Is the American Dream still a thing? Can someone still pull himself out of poverty with hard work and dedication?
Or is that dream dead?
If ever a Turn90 student story makes you wonder, it’s this one. Solo’s parents did the right things. They worked hard. They instilled values in their children, teaching them right from wrong.
It wasn’t enough to keep their son safe.
Perhaps the most telling part of Tonio’s story is that he refers to his childhood neighborhood, where he saw drug sales and violence, as “regular.” It’s what he saw, what he knew. His tendencies toward class-clowning brought him trouble early and his hot temper carried that trouble through to adulthood, but lately, he’s been focused. He’s set to make history as the first active Turn90 participant to earn his GED, and he has big plans for what he’s doing after he graduates.
The streets seemed magical to Malik. The guys out there had all the cool things: jewelry, Jordans, Starter jackets. By age 12, an older boy, already heavily involved in the streets, took a liking to Malik. “He took me under his wing,” Malik says. “He showed me everything. How to cook, how to package. He told me who would buy from me. He sold me my first gun.”
We hear it all the time. The square life – this rule-following, law-abiding life we ask Turn90 participants to lead – is boring. Long days at work, long nights at home. There’s no thrill, not like our guys are used to.
Because the streets move fast. They’re unpredictable. Exciting. Money comes fast.
But then, so does the chance to lose everything.
This is Melo’s story.
There’s a scene in The Shawshank Redemption where Brooks, the elderly man who’s been incarcerated for most of his life and has just been released, sits in his rented room, head hanging low. He doesn’t understand the world around him. He left his friends – his only family – in prison. Despair is his only companion.
It’s impossible not to picture this scene when talking to Unk (short for “Uncle,” and so named because, for a while, he was the oldest man in the room in prison and in the Turn90 classroom). He served 25 years after his young adulthood spiraled out of control, and when he was released, regrets and despair waited with open arms.
“I was nine years old the first time I saw a lady overdose from heroin,” Emanuel says. We’re minutes into our time together, and we’ve already discussed where he grew up (Greenville, South Carolina, in the same neighborhood as Jesse Jackson, with whom his mother went to high school), and what it was like (“a LOT of drugs,” he says, pulling a face). But this is the moment when I realize how different this story will be.
We say all the time around here that trouble is easy to get into, but really hard to get out of.
Ben is a great example of this. Coming from a childhood that was a mix-up of difficult experiences and glimpses of what life could be like, if only there was enough money to support him and his mom, his induction into the streets was perhaps the easiest, most natural thing he’d ever done. But almost two full decades in prison have shown him that change is necessary, and he’s dedicated to making a difference in the lives of his children and his community. It’s not easy, but Ben is committed.
This is his story.
Jonathan is 35 years old but doesn’t look a day over 20. “Prison preserved me,” he says with a laugh when we sit down to talk. But I think it’s more than that. I think a lifetime of neglect, of punishments without impact, have thrust him into a delayed adulthood that he’s finally learning to … Read more
Every Turning Leaf participant is unique. Special. Different backgrounds, different education levels. Different family structures and barriers to success. Troy, though. Now here’s a guy who really stands out. He was educated in some of the top schools in Charleston. He was the first male in his family to graduate from high school. He had … Read more
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. –Matthew 5:44, King James Bible Turning Leaf isn’t a faith-based organization, but when a student comes to us with a story heavily punctuated by loss, and yet has “love your enemies” … Read more
