Former gang leader Andre Norman learned three early lessons growing up in poverty:
It's OK to hit people. You have to protect yourself, because no one else will. And you don't have to explain your actions to anyone.
He learned this by watching his father beat his mother and abandon the family without ever saying why. And he learned by watching white kids throw rocks at him on the way to school without anyone trying to stop them.
Norman shared his insights into the traumas that turn kids into gang members at a Saturday workshop put on by Charlotte's Mount Peace Missionary Baptist Association.
His goal was the same as that of the 30 churches in the association - to help stop gang violence by showing young people a better path to follow.
One way of doing that is through a new foundation led by Rev. Peter Wherry of Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church in East Charlotte, which hosted the workshop.
Wherry said the foundation aims to "put feet on God's word and not just talk missionary talk."
Organizers want to make it easier to help at-risk young people and families by creating a clearinghouse of local church programs and other resources available to help them.
"I hope churches everywhere will get excited about the possibility of addressing the core issues that the kids in the community face," Wherry said.
Boston-born Norman told about 30 people at Saturday's workshop that he's proof religious leaders can reach kids who have made violence a way of life.
While serving time in a Massachusetts prison for armed robbery, Norman said he found an unlikely mentor in a Jewish rabbi who visited him for 18 months.
"He taught me humanity," Norman said.
Eventually, the gang leader began studying for his high school diploma.
He also got counseling, studied law and, after his parole in 1999, was invited to speak about his experiences at universities such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"I decided I was going to be successful," the 42-year-old Norman told the audience. "Whatever you put your focus and time on will come about."
A Charlotte mother who brought her sixth-grade son to the workshop was inspired by Norman's message.
"He's facing peer pressure from kids in gangs," she said of her son. "He feels, 'If I don't be nice to them, they'll get me.'"
The mother, who asked not to be identified for fear of jeopardizing her son, said she and her husband don't want their son to be intimidated by gang threats.
She said the new Family Foundation led by Wherry will be an important source of help.think
You need to be a member of THE STREETS DON'T LOVE YOU BACK to add comments!
Join THE STREETS DON'T LOVE YOU BACK