What's a pathway to freedom? Reading.
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Who is Reginald Dwayne Betts and how did his early incarceration shape his view of books?
Hey, Lulu here. Whether we are romping through science, music, politics, technology, or feelings, we seek to leave you seeing the world anew. Radio Lab adventures right on the edge of what we think we know wherever you get podcasts.
What is the most unhinged thing you sincerely believe?
This is gonna sound crazy, right? But I really believe that you find what you look for. Right now, we live in a world in which like grievance dominates. The evidence of being heard is punishment. Grievance and vengeance. The reason why I like this idea that you find what you look for is because you can look for joy. And you can look for it amidst anything else that's happening. And it's quite unhinged because If you don't spend a lot of time with people who have young children, You would imagine that the world is ending. Through each generation when tomorrow looks doomed. the parents are looking for hope for their children and they find it. And so that's a unhinged belief, right? That that like You can find what you chase.
While our country panics about literacy rates and attention spans, Reginald Duane Betts sees opportunity. As a poet, Duane is intimately aware of how language can expand our imaginations. But prior to his life as a poet, he was incarcerated at age 16 for an armed carjacking and was sentenced to nine years in prison, which included some time in solitary confinement where books, the one thing that gave him a window into other worlds, were not allowed. This experience inspired him to create Freedom Reads, an organization that brings books into prisons and creates physical libraries, also called freedom libraries, to help people dream beyond their immediate environments and imagine lives with beauty, hope, and possibility.
Today, Dwayne joins me to talk about how literature has informed his life's work and what it means to find what you chase.
Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.
You've described books as a means of survival. Like we can see how that was true for you. You've talked about that. You've written about that. But it's also an experience that is true for so many people who have lived lives very different from yours, very different from mine. You know, there's billions of people on this world who have had that experience in some way. Um, what is it about books that help us survive?
I think um A colleague wrote me a letter. And then a letter, you know, like um She didn't tell me anything about her her her life or her childhood, but but she wrote about books being a source Of a world. That was missing. And I I mean I read the letter and and it literally had me crying because It was uh See, we often get confused. We imagine That the thing that connects us is like our skin color. our complex it uh our our our complexion
Why does Betts describe reading as a source of hope and survival while in prison?
Our culture. Um Our profession. But but it's not, it's the ability to be touched by a story. And I think that's uh is just like the fundamental thing that that people who love books recognize. And it it's a kind of promise you make to the book that the book may or may not fulfill. But it's this promise that like if you give me your time and your attention, I will transform how you see a world in a life.
Hmm hmm hmm. I mean, you know, a lot of media theorists have been speculating that we are moving toward a post literate society. People are not reading as much anymore. Um our attention spans are shot. Children, younger people seem to be struggling with reading now more than they have in past generations. I mean, how do you encourage reading? How do you even think about encouraging reading when when reading has kind of become passe? But I see people reading all of the time.
Facebook is filled with words. I'm functioning as as like many poems. I think people are saying that people aren't reading books and how do we combat that? And I I understand that they're saying the books of soul, but you gotta recognize I think that we are running a risk of being post talking to each other.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Reginald Dwayne Betts and how did his early incarceration shape his view of books?
0:00–3:28
2
Why does Betts describe reading as a source of hope and survival while in prison?
3:28–6:59
3
What inspired Betts to create Freedom Reads and build libraries inside prisons?
6:59–10:04
4
How do Freedom Libraries physically look and operate within correctional facilities?
10:04–12:39
5
What are some of the most moving letters and reactions from inmates who use Freedom Libraries?
12:39–16:08
6
How does the Inside Literary Prize give incarcerated people a voice as judges and readers?
16:08–18:50
7
What impact did the documentary “March Forth” have on Betts’ personal reflection and public perception?
18:50–22:13
8
What does Betts envision for the future of literature‑based rehabilitation and his next steps?
22:13–25:28