As a chid, Khalil Osiris's most treasured gift was the Encyclopedia Britannica set he kept at the end of his bed and read cover to cover. Education was the highest priority in the home of this self-described "happy-go-lucky" country boy. So, it's not surprising that, at age 13, when the local chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense opened in his rural community, Khalil and his intellectually curious friends checked it out. Khalil reflects, “There are things in our lives that resonate so deeply with us that we can be dramatically impacted by it to such an extent that our view of the world changes.” The more he learned as a teenager, the angrier he became. Angry at the system, angry at his teachers for singling him out as special (token), angry at his parents for complying and angry at white people who were unwilling to acknowledge anything at all was even wrong. At 17, feeling entirely justified, Khalil robbed a pharmacy and was sent to prison. He left 20 years later. But this soft-spoken, erudite gentleman would not be defined by prior choices. While incarcerated, Khalil received his Bachelors and Masters from Boston University. Upon his release he founded the Reflecting Freedom Network, dedicated to helping soon-to-be released prisoners find work and employers find qualified employees. His reentry program, Psychology of Incarceration, has been used in over 70 prisons across America. Khalil moved to South Africa, where he was selected to host the popular TV show, Each One, Teach One, which won the 2016 South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) for Best Factual Educational Program. In 2020, he partnered with Nelson Mandelas's eldest daughter on the groundbreaking, ongoing documentary project, Truth & Reconciliation Conversations, which builds on Mandela’s vision of celebrating those taking action to better their communities via brutally honest conversations about racial justice (link above to share your own personal racism story). Khalil speaks publicly on a range of urgent social and racial justice issues, including Democracy and Restorative Justice, Hiring Returning Citizens and the Psychology of Incarceration.
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