Writing My Wrongs by Shaka Senghor

Author:Shaka Senghor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2016-03-07T16:00:00+00:00

13

Detroit, Michigan

1990

“I don’t care what anyone calls you,” my father said as we drove away from the Greyhound bus station. “There is never an excuse to allow someone’s words to stand in the way of your success.” I had known he would be disappointed to learn that I had been kicked out of Job Corps, but I felt hurt by his words. I wanted him to understand why I had lashed out. I wanted him to understand how I felt being demeaned and treated inferior because of the color of my skin. I wanted him to know that I had a responsibility to myself, and those who came after me, to do something about the way we were treated in Kentucky.

What I hadn’t accounted for was the fact that my father had grown up during the turbulent sixties and seventies, and had joined the military at age seventeen. He had lived through things far worse than I had, but at that point in my life, I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t react in anger to the racism I had experienced.

When we got home, I basked in the familiarity of my surroundings, and within a week or so, I was back down in Brightmoor, hanging out at Tamica’s house. The fellas were happy to see me, and I was happy to be back. I had missed hanging out, fighting dogs, hustling, and chasing girls with my homies. It was refreshing to be standing out on the corner again with the crew.

Things were slow for the first few weeks, but soon enough, I was able to get ahold of half an ounce of cocaine, which I cooked and cut up to sell. My boys Mack and Coop had built up a clientele on the block, but neither had a problem with me making a few dollars on the side. The reality was, no one wanted to roll all day, so we shared the business to keep the clientele from going anywhere else.

Then, one fateful night, I was lying on the couch at Tamica’s when Coop tapped on the window. It was about two o’clock in the morning.

I got up and went outside to see what was up. Coop had a customer but was out of supply, so he asked if I could spare a few rocks. I went back inside the house to get my sack, which I had stashed in the freezer to ensure my nephews didn’t get to it. When I came back out, I gave a bag to Coop and told him to come back and tap on the window when he had made the transaction.

Five minutes later, I was on the couch, drifting back to sleep, when I heard the faint sound of someone screaming my name. For a minute, I thought I was dreaming, but then the sound grew louder. I jumped up from the couch and swung open the front door to see what was going on. When I looked outside, I didn’t see anyone in

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.