The U.S. hadn’t yet experienced a Black president, and Black lives wouldn’t start to matter for another dozen years. I navigate fraught political conversations with care and respect, and I work daily to build peace inside, outside, and across prison walls. I ask that you see our humanity, our ability to grow, and our potential to add value and safety to your town. I genuinely believe we have the collective power to envision and co-create a future that is both free and safe. Leo Hylton is a PhD student at George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, currently incarcerated at Maine State Prison.