Nothing About Us, Without Us!

Today is Sunday, September 20th, 2026. Last night’s dinner was noodles and meat sauce, green beans, bread, and cake.

“Nothing about us, without us!” is one of the mottos my mentor instilled inside of me. These five words speak volumes when trying to create change. Nothing should be written or said about us, without us giving the facts or saying it ourselves.

This sounds like it should be common sense, but as I’m learning more and more every day, common sense isn’t so common anymore. I believe social media is the reason for this.

Anyways, when we say “nothing about us, without us,” I mean more so the mainstream media, social programs, these closed-door committees. We need to include the people that the laws and policy affect at the table where these things are being written.

We need to tell the story of the victim as well as the person committing the crime. We would have a better justice system if it was created to heal the wrongs created by the offender, instead of turning these people into modern-day boogeymen. This feeds the us-vs-them mentality, which is detrimental to any society.

If I steal from a person. I feel I should have to pay that person back. Not pay money to the state, which does what it wants with it. If I hurt someone. I should have to prove that I’m no longer that person that hurt you. The person that was hurt should get some type of report to know that I’m changing my ways and I’m no longer that person. Of course, this is all situational.

But my point is, if we included people that actually have committed crimes and learned from them in these closed-door committees, then I feel we would have a justice system closer to this — instead of locking them up, treating them like animals, and expecting this treatment to instill the change in them to become better citizens. Now that’s an oxymoron.

Instead, what happens is you find out that a sex offender is being released to your area, and for his whole five years he’s been watching Law & Order: SVU. Sounds crazy, right? But it’s not as crazy or rare as you think.

Again, people aren’t their crime. For most people who commit crimes, it usually stems from a mental health issue, alcohol or drug abuse, or an issue involving money. When are the people in charge going to understand you can’t program these issues away?

Something new needs to be created with the voices of the offenders included. Apparently what the smart people think should work isn’t, because people are still committing crimes — in fact, most jails are packed to the maximum limit. Something needs to change.

We need to adopt my mentor’s motto if we are serious about making real changes in the lives of people of the so-called lower status. Nothing about us, without US!

-TJ