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John,

I'm Adrastos Da Silva, and I am the Lead Organizer for Cori's campaign. I hope you will read #MyCoriStory.

For me, growing up was rough. I was in a home where my mother, siblings and I experienced domestic violence daily. There were times of solace when I visited my abuelita, but life was tough. The only time I escaped my reality was the few times a year I visited my father, who was in prison. His prison, ironically, allowed me to feel free from mine, however briefly.

I was 7 years old when I first started visiting my father in prison. I was excited to be able to hug my dad, hold his hand, play card games and talk about President Obama, whom I really admired, because I thought he had hair like mine, and he was brown like me. I took comfort in those hours I got to spend with my dad.

With each passing year, the system chipped away at my father’s dignity and made it more difficult for me to enjoy time with him. First, they shackled him, so I could no longer walk with him or hug him. Then they put him behind a foggy plastic window with a phone that made him sound a million miles away. Eventually, they forced us to have our visits over an old black and white monitor. Often, we waited hours to see him. One of the last times I went to visit, we waited for two hours but were only able to speak to him for twenty minutes.

For a long time, I thought I deserved this, or that my entire family deserved all of this.

It wasn't until I was older that I realized this system, a corrupt criminal justice system, a for-profit prison system, a systemically racist system, did not value my family or my father. I was robbed of time with the comforting presence of my dad. That experience led me to want to change the system.

Stories like mine only scrape the surface of the injustice our system perpetuates. We need representatives who won’t look away from the suffering and the heartbreak of American families caught up in our criminal justice system.

That is why I’ve supported Cori in every race she has run in. She has fought for every issue encompassing criminal justice reform, and her work shows it.

I know criminal justice reform touches on so many issues such as: transportation, education, healthcare, and so much more.

When families grieved over police brutality in Ferguson, Cori was there. When families were separated at the border, she was there. And she will be there for our communities when she walks down the halls of Congress.

Cori was the fighter I needed when I had to visit my dad behind glass and over an aging computer screen. John, I’ve dedicated my adult life to seeking justice for all, and I know Cori Bush is fighting along with me. We need Cori in Congress.

Let’s get Cori elected. Let’s change the system for the better.