In my last post, I highlighted three “navigational markers” that are keeping me going in seas which feel rougher than usual.  #1 is family and friends. Nuff said there.

But #2 and 3 are “using historians, legal minds, politicians and activists to keep myself inspired and motivated,” and then AMPLIFYING THAT INSPIRATION AND MOTIVATION.

That starts here, with an activist I’m willing to bet most (all but one?) of y’all have never heard of: Tomiekia Johnson.

Tomiekia and I have known each other for six years. I call her TJ; she calls me Gretch. We have never met, because I live on a small island in the Pacific Northwest, and she is incarcerated in central California.

A former California Highway Patrol officer, Tomiekia detailed for the Prison Journalism Project the story of what it was like to enter the very system where she used to help send people.

We met in 2020 (through Survived and Punished, which connects incarcerated survivors of domestic violence with pen pals) corresponding through paper letters. Ponderous, slow—but actually a pretty decent way to get to know someone, as favorite foods, sports, and music slowly give way to background, then to hopes and fears.

Eventually we got into (what I call) Planet Prison’s method of email—one more way for the Prison Industrial Complex to squeeze money out of people in need. Subject to constant censorship and glitches, it still allows a certain amount of back-and-forth missing from paper letters. This year, we added weekly phone calls to the mix. But it’s Tomiekia’s WRITING that I want to lift up here.

“Prison journalist” does not begin to describe this woman’s pounding energy in exposing injustice “behind barz.” Because inmates are severely limited in communication with the outside world, I took on the role of Tomiekia’s editor. She sends me rough drafts (in short chunks as required by Securus, a subsidiary of JPay). I edit, send chunks back. Lately, we’ve started editing over the phone. When we have a final draft, I pitch it to a series of online mags who’ve shown interest in Tomiekia’s voice and topics over the years.

We’re pretty proud of her latest in Prism, on the importance–practical and symbolic–of Black women’s hair care behind barz. Read it here.

But remember I mentioned Tomiekia’s surging energy in writing? She doesn’t wait for my help. Her latest enterprise is to publish on Substack, on a site managed by her daughter, Nevaeh Lemons. CHECK THIS OUT!

My hope, shared by Tomiekia and her loved ones, is to amplify her voice, justice issues and energy by combining our forces. So: if you “like” and follow me? Subscribe to @therealtj on Substack. But don’t blame me if she blows your mind.