being objective or neutral, it’s about how your life looked and felt to you. This was very, very difficult for me because in prison you learn to mask your emotions and your feelings. It’s a defense strategy because you can’t afford to let anyone see any vulnerability, any weakness they could exploit. So after four decades of not revealing myself, it was difficult to do that in the memoir”
References
Burrows, A. (ND), Ruination and Redemption: The Complicated History of Wilbert Rideau. Permalink: https://barelysouthreview.com/ruination-and-redemption-the-complicated-history-of-wilbert-rideau/#:~:text=He%20feels%20that%20salvation%2C%20in,is%20presented%20in%20the%20book%3A.
Google.com
Wikipedia
Summary: During Wilber Rideau’s twelve years on death row, Rideau begun to educate himself, reading numerous books. After being returned to the general prison population in 1975, Rideau served for more than 20 years as editor of The Angolite, the magazine written and published by prisoners at Louisiana State Prison (Angola); Wilber Rideau was the first African-American editor of any prison newspaper in the United States. Under his leadership, the magazine won the George Polk Award and Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for its reporting, and it was nominated for others.
13 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body [a]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing (1 Corinth.13:1-3,NKJ).”
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