KALAMAZOO, Mich. — From being labeled a juvenile offender, to now a published author of Life Sentences, one 14-year-old tells FOX 17 that writing about his pain helped him heal a deep wound.
This teen wasn’t always the monster he felt the world labeled him as. “I didn't really start the gang stuff just to hop in it for fun, hop in it for money. I usually hopped in it for revenge actually,” he said.
At just 11 years old, he saw his 15-year-old brother get shot and killed.
“Me and my homies just walking down the block, and my homie had got shot up. Ever since then, I've been trying to get revenge,” he recalled.
With pain that never healed and unrecognized trauma, he felt like violence and joining a gang was the only way.
“A lot of people be saying, 'Oh, why you can't just stop doing bad stuff?' It's not as easy as that,” he explained. “Once you start up, it's for a reason and until you complete that reason, it usually is just picking at your soul.”
It wasn’t until he was taken to the Kalamazoo Juvenile Home, that he recognized his passion for writing and music. The non-profit organization, Read and Write Kalamazoo, was brought in to encourage the teens to write about their life story.
“My first conversation with the youth in that space, they were just talking about how some of their decisions feel like they will never be able to escape the consequences of those decisions,” said RAWK Executive Director Kandace Lavender.
Many of the juveniles viewed their current circumstances as a trajectory of where they would end up. However, as they began to write, they started to see a life outside of the juvenile home walls.
“To live your story is one thing, to be able to write about it, and then read it out loud, are different checkpoints in the healing process that I believe are so important and valuable,” Lavender told FOX 17.
Since the 14-year-old has been released from the juvenile home, his dream is to become a rapper and have a family of his own.
If you would like to donate to RAWK or purchase the book, Life Sentences, click here.
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