Inside the Fight Against the School-to-Prison Pipeline | Voces Media + FRONTLINE
Summary
TLDRThe script narrates a journey from troubled youth to a transformative educator. It details the speaker's past in West Oakland, dealing with poverty, crime, and neglect, and his eventual path to becoming a gang prevention counselor. It highlights the struggles of at-risk youth and the importance of community support and education in overcoming adversity.
Takeaways
- 🚗 The speaker had a troubled past, including committing felonies and stealing cars during their teenage years.
- 🏠 They grew up in a challenging environment in West Oakland, living in a condemned apartment with limited resources and a mother who struggled to provide for the family.
- 👮♂️ The speaker was involved with the police and the juvenile justice system, indicating a history of legal troubles.
- 💉 The speaker admits to selling drugs, specifically heroin, highlighting the desperation and choices driven by poverty.
- 👨👧👦 The speaker's family faced numerous hardships, including a mother with a low level of education and an inability to provide basic necessities.
- 👩🏫 The speaker met their spouse, a professor, under humble circumstances in West Oakland, where they were both involved in community work and education.
- 🏫 The speaker and their spouse worked together as educators and gang prevention counselors, focusing on at-risk youth and investing their energy into helping these kids.
- 💔 The speaker's brother resorted to illegal activities, such as transporting meth, out of desperation to support the family financially.
- 🏛️ The speaker was expelled from high school, which further emphasizes the systemic challenges faced by individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- 🌳 The speaker was invited to run a program in Watts, a neighborhood known for its struggles, and despite initial hesitation, they decided to take on the challenge.
- 🌟 The speaker emphasizes the importance of sharing stories and experiences, believing that everyone has the power to overcome adversity and achieve success.
Q & A
What were the individual's teenage years like, according to the transcript?
-The individual had a troubled adolescence, with three felonies and time spent in juvenile detention for stealing cars and selling heroin.
What was the living situation of the individual during their childhood?
-The individual lived in a condemned apartment in West Oakland, with a mother who had a third-grade education and struggled to provide for the family.
How did the individual's brother attempt to support the family financially?
-The brother resorted to transporting eight pounds of meth, which was his first criminal act, driven by the family's desperate need for money.
What was the individual's experience with the education system?
-The individual was kicked out of high school due to tensions and was seen as a burden by the school, which did not believe in investing in their future.
What role did the individual play in their family as the oldest child?
-As the oldest, the individual felt the responsibility to step up and help support the family, especially after their mother had an accident and could not work.
How did the individual transition from a troubled past to a healthier community?
-The individual moved to Santa Barbara, which provided a basic healthy community with good opportunities, helping them to feel safe and start anew.
What was the individual's profession and how did they meet their partner?
-The individual became a gang prevention counselor at a middle school and met their partner, who was a professor, while working in the same community.
What is the individual's perspective on the challenges faced by at-risk youth?
-The individual believes that at-risk youth are often judged too easily and that the system should not put the blame on individuals for dropping out, but rather address the systemic issues.
What was the individual's response when asked to run a program in Watts?
-Initially hesitant due to personal commitments, the individual was encouraged by their partner to take on the challenge, recognizing the importance of helping those who have been left behind.
What is the individual's approach to working with young people in the community?
-The individual aims to share their story and facilitate the growth of the young people's inherent power, encouraging them to see opportunities for themselves and to build their own stories.
What message does the individual convey to the young people they work with?
-The individual emphasizes that they are not there to save the young people but to share their stories and help them recognize their own potential to overcome adversity and achieve success.
Outlines
🚓 Overcoming Challenges: A Journey from Crime to Community Service
This paragraph introduces a person who, as a teenager, was involved in serious crimes such as stealing cars and selling heroin. They lived in a challenging environment in West Oakland, with a mother who had limited education and struggled to provide for the family. The individual reflects on their past and how their experiences led them to become a gang prevention counselor, working with at-risk youth. The narrative emphasizes the importance of understanding and supporting young people who face significant barriers in their lives, rather than simply blaming them for their circumstances.
💼 From Desperation to Education: A Family's Struggle and Hope
The second paragraph delves into the story of a family facing financial hardship, leading to a brother's involvement in drug trafficking. Despite the brother's arrest, the narrator steps up as the oldest sibling to support the family. The narrative shifts to the narrator's experience as a gang prevention counselor in East LA, emphasizing the need for alternative education and opportunities for young people in disadvantaged communities. The story highlights the importance of mentorship and the power of believing in oneself and others, as the narrator is invited to run a program in Watts, aiming to inspire and support young people through shared experiences and stories.
🌟 Believing in Potential: Encouraging Education and Resilience
This short paragraph focuses on the transformative power of belief and encouragement. The speaker reflects on the importance of showing young people that they can achieve great things, despite their backgrounds. The message is one of hope and potential, with an emphasis on the role of education in breaking cycles of poverty and disadvantage. The speaker encourages young people to see themselves in a different light, believing in their ability to succeed and overcome adversity.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Felonies
💡Juvenile detention
💡Drug dealing
💡Poverty
💡Community
💡Gang prevention counselor
💡Education
💡Struggle
💡Resilience
💡Mentorship
💡Success
Highlights
Individual with a troubled past, including three felonies as a teenager and time in juvenile detention.
Specialization in stealing cars during the individual's youth.
Involvement in selling drugs, specifically heroin, in the neighborhood.
Living conditions in a condemned apartment in West Oakland with a mother who had a third-grade education.
Experience of poverty and neglect, including sleeping on a kitchen floor with roaches and rats.
A story of a brother's attempt to find care for the family during a late-night walk.
The individual's move to Santa Barbara and the impact of a healthy community on their life.
Meeting a partner who was a professor and their shared work in community development.
The role of a gang prevention counselor and the importance of investing in at-risk youth.
Reflection on the societal judgments and the systemic issues affecting young people in impoverished areas.
A family's struggle with financial instability and the brother's desperate measures to provide for them.
The individual's own struggles with education and the challenges faced by those from similar backgrounds.
An invitation to run a program in Watts and the initial reluctance followed by a commitment to help.
The importance of providing positive role models and opportunities for young people in disadvantaged communities.
The belief in the inherent power and potential of young people to overcome adversity.
The long-term commitment required to make a difference in the lives of at-risk youth.
The message of hope and belief in the ability of individuals to achieve the 'unbelievable'.
Transcripts
I had three felonies as teenager I went
to juvie for three felonies
I love to steal cars that's what I
specialized in this corner is where I
sold heroin
so this is my junior high five police
cars one junior high
we lived in this condemned apartment and
West Oakland a mother had a third grade
education
she was scraping by - just to feed us my
mom will go to work and lock the door on
us from the outside three-year-old and a
semi you'll
remember sleeping on this kitchen floor
with roaches and rats crawling all
around me tremble all night long
those so cold
my mom tells me this story that she's
coming back at 2:00 in the morning and
she sees my brother and walking on he's
14 and he's old in my head and then
she's like hey where are you guys going
and he's like oh we're going to find
someone that's gonna take care of us
[Music]
[Music]
getting away kind of helped me to I
don't know
he'll he'll just feel safe you know
Santa Barbara just a basic healthy
community that gives them good
opportunities for people now we'll think
oh you married a professor really I
didn't
I met him he was living in West Oakland
with his mom he would work on cars and
all the kids in the neighborhood would
come and he would teach him how to work
on the cars and talk to them about their
life they've loved like loved him
I was a gang prevention counselor at a
middle school Rebecca was a student
teacher we teamed up and really put a
lot of our love and energy into these
kids
and is these at-risk kids right
quote-unquote that created our family in
a sense
Oh
[Music]
[Music]
I say big food a lot of these young
people you know he's a person that
struggled that came from the very
impoverished household morning but how
you doing today
[Music]
these are young people that are going
through struggles where they must
overcome barriers that young people
should have to deal with period now
they're up against a lot I think they
get judged too easy
I'd say drop out you're putting the
blame on the individual
push out this is wait a medic system
what's going on here what are we doing
wrong as a system to address this issue
our family has always struggled you know
like whether they have food we don't
have program we don't have to pay the
bills and my mom she had an accident at
work so she can't work and my brother
he's the type of person that is like I'm
gonna do what it's necessary to actually
get the money
so he got in a train with he was like
eight pounds of meth and well he got
caught it was his first time he had no
record at all he just did it because we
just needed the money he tells me and
they meet I'm all depressed I miss you
and I'm today like you know I miss you
too it but a little gonna
step up that was my job I'm the oldest
one I had step up
I got kicked out of high school the
tensions were hard over there we fought
in the school campus they thought like I
was just going to cost money but they
kicked me out
[Music]
Outsiders see my neighborhood my
community as like it's okay for them to
drop out they're used to it that's what
they are when you come from a community
like East LA like once it's not like
your dad's gonna give you his business
it's not like you know you can walk into
the mouth of your parents you got to
find an alternative an education is way
up and a way out
[Music]
that was amazing so I hadn't heard from
Martine in like 15 years he said hey you
know dr. Rios what's up hotshot
professor how about running a program in
watts to him that's that sounds like a
lot and at first I thought man I can't
do it you know doesn't pay I gotta help
my wife she's going through this whole
10-year process
I said no to him Rebecca she says to me
the origins of who you are begin with
young people who have been left behind
wait we don't really have a choice we're
gonna go out there this summer can you
many of the people I invited to watts
for my former students I had mentored
them when I grew up right around the
corner everyone said yes
no one hesitated and no one said no
going back to the victor story he's kind
of like you know Victor come over to the
pad it wasn't like oh my god I want this
guy to be a professor Chicano professors
you know said it wasn't about that it
was just about hosting my little
brother's friend at the back these girls
and these guys coming in I think a lot
of them there's a lot of pain I just
hope that they see there's an
opportunity to see themselves different
it's like no enough you to start to be
treated it with respect you deserve to
go out and get an education you get to
build your story and you get to build it
and we tell it to us
that's only thing we gonna do the
reality is that most young people don't
have access to positive habits there's
very few for us growing up you know so
part of it is letting them know you're
real and you got something to offer
what's the thing that it's gonna take
for us to do well as a community as a
people you know and in trying to achieve
success whatever success may be we're
not here to tell you we're gonna save
you we're here to ask your permission to
share our stories with you and for you
to share your stories with us to hear
your stories a struggle grit resilience
determination we don't want to become a
setup where the kids think there's gonna
be all these changes no dream tell them
from day one it's a long-term process
for you to begin to overcome that
adversity we're not here to give you the
power you already got it we're just here
to facilitate to see that power grow
most important but you're gonna find
these kids are hungry they wanna like
gravitate to to what you got to offer
Martine Flores
he says to me brown people like us we
could go to college too man
we believe in you and we will love it
that you believe in yourself so much
that you could accomplish the
unbelievable
you
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