When I joined a mentoring program in my high school, it was one of the smartest decisions I ever made, because I was giving back to the community. My English teacher, Mrs. Wojt, told me about the mentoring program and I decided to be a mentor. The program met every other Tuesday for two hours, and this lasted for a semester. I was paired up with an 8th grade student from Isaac Newton Junior High School.
I remember the first day I met my mentee, Jamie, a Puerto Rican - American. He had black silky hair that glistened in the light. His caramel skin complexion reminded me of my mother’s skin tone and his brown eyes had a spark that revealed his ambition to learn. Standing at about five foot six, he had on navy blue slacks, a white shirt along with shiny black shoes and a school uniform meant to keep students ready for the professional world. Even though Jamie was a serious student he still needed help to keep focus.
I remember one week we discussed peer pressure. In our discussion Jamie revealed a situation in which his friends had encouraged him to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. Since they we’re all doing it he decided it was ok. Jamie told me that instead of saying no and walking away he decided to take a puff. When I asked him why he did it, Jamie replied, “Everyone else was doing it, and it appeared cool.” My response to his statement was if everyone jumped out the window would he do it? Now this is a common question that adults often ask. But at that moment I felt I had the right to ask it because I had been in a situation myself where I had to choose not to follow the crowd. I told Jamie of a particular moment in which I had to make the right decision.
When I was fourteen, some teenagers from the Lincoln Projects came looking for “beef” -trouble- in the buildings I lived, Riverton Apartments. These teenagers would single out people like a lion would single out their prey and then jump them knowing that the victim was helpless, and could not fight back. One of my friends was a target. They came into the park like hoodlums; some had black, blue and purple hats. Others had bandanas dangling from their left jean pocket. The crew consisted of about ten members in all sizes and shapes. As I looked in my friend’s eyes I knew something was about to go down. My heart told me to get help. I ran like a wild horse to the security booth near the park to inform the guard what was about to happen. I turned around and saw that my friend, Big Tom, was suckered punched and he slowly stumbled back. Then suddenly like a swarm of bees, they all gathered around and pushed him violently to the ground. They began stomping on him. At that moment the security guard made his way through the park to break up the fight.
Several days later I heard from others that Tom wanted to get back at the so-called “gangsters.” When I saw Tom I asked him if this was true and his response was “Yes.” In fact he wanted me to join him and his crew in getting back at the teenagers from Lincoln. I tried my best to let him know that it was not a good idea, but all he asked me was if I was going to be “down” - to join them. He said something like. “Yo Samba, you see wha these niggas did to my face, imma ask you again are u down or not?” My response was, “I understand where you coming from and you my dogs, but getting back at them is not the solution, it will only lead into more beef and I don’t want any part of that.” I decided to follow my heart, which told me to stay away rather than fight because of my loyalty to Tom. Even though everyone thought I was a coward, I believed that I made the right decision in being neutral, rather than ending up hurt or in jail.
I came to find out later that Tom was claiming LNW, a gang that is a subset of the infamous Bloods that was emerging in Harlem. The majority of people from Lincoln Projects are Crips (the rival gang of the Bloods), and it was these Crips that came to pick a bone with Tom.
After sharing my story with Jamie, he understood what I meant about making moral decisions ever under peer pressure. Because of my participation in the mentoring program, I was able to stop Jamie from becoming one of the guys on the street corner. In addition finding my purpose in the program, it also stopped me from such a fate. As of now, Tom no longer tries to be a gangster, he currently goes to a community college in Brooklyn and he still lives in Riverton. Unfortunately he broke his leg playing basketball recently, but at least he did not break his leg by “gang banging”.
