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.
Bro, im sittin here reading this article shaking my head vibing to it like its apart of my own life. We share the same struggles, we've both seen and overcame a lot of things people wont witness in their whole lifetime. Just be blessed that you are the person God has chosen to make a difference in your community. Remember, no one cares about where you came from, they care about what you are going to do to come out of the situation you were raised in. We have to step up as men and be role models to the people of our environment to show them that you can make it, no matter where you come from nothing is impossible. I truly am saddened by the sentence of your best friend, I cant imagine how you, him, or his family feels, dealing with the fact 28 years is longer than we ever seen on this earth. Just dont let this stop you from doing what you have to do to become that successful black male that you dream of being. I love u bro,
ReplyDeleteL-Woods
Bro real shit as I read this I teared up, I lost my oldest brother to a bullet after church, and My younger brother has been in prison since we were 17 and 16, I can't say I know exactly how you feel cuz that's impossible but I understand where you coming from keep ya head up is a figure of speech but when I say keep ya heart up I mean that never lose sike of the bigger picture you live your life strong and be a rock for the ones who need you most I mean that bro I love ya bro we not blood and even tho I've only met you through alpha I believe god put us all together for a reason cuz before yaw I ha nobody to have my back outside of family, and I'm letting you know that I got yours bro ....from ya 12
ReplyDelete@They lock us in cages like animals in an attempt to "humanize" our animalistic instinct to survive. Survive an environment we were forced in after we finished building a country by the blood, sweat, and tears from the scars on our back, hands, knees, and brow. a cage with no physical metal bars - just mental titanium ones. A cage with no apparent escape- at least to the naked eye but when you're a "naked" man, that's all you have. And based on the hierarchy of need- food comes before clothes so they keep our stomachs grumbling. But hey don't worry, a few of us make it out..enough so they can point and say the opportunity is there and those who stay choose to. And what a beautiful lie that is.
ReplyDeleteLook---> a felon just became a "free man" but by observation he's only 3/5's because he can't vote so that'll keep the polls ignorant.
- Channing
Preciate the words yall. Yall know i love each of yall past Alpha, yall niggas my family too. One thing I aint the best at is expressing my emotions, so i figured tellin my story would relieve alot of stress off my life as well as inspire the next man. I have NO clue as to how I am going to structure this "book" , but any advice is good advice. Bout to put my all in this one yall...lets get it!
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