Reverend Edward Pinkney from Marquette Branch Prison, over 500 miles from my home. The title, “The Stolen 30 Months by Corrupt Berrien County Court System.”
Some of my personal suffering over the last few years, have also served to shape my thinking. I always hesitate to mention these experiences for fear of conveying the wrong impression. A person who constantly calls attention to his trials and suffering is in danger of developing a moral complex and making others feel that he is consciously seeking sympathy. It is impossible for one to be self-centered in his self-denial and self-righteousness in his self-sacrifice. So, I’m always reluctant to refer to my personal sacrifices, but I feel somewhat justified in mentioning them today, so everyone could and would know how I feel.
Due to my involvement in the struggle for freedom of all my people, Black, poor, white, brown, red, yellow, and all others, I have known very few quiet days in the last few years. I have been arrested several times and put in prison. A day seldom passes that me or my family are not the recipient of hatred, so in that real sense I’ve been battered by the storm of prosecution. I must admit that at times I have felt that I could no longer bear such a heavy burden, and I have been tempted to retreat to a more quiet place in life, but every time such a temptation appears, something comes to [unclear] and sustain my determination. My personal trials had taught me the value of unmerited suffering. As my suffering mounts, I soon realized there were two ways that I could respond to my situation: either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering to a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course. Recognizing the necessity for suffering, I have tried to make of it a virtue, if only to save myself from bitterness. I have attempted to save my personal ordeal as an opportunity to transform myself and heal the people of Berrien County, Michigan.
Judge Sterling Schrock, Prosecutor Mike Sepic, Sheriff Paul Bailey, County Clerk Sharon Tyler, Election Clerk Kerlin Tolliver, and one of the jurors, Gary Freeland, who are all involved in this tragic situation. I have lived the last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemption. There are some who still find the cross a stumbling block, and others consider it foolishness, but I am more convinced than ever before that it is the power of God unto social and individual salvation. So, like the Apostle Paul, I can now humbly yet proudly say, I bear in my body the mark of the Lord Jesus Christ. The suffering and the agony moments through which I have passed over the last few years have also drawn me closer to God more than ever before. I am convinced of the reality of a personal God, and that we must also confront this system. This whole system is rigged, is corrupt, and we, the people must confront.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
