On this episode of Small Doses with Amanda Seales, community organizer Richie Reseda dials in to discuss prison feminism. Richie Reseda is a social entrepreneur, abolitionist and artist delivering feminist programming to incarcerated men. Having spent seven years in prison for armed robbery, the Los Angeles native found his calling as a community organizer.
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Reseda co-founded the Success Stories Program, the feminist program for incarcerated men (as featured in the CNN documentary The Feminist on Cellblock Y) and Initiate Justice, a legislative organization supporting people directly impacted by incarceration—all during his prison term.
“I was very busy in prison. There was plenty to do,” he tells host Amanda Seales. “I was in college full time, I was learning Spanish, I was in a whole-ass relationship.”
Prison feminism
Upon reflecting on the path that got him there, Reseda reached a deeper understanding of his situation. “I was in prison and reflecting on the choices that I made that contributed to me being there,” he says. “I knew about patriarchy. I understood that there was a cultural context in which I was making these choices.”
He began to question patriarchy rather than accept it. “It was learning that I don’t have to flow with this culture. I can push back a little bit,” he says.
Reseda stayed grounded through his time in prison with the support of “a really beautiful community of women and nonbinary people of color who supported me in my transformation, from even before I got locked up.” From the outside, they cheered on his efforts to bring feminist theory to the men he was incarcerated with.
Out on early release since 2018, the work hasn’t stopped for Reseda. The 32-year-old activist continues to bring feminist programming to California prisons.
“Patriarchy is essentially the idea that domination is power,” he explains. “Patriarchy is what drives people to commit a lot of the acts that lead us to prison. And patriarchy is what leads us to believe in prisons in the first place.”
“But if we saw power as connection and integrity,” Reseda says, society would lead with compassion and understanding. As long as this isn’t the case, he will continue to work toward that vision.
Reseda is focused on the bigger picture and sees the power of feminist principles. He is doing his part to undo the institution of patriarchy, ego and competition, and replace it with community, compassion and understanding. “Feminism is the act of undoing patriarchal structures and culture,” Reseda says.
Catch the full episode
They also get into the racist roots of policing and the prison system, why the word “inmate” is a slur, and how his work has evolved.
Get the full conversation. Listen to this episode of Small Doses: Side Effects of Prison Feminism (with Richie Reseda) here. This episode is also available on Apple and Spotify.
SEE ALSO:
Small Doses, Big Choices: Amanda Seales Explores the Struggles of Decision-Making
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