Daily routines, conversations, triumphs, failures—even grief—become visible to others. Yet the paradox remains: while individual lives are exposed, the institutions themselves often remain hidden from public view.
Perhaps transparency should begin with systems before it begins with people.
Award-winning poet, playwright, and essayist. Author of four books of poetry, "Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present"; "Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats"; "The Black Feminine Mystique," "The Black Blood of Poetry," and a novel, "Streets of Rage," and a collection of short stories, "Conundrums: Stories of Law & Justice," written under his pen name Easy Waters. All four books are available on Amazon.com. Waters has over 25 years of experience in the criminal legal system. He is a change agent for a just society and a catalyst for change.
So very true! This quote and your commentary made me think of the brutal deaths of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi in New York State prisons. In the Brooks case, the thugish officers took him to the infirmary because they knew there were no careras there to record their savagery. But unbeknownst to them, a few officers had their body cameras on, and the lynching of Brooks was recorded! It seems the officers in the Nantwi death learned from this, and made sure their body carema were either turned off or positioned in a way that did not capture the beating. But thank God, body camera footage did capture the officers celebrating the vicious beating, which did help to secure convictions. And while the Prison Reform Omnibus Bill Gov. Hochul signed in December 2025 offers some improvements, it does not go far enough in ensuring the type of transparency your post calls for. You are absolutely right, “Who is truly being watched?”
William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters 
So very true! This quote and your commentary made me think of the brutal deaths of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi in New York State prisons. In the Brooks case, the thugish officers took him to the infirmary because they knew there were no careras there to record their savagery. But unbeknownst to them, a few officers had their body cameras on, and the lynching of Brooks was recorded! It seems the officers in the Nantwi death learned from this, and made sure their body carema were either turned off or positioned in a way that did not capture the beating. But thank God, body camera footage did capture the officers celebrating the vicious beating, which did help to secure convictions. And while the Prison Reform Omnibus Bill Gov. Hochul signed in December 2025 offers some improvements, it does not go far enough in ensuring the type of transparency your post calls for. You are absolutely right, “Who is truly being watched?”
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