{"id":6375,"date":"2022-03-07T20:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T20:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/?p=6375"},"modified":"2022-03-07T20:04:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T20:04:02","slug":"fighting-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/2022\/03\/fighting-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fighting Time <\/em>by Isaac Knapper and Dr. Amy Banks tells the story of two families who connected through a traumatic, horrific moment. Both spoke at Fieldston last Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaac Knapper is head trainer of the Crescent City Boxing Gym in his hometown New Orleans. Dr. Amy Banks, sister to Nancy Banks (history teacher at Fieldston), is a psychiatrist, speaker, author, and educator dedicated to the neurobiology of relationships. Banks was just sixteen years old when her father, Dr. Ronald Banks professor at the University of Maine, was murdered during an attempted robbery inches from the safety of his hotel in New Orleans, Lousiana. When the crime took place Isaac Knapper was with family at home in a nearby housing project. Days later he was arrested, tried as an adult at just sixteen years old, and wrongly convicted of Dr. Ronald Banks\u2019s murder. When white prosecutors informed the Bank\u2019s family that they had caught the man who murdered their father they believed justice had been done. Knapper was sentenced to life in prison without parole and sent to one of the most dangerous prisons in America: Louisiana State Penitentiary. Knapper was just two votes off from being sentenced to death row for a crime he did not commit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past summer Fieldston students were required to read the memoir Just Mercy <\/em>by Bryan Stevenson. The book tells the story of the EJI (Equal Justice Initiative) and one of its first clients: Walter McMillian a young black man who was sentenced to death row for the murder of a young white woman a crime that he did not commit. In November, Anthony Ray Hinton a black man who was sentenced to death row in the same facility as Walter McMillian, addressed the Fieldston community about his story and the 30 years he spent on death row for a crime he did not commit. To continue this conversation of wrongful conviction, police brutality, and mass incarceration students were encouraged to attend at least one of the discussions held this past Thursday to hear Dr. Amy Banks and Mr. Knapper\u2019s story. Classes whose curriculum fit the discussion attended D and E band sessions to hear the authors speak. Additional sessions were held during the upper form lunch periods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these discussions students heard first each author’s \u201cstory\u201d then the floor was opened to questions. One student asked \u201cHow did you two finally come together?\u201d In 1992 Knapper’s conviction was overturned when a police document was found that contained exculpatory evidence that was kept from Knapper\u2019s defense team at the time of the trial. For those who read Just Mercy <\/em>over the summer this was also the case in McMillian\u2019s story.  It wasn\u2019t until 2004 that the Bank\u2019s family found out that his conviction had been overturned. Dr. Amy Banks said \u201cWe were horrified that a young boy was wrongfully convicted for our tragedy.\u201d  In 2015, haunted by this fact she realized it was \u201ctime to unpack her own family trauma.\u201d She reached out to Lory White, Mr. Knapper\u2019s lawyer, and set up a time to meet him in New Orleans. Since then, especially during the writing process of their book, both Knapper and Banks have spent plenty of time with each other. Knapper described talking with Banks as \u201ctherapy,\u201d and that \u201cspeaking with y\u2019all today is like therapy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another question asked was \u201cWhat do you wish you knew about your race at 17?\u201d Dr. Banks discussed growing up that \u201cI wish I was taught more gory details, not just white history. You don\u2019t have to be a flagrant white supremacist to be racist. You just have to grow up in America.\u201d She talked about how everyone is born with a \u201cpackage of privilege\u201d depending on the color of their skin \u201cif you are born this color then this will be easier for you.\u201d Knapper discussed how race is like a 100 yard dash: \u201cWhite people are lined up 10 yards from the finish line and black people and everyone else are still at the starting line\u201d He continued saying that growing up everyone with power was white, so when a crime took place \u201cthey would go straight to the projects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Knapper, as head trainer at the Crescent City Boxing Gym, is dedicated to helping kids avoid the suffering he experienced in the Louisiana Department of Corrections. He mentors young boxers to help keep them off the streets and away from any violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Amy Banks has published other works including Wired to Connect<\/em>, Four Ways to Click<\/em>, and The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women<\/em>. She is also the creator of the C.A.R.E Program, a guide that helps clinicians understand their relationships and build their neural pathways for connection.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors both agree that \u201cwe need to step out and start talking about these things.\u201d The trauma they share is something that they will \u201cnever heal from.\u201d The American legal system has let them both down in life-changing ways and their story is just one of many. To further the discussion about wrongful convictions a great place to start is visiting the EJI\u2019s website. Along with this the Tate library has several of these works in the collection, including Fighting Time<\/em> and The Sun Does Shine <\/em>by Anthony Ray Hinton. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fighting Time by Isaac Knapper and Dr. Amy Banks tells the story of two families who connected through a traumatic, horrific moment. Both spoke at Fieldston last Thursday. Isaac Knapper is head trainer of the Crescent City Boxing Gym in his hometown New Orleans. Dr. Amy Banks, sister to Nancy Banks (history teacher at Fieldston), is a psychiatrist, speaker, author, and educator dedicated to the neurobiology of relationships. Banks was just sixteen years old when<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":6380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[347,318],"tags":[],"coauthors":[477],"class_list":["post-6375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-07-at-3.02.30-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6376,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375\/revisions\/6376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6375"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}