RIKERS ISLAND: Theories of Racism

This book about Rikers Island uses the Art of War as a tool to understand how to overcome being imprisoned in the largest jail in the world. Rikers Island allows the reader to understand the individual incarcerated from a more human perspective. The books intent is to create change through awareness of a human crisis that is understood in less than humane terms. The book identifies education as a tool for overcoming a huge prison and jail population that is 98 percent Black and Hispanic. Advocacy for the reinstitution of the college degree program is an underlying theme that develops as a solution to the Black Diaspora.

Evan Baker works in Rikers Island as a Mental Health Clinician administering psychotherapy to those incarcerated. He earned his Masters in Social Work from Adelphi University and holds his license in Social Work in the State of New York. Evan Baker himself struggled with homelessness, unemployment and welfare while achieving his credentials in academia. He has since stridden toward tackling the problems of racism and class discrimination that affect those persons struggling with poverty. In this way, his own life story is an inspiration to many who seek to overcome poverty, unemployment and addiction. His connection to the population he serves is established through the experience of being amongst this important and often time's misunderstood group.