INTRODUCTION
“Young and dumb” is what many individuals say about the African American youth amongst this country. Robbery, drug dealing, murder, and other senseless acts of violence are becoming the norm in our urban communities. Although everyone has something to say about these issues its rare to meet someone who is willing to put in the work and actually do something about it. My life has been better than a lot of my peers but at the same time I have dealt with each and every issue that effect our communities. “The Boys” is what we all went by. I never thought in a million years that any man or woman would be strong enough to tear us apart. No situation could come between us, and if it did we could work it out…we always did. But now it’s different. “I’m never going to jail!” is what we often said to one another, although we often said we weren’t going to end up like that, we seemed to forget that things are easier said than done.
My lil’ brother Mike, Vidal, Kevin, Roberto, my lil’ cousin Darrien, and myself would die for one other, true love at it’s best! Whether we were playing ball, chasing girls, doing schoolwork, or going to church, we were always together; Until now of course. Out of the six of us that formed this band of brothers, three have been incarcerated. Of those three, all of them are felons, one of them is my lil’ brother, and another is a two-time felon now facing 24 years for the murder of his own cousin.
Where we went wrong, I have no idea, but to sit back and let this seemingly endless cycle continue is not why I was placed on this earth. I grew up understanding that you believe half of what you see and none of what you hear and this is the main reason as to why I have decided to tell the story of my life. No one knows your struggle if you continue to hold every ounce of emotion in, and no one can grow or expect change if you aren’t using your story as wisdom for the next man. Everyone has a purpose and I think after dealing with the secret pain that lies beneath my immense heart and treasured smile, I have finally stumbled upon mine…
1
324 DAYS…
“28 years…it’s like he ain’t even hear nothing I said”. These were the first words I heard my best friend say after his sentencing and his hopeless, lifeless tone left me speechless; trying to shape my mouth in a way that maybe the right words would just pour out, but nothing happened. Instead I sat there, holding the phone, listening to every emotion spill from his soul as if he were trying to fill a 12ft swimming pool. My initial response was, “Stay strong Vidal, everything will be alright…” but I sit back and ask myself if this statement is believable. Did I say it because it sounds good because I definitely don’t’ believe everything will be alright. How can one fathom hearing that they will be locked in an environment similar to a zoo for more years than they have even been living on this earth? Honestly, I have no idea.
