Don Wildman

What a remarkable human being and resourceful person we're talking about, even against the odds in which he sets up for himself, right?

These have been stories that have been repeated now in movies and so forth.

But I caution the audience to not gloss over these events because when you read these events in more detail, especially through the autobiography, you get such amount of self-examination and self-awareness, which is really amazing.

One of those crimes, which he commits in the mid 40s, lands him in prison in Massachusetts for robbery.

It is there in that time frame.

And we're talking about 1946 to 1952, although he's originally sentenced for a much longer period, as I understand it.

Part of the reason that's shorter is because there's a great transformation in this man in that time frame.

And this is where he runs into or encounters the Nation of Islam.

Can you explain that development?

Interesting.

And remember, by the time I just did a little arithmetic here, by the time we're talking about, you know, by the time he's out of prison, he's only 21 years old.

He's very young.

He's a very young man we're talking about.

This has been a teenager who's been going through all of this.

And by the time he realizes himself is when all of us realize ourselves in his early 20s.

We mentioned that it begins very small back in the 20s, the Nation of Islam, but it has grown rapidly.

In leaps and bounds.

By the time he's interested and reaches out, by the way, this happens in a fascinating way.

He writes a letter from that third prison where he's undergoing a lot of this transformation and study.

He writes a letter to Elijah Muhammad explaining what has happened to him.