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- [00:07]
Marie Nojosa
Season two of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Mellon makes grants to support visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities. To help connect us all more@mellon.org When I founded Futuro, I imagined a home for journalism with radical transparency. I wanted a newsroom where I wasn't the only Latina behind the mic. Now Futuro is becoming a home for more voices than ever. Help grow this future by joining our new membership program. You'll get exclusive interviews, whole season binges behind the scenes chisme shape the future of storytelling. Join Futuro Plus Visit our website FuturoMediaGroup.org JoinPlus et not Eva Yes.
- [01:08]
Julieta Martinelli
Suave is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.
- [01:32]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I'm not a pussy. I'm not a pussy at all. What make you think you could try me? And I'm not gonna react because if I get triggered, somebody's gonna get hurt. Not fake hurt. Real hurt.
- [01:49]
Julieta Martinelli
This is the voice of a man who's found himself at the end of his rope. A man who survived more than 30 years in a max security prison, got out, became successful, built what many would consider is a dream life, and now, seven years later, was risking it all.
- [02:09]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
At this point, I don't give a who going to jail or not. Y'all poke the teddy bear. Now y'all got the grizzly bed. You wanna with me? That's how it's gonna go down. It's on site. It's not gonna be. Let's talk outside. It's on site. Where? I don't know where we at. It's going to be on site. That's the dude y'all wanted. Y'all got him.
- [02:29]
Julieta Martinelli
And the reason. The reason, as the cliche goes, is that you can leave prison, but prison never really leaves you. But before we get there, let's start with happier times.
- [02:48]
Marie Nojosa
Okay? Come on. We gonna get one picture.
- [02:50]
Julieta Martinelli
Hey, the host is not a picture.
- [02:53]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
It's video.
- [02:54]
Julieta Martinelli
We're standing outside Columbia University's historic Low Library in New York City. It's October 20, 2022, and spirits are high. Most of the team behind the Suave podcast is here, including journalist Marie Nojosa.
- [03:11]
Marie Nojosa
Hi, Suave. What's up? What's up?
- [03:15]
Julieta Martinelli
And Suave a man who for a long time, never imagined that he would ever leave a prison cell, let alone be here at the ceremony for the Pulitzer Prize.
- [03:29]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I'm walking in and I'm looking and I'm looking at all these expensive suits. I only paid like $90 for my suit.
- [03:37]
Julieta Martinelli
We walk up the iconic Columbia steps, through the doors, past statues of Zeus and Apollo. It feels like standing in a Greek temple. None of the other journalists here invited their sources to the ceremony. In a sea of black bow ties, Suave is rocking this bright blood red tie. One by one, the winners are announced. They called him Suave like the shampoo, but whatever. Congratulations. On stage, we hold hands, and Suave holds the award. Suave decides immediately he's going to be the one to keep it. After dinner, there's a reception. There's lots of very polite mingling happening over wine. Pretty boring, to be honest. So we sneak off outside for some fun of our own, right on the Columbia steps. We sip on our drinks. Maybe even a little joint gets sparked.
- [05:03]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
We go outside, and in my head, I'm thinking, tonight is the night that I realize I'm free. I'm really free. It was like one of the movies that I watch in prison that, you know, it's a sad movie, but at the end, you know, when they sit, like in the steps and they see the sunlight, you know, it's like something magical is going to happen.
- [05:34]
Julieta Martinelli
In this moment, everything is perfect. A man who was in prison for more than 30 years just won the highest award in journalism. That was the night that Mr. Pulitzer was born.
- [05:55]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
Y'all know what it is. Yeah. This is your man Swab. Yeah, I'm just chilling in the tub, man, ready to take a shower of bath. But I just want to introduce y'all, man. Yo, this is the adventures of Suave Gonzalez and his Pulitzer. So, yeah, I'm in the tub with my Pulitzer. I'm ready to get my Pulitzer in shower because, you know, we got to stay clean, man. You know, we just can't be two in the world.
- [06:21]
Julieta Martinelli
Mr. Pulitzer living his best life. It's happily ever after, right? From Futuro Studios, the this is Suave. I'm Julieta Martinelli. In 2017, David Luis Suave Gonzalez was released from prison after 31 years, serving a life sentence without parole. He was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life. This is a story about life after incarceration and the search for the true meaning of freedom. This is season two. Maria, how are you?
- [07:12]
Marie Nojosa
Oh, my God. Julieta. I am great. I mean, yeah. Season two. We're here.
- [07:16]
Julieta Martinelli
Yeah, we're back. I'm so excited.
- [07:19]
Marie Nojosa
I think maybe we should introduce ourselves.
- [07:21]
Julieta Martinelli
Right, yes, of course. So you are legendary journalist Marie Nojosa, the host of Latino USA and the founder of Fudura Media.
- [07:29]
Marie Nojosa
Okay, well, legendary is a big word, but in this case, because I'm actually part of this story, I'm not gonna be doing the job of hosting. That is gonna be done by the host of Suave Season 2. And that is you, Julieta Martinelli.
- [07:44]
Julieta Martinelli
Yeah. Hi. So I'm Julieta. I've been covering criminal justice pretty much all of my career. And I'm actually the co producer of season one of Suave. So I was always there in the background, reporting and writing for the show. And you might have even heard me here and there, most notably on episode six, while running down the street.
- [08:05]
Marie Nojosa
Like, running.
- [08:07]
Julieta Martinelli
That threw me off. Well, clearly he lives at that house, and we should hurry the fuck up and get out of here.
- [08:15]
Marie Nojosa
Yeah, it's like, get out of there as fast as possible.
- [08:19]
Julieta Martinelli
Yeah. And, you know, I applied for the job to work on season one because the prison system has always been really real for me. Right. It's always been a part of my life. I grew up around a lot of people that were affected by the carceral system. And, you know, one of the first memories I have is of my dad being accused of a crime and my mom wanting to separate us from all of that and bringing us to the US and here I was, undocumented. I grew up in a community around a lot of undocumented people. So heavy police presence. You know, I've seen a lot of people lose their freedom. And I think that really taught me that people are very complex, that people can be good and do bad things. And I don't think that we're always telling the story about those gray areas. Right. And so the story we're telling this season, it's a little different from last time. It's about the long shadow of prison, about the challenges that no one warns you about when you get out, and about how, after spending the majority of his life locked up, freedom for Suave has not been everything he imagined it would be.
- [09:32]
Marie Nojosa
Now, for those of you out there who are new to the show in season one, which, by the way, you should really go listen to right now. But in season one, we told the story of Luis Suave Gonzalez. Now, I met him decades ago in a maximum security prison in Pennsylvania. Suave. At that time, he was Convicted of murder as a teenager, he was sentenced to life without parole. And after we met that day, well, I mean, essentially, we stayed in touch over the years, and we developed, you know, a relationship. Right. Some people might even say it was a friendship. But then what ends up happening is that laws changed because of the Supreme Court, and Suave now had a chance to get out of prison. And so we documented his release, and we followed the ups and downs of his journey to the outside. All of that is in season one.
- [10:35]
Julieta Martinelli
So, you know, Maria, when season one ended in 2021, Suave was focused on starting his new life in Philadelphia. And I think we could have stopped documenting there. I mean, we definitely thought about it. Right?
- [10:48]
Marie Nojosa
Right. He's out of prison. I mean, end of story. We tracked it all as the time passed. You know, it's just so natural for me to everything. So even after the podcast dropped, I'm still recording. That's when I realized, hold on a second. Like, this story is not over at all. In many ways, I was like, we're just scratching the surface. And so basically, we just kept documenting everything that was happening in Suave's life. And como siempre?
- [11:17]
Julieta Martinelli
There was a lot happening early on in reporting. I asked Suave what he thought this season should be about. But as I've been thinking about writing season two, in season one, we ended with you really wanting, like, some stability, wanting to get a stable job, like a relationship. That's kind of where you were when we ended. I see you laughing, and it's killing me.
- [11:39]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I already know where you going.
- [11:41]
Julieta Martinelli
So my question is, if I use this tape here in the episode one, what does Suave want to achieve in.
- [11:51]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
Season two in life? Listen, season one, I was living life. I wasn't having fun. I was boring. I was. I wouldn't say stressed out, but it was. I was out of touch with my community, if you want to call it that. I live in the hood, but I was out of touch. I chose to do that. Now it's like, man, I'm gone. Have some fun. And I know that it can lead to destruction ways. I know that already, and I'm trying not to, you know, cross that destructive path. But I'm having fun on all levels. I'm having fun. So with season two, I'm hoping that people get it, man. Like, we human beings, we just been deny certain things because of our incarceration. I'm human being. I'm only 30 right now. I came home when I was 21. You know, I mean, I'm looking at it in them terms right.
- [13:01]
Marie Nojosa
Now. We are going to get to that destructive path that occurred later on in season two. But first, the truth is Suave is having fun.
- [13:12]
Julieta Martinelli
Especially after the Pulitzer. I mean, things really just took off.
- [13:17]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I've been awarded like three different awards. Well, there's been a couple of new stories. A local man is doing what he.
- [13:25]
Julieta Martinelli
Can to save our streets. He spent decades behind bars. Sean Ed Wilson introduces us to this inspiring man.
- [13:32]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I was given a second chance for a reason. Making music. Making music, that's something that I'm doing. You know, they wanna hold me back. I'm like a warrior inside of my head. I was barely a child and making decisions. 31 years I was locked in that prison. I started my own truth crime truth story. Episodes of podcasts with different people. As Lieutenant Governor, what is your position on juvenile life is coming home and being on parole for life.
- [14:03]
Julieta Martinelli
I think that the juvenile lifer decision is the live podcast recordings are a big success.
- [14:10]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
It was packed house, really. I'm talking about. We had to turn people away.
- [14:16]
Marie Nojosa
Damn.
- [14:17]
Julieta Martinelli
And he's drawing the attention of some very important people.
- [14:21]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
No booze, nobody. It's like a fucking movie. The Secret Service showed up. They did a roundup of the building. You know, they checked the whole building. Ashley Biden, come in.
- [14:31]
Julieta Martinelli
Ashley Biden, as in that Biden, the former president's daughter. She lives in Philadelphia and has been an outspoken supporter of criminal justice reform.
- [14:41]
Marie Nojosa
Okay.
- [14:42]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
And she's like, I want to work with you. I'm like, sure, why not? And me and Julieta is looking at each other like, is this shit really happening?
- [14:56]
Julieta Martinelli
So that's where we are today. You could say that it's a new day for Suave, but really, it's a whole new life. You know, Mr. Pulitzer is killing it.
- [15:07]
Marie Nojosa
I remember when you told me that he was Mr. Pulitzer, and I was like, oh, my God. Because it's like he's really embodying this entirely new alter ego. And it's like a thing to witness.
- [15:19]
Julieta Martinelli
Yeah. And maybe it's fed into his tendency that he already has to be a little bit of a diva, for lack of a better word.
- [15:27]
Marie Nojosa
Just a little bit of a diva.
- [15:29]
Julieta Martinelli
So Joey Deville, a younger friend of Suave that he mentors, he told us a story about one of those moments that Suave had at a restaurant where they were eating.
- [15:39]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
You throw a lot of tantrums. I do, I do. Why y'all got this on the menu if you want? Because she was like, I'm sorry, sir. That burger's out of stock. We don't have any more of that. You want to order something different? Why would you have it on the menu if you don't have it? So the cave raised the men. He sitting there pouting, bro, we had to order you food, yo. I don't want it. And then you started eating it because you was hungry as. You're a diva, but I with you too. No, this is the thing. If a white man come in here with a Grammy award and tell you that cheesesteak is not right. Excuse me, sir. We're gonna make it right for you.
- [16:11]
Julieta Martinelli
So what you're saying is, like, if. If a white man comes in and, like, doesn't like what he's being said, nobody's gonna call him a diva for a complaint.
- [16:18]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
They're not. They're not. But my own people was like, you acting diva, man. You acting extra. I was there. You were extra. You were extra with a side of cheese. Extra with a side of cheese, bro. You're comical because it's really you. You don't even be trying to be funny. Just really be you.
- [16:37]
Marie Nojosa
I couldn't wait to ask Mr. Pulitzer himself about all of this later. So when you're walking down the streets of Philly, do you like it when people call you Mr. Pulitzer, or do you feel like, oh, my God, here we go again? Like, I just.
- [16:51]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
No, you know, I ain't gonna lie. That shit plays in my egos. I was like, yes, you love it. I do. You love it. Listen, I ain't gonna lie. And, you know, the young people tend to have this swag with it. Yeah, my old head's got a Pulitzer. That's bigger than a Grammy. It's bigger than J.C. and Beyonce. I was like, whoa, that was like, you should collaborate with Kendrick Lamar. Y'all both got a pulisar. I was like, hey, the truth is.
- [17:19]
Marie Nojosa
Is that we have talked about this, right? Like, you have to have an ego.
- [17:22]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I do. I. I have a big ego. Yeah, I could say that now, because I'm. I'm more comfortable with it. I remember I had a conversation with Julieta about a year ago, and we was talking about, damn, everything good to happen. Always end up with some bad shit. I always feel guilty about it. And Julieta told me, man, man, listen, you have the right to be happy. I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna celebrate this. It could be 20 years from now. You can't take that away. I don't care if it's 20 years, 30 years. We won. If I could inspire other young people to believe that they could do the same.
- [18:07]
Marie Nojosa
Foreign.
- [18:19]
Julieta Martinelli
I'm Natalie Moore.
- [18:20]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old.
- [18:23]
Julieta Martinelli
And I still watch them. They're television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now, let me tell you, soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are successful, significant in this season of making stories without end from WBEZ Chicago. Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. One day in November, Maria and I come down to Philly to visit Suave. Suave is working with young people as a support coach of I Am More. That's a program for formerly incarcerated students at Community College of Philadelphia.
- [19:15]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
You know, we're not talking about traditional students. We're talking about people that are still living in shelters. We talk about people that are basically homeless coming to school, so the school is a safe haven for them. They come to school early because they don't want to be in the streets.
- [19:32]
Julieta Martinelli
Being here just a few minutes, it's clear that Suave's that teacher. You know the one, he's got dozens of Jordans in all the colorways. He rocks a fly ass suit with a Yankees cap.
- [19:45]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
To work, being surrounded by younger people, they looking at me like a father figure. They do.
- [19:57]
Julieta Martinelli
So today we are at Suave school and we're really trying to record a catch up interview with Suave.
- [20:04]
Marie Nojosa
And yeah, Julieta, trying would be the key word because, you know, he's a busy guy now. So students are trickling in and out of his office all day. Right now there are like a dozen students. They're eating snacks, they're having conversations, they're joking around. They're like, they're like happy to be here in this office with Suave.
- [20:27]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
You saying that you sing like Usher, right?
- [20:30]
Julieta Martinelli
It's something.
- [20:31]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
We can't be shy now. Are you ready? Quiet on your set. I need a vacation, baby girl I.
- [20:40]
Marie Nojosa
Don'T know what to do I need a vacation hey. Right. So the thought that I am now a guest in a class that Suave is teaching is truly mind blowing because for years in one of my jobs as a university and college professor, Suave would call in from prison. And that's how he would talk to my students. And now here I am visiting a class that he's teaching. I mean, it's kind of incredible.
- [21:13]
Julieta Martinelli
Yeah. I mean, and now here you are in Philly, sitting in his classroom, and he's so excited for you to meet his students.
- [21:20]
Marie Nojosa
I mean, it's just. It's such a beautiful moment.
- [21:25]
Julieta Martinelli
But before you can really get into this further with Suave, his phone rings.
- [21:31]
Marie Nojosa
So one of the biggest surprises for me on this day is like, this dude's phone is always blowing up. I mean, it's like non stop.
- [21:40]
Julieta Martinelli
Yeah. I mean, every 15 minutes it just goes off, yo.
- [21:44]
Marie Nojosa
I think it's every 10 minutes. Recall from.
- [21:50]
Julieta Martinelli
An incarcerated individual at SCI Phoenix State Correctional Institution.
- [21:56]
Marie Nojosa
And a lot of the times it's friends. Well, guys who are calling him from inside of prison.
- [22:02]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I'm telling you, bro. I'm telling you, bro. I'm telling you, bro. You know how much ice cream you could sell out here, bro? You'd be rich selling ice cream out here versus being jailhouse. I'm rich in the yard.
- [22:16]
Julieta Martinelli
So Suave later tells me that one of his jobs when he was in prison was actually working the ice cream at commissary, which he may or may not have skimmed a little to sell on the side. And now his friend Freddie has his.
- [22:31]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
Old gig, and I'm gonna leave it at that. I ain't gonna preach to you no more.
- [22:34]
Marie Nojosa
You have one minute left.
- [22:36]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
All right, bro. Love you, bro. And. And you better call me again, bro. You better call me soon. Yeah, go call mom. That's what you need to do while you're in the city. I will. All right. All right. Later. All right.
- [22:55]
Marie Nojosa
The SCI grade rate. One minute. It had been a long time since I had heard that. You know how long it's been since I have heard that?
- [23:05]
Julieta Martinelli
Nearly seven years out of prison. Suave is still deeply involved with the prison system, maybe even more in new and different ways than he ever was before.
- [23:17]
Marie Nojosa
Suave is working at this re entry program at school, right? But on his off days, if he does happen to have an off day, he's working with a group of judges and he's juggling whatever he can from the outside, right? To help the friends that he left behind who are still on the inside.
- [23:35]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I get phone calls every day, at least 20, 30 phone calls a day from prison. And, you know, guys that never seen a Pulitzer, right? Calling me, telling about, man, you representing all of us. This is a win for all of us. And it is when I get phone calls from politicians, you know, they want me to go speak because they're trying to pass a bill for lifers, and they think that I'm the poster child. I'm like, at first, I used to get pissed off because I'M not a poster child. But now I've realized that, like, somebody has to be the voice. And this is what it means, being the voice for the voiceless, bro. No matter how much you try to run from it, you are the voice for those that you left behind. And I'm not running for anything. I'm embracing it. I'm embracing it because I still got hope that them brothers and sisters are gonna come home one day.
- [24:44]
Julieta Martinelli
That night, November 20, 2023, we celebrate the anniversary of Suave's release from prison at Freddie and Tony's. It's this little Puerto Rican joint in North Philly, the neighborhood where Suave grew up. He has a virgin pina colada mofongo and a steak in cebollado.
- [25:02]
Marie Nojosa
And, you know, it's like a really chill moment. And it stands out because it's one of the very few times that we don't pull out the recorder immediately. You know, we're just sitting there in the restaurant eating delicious Puerto Rican food, just kind of enjoying the moment and the mocktails. But then, of course, later, we do turn on the recorder and we get to talking about the big picture. And Suave tells us that while on the outside, everything looks great. He's funny, he's bold, he's Mr. Pulitzer. But that inside, emotionally, that's actually not at all how he feels.
- [25:45]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I just feel sometimes that being free is not what everybody think it is. It's really not. And it's not really everybody hype it up like you free, you could do whatever you want to do. It's all your pains and misery are gone. That's man, my. My miseries and pains are just starting. Like, seriously, I never had this much misery and pain in my life when I was in prison. I didn't. I was shut out from the world, you know, cold shut everything down. And out here, you can't do that because you got people looking for you. You got people that want. They lean on you for day support, for their comfort. I don't want to live up to nobody expectations and. And none of that. You know, I'm done with that. I am not happy. I'm glad I'm home. I'm glad about that. But if. If you say describe happy, I should be able to describe happy. And I can't. I can't. I. I won't even know how to stop, start to describe happy. Even with a Pulitzer, Even with. I can't describe it because I'm not.
- [27:16]
Marie Nojosa
So in Mexico, there's the concept of la grande, la Chiquita, you know, the big prison and the little prison. The prisoners in the jail, they're in the small prison. But the rest of us, we're living in the big prison, the prison of, you know, this whole existential question about humanity and. And we've talked a lot about. It's not always going to be happy outside.
- [27:43]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
You know, as much as I like to fake myself out and think that I'm ready to for this life, I wasn't ready. You know, I'm learning how to get through it, but I wasn't. I wasn't ready. Nobody gave me a crash course. Like, this is what's going to happen. You know, you got to pay bills. You're going to confront this. You're going to be heartbroken. You're going to have doubts about this. It's just hard, you know, And. And sometimes from the outside, it looks like I'm living a good life and now, but I'm really not, you know, I'm just getting by.
- [28:23]
Julieta Martinelli
Suave did the unthinkable. He beat a life sentence, but he's not yet free. Coming up on this season of Suave.
- [28:35]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
Oh, that's him right there.
- [28:43]
Julieta Martinelli
Seven years out of prison, Suave is still looking for a way home.
- [28:48]
Marie Nojosa
What's going on for you?
- [28:49]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
This is my first time here, like, in 45 years. When I came here, I was a little kid.
- [28:53]
Julieta Martinelli
He makes the trip of a lifetime.
- [28:56]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I'm happy that I'm here sharing with my family because I was in prison. This is history.
- [29:03]
Julieta Martinelli
But Suave's relationships are tested.
- [29:07]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I don't know how to deal with relationship. I dealt with that relationship the same way I dealt with a cellmate. Me and you are not getting along. You got to move the fuck out to sell. Then you start getting phone calls. What time you get off from work? What are you doing? I don't know. Mentally, it's like, I'm not ready for this.
- [29:26]
Julieta Martinelli
And cracks start to form.
- [29:29]
Marie Nojosa
How is it that I became the mother figure in your life? Because that's not what I want to be.
- [29:33]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
I don't know what you're trying to get at with this.
- [29:35]
Marie Nojosa
People are like, oh, Suave season one. Oh, it's all about you being friends. It's like, guess what? It's not friends.
- [29:41]
Julieta Martinelli
And how on the outside side, life can come at you dangerously fast.
- [29:46]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
You want to with me, that's how it's going to go down. That's the dude y'all wanted. Y'all got him. What? At my mother's grave?
- [29:53]
Julieta Martinelli
I just don't want to see you back locked up SW but like that scares the at me. That's Coming up on Season two of Suave. Suave is a production of Futuro Studios to binge every episode of Suave Season 2 right now plus exclusive bonus episodes. Subscribe to Futuro plus the Senior Producer, Reporter and host is me, Julieta Martinelli. Our our associate producer is Liliana Ruiz. We're edited by Marlon Bishop. Our production managers are Jessica Ellis and Nancy Trujillo. Our post production producer is Dan Riveros. Scoring and sound design by Stephanie Lebeau. Mixing by Stephanie Lebeau, Julia Caruso and J.J. carubin. Our fact checker is Amy Tardif. Production help from Joaquin Kotler, Juan Diego Ramirez, Nicole Rothwell, Joey Del Valle, Evelyn Fajardo Alvarez, Glori Marquez and Tasha Sandoval. Our executive producers are Marie Nojosa, Luis Suave Gonzalez, Marlon Bishop and Maria Garcia. Futura Media was founded by Maria Nojosa. Special thanks to Maggie Freeling, Audrey Quinn, Antonia Seregido, Fernanda Echabarri, Neil Rossini, students at the I.M. moore Program at the Community College of Philadelphia, the Abolitionist Law Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. Season two of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Mellon makes grants to support the visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all more@mellon.org Season 2 of Suave was made possible in part by Public Welfare foundation catalyzing transformative approaches to justice that are community led, restorative and racially. Just in case you're interested, here's a little more of the Mr. Pulitzer song we played earlier. It's performed by Suave's friend Joey Deville.
- [32:24]
Luis Suave Gonzalez
Barely a child and making decisions 31 years I was locked in that prison Nobody thought I was walking out living it was a pull, a surprise I was given what are the odds that I'm winning the lottery? I come from poverty deep animosity, murders and robberies Trauma inside of me honestly I know they got where they got us Duro Epirito Puro at Tomelo Sul 24 hours was locked in that cell every summer felt like I was in hell I held the pain in my heart couldn't yell I still write up every time that I fell I learned to bleed.
- [33:01]
Marie Nojosa
From PRX.