Me Part 3 of 4
Perrie Today

January 8, 2016

In July 2005, I walk into the correctional system arrogant, ignorant, and determined to uphold a superficial gang reputation. At that time in my life, elevating myself in the gang culture was my only career choice. A detrimental goal I have now come to realize but, unfortunately, this is the norm in most poor urban minority communities. So my desire to achieve stardom in the gang culture was due to a lack of education and positive influences.

Today I can no longer plead ignorance. My incarceration caused me to sit back and evaluate my life in depth, and I must say, the power of education is indisputably authentic. The knowledge I have acquired over the past years often leaves me astonished at just how oblivious I was to how detrimental my actions were to myself and others. I have always thought I was an intelligent person. But in hindsight, my ignorance was monumental.

The first person I remember looking up to was a gang member who was in and out of prison. But my young mind was ready to do anything elevate to his status in the gang. I now realize I was striving to be a failure. The detrimental way of thinking I used to have no longer lives in me. I no longer glorify gangs or any aspects of the street life. In fact, I believe it is counterproductive to the growth of African Americans. Gangs continue to destroy our communities. Every week families in black communities are burying their family members because an uneducated person back his/her life to gain a superficial reputation in an adverse gang culture.

Our ancestors are looking over these mass funerals with shattered hearts! All the sacrifices they made for us, for us to discontinue their fight, to engage in meaningless turf wars. I must admit I am genuinely disappointed that I once participated in this nonsense. There are so many injustices affecting African Americans in this country. For a large percentage of us to be focusing on dismantling each other when we should be focusing on dismantling the defected educational system and ending mass incarceration.

With this knowledge, today my life is dedicated to educating myself and one day using this knowledge to make a positive impact in the world. In the meantime, I truly hope my words inspire someone out there to change their life and fight a meaningful battle. #Blacklivesmatter!

Stay prayed up!

Sincerely,
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Perrie Thompson