Hill Harper is on a quest to stop the over-incarceration of Black men with his latest book Letters to an Incarcerated Brother. In a recent discussion with the New York Observer, the actor-author talked about being inspired to pen his latest, and what he said will be his final nonfiction project, after receiving hundreds of letters from young people behind bars.
"It got to the point where I had to write this book. I had to do something, because I really felt like there was a voice missing in dealing with these issues," Harper said after receiving piles of letters, some of which are printed in the book.
The self-help book hopes to not only address mass incarceration, but also empower the individual to make better choices for himself.
"My book is about change from the bottom up, meaning the individual making a change and hopefully changing his life for the positive. We in this country lock up more people than Russia and China combined. And there's no reason. We're a better country than that, and we have to do better."
And Harper added that his book is not just for those who are in physical jail cells, but in metaphorical prisons as well.
"The one thing I want to make sure people know is that it's not just for individuals who are in a physical prison — it's for anybody who finds himself somewhat trapped."
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(Photos from left: Gotham, Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for EJAF)