The following program
discusses sensitive issues.
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Parents are cautioned that
some material may be too candid
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for younger children.
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Welcome to the New Journey,
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where we meet real life people
with real life testimonies
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and real life working ministries
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for Jesus Christ.
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I'm your host Aaron Chancy.
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Come join us on a New Journey.
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Welcome to the New Journey.
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We have an exciting
program and exciting testimony
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of a young man, Tavonne Dillon.
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Tavonne, we want to thank
you for being on the program.
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Thank you for
having me. All right.
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Just to get the question started
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because it's
significant, I want to ask you,
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how old are you
and where are you from?
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I'm 20 years old, and
I'm from Detroit, Michigan.
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All right. Twenty years
old and from Detroit, Michigan.
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Yes, sir.
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Now the reason is significant
is because you're 20 years old.
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Many people at 20 years old
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are not thinking
about changing their lives,
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not thinking about
doing the right thing,
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out there running around,
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but you at 20 years
old has changed your life
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and have done
some amazing things.
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We're going to get to
that through this interview.
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But first, I want to start with
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growing up in Detroit, Michigan,
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what was the environment
like growing up for you?
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Man, the environment was crazy.
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It was both, I would
say it was challenging.
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It's very strong,
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it builds your character
just for the simple fact
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that you could live in
one of the bad neighborhoods
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and you can live
on like the corner.
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And you could walk
down any side street like,
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any of the four
surrounding intersections,
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and you can run
into a drug dealer,
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a gang banger,
prostitute, or all three in one.
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Okay, okay.
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So I would say
to rise above that
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is character building.
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It strengthens you
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in different
environment and everything.
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You're really not scared,
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you're not
afraid of anything else
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just because of
what you've been through.
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Yeah, a lot of the
things that you see,
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a lot of things that
you have gone through.
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Let me ask you this.
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Growing up in Detroit,
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tell us a little bit about
your early, your young years
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with your
mother and your father,
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talk about that?
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Well, I was a
hardheaded when I was young
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like, I'm the
oldest of six children so.
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My mother, she's a single mother
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so she raised us all
six by herself, of course.
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And something she
couldn't teach me,
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it's the father's job
to tell a young man, a son,
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tell his son how to be a man,
how to raise them to be a man
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so it was just some things
my mother couldn't tell me.
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And ultimately I started
migrating to the streets more
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just because of the fact that
the curriculums in the schools
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or just the people around
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I couldn't have
as much as I wanted.
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I didn't need
for basic necessities
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but I wanted
more than what I had.
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Now you said you grew
up in a single parent home
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with your mother, six siblings,
a total of six of you all.
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Was your father
anywhere in the picture?
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Did you know your
father growing up?
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How is your
relationship with your father
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at this moment?
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My relationship with my
father now is getting better.
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See, he's doing seven years
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in a federal
penitentiary right now
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and they have a system
set up called CorrLinks,
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and you can basically
email your loved ones back home
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through email, of course.
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And we're
talking about things now,
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how his childhood was before
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but prior to
that, I didn't meet him
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until I was about ten years old.
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Wow. Okay.
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And he's still been in
and out of my life since then
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like, I only see to
do like twice a year.
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But with my mother actually,
she's my queen, you know.
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I treat her as my queen.
We've been through so much.
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And like I said, I'm
the oldest of six children
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so, you know, how that goes.
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What kind of impact do you think
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that it had on
you as an individual?
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As a young black man,
inner city Detroit, Michigan
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growing up without
that strong father figure
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in your life?
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Oh, man. It's crazy.
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You don't have anybody to
show you the ropes like...
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Okay.
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And I'm the oldest
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so I don't have
any big brothers,
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I don't have any
older sisters like...
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So I migrated towards
anything outside of my home
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because like I said,
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my mother couldn't
teach me certain things.
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So I met my best
friend like, in high school
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and he had older
cousins and stuff.
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I have one older cousin,
he's the only guy cousin I have
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besides my
other younger cousins,
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but it's not a lot
of males in my family
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so it's not like a
lot of father figure.
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So when I migrated
towards the street,
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so it was just like...
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It was...
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What's the word I'm thinking of?
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It was more a
family. Okay, okay.
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And that's understandable
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because a lot of
times that's what happens
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where individuals,
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they may not have
the father figure,
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the motherly figure,
whatever, in the household
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and gravitate more so
to friends in the streets.
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Exactly.
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Before we get heavy into
what you got involved in,
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let's talk about some
of the positive influences.
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Now we're going to
do it in a two part way.
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I want to know some of your
positive influences growing up,
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as well as some of your
negative influences growing up?
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Well, some of the
positive influences
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growing up, like I said,
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it's a lot of
females in my family
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so I have my auntie,
my mom, and my grandma
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like, if I wanted to escape home
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like anytime I got in trouble
with my mom or something,
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I'll call my grandma like,
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"Yo, mom is stricken
like, can I come over there?"
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She bought me anything I
want because she's the grandma.
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I come over there.
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When I'm hungry, she feeds me
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or if I'm needing for
anything, she'll nurture me.
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But my auntie was just like,
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she didn't have a
son as old as I was,
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she only had two children,
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so it's just like I'm her baby.
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Yeah, yeah, definitely.
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And with my mother, of course,
like I said, she's my queen,
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I'm her oldest so I have
a special place in her heart
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but all the women in my family
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has put me up on a high pedestal
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just because of the position.
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And I mean, in our family like,
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so I could say all the
women in my family to be queens.
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They have been my
positive influence.
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And now for the
flip side of that,
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what are some of
the negative influences
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that were in
your life growing up?
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I'm sure there was lot of those.
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Well, see, I was born in
'95 so we have the internet era,
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we have the information era
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so I would say the
internet is a bad influence
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just for the simple
fact that it creates AD&D
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and it creates ADD.
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You know what I mean,
like for example, Facebook,
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Snapchat, Instagram,
all the social medias,
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you can look at
20 different stories
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in two minutes.
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And by that time,
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your brain is not
processing everything at once,
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it's skipping this
information, "Oh, I like this."
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This skips over
to the next thing,
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"Well, I like this."
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Then your brain is just like
not concentrating on one thing.
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So internet is one
and I would say music.
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Okay.
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And we're going to get
more into music in a second,
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but before we get there,
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growing up,
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what was like the
religious atmosphere
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in your house
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or did you all
go to church weekly?
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What faith were you a part of,
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if any, if a
part of faith at all?
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What was the whole
Christian background
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like growing up?
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People in my
family are Christian,
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they study Christianity
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and they go to
church and everything
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but for like the past ten years,
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not many people in my family...
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Because I have a
small immediate family,
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like I have three uncles.
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And everybody is pretty
much from the Detroit area.
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From the Detroit area. Okay.
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But like I said,
we have a small family
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so not everybody went to church.
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And then it's like everybody
is kind of like split up now
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throughout the whole city.
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It's just been family
issues and everything,
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so nobody really
talks to anybody,
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at least not as
much as we should,
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as much as a family should,
be entitled to be in a family.
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Yeah, yeah. Definitely.
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Church, I would say
growing up, it was in and out,
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but my grandma was a Baptist
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and my mom was kind of
migrating towards that too
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and her siblings were too,
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but we weren't in the
church like we should have been.
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Okay, so it wasn't
like a weekly thing.
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I mean, they had
three times a week
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or anything like
that. Not at all.
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Eventually, you got involved
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with the street
gang, The Bloods.
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Talk about how you got
involved with The Bloods?
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Talk about that whole instance?
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That's a story right there, man.
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So like I said,
when we were growing up,
00:08:35.24\00:08:38.25
me and my mom bumped
heads a lot actually.
00:08:38.28\00:08:40.72
And this one particular time
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with the father for
the last two children,
00:08:43.39\00:08:46.25
me and her were like
getting into arguments
00:08:46.29\00:08:48.96
all the time over
him because I was young,
00:08:48.99\00:08:51.19
I was feeling like
she chose him over me
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but, of course, that
wasn't what was happening
00:08:53.46\00:08:55.56
but I felt like she
was taken him over me.
00:08:55.60\00:08:58.17
So me and him got
into a fight one day
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and mad people from
my family was there.
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And I was like, "This
dude is like big, cocky dude."
00:09:03.41\00:09:06.84
And he hit me and I was
like, "Yo! What's up with you?"
00:09:06.88\00:09:09.54
So we started
fighting and everything.
00:09:09.58\00:09:10.91
And that was days
00:09:10.95\00:09:12.28
and then I started going off
on a rant over everybody like,
00:09:12.31\00:09:14.75
"Yo, you all ain't going jump in
00:09:14.78\00:09:16.72
and just do like
three times my size.
00:09:16.75\00:09:19.19
So I ended up leaving
00:09:19.22\00:09:21.19
and I stayed with my best friend
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and everything.
00:09:22.59\00:09:23.93
Now his cousins,
they're all Bloods,
00:09:23.96\00:09:27.60
like mad people in
his family are Bloods,
00:09:27.63\00:09:29.80
so when I
started staying with him,
00:09:29.83\00:09:34.30
they were like selling drugs,
00:09:34.34\00:09:36.40
selling weed and all of
that so I was just like,
00:09:36.44\00:09:39.47
"Yo, I need
money in my pocket too.
00:09:39.51\00:09:41.21
I'm not really going to
school like that anymore.
00:09:41.24\00:09:43.11
And I'm kicked
out of my mom's house
00:09:43.14\00:09:45.38
so what am I going to do?"
00:09:45.41\00:09:47.55
It's like, "Yo, we can
get this money together."
00:09:47.58\00:09:49.75
Me and my best friend
have did everything together,
00:09:49.78\00:09:51.35
like anything you can think of,
00:09:51.39\00:09:52.79
we've been together like, I
call him my brother actually,
00:09:52.82\00:09:55.36
not even a best
friend, he's more family.
00:09:55.39\00:09:57.66
So his cousin was
actually my big homey,
00:09:57.69\00:10:00.83
he's The Blood too.
00:10:00.86\00:10:04.00
So he took me under
his wing or whatever like,
00:10:04.03\00:10:05.70
"Yo, you could start
selling nickels and dimes for me
00:10:05.73\00:10:07.50
and everything."
00:10:07.54\00:10:08.87
Now let me stop you right there.
00:10:08.90\00:10:10.64
I know what
nickels and dimes are
00:10:10.67\00:10:12.11
but there are
some of the viewers
00:10:12.14\00:10:14.44
that may not know what
nickels or nicks and dimes are,
00:10:14.48\00:10:18.65
so if you could give a
little insight onto that,
00:10:18.68\00:10:21.12
what nicks and dimes are?
00:10:21.15\00:10:22.48
Okay.
00:10:22.52\00:10:23.85
Nickels and dimes
are basically just like,
00:10:23.89\00:10:25.69
a dime, of course, is ten
00:10:25.72\00:10:29.66
and nickel is
five dollars worth,
00:10:29.69\00:10:31.93
but it adds up in
quantity as much as you sell.
00:10:31.96\00:10:35.73
I wasn't a big time
drug dealer but I have money.
00:10:35.76\00:10:39.67
We have money in our
pockets all the time.
00:10:39.70\00:10:41.70
And we had a crew
too, and it was all Bloods.
00:10:41.74\00:10:43.97
I wouldn't
consider myself a Blood
00:10:44.01\00:10:45.57
because it was just like,
00:10:45.61\00:10:47.28
"Well, what's up,
five! What's up, five."
00:10:47.31\00:10:48.64
Always trying to do
the handshake with me
00:10:48.68\00:10:50.01
and everything.
00:10:50.05\00:10:51.38
I'm like, "No, get that
away from me," and all that
00:10:51.41\00:10:53.68
but I was
associated with them so.
00:10:53.72\00:10:56.18
Now in Detroit, I've
never been to Detroit myself
00:10:56.22\00:10:59.99
but are there a lot of
gangs in the Detroit area?
00:11:00.02\00:11:03.79
Oh, yeah.
00:11:03.83\00:11:05.16
It had gangs in
Detroit, thousands of them.
00:11:05.19\00:11:06.63
On this one street particularly,
00:11:06.66\00:11:08.13
it's called Seven Mile.
00:11:08.16\00:11:09.50
And it's a
neighborhood inside Seven Mile
00:11:09.53\00:11:12.43
called the Red Zone.
00:11:12.47\00:11:13.80
It stretches to
another neighborhood
00:11:13.84\00:11:16.94
called Six Mile
00:11:16.97\00:11:18.41
and that's part
of the Red Zone too.
00:11:18.44\00:11:20.11
But in that little area,
00:11:20.14\00:11:21.74
it's like 20 to 25
different Blood gangs.
00:11:21.78\00:11:25.55
And they all feud
with each other too.
00:11:25.58\00:11:27.68
Then stretching to the
west side, to the east,
00:11:27.72\00:11:29.65
it's like so many gangs. Okay.
00:11:29.68\00:11:32.55
Now growing up in Detroit,
00:11:32.59\00:11:33.92
I'm sure you've seen
a whole lot of things.
00:11:33.96\00:11:36.52
Talk about some of the things
00:11:36.56\00:11:37.89
that you've seen in
your life growing up,
00:11:37.93\00:11:39.46
some of the
instances you've been in?
00:11:39.49\00:11:41.30
Okay, when I was younger,
00:11:41.33\00:11:45.53
by this time, it was
only four of us not six.
00:11:45.57\00:11:47.70
So we stayed in this one
neighborhood called Zender,
00:11:47.74\00:11:50.81
it was off of Mack Ave.
00:11:50.84\00:11:52.67
And that neighborhood,
00:11:52.71\00:11:54.04
it was just like a
whole bunch of prostitutes,
00:11:54.08\00:11:56.01
and whole bunch of crackheads,
00:11:56.04\00:11:57.38
it's like you
could walk up 20 feet
00:11:57.41\00:11:59.38
and a crackhead would
be sitting on a corner
00:11:59.41\00:12:00.92
and knows this little
pot infested with them.
00:12:00.95\00:12:02.72
They'll be just
passed out over table,
00:12:02.75\00:12:05.15
sleeping in
chairs and everything
00:12:05.19\00:12:06.69
and just, it was crazy.
00:12:06.72\00:12:08.72
And that neighborhood now,
00:12:08.76\00:12:10.39
since it was like
three schools in that area
00:12:10.43\00:12:13.13
when I was younger,
00:12:13.16\00:12:14.50
all three of the
schools are closed now.
00:12:14.53\00:12:15.90
So it's just like a
whole bunch of crackheads there
00:12:15.93\00:12:18.80
and prostitutes
just living everywhere.
00:12:18.83\00:12:21.20
Now seeing those
things as a young man,
00:12:21.24\00:12:25.27
growing up in
inner city Detroit,
00:12:25.31\00:12:27.38
what does that do
to a person's brain
00:12:27.41\00:12:29.44
as you walk out of your house
00:12:29.48\00:12:30.91
and you see a
bunch of crackheads,
00:12:30.95\00:12:32.51
you see a bunch of
people on the streets.
00:12:32.55\00:12:34.52
What does that do
to your mentality?
00:12:34.55\00:12:37.59
Well, like I'm saying,
if you're a little kid,
00:12:37.62\00:12:39.85
you will try to
go outside and play,
00:12:39.89\00:12:41.56
and end up
stepping over some needles
00:12:41.59\00:12:43.59
or you end up
stepping over like,
00:12:43.63\00:12:45.33
condom wrappers in
the street and everything,
00:12:45.36\00:12:47.60
you start thinking like,
"Yo, what is all this like,
00:12:47.63\00:12:50.73
how can I rise above
everything in my environment
00:12:50.77\00:12:53.60
and look for
something different,
00:12:53.64\00:12:55.10
something bigger outside
00:12:55.14\00:12:56.47
when all I see is drugs."
00:12:56.50\00:12:58.17
And all I see is drug dealers,
gang bangers, prostitutes.
00:12:58.21\00:13:01.54
This is just how life is.
00:13:01.58\00:13:04.05
And majority of
people inside Detroit
00:13:04.08\00:13:06.05
really don't have
their fathers in their lives.
00:13:06.08\00:13:07.52
And if you are, you're
blessed like, more power to you,
00:13:07.55\00:13:10.19
more power to your family.
00:13:10.22\00:13:11.55
But for those who don't have
the father in the household,
00:13:11.59\00:13:14.86
they're there to
fend for themselves,
00:13:14.89\00:13:16.69
and they're there to
learn things on their own,
00:13:16.73\00:13:18.83
so the street is teaching them.
00:13:18.86\00:13:20.30
And the streets
couldn't sell crack to your mom,
00:13:20.33\00:13:23.13
can't bother your mother.
00:13:23.16\00:13:24.50
Yeah, not going to bother them.
00:13:24.53\00:13:25.87
Send you to jail
for 20 to 60 years.
00:13:25.90\00:13:28.37
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
00:13:28.40\00:13:30.91
How much do you think
00:13:30.94\00:13:32.27
you hit on this a
second ago, pertaining to media
00:13:32.31\00:13:35.01
with the internet, music,
00:13:35.04\00:13:37.05
how much of an
impact do you think
00:13:37.08\00:13:38.95
secular hip-hop particularly
00:13:38.98\00:13:41.08
has an influence upon
the generation of today?
00:13:41.12\00:13:45.32
Well, I would say
secular hip-hop has
00:13:45.35\00:13:47.76
one of the biggest
influences on youth now.
00:13:47.79\00:13:53.46
Adolescence, in
your adolescence age,
00:13:53.50\00:13:55.20
all you want to do is party
00:13:55.23\00:13:56.56
like you don't really want to...
00:13:56.60\00:13:58.20
Don't care about
anything else, we're having fun.
00:13:58.23\00:13:59.57
You really wouldn't care
about anything but having fun,
00:13:59.60\00:14:01.27
like I said.
00:14:01.30\00:14:03.30
So what the secular
hip hop is just like,
00:14:03.34\00:14:05.87
people like
Future, Amigos, all of them
00:14:05.91\00:14:07.78
just talking about party,
00:14:07.81\00:14:09.18
you know, want
to dab all the time.
00:14:09.21\00:14:11.45
We want to drink,
and we want to smoke,
00:14:11.48\00:14:13.01
and we want to get this girl,
00:14:13.05\00:14:14.72
we want to get
that girl and all that,
00:14:14.75\00:14:16.28
but that's all that music
is talking about in our days
00:14:16.32\00:14:18.99
is partying, drinking, smoking,
00:14:19.02\00:14:21.06
now, let's get this money,
let's trap out everything,
00:14:21.09\00:14:23.22
and the thing is
those big name rappers
00:14:23.26\00:14:26.56
don't even be
doing that anymore.
00:14:26.59\00:14:28.30
If they had to do
that, why are they rapping,
00:14:28.33\00:14:30.17
they make more money rapping
00:14:30.20\00:14:31.53
than they would do
selling drugs and everything.
00:14:31.57\00:14:34.87
But I really admired
Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole
00:14:34.90\00:14:37.31
because they're
conscious rappers.
00:14:37.34\00:14:39.57
You don't never see
them in their videos nowadays
00:14:39.61\00:14:41.74
wearing big old
chains, and gold,
00:14:41.78\00:14:43.75
or flashing out
watches and stuff like that.
00:14:43.78\00:14:46.21
They rap about
how the media is now
00:14:46.25\00:14:48.85
and they're trying to
send the actual message, so.
00:14:48.88\00:14:53.49
Well, the thing about
secular hip-hop and rap is
00:14:53.52\00:14:56.86
most of them just talk about
00:14:56.89\00:14:58.49
like, getting a
whole bunch of girls,
00:14:58.53\00:15:00.66
selling drugs, using drugs,
and partying all the time.
00:15:00.70\00:15:04.10
And all that just gets tiring.
00:15:04.13\00:15:06.17
It just gets
tired and after a while,
00:15:06.20\00:15:07.80
you would just want to
listen to something different
00:15:07.84\00:15:09.70
but it plays a big part
on what people listen to
00:15:09.74\00:15:13.11
because it changes their mood.
00:15:13.14\00:15:14.88
Whatever type of things
that you put inside your mind,
00:15:14.91\00:15:18.25
it becomes repetitive
00:15:18.28\00:15:19.61
especially if you listen to
the same music over and over,
00:15:19.65\00:15:22.15
you start to
believe what you're hearing.
00:15:22.18\00:15:23.69
Yeah, definitely.
00:15:23.72\00:15:25.05
You know, that actually
testifies to a biblical fact
00:15:25.09\00:15:27.89
where the Bible says, "By
beholding we become changed."
00:15:27.92\00:15:30.59
And interesting
thing about that is
00:15:30.63\00:15:33.93
things that we watch,
things that we listen to,
00:15:33.96\00:15:36.93
you're going to
eventually become like that,
00:15:36.97\00:15:38.83
even friends that
you hang around with,
00:15:38.87\00:15:41.17
either they're
going to become like you
00:15:41.20\00:15:42.64
or you're going
to become like them.
00:15:42.67\00:15:44.91
And so I think it's very
important this day and age
00:15:44.94\00:15:48.28
to be mindful what we listen to,
00:15:48.31\00:15:50.81
what we watch,
00:15:50.85\00:15:52.31
because all of these things
are shaping us into somebody.
00:15:52.35\00:15:55.58
Absolutely.
00:15:55.62\00:15:56.95
The messages, and you know,
00:15:56.99\00:15:58.32
a lot of times
this music and TV has,
00:15:58.35\00:16:00.99
which calls subliminal messages,
00:16:01.02\00:16:02.82
and these are things
that only your subconscious
00:16:02.86\00:16:04.83
is picking up.
00:16:04.86\00:16:06.19
And, you know,
with these things,
00:16:06.23\00:16:07.56
there are messages
being pumped into young people
00:16:07.60\00:16:10.33
and older folks as well.
00:16:10.37\00:16:11.70
Especially in
cartoons. Oh, yeah.
00:16:11.73\00:16:13.07
Definitely,
definitely in cartoons.
00:16:13.10\00:16:14.44
And so I think
media has a very big,
00:16:14.47\00:16:17.01
very big impact on shaping
our young people of today.
00:16:17.04\00:16:21.81
Now, let's move
on to the next thing.
00:16:21.84\00:16:24.15
You got involved with drugs,
using drugs, selling drugs,
00:16:24.18\00:16:27.52
what were those drugs
that you got involved with
00:16:27.55\00:16:30.05
and how old were you
00:16:30.09\00:16:31.42
when you first got
involved with drugs?
00:16:31.45\00:16:33.32
Well, the first thing I
experimented with was alcohol
00:16:33.36\00:16:36.79
and I was about
like 15 years old.
00:16:36.83\00:16:39.33
I mean, some of my boys,
00:16:39.36\00:16:40.70
we were just
chilling with whatever,
00:16:40.73\00:16:42.40
calling some
females and whatever.
00:16:42.43\00:16:44.93
We actually didn't get a chance
to chill with them or whatever.
00:16:44.97\00:16:48.04
So we're just
like, "Yo, it's boring.
00:16:48.07\00:16:49.97
Now, let's do something."
00:16:50.01\00:16:51.41
So we ended up drinking.
00:16:51.44\00:16:53.17
And the first time
I've ever been drunk
00:16:53.21\00:16:54.64
but after that,
later along the lines,
00:16:54.68\00:16:57.95
I started like smoking
weed like two years later.
00:16:57.98\00:17:00.85
And I would smoke heavy
like four, five blunts a day
00:17:00.88\00:17:05.75
like, you got
crazy with 16 years old,
00:17:05.79\00:17:08.59
16 or 17 one of those.
00:17:08.62\00:17:11.53
Yeah, like four,
five blunts a day, so
00:17:11.56\00:17:15.43
after so long, that
high isn't the same,
00:17:15.46\00:17:17.77
so you seek other
substances and stuff,
00:17:17.80\00:17:19.73
so I experimented
with prescription drugs too
00:17:19.77\00:17:23.37
like Lean.
00:17:23.41\00:17:26.01
Okay, okay.
00:17:26.04\00:17:27.38
That was real popular,
Lean, and coating pills,
00:17:27.41\00:17:32.01
Xanax is the street
drug, it's called bars
00:17:32.05\00:17:34.68
but, yeah, stuff like that.
00:17:34.72\00:17:36.89
Now all these things
that you have got involved in,
00:17:36.92\00:17:38.85
you were
hanging with The Bloods,
00:17:38.89\00:17:41.06
you were selling
drugs, you were using drugs.
00:17:41.09\00:17:43.83
How did you see these
things affecting your mother?
00:17:43.86\00:17:47.20
Or even since
you're the oldest of six,
00:17:47.23\00:17:49.80
how did you see this
affecting your younger siblings
00:17:49.83\00:17:52.47
around you?
00:17:52.50\00:17:53.84
Well, when I was
doing all this stuff,
00:17:53.87\00:17:56.71
I would never bring it
00:17:56.74\00:17:58.07
around my brothers and
sisters and everything.
00:17:58.11\00:17:59.44
Like I said, I was
kicked out of my house
00:17:59.47\00:18:00.98
and I stayed away from my house
00:18:01.01\00:18:03.14
for about like
three, four years.
00:18:03.18\00:18:05.38
I didn't go back to living with
my mom until like a year ago.
00:18:05.41\00:18:11.52
With the drug thing,
00:18:11.55\00:18:12.89
with selling
drugs and everything,
00:18:12.92\00:18:14.26
only time I would come
back to my mother's house
00:18:14.29\00:18:16.76
is when I wanted
to give her some money
00:18:16.79\00:18:18.69
or if I wanted to see
00:18:18.73\00:18:20.06
my brothers and
sisters and everything,
00:18:20.10\00:18:21.43
spend some time with them,
00:18:21.46\00:18:22.80
see how school
was going for them
00:18:22.83\00:18:24.17
and everything.
00:18:24.20\00:18:25.53
But the toll that
it was taking her,
00:18:25.57\00:18:26.94
I could tell that she wasn't...
00:18:26.97\00:18:29.10
Of course, no
mother would approve of you
00:18:29.14\00:18:31.77
doing any of those things,
00:18:31.81\00:18:33.14
and she knew what I
was doing, of course,
00:18:33.17\00:18:34.51
but, like I said, I
didn't have my father in my life
00:18:34.54\00:18:38.28
and she
couldn't tell me anything
00:18:38.31\00:18:39.71
because I was hardheaded dude.
00:18:39.75\00:18:42.98
So it was lot of stress on her.
00:18:43.02\00:18:44.65
And I actually
went to jail before,
00:18:44.69\00:18:47.66
so I was locked
up for like a week,
00:18:47.69\00:18:49.89
me and my brother but...
00:18:49.92\00:18:53.23
What was the whole
incident that led you to jail?
00:18:53.26\00:18:56.53
Led me to jail?
00:18:56.56\00:18:57.90
Yo, that's crazy.
00:18:57.93\00:18:59.90
It was actually
messed up situations.
00:18:59.93\00:19:03.41
See, I got kicked
out of three high school
00:19:03.44\00:19:06.27
for fighting so much.
00:19:06.31\00:19:07.64
And me and my
best friend, of course,
00:19:07.68\00:19:09.38
we went all through
the same high schools
00:19:09.41\00:19:11.15
but people wouldn't like us
just because we were different.
00:19:11.18\00:19:15.18
We hung around a
whole bunch of girls.
00:19:15.22\00:19:17.09
So naturally,
guys are just be like,
00:19:17.12\00:19:19.15
"Yo, why are you
hanging out with my girl?"
00:19:19.19\00:19:20.52
Yeah, naturally jealous, yeah.
00:19:20.56\00:19:21.89
Yeah, naturally
jealous like that.
00:19:21.92\00:19:23.26
So we get into fights with them,
00:19:23.29\00:19:24.63
there was never about
anything else but female fights,
00:19:24.66\00:19:27.10
now that I think about
it, I got tripping so much.
00:19:27.13\00:19:29.93
But this one time, this dude
has said something to my girl,
00:19:29.96\00:19:33.84
and I didn't like what he said.
00:19:33.87\00:19:35.40
He was like, "Yo!"
00:19:35.44\00:19:38.14
He said something
like, "Come here moss,"
00:19:38.17\00:19:39.74
trying to talk
to her or whatever
00:19:39.77\00:19:41.11
because she's
trying to get her friend
00:19:41.14\00:19:42.48
from stop trying to
talk to them or whatever
00:19:42.51\00:19:43.98
but I came over
crossing the street.
00:19:44.01\00:19:45.85
I'm like, "Yo,
what's up with you?
00:19:45.88\00:19:47.22
Stop talking to my girl."
00:19:47.25\00:19:48.58
He's like, "What up,
Blood? What's up with you?"
00:19:48.62\00:19:50.42
I'm like, "What, I got
what you talking about."
00:19:50.45\00:19:52.19
My brother was
packing and I'm like...
00:19:52.22\00:19:54.89
He had a gun or whatever.
00:19:54.92\00:19:56.26
He's like, "Oh, yeah.
That's how you all doing."
00:19:56.29\00:19:57.63
I'm like, "No, we could throw
things right now, whatever."
00:19:57.66\00:19:59.79
But I guess his home
00:19:59.83\00:20:01.16
where we have
whispered something to his ear.
00:20:01.20\00:20:02.93
So a day later, we are always
in this alternative school.
00:20:02.96\00:20:05.87
It's a school for knuckleheads,
school for knuckleheads.
00:20:05.90\00:20:11.17
But we're all in
this alternative school
00:20:11.21\00:20:14.44
and they have set us up so good
00:20:14.48\00:20:15.84
like, I'm
clapping them off today
00:20:15.88\00:20:17.88
like, they set us
off something good
00:20:17.91\00:20:19.31
because I didn't
even see it coming
00:20:19.35\00:20:21.05
but how it is,
00:20:21.08\00:20:22.62
is two different
parts of this school.
00:20:22.65\00:20:24.22
See, we got on a bus to
go to a different facility,
00:20:24.25\00:20:26.62
do some school
work on the computers
00:20:26.65\00:20:28.72
but on this
facility it's different.
00:20:28.76\00:20:32.13
We actually do it in
writing, so today we went to...
00:20:32.16\00:20:35.86
On that day, we went to
the one with the computers
00:20:35.90\00:20:38.53
but, mind you, my
brother has never been there,
00:20:38.57\00:20:40.84
and some of the
dudes was just like,
00:20:40.87\00:20:42.20
"Oh, you should come
with us," or whatever.
00:20:42.24\00:20:43.57
So we're just like, "Oh, okay."
00:20:43.61\00:20:45.44
So soon as we
got to that facility
00:20:45.47\00:20:46.88
like the dude that
invited us had just disappeared.
00:20:46.91\00:20:49.51
And we started
getting on the computers
00:20:49.54\00:20:51.15
and doing our
work and everything.
00:20:51.18\00:20:53.21
And we had
headphones in our ears
00:20:53.25\00:20:55.02
so these dudes
have walked up to me,
00:20:55.05\00:20:56.45
tap me on the
shoulder, and he was like,
00:20:56.48\00:20:58.45
"Yo, you want
to hear these dudes
00:20:58.49\00:20:59.82
talking smack behind you."
00:20:59.85\00:21:01.19
So I'm just
like, "Yo, what's up?"
00:21:01.22\00:21:02.56
So I stood up or whatever,
00:21:02.59\00:21:03.93
and it was only
one dude standing up.
00:21:03.96\00:21:05.29
So I just stood up,
00:21:05.33\00:21:06.66
took off my
shirt and everything.
00:21:06.70\00:21:08.03
Another dude had rushed up
00:21:08.06\00:21:09.40
and then another
dude have rushed up.
00:21:09.43\00:21:10.77
And I was like,
"Yo, they set us up."
00:21:10.80\00:21:12.33
So I'm like, "Oh,
I'm too deep right now."
00:21:12.37\00:21:14.04
So I just
started bombing on them.
00:21:14.07\00:21:15.77
Next thing I
know, me and my brother
00:21:15.80\00:21:17.27
back to back fighting about
like seven different dudes,
00:21:17.31\00:21:19.31
we jumped or whatever.
00:21:19.34\00:21:20.68
So the next day,
we came back up there
00:21:20.71\00:21:23.21
to talk to the administration,
00:21:23.24\00:21:24.98
but we saw that the
dudes that set us up
00:21:25.01\00:21:27.58
and jumped us was still there.
00:21:27.62\00:21:28.95
So we're just like, "Yo,
why are they still here?"
00:21:28.98\00:21:30.82
And then they
called the cops on us,
00:21:30.85\00:21:32.92
and one thing led to another.
00:21:32.95\00:21:34.42
We got into another fight
00:21:34.46\00:21:35.79
and we ended up
getting arrested.
00:21:35.82\00:21:41.00
So we're about to
get let out that night
00:21:41.03\00:21:42.93
out of the prison cell,
00:21:42.96\00:21:44.30
I mean, out of
jail cell or whatever
00:21:44.33\00:21:46.00
but it was like, "No.
00:21:46.03\00:21:47.37
They've got to hold on.
00:21:47.40\00:21:48.74
A homicide wants
to talk to them."
00:21:48.77\00:21:50.11
We look at each other like,
00:21:50.14\00:21:51.47
"Homicide, why do
they want to talk to?
00:21:51.51\00:21:52.84
We didn't kill anybody."
00:21:52.87\00:21:54.21
So the next morning,
00:21:54.24\00:21:55.58
they came and talked
to us and everything.
00:21:55.61\00:21:56.95
And it ended up happening
that the dude that set us up,
00:21:56.98\00:21:59.98
that guy shot in the head for
trying to rob the dope house.
00:22:00.02\00:22:02.25
Wow, wow.
00:22:02.28\00:22:03.62
So then he got shot
00:22:03.65\00:22:04.99
like an hour
after we got arrested.
00:22:05.02\00:22:06.35
So I would count
that as a blessing too.
00:22:06.39\00:22:08.16
If we're still
out in the street,
00:22:08.19\00:22:09.96
they would have
pinned the murder on us
00:22:09.99\00:22:11.36
because we got into
a fight with them last.
00:22:11.39\00:22:13.90
But, yeah, the case was expunged
00:22:13.93\00:22:15.80
so we just ended up
getting misdemeanors on our case
00:22:15.83\00:22:18.13
for assault and battery.
00:22:18.17\00:22:20.80
Praise the
Lord. Praise the Lord.
00:22:20.84\00:22:22.17
Now, I definitely
don't want to run out of time
00:22:22.20\00:22:24.37
before we talk
about how you came
00:22:24.41\00:22:26.51
into the
Seventh-day Adventist church.
00:22:26.54\00:22:28.54
So if you could go
ahead and shed some light
00:22:28.58\00:22:30.38
on the whole
incident surrounding you,
00:22:30.41\00:22:32.35
get involved in the
Seventh-day Adventist church,
00:22:32.38\00:22:34.15
and eventually going
to Oakwood University,
00:22:34.18\00:22:36.45
talk about that?
00:22:36.48\00:22:37.82
Well, this time last year,
00:22:37.85\00:22:39.19
I didn't even know that
SDA was even a religion.
00:22:39.22\00:22:41.76
All I knew was
Baptist, Methodist, Buddhism,
00:22:41.79\00:22:44.96
all that other stuff
00:22:44.99\00:22:46.33
but how it happened was,
00:22:46.36\00:22:49.03
it was actually
this past summer,
00:22:49.06\00:22:50.77
I met a dude named
Antoine Tossa Nigh,
00:22:50.80\00:22:53.97
and he was the USM
president of Oakwood University
00:22:54.00\00:22:57.27
back in 2012, and
he had graduated then.
00:22:57.31\00:23:01.08
So when he came back to Detroit
00:23:01.11\00:23:02.54
because he's
actually from Detroit
00:23:02.58\00:23:04.95
but when he came back there,
00:23:04.98\00:23:06.31
he got a job in
the Mayor's office
00:23:06.35\00:23:07.68
as the East Side
district manager,
00:23:07.72\00:23:09.58
and he handles all the
reports just of the east side
00:23:09.62\00:23:12.52
and everything like
anything you could think of.
00:23:12.55\00:23:15.02
But he kept getting
reports in our neighborhood
00:23:15.06\00:23:17.63
because like I say,
it's a bunch of knuckleheads,
00:23:17.66\00:23:20.10
bunch of adolescents
doing whole bunch of stuff,
00:23:20.13\00:23:22.13
we're just like,
00:23:22.16\00:23:23.50
either we were shooting
dice, playing basketball,
00:23:23.53\00:23:26.10
or just gambling on anything
just to make some money.
00:23:26.13\00:23:28.87
So he had ended up
calling the cops on us,
00:23:28.90\00:23:31.44
trying to
disperse us or whatever.
00:23:31.47\00:23:34.24
We started calling
them snitch or whatever.
00:23:34.28\00:23:37.88
I guess he had felt bad about it
00:23:37.91\00:23:39.38
so every time he will see me
00:23:39.41\00:23:40.75
like walking up
the street or whatever,
00:23:40.78\00:23:42.12
he would stop and talk
to us and just be like.
00:23:42.15\00:23:44.72
"Yo, yo, yo, yo. y'all
need to stop doing this.
00:23:44.75\00:23:46.45
y'all need to stop doing that."
00:23:46.49\00:23:48.12
But he struck me as different
00:23:48.16\00:23:50.56
just because he was
repetitive with this stuff.
00:23:50.59\00:23:53.29
Other people like cops
00:23:53.33\00:23:54.66
or just old people in
general in our neighborhood,
00:23:54.70\00:23:57.67
they just call the
cops on us and be like,
00:23:57.70\00:23:59.10
"Oh, you all up to no good.
00:23:59.13\00:24:00.47
You all doing this,
you all doing that."
00:24:00.50\00:24:01.97
But he actually
want to see us do better.
00:24:02.00\00:24:04.11
See, that's all,
it's a mentoring thing
00:24:04.14\00:24:07.11
because in his life, he grew up
00:24:07.14\00:24:09.11
and his best friend had ended up
00:24:09.14\00:24:10.75
getting shot and killed.
00:24:10.78\00:24:12.11
So it's like he'd do
anything for the young people
00:24:12.15\00:24:14.38
to get out of streets and
do better with their lives.
00:24:14.42\00:24:17.29
So this past summer,
00:24:17.32\00:24:19.15
me and some of the
boys in the neighborhood
00:24:19.19\00:24:21.36
ended up getting into a fight
00:24:21.39\00:24:22.96
because my sister had
been one of their girlfriends,
00:24:22.99\00:24:25.43
and they ended up trying to
jump my sister and my brother.
00:24:25.46\00:24:28.36
So me and my boys
had rolled up on them,
00:24:28.40\00:24:31.40
we started fighting or whatever.
00:24:31.43\00:24:32.77
And this happened
like throughout the course
00:24:32.80\00:24:34.74
of all three of the
months of the summer time.
00:24:34.77\00:24:37.71
So how it all ended
was, one of the dude said...
00:24:37.74\00:24:44.31
and that was like six of them.
00:24:44.35\00:24:46.18
Me and my brother was
walking up the street like,
00:24:46.21\00:24:48.02
"The Dude that I get
into everything with."
00:24:48.05\00:24:50.45
Me and him was
walking up the street.
00:24:50.49\00:24:51.82
And two of their boys have
walked up in front of us like,
00:24:51.85\00:24:55.42
"Yo, what's up with all this?
00:24:55.46\00:24:58.49
You taken my
brother phone," or whatever.
00:24:58.53\00:25:00.20
We were like, "Yo,
this ain't about no phone.
00:25:00.23\00:25:02.13
You all just mad
00:25:02.16\00:25:03.50
because neither one of
our side has taken losses
00:25:03.53\00:25:05.33
and we live on the
same block or whatever."
00:25:05.37\00:25:08.70
So we ended getting
to another argument.
00:25:08.74\00:25:11.67
And we're like, why don't
you all scrap it out right now
00:25:11.71\00:25:13.61
and just end all
this, just get it now.
00:25:13.64\00:25:16.88
So they get to
scrappiness stuff.
00:25:16.91\00:25:19.91
And all four of these
dudes start walking to us.
00:25:19.95\00:25:22.68
So I'm just
like, "Yo, yo, yo. No.
00:25:22.72\00:25:24.05
This one on one
right here which I don't."
00:25:24.09\00:25:26.42
He's like, "No,
ain't no one's around here.
00:25:26.45\00:25:27.99
What are you talking about?
You see what's on my hip?"
00:25:28.02\00:25:29.76
And he started
flashing a gun to me.
00:25:29.79\00:25:31.16
I'm like, "Yo, you're
bringing a gun to a fist fight?
00:25:31.19\00:25:33.46
We're already outnumbered.
What's up with you?"
00:25:33.50\00:25:35.30
So he's like, "No, I
want to hear nothing.
00:25:35.33\00:25:36.77
I'm loony. I'm
loony in the head."
00:25:36.80\00:25:38.33
So he pulled out his
gun in front of my mom
00:25:38.37\00:25:40.60
and in front of my
little brothers and sisters
00:25:40.64\00:25:42.10
and just started shooting at me.
00:25:42.14\00:25:43.47
I was just like, "Yo.
00:25:43.51\00:25:44.84
What's up with you?"
00:25:44.87\00:25:46.34
But, yeah.
00:25:46.37\00:25:47.71
After that, cops
came and everything,
00:25:47.74\00:25:50.08
they want to know what happened.
00:25:50.11\00:25:51.45
And I'm not the type of
dude to snitch on anybody
00:25:51.48\00:25:55.18
regardless of
what you did to me,
00:25:55.22\00:25:56.55
I'm not going to snitch on you.
00:25:56.58\00:25:59.59
Cops came, they
just busted, they said,
00:25:59.62\00:26:01.42
"Next time, we get a
call from your neighborhood,
00:26:01.46\00:26:03.89
we're arresting everybody
and we're charging all you all
00:26:03.93\00:26:06.29
with all types of stuff.
00:26:06.33\00:26:07.66
You are going to jail.
00:26:07.70\00:26:09.16
So next time we get a call,
00:26:09.20\00:26:10.93
it better not be about you all."
00:26:10.97\00:26:13.57
So we all just squashed
the beef and everything.
00:26:13.60\00:26:17.34
And after that,
Antoine came up to me,
00:26:17.37\00:26:18.94
he's like, "Yo,
you're getting in too much.
00:26:18.97\00:26:21.31
Five years from now,
00:26:21.34\00:26:22.68
you either going to
be dead or in jail."
00:26:22.71\00:26:24.78
I was just like,
"Yeah, you're right.
00:26:24.81\00:26:26.51
You're right, but what
else am I supposed to do?"
00:26:26.55\00:26:30.09
So he's like, "You
ever think about college?"
00:26:30.12\00:26:33.09
I'm just like, "No, I never
thought about college before.
00:26:33.12\00:26:35.42
It was out of my mind."
00:26:35.46\00:26:36.79
I'm like, I'm a ghetto boy.
00:26:36.83\00:26:41.70
He's like, "No, you
can actually go to college
00:26:41.73\00:26:43.37
like, I'm so serious with you.
00:26:43.40\00:26:44.73
You can fill out financial aid,
00:26:44.77\00:26:46.17
we can do all the
necessary preparations."
00:26:46.20\00:26:48.77
So two weeks before
I had to be down here,
00:26:48.80\00:26:51.21
filled out the
FAFSA and financial aid,
00:26:51.24\00:26:55.04
and did the placement
test to see how I would do.
00:26:55.08\00:26:57.85
I ended up doing
good in everything,
00:26:57.88\00:26:59.55
so two days before I had to
be at Oakwood, I got accepted.
00:26:59.58\00:27:03.02
So he's like, "Yo,
we're going down there."
00:27:03.05\00:27:05.55
So he ended up
driving me down there
00:27:05.59\00:27:07.46
and by the grace of God,
two semesters later, I'm here.
00:27:07.49\00:27:10.89
Amen, amen.
00:27:10.93\00:27:12.26
Now there's a
lot of young people
00:27:12.29\00:27:14.43
who are in your situation,
who have been in your situation
00:27:14.46\00:27:17.83
that it is very
difficult for them to say,
00:27:17.87\00:27:21.07
"You know what, I
want to go to college."
00:27:21.10\00:27:22.80
For the simple fact
that all they can see is,
00:27:22.84\00:27:25.51
"What I'm involved in right now.
00:27:25.54\00:27:27.44
And either by the time I'm 25,
00:27:27.48\00:27:29.04
I'm going to be locked
up or I'm going to be dead."
00:27:29.08\00:27:31.55
So as a young person that
is seeing all these things,
00:27:31.58\00:27:35.22
what do you
think it takes for them
00:27:35.25\00:27:37.19
to come to the realization,
00:27:37.22\00:27:38.55
"You know what, I
need to do better.
00:27:38.59\00:27:40.26
School might be the way
00:27:40.29\00:27:41.62
that I can get
out of this instance."
00:27:41.66\00:27:43.73
Well, the thing I
would say to my peers,
00:27:43.76\00:27:46.49
to anybody in adolescence
00:27:46.53\00:27:48.10
is just to never
give up on your goals.
00:27:48.13\00:27:50.80
If you're good at
anything like, practice that
00:27:50.83\00:27:53.70
like, there's no amount of
time where you should be idle.
00:27:53.74\00:27:56.77
There you go, there you go.
00:27:56.81\00:27:58.17
Well, Tavonne, we appreciate
having you on the program.
00:27:58.21\00:28:00.91
I know you'll be an
inspiration to many young people
00:28:00.94\00:28:04.05
who have gone
through or going through
00:28:04.08\00:28:06.38
so many things that
you've gone through.
00:28:06.41\00:28:08.15
Thank you for
tuning in once again.
00:28:08.18\00:28:09.82
Join us next time
on the New Journey.
00:28:09.85\00:28:11.92