Marking Father鈥檚 Day From Behind Bars

Jun 13, 2024

This Sunday, June 16, marks Father鈥檚 Day, a day when many families celebrate the father figures in their lives鈥攂iological, adopted, surrogate, or chosen鈥攚ith brunches, lunches, or barbecues, and make toasts in their honor.聽

But what about the thousands of fathers who are locked up in prisons around the country? Dortell Williams is one such father, currently serving a sentence of life without parole at Mule Creek State Prison in California. Williams has been separated from his daughter since she was only 2 years old. In a conversation with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali, Williams explored what it means to be an incarcerated father.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.