Forgiveness & Mistakes

Published 12/17/2025

The blog post below was originally written by Mahdi on March 24th, 2022 on his old website Justice for Mahdi Ali. Nic recently gained access to Mahdi's old Jpay tablet and is in the process of transferring old articles to this space. The full text is below this line:

Forgiveness is a must and a very crucial thing to believe in as a human being, in my opinion. As a human being, we make so many mistakes throughout our lifetime. It's all part of living, and forgiveness is a part of our overall growth. It's hard to move on and develop a sense of peace within yourself if you don't learn how to forgive yourself and others. For years I was mad at the world and mad at everything and everybody due to my wrongful conviction and incarceration. I kept asking myself, "Why me?" wondering why I kept finding myself at a disadvantage in every situation. It took me years to really forgive all the people that played a role in my current situation:

• The people that took me from my family in Kenya and brought me to America at a very young age who abandoned me the second that we arrived in Minnesota.

• The people who abused me mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically during my stays in group homes, shelters, and while homeless in my early youth.

• The people who framed me during my trial and helped convict me of a crime that I did not commit. This cost me my freedom and made liberty seem like an unobtainable dream.

I could go on and on and on about people who have done me wrong in the past, but I have forgiven those people now and it serves no purpose to dwell on the pain they caused at this stage. Once I truly forgave those who hurt me it allowed my healing process to begin. I also had to find the ability to forgive myself for carrying all of this anger throughout the years. Letting that anger go helped me move forward with my growth tremendously. The reason I wrote this article in particular is to help remind everyone of the importance of forgiveness and making mistakes. Our world revolves around forgiveness and mistakes whether you care to admit it or not. Please continue to find it in your heart to forgive those who've made mistakes. This is part of life and growth as a human being.

Mahdi Hassan Ali OID#: 236437 MCF Rush City

Mahdi Responds to POTUS' Attacks on the Somali Community

Mahdi and Nic discussed recent comments made by Donald Trump RE: the Somali Community at large during a video visit on Tuesday, 12/3/2025. Mahdi found the president's comments disheartening and untrue. Nic agrees and discusses how the Somali Community is currently facing a similar racist backlash to other groups that have been targeted in the past when large numbers migrate to the United States from another country. The full discussion is available on YouTube.

Admittedly I (Nic) had not had a ton of interaction with the Somali community in Minnesota during my 40 years of living here until I started working with Mahdi. When Nick Nelson and I staffed a table/booth at the Cedar Riverside Cedarfest event earlier in 2025, I was not sure how two very white guys would be received by the Somali Community. We interacted with dozens of Somali men, women, and children of all ages and shared Mahdi's story and answered blunt, honest questions about why we of all people were standing in Cedar Riverside with a young Somali man's face on our T-shirts, Zines, Stickers, and signs. When people asked us these honest questions and came to understand that we were there because we are truly passionate about securing Mahdi's freedom from wrongful incarceration, the Somali community welcomed us and made us feel at home. I've since spent a lot more time getting to know Mahdi, members of his family, and other wonderful Somali people who add so much to the culture and economy in Minnesota. I've come to learn that the Somali people take care of each other and help anyone that they see that needs their help.

It is time for all Minnesotans to stand up against racist, xenophobic comments made by people at any level of power in our country. It is time for us to show up and support this community in the same way that they support their neighbors when they need help. I urge all Minnesotans to get to know the Somali community. It is only when you take the time and make the effort to meet people that don't look like you that you truly begin to understand that we are all so much more alike than we are different.

Restorative Justice

Imagine feeling empty every day. Imagine knowing you are being punished constantly and you are years, and years, and years away from ever going home. The confusing part is, the punishment is not helpful or appropriate to the ones that you harmed and victimized. And more importantly, you are not able to actually correct your mistakes and do right by those who you really harmed. Most of us in the prison system that's our story. The time that we are serving feels more for the state for breaking laws rather then feeling like we being held  accountable for the crimes in which were committed against victims of crimes. It seems like the mistakes that got us here and the people that were harmed are no longer topics of discussions. We are incarcerated in cities that are very far way from the cities and communities that we harmed. The companies, employees, and businesses that we are  helping contribute to their growth while working for next to nothing here in the prison  system are not giving back to those communities that we harmed. That's why a lot of people call the prison system modern slavery here in America. We all know and have grown accustom to the mass incarceration crisis in this country. Decades behind bars or life imprisonment is the situation too often for the inmates occupying in the prison systems today.

The united States has an excessive rate of imprisonment, not because of an excessive amount of crime, but because numerous individuals and agencies profit from the unnecessary incarceration rate at the expense of taxpayers.

Prison should not be misused by those trusted with the administration of the American criminal Justice system. The united States has an excessive rate of imprisonment, not because of an excessive amount of crime, but because numerous individuals and agencies profit from the unnecessary incarceration rate at the expense of taxpayers. Huge amounts of Money have been spent on unneeded prison construction in order to imprison ill drug users, innocent men, women and children. This state of affairs is mainly the result of the greed of businesses that profit from the prison industry as well as of the activities of prison guards union, corrupt police, and prosecutors whose election to office is more important to them than the incarceration of the innocent and of children. Not to mention how the criminal justice system don't promote victims of crime and their healing process. They are more interested in incarcerating people and penalizing them for breaking their own state laws. Are the state laws that were broken more important than the people that were harmed? Roughly 65 million people have criminal records, including tens of millions of Americans who have been arrested but never convicted of any offense, or convicted only of minor misdemeanors. The criminal justice system is inadequate. Their only answer is to put  people in prison and they don't contribute to the healing process of victims and victims of violent crimes.

Restorative Justice is a way to do justice that actively includes the people impacted by crime, victims, offenders, their families and communities.

My purpose of writing this article is to endorse and help highlight a program called Restorative Justice that helps and rebuilds the web of relationships by putting people back into the justice process. Restorative Justice promotes change and healing among individuals, relationships and society as a whole. Restorative Justice is a way to do justice that actively includes the people impacted by crime, victims, offenders, their families and communities. Its goal is to respect and restore each as individuals, repair broken relationships, and contribute to the common good. Restorative Justice is a need based understanding of justice. It asks very different questions than the desserts-based criminal-justice system.

Restorative Justice asks:

1. Who has been hurt?

2. What does he or she need?

3. Who should be involved in meeting those needs?

4.What is the best way to repair the harm and meet those needs?

The questions are first asked of victims. But they are also asked of the other justice participants -- offenders, their families, and communities. No one can answer on anyone's behalf. And these questions apply to both the causes and impacts of crime.

I'm going on, 16 years of incarceration and I tried many prison programs throughout my incarceration to help better myself as a human being. No program captured my attention and made me want to help contribute into its growth like Restorative Justice. There are many fellow inmates in Rush City today that are echoing the same sentiment when it comes to Restorative Justice. To my supporters and anyone else who comes across this article I hope you find the time to really look into Restorative Justice. Our current criminal justice system is constant neglect and distrust, failing both the victims and offenders. Restorative Justice practices teach us the most productive and proper way of handling criminal justice. Don't just read my words about it here. Go and research it yourself. I have no doubt that it will change the way you view the criminal justice system. Thank you for reading!

Mahdi H. Ali

OID#: 236437

7600 525th Ave

Rush City, MN 55069