I grew up in a drug offensive
neighborhood on the south side of
Jamaica Queens New York when I was nine
years old my father was found dead in
the street I have two older brothers and
over period of time drugs with both my
mouth I had an older sister and over
time drugs took route as well when I was
18 my mother was killed her boyfriend
shot now my story gets deeper but I’m
gonna cut it off at this point but the
point that I want to make is this we all
have stories to tell
and if you don’t have one and you know
someone else who does stories like my
father wasn’t around my mother was on
drugs I grew up in foster care after the
lesson as a child a parents got divorced
we were homeless the stories go on and
on but you can’t use your story as an
excuse to do the wrong thing you can’t
use your story as an excuse to mess with
drugs in any way safe flowing faster to
join a gang would be a bully and stop
going to school or to associate with the
wrong crime as a matter of fact most
successful people will tell you that
they use their story fuel and energy and
motivation become successful in life now
my mentor God who he made a huge
difference in my life he shared that
information with me when I was a
teenager playing basketball every day at
a place called the 40 projects and he
also told me to have to put another wins
and win another quits and that it’s not
how you start out it’s how you wind up
those are my building blocks so in spite
of my story
I’m a retired warden from the New York
City Department of Correction I’m proud
of my retirement I have kid custody and
control over New York’s most notorious
drug kingpins murderers and gangland now
Rikers Island is the largest detention
complex in the
so 400 acres in size and there’s 10
different jails on records out one of
those jails is called the roles of
singer Center that’s where the young
ladies go if they get arrested anyway
within the five boroughs of New York
City
so everything that I talked about
pertains to these young ladies in the
audience as well as the young men this
year’s budget over billion dollars it’s
a lot of money and on average during the
course of each year over a hundred
thousand new admission inmates pass to
that system and so I’ve stressed those
numbers because I want all young people
realize that understand that if you use
your story as an excuse to do the wrong
thing then chances are you’re going to
end up in a place like ribozyme now why
do I say that well I spent 22 years of
my life working on Rikers Island and
during that time over 2 million new
admission inmates pass to that system
and we just talked about for the five
boroughs in New York City so I’ve walked
those cell blocks and those recreation
yards every single day talking with
those inmates and you know what I
learned I learned that they all had a
story to tell and that many of them had
used their story as an excuse to do the
wrong thing was left them being
incarcerated and as I talk with young
people throughout New York City and
other parts of the country I’m finding
that many of them have the same mindset
because of their stories they feel they
have a justifiable excuse to do the
wrong thing and so the question becomes
as a young person what are some of the
things that you have to do to ensure
that you don’t end up in a place like
Rikers Island
now I mentioned it earlier but it bears
the key you can’t use your story as an
excuse to do the wrong thing and you
have to make great decisions not good
decisions or great decisions because
when your future is on the line and when
your life is on the line
good decision not good enough every
decision that you make it has to be well
thought out give an example when I was
in high school I was an all-city
basketball player and received over 500
scholarship offers from many of the
major colleges and universities
throughout the country and after careful
consideration I chose Virginia calmly
now I’m going to fast forward four years
I’m now married to my high school
sweetheart I have a son and I’m a
college graduate and so I’ll come back
to New York with my family of my degree
looking for a job because I had a family
to support and so I hit the ground
running but there was only two
opportunities that was immediately
available to me one was to be a
newspaper boy and the other was to sell
drugs
those are my immediate options and two
of my college teammates got drafted and
signed NBA contracts so two of my guys
are living the dream and I got a
decision about whether I’m going to
sling drugs or be a newspaper boy now
this is my thought process I mentioned
earlier that I had two older brothers
and their jobs have both come out well I
was 12 years old one of my brother’s was
15 the other one was 16
I’m 15 year old brother he died from a
heroin overdose and so I would rather
shovel horse manure but make a living
then the sells drugs and destroyed my
community and as a young person growing
up if you’re paying attention to what’s
going on around you you gotta know that
that drug gang it’s only gonna take you
to one of two places that’s jammed or
the cemetery and then you got to
understand that drugs they don’t
discriminate they don’t care if you
black or a few white don’t care if
you’re rich or if you pull it okay if
you live in the city or if you live in
the suburbs they don’t care if you are a
straight-a student or a high school
dropout the only thing can to live in
the United States or if you live in
Norway you mess with drugs they will
wreck your life
so even though it was a life-changing
decision that I had to make the choice
was a no-brainer
so I’m three weeks into my job as a
newspaper boy and the telephone ring was
a Sunday night I’m living with my
in-laws a good friend called me and he
told me that they were hiring at a place
called spot the juvenile detention
center in the Bronx New York
so that Monday morning the address with
the sponsor interview and I got hired on
the spot four years and eight months
later I resign from sponsor and became a
member of the New York City Department
of Correction and throughout my career
my goal was to reduce violence and to
help to ma suggest the institution of
living and develop socially desirable
habits and behavior patterns so they
when they were discharged they stand a
better chance of not coming back and
with the help of dedicated officers two
billion personnel volunteers and by
implementing a number of programs we
were actually able to accomplish that
goal at the adolescent jail
this was done during the time when that
facility was considered to be one of the
most violent jails in America and so now
that I’m retired and no longer working
on Rikers Island my goal is to keep
young people out of the criminal justice
system altogether and to accomplish this
mission I talk with young people and I
give them information that’s going to
help them make great decisions when it
comes to bullying gangs drugs jam the
importance of staying in school getting
a good education associated with the
right crowd setting high goals for
yourself and the works of norman vincent
peale
always tell young people to shoot for
the moment because even if you miss
you’re gonna land amongst the stars and
so I’m close them I just want to say
that it’s been my honor to stand on this
stage and it shared its timeless thank you very much