I grew up in Central Seattle in the nineties, bordering a major decrease of drugs and guns in my neighborhood. From a young age I have been exposed to robberies, gun fire, explicit drug use, and death. When I was eleven, I remember my neighbors’ cousin being shot in the alleyway across the street from my apartment. Growing up, I was exposed to the dropout gangsters and their mannerisms. They hung out at AM PM gas station from night until morning selling crack, marijuana, and harassing women. Because I didn’t wear baggy jeans and used proper English, people called me “white boy” or “sell-out” because I wasn’t like them. I felt vulnerable to the negative messages my community presented me because I might have been fated to a similar existence. I have worked hard to stay focused on my goals and refuse invitations into off-putting circles of influence.
To keep a level head, I developed a few coping methods and an important skill. In middle school I became involved in music and theatre as long term investments for the opportunities they presented. Also, during my sophomore year helped found a youth mentoring/leadership program called Summer Search. These activities have kept me away from the gas station persuasion. Also, I have been working on my communication skills. For me, communication skills play an important role in receiving assistance, being assertive, and personal growth through interaction with others.
The “black” stereotype now-a-day’s, according to many media favorites BET and MTV, is a group of sex hungry, slang talking, thugs and trashy women. The subliminal effect of exposing people to this image in such a way that they identify with it, desire it, or aspire to be this way is a marketing technique, not a large scale reality. Whenever someone sees this television icon behavior, the stereotype becomes manifest. I don’t want myself or the group in which I am identified to be remembered throughout history as uneducated, reckless, and irresponsible. These gangster icons are not inspirational, appealing, or respectable. The brutality and abusive nature of the gangsters I have seen are not impressive. I feel that I must help reconstruct this unfair representation of African American males. Being forced to find balance between individualism and being a statistic is difficult. As a statistic, I am bound to fail. As a young man of this earth I feel I must achieve greatness.
I want to teach others how to achieve their goals despite negative messages around them, no matter what their field of interest is. In college I plan to pursue business-theatre, Spanish, and possibly marine biology. As a child I felt that I was not going anywhere and I would soon be on the corner selling marijuana, but I was graced with chances to improve my life and I have taken them. I have one life and I plan to make the best of it for myself, my family, and the people I meet.