In this story Helen learns some painful lessons about prejudice that she doesn't even stop to think about.

I in no way am trying to be politically incorrect or insensitive, it's just that I think that Helen doesn't always practice what she preaches.

It was another day at Larkhall, a notorious women's prison on the outskirts of London where Helen Stewart had been working as a Wing Governor for the past three years.

Alot had happened, from stabbings, suicides, assults of a sexual nature, but Helen managed to survive it all. Yet one of the most controversial happenings in the Prison was the assault of a female inmate from Africa named Femi who was sentenced to eight years for being a drug mule.

It resulted in a riot when Nikki Wade, a lifer and Helen's secret girlfriend started a peaceful protest that got out of hand that made Helen very angry because she felt that her credibility in handling the prisoners was damaged beyond repair.

Yet what Helen didn't know was that many of the Black Guards were very disappointed with Helen's behavior and the way she conducted the riot, so they decided to take matters into their own hands by calling a "meeting".

It was held in the Gym while the Inmates were at their jobs, from gardening, kitchen help or even factory related work.

As Helen arrived in the Gym, she saw the Guards from G Wing all waiting for her with stern serious looks on their faces.

As she sat down, Steven Willis aka Stevie began to chair the meeting.

"Helen, we are here to protest the unequal and racial treatment that we the Guards and the Inmates at Larkhall Prison's G Wing Division are experiencing."

"What are you talking about, are you saying that I'm a racist?" asked Helen dumbfounded.

"No, that's what we're trying not to say, but we feel that you are more concerned about the White Inmates & Guards more than the Blacks in here." replied Amanda Malone, a female guard.

"Could you elaborate please?" asked Helen.

"Well, we feel that you allow the White Inmates and Guard to get away with murder, but when a Black Inmate does something, you get nastier or you refuse to help them." retored Ronald Walker.

"That's not true, I've always practiced equal opportunity in here!" she retorted.

"Yeah, so how come no Blacks work upstairs in the Office with you or Stubberfield?" asked Amanda.

When Helen heard that, she was quite embarassed because there was some element of truth to that. During her early years, her secretary Jan was an excellent employee but she was there "before" Helen began as Wing Govenor.

"It's not that we don't want Blacks upstairs working with us, it's just that there haven't been any job openings in quite a long time?" explained Helen.

"Yeah, is that why Stubberfield hired Karen Betts and not a Black Person who was just as qualified?" asked Ronald.

After hearing that, she realized that deep in her heart, no Black person would ever take any nonsense from Stubberfield, they would probably read him chapter and verse what with his "Political Way" of doing things.

"Look, Karen & Stubberfield go back a long way, she knew him when she was working as a Guard at the Men's." explained Helen. "However, tell me what I've done to make you think that I'm prejudiced."

"Well, how long do we have?" retorted Stevie.

And so they named off all of their complaints.

That they allowed Lorna & Dominic to continue working at Larkhall although they did lose Zandra Plackett.

She did everything in her power to help Zandra hold on to her baby, but she didn't demote or discipline Hollamby for being indirectly responsible for Carol Byatt losing hers.

She didn't put in a "Character" Reference for Crystal Gordon during the Urine Tests and never even formally apologized for "doubting her." and while Di Barker was just as guilty for making the mistake, she just got a reprimand.

"We know that you didn't want to help Crystal because you were still angry about the letter she wrote to the papers about drugs in Larkhall." replied Ronald.

"Look everyone, I agree with what you said but when it comes to Crystal Gordon I never said that she wasn't entitled to her opinion." replied Helen. "It's just that it did more harm than good."

"You mean for you?" asked Stevie. "I know that Stubberfield read you chapter and verse for this and tell me you weren't the least bit angry."

"I was more frustrated than angry." Helen replied. "It's just that I was trying to change things for the better, and I felt my work was going up in smoke."

"Yeah, that's why Shell only got demoted to Basic and you never put Crystal on Enhanced even though she was just as deserving." replied Amanda.

Also, remember, when Crystal got busted for stealing Hollamby's Clock, she read the Riot Act on Crystal but when Denny & Shell took her and her husband hostage, they got off scott free, now what's wrong with this picture?"

As Helen heard that, she had to agree that there was "some" truth in it.

"Helen you have to understand that even though it's 2007, Blacks are still treated badly in this society. The AIDS epidemic in Africa alone has reached startling statstics, and if Blacks didn't fight for their rights, they wouldn't achieve anything, if Mandela, Dr. King, or even Malcom X were White, they wouldn't have gone through hell, and the other two would still be alive." explained Ronald.

When Helen heard that, she realized that alot of what they said was true, but she always tried her best to treat everyone with equality.

"I know that Hollamby isn't the most easiest guard to work with, but that's just her way of doing things." explained Helen.

"So what you're saying is that it's okay for her to say "Politically Incorrect" things at work." asked Stevie. "Like when God was handing over the "Singing Voices" to "Your People" you must have been somewhere else, that's just a stereotype that the only thing that Blacks are good for is to sing, dance, rap, and play sports."

"Yeah, let's also look at the fact that not one Black Person was invited to her and her husband's Anniversary Party now if we did a thing like that, we'd be looked down on but when she does it, it's her own "personal choice." replied Stevie.

"Look, you can't teach an old dog new tricks." she protested. "What do you want me to do?" she asked.

"Make her take a race-relations course." insisted Ronald. 'Also, we want you to make her write a formal letter of apology to Femi for what she did, assaulting her which resulted in a riot." asked Amanda.

"Also, you're damn lucky that nobody from London's Black Community came to question you about this, because if this happened in America, they would have spat on you and said you were lower than Don Imus, the DJ who called a group of female Black Basketball players "Nappy Headed Ho's"
replied Ronald.

"Helen, you have to remember something, all the things that you take for granted as a White Person, we never will and can, it's still very much a double standard, we don't like the rules, but we know how to play the game." replied Stevie.

"Example please?" she asked.

"You're always late, and it's perfectly okay, if we're late, we're accused of playing "Colored People's Time" and we're confirming what many of you think of us being lazy, and incompetent." explained Stevie.

"When a drunk like Jesse Devlin comes in, you give her all of that compassion, but you didn't do anything for Femi until "after", the riot." replied.

"I never thought of it that way, I'm so sorry." Helen explained softly.

"Yeah, and we also feel that you don't really take the time to help the Black Inmates, Helen you have no idea how tough it is to be a Black Woman in this society, you are born to live, we are born to survive, and you never will go through what we go through every day." explained Amanda.

"Such as?" asked Helen.

"Nobody gives you a hard time when you drive, while we deal with the stigma of DWB (Driving While Black), when you are in a store, you don't have to wait to be served, while we have to stand for at least 20 minutes before we get any attention, sometimes we can't find good Black Men because they're always in your face." she continued.

"Also, we feel that when White Girls like Paris & Lindsay get into trouble, they're going through a hard time, if those girls were black, they would have gotten at least five years in prison, throw away the key."

As Helen heard that, she remembered what Nikki told her what Crystal Gordon said to Monica Lindsay, that if she were black, she would have gotten life in prison, no appeal allowed, but in reality if she were black, she wouldn't even have that kind of power.

"Yeah, you should have seen the tap dancing I did when they saw my resume, the fact that I didn't have a "Criminal Record" and that I graduated from Uni with honors surprised some of the people." retorted Ronald.

"We also feel that you've never dealt with any of the problems that Buki Lester has, she has so many of them, she lies, she cuts herself, she takes drugs, and she wasn't even formally disciplined after the "Nail Incident." replied Ronald.

"Why didn't you confront her, or were you scared because you thought she was going to tell you off in front of her new "Homiettes". sneered Amanda.

"What's worse is that you "Invest" your compassion and time into people like Shazz Wiley, a triple murderer who still has this "I don't give a damn attitude, and let's remember your "closeness" with Nikki Wade.

When Helen heard that, chills went down her spine, there's no way that they could have known about her and Nikki could they?

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Helen nervously.

"Well, look at the facts, she and Shell get into a fight in the servery shortly after Rachel Hick's suicide but two months after, you put her on Enhanced and start encouraging her to get a Degree through Uni's OU Program, not once did you ever encourage Crystal or Buki to get their GED's.

"I'm so sorry guys, I really thought I was doing my job but there are still alot of issues that need to be dealt with, and I promise that I will do my best to improve things around here." she replied.

So she did, she read some more books and as the months passed by, she reminded the inmates about the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, she got black ladies from Colleges & Schools to come in to tell the inmates stories about people that they may not have heard about.

From Madame CJ Walker whose creation of the Straightening Comb made Black Women feel more beautiful and proud of themselves not to mention making their hair more manageable.

The ladies told them about Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, the lady who "originated" Hound Dog before Elvis and never made a dime off of her recordings.

She also talked to Church Leaders in the Black Communities including the Reverend who were able to raise money for new books by Black Authors that they were discovering for the very first time, some of which were as far as Canada including Mairuth Sarsfield who wrote No Crystal Stair.

The guards on the other hand, also assisted. They bought Subscriptions to Magazines like Essence, and even asked some ladies from the church to do lectures of Make-Up and Makeovers to look good upon their release.

As for Helen, she realized that no matter where you are, or where you live, Race would always be part of her life but knowing that she was "helping." it made her feel good and proud.