The next two years

Shamar has arrived at the Hazelton Federal Correctional Institution in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia where he will likely stay until December 2023. He is currently in Covid quarantine for another week or so, part of the regular admission process these days. Hopefully he will finally be able to get vaccinated soon.

We would really like as many people as possible to send Shamar a letter this month, so please consider reaching out to say hello or Merry Christmas. Find information about how you can send a book or write a letter here. If you want to learn more about what his experience at this facility will be like, you can read his Admissions and Orientation Handbook.

And now for the amazing news... on November 22, a young man named Patrick under the TickTock handle @officialnoodleboy posted a video about Shamar's case that went viral and has since been shared across platforms by tens/hundreds of thousands of people. At the time Patrick made his post, we had raised less than $5,000 dollars for Shamar through his GoFundMe page. As of today, over 3,300 people have donated more than $80,000.

If you are one of the people who has donated... thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! We haven't been able to reach Patrick directly--but if you're reading this, Patrick... WOW. We can't thank you enough for your support. Your video has finally brought national awareness to Shamar's story, and a flood of financial support along with it.

We are currently seeking advice from a financial advisor on the best way to manage donations in order to provide long-term stability and higher education for Shamar after he is released. Until then, some of the funds will be used for education programs, phone calls, food and other commissary while he is in prison. Again, thank you so much for your support. It means the world to him.

"WHAT’S UNDERSTOOD NEED NOT BE EXPLAINED" by Crushion Stubbs

I’m curious to know, as a reading eye and listening ear, what are you expecting to hear from me?

That the feds were somehow wrong, and Shamar was right?

Or that he was justified in putting out some call to strike?

Why would you expect this? Just because the tone of our skin happens to look alike?

(scoff) right! Whether I’m Black OR White, no shade can rewrite

That what’s wrong is wrong, and what’s right is right!

And Shamar was wrong……

To think that the powers that be don’t care, because they do…..

In regard to property and merchandise, just not about you

Dear young lad- who’s now prison uniformed clad

Confined for crossing all the lines like plaid

Sentenced to sleep on steel slab & fined for far more than what he grabbed

Given a bill as big as a hill, the Judge told him, “we’ll just put it on your tab”

Then, I guess in jest, they gave him YEARS of rest for HOURS of unrest

Is this unjust? Some will remark he’s better off

Citing, “he knew the difference between anger and danger was only ONE letter off

Plus, HE set it off!” Really? Are you that distraught that you don’t reflect oft?

And realize that it wasn’t a post that sent fleets into the streets feeling the opposite of peace

But the daily release of videos that showed an existence-threatening INCREASE in police causing the life from black bodies to CEASE

THAT’S why they rose like yeast

THAT’S why like Rosa, they want that fact to take a backseat

Under the threat of Covid-19, he was ONLY 19, yet overnight seen as some madman gone wild

In this adult world, where a child can make a post, to become a poster child

Or a scapegoat, but take note, how they wrote- him off as a dissident

While I'm still trying to figure out what’s the difference between him and our last President?

One, they say incited a riot at Market Place Mall that led to a loss of capital

The other, they say incited a riot on the National Mall that led to the loss of THE Capitol

One, they make excuses for and give a pass, dismissed as, “oh, he’s just an ass, who speaks off the cuff with innocent remarks that agitate hate,” yeah, but with no rebuff?

The other, they actually hunted and trapped before suns dawn, with guns drawn

Barked out, “get down and crawl out to the front lawn”, to be done wrong, like a spun pawn

Until a guilty plea was updrawn, then the gavel hit, now that’s one gone

If it wasn’t so sad, it’d be enough to make one yawn

Out of exhaustion, drained and tired of this double standard

And subtle pander, in a struggle to answer, why?

“WHY? Are you serious? Did you not see and hear this kid bragging and happy to claim credit for it all? Huh, I’m APPALLED!”

Well, you SHOULD be a Paul, but which one? Simon or Revere?

Because it’s clear you actually didn’t listen nor hear

He wasn’t BOASTING, he was DISCLOSING his own SHOCK and AWE

That as a young Black Male, his words were even heard at all

Like, “I can’t believe this!! We’re usually ignored and dismissed, but wow, I did this, without being jettisoned

They finally SAW ME Ellison, I’m NOT an Invisible Man, and yet I still cram to understand

How MY words can MOOOVE people to a location to act out and demand respect

While George Floyd’s words of, “I can’t breathe” weren’t enough to MOOOVE a cop’s knee from off his neck, I mean what the heck!?”

People have died for far LESS than what Shamar Betts proposed for Neil & Prospect

So what did we learn from all this mess? That Black bodies are worth less than mall objects?

Well, I object, and suspect that when Shamar was moved he was probably confused, stepping off a prison bus shackled in two’s

Doomed to steel catacombs, scared and alone, for numbers of winters and summers

I guess for Black folks it IS different strokes, huh, Mr. Drummond?

Since, for one Mister, drumming up a riotous beat for people to meet on the street through FACE-BOOK

Shamar soon became the FACE of having the BOOK thrown at him until, THEY took

His grin, for the win…... but if I was him…...Oh, wait a minute, I was

And come to think of it, at the very same age too of 19, walking a mile green, but quite keen

On not letting them whack me nor distract me with the book they threw at me

So instead, I caught that book and read it line for line, page by page

Until I emerged…. from EN-CAGED to fully EN-GAGED

Exhumed from a brick cocoon with wings that bloomed and demanded that this world give me room

Thus I know it feels far Shamar, but trust, you’ll be home soon

So in the interim, prepare for your release, make the necessary tweaks, and from henceforward always reach out for peace

As George did, with his last breath when he cried out for his Mother who was on another plane

And as I imagine, you, every night in your cell, now do the same, wishing to just be an innocent kid with his “Momma” again!

Still waiting...

For ten days Shamar has been waiting at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in Oklahoma. He could be transferred any day, probably in the next two weeks. He believes his final destination will be a prison in West Virginia - not a convenient location for his friends or family to be able to visit him. Once he gets there, we will be able to update this website with information about how you can write him a letter or send him a book.

Thank you to everyone who participated in, attended, or watched the University YMCA Friday Forum panel discussion Shamar Betts Case: Unequal Justice in the Aftermath of George Floyd's Murder. (Click the text above to watch the video, or find it on the Home page.) We collected $130 in donations for Shamar, which will go toward food, books, and phone calls.

The forum opened with an incredible poem by Crushion Stubbs, who was recently released from prison after serving 27 years - since the age of 19 - the same age Shamar was when he got arrested. The poem is so good that it's worth a read, and it's own post on this website...