When all is lost theres always one bullet left in the chamber
Transcriber: Nguyen Phuong Nga
Reviewer: Hani Eldalees
When it’s an automatic.
There’s always one bullet left
in the chamber.
It’s time for you to take
back your community.
I don’t think I will ever
forget spring of 1993.
Somewhere around 6:30 in the evening,
a loud knock at my door.
A knock not like the knock of a police
officer just before he kicks in the door.
But there stood a frantic friend shouting
Come quick, come quick.
I just made a mistake and
shot my best friend.
Somewhere around midnight, I found
myself pondering, and thinking.
One 19 year old is dead.
And the other in jail.
That was my little brother,
Andre Deshawn Armstrong.
That night, his best friend took his life.
It was later determined that
the gun that was used,
had been tossed in the ditch by someone
running from a police during a drug bust.
I could only imagine.
The bullets in one hand,
and the gun in the other.
After that gun was fired,
those two best friends,
staring into the eyes of each other,
Wondering what in the world just happened.
You see, no one ever shared with the
friend that even after you unload
an automatic revolver, there’s always
one bullet left in the chamber.
They both died that night.
Cause of death, un determine.
But it was at that moment that my
lifetime traumatic experience,
became the force of what I’ve
done for my community today.
Abandoned houses, dilapidated businesses,
overgrown lots,
did not show the true
picture of what my community,
what I called home,
where I lived.
Yet, It impacted the destruction of every
neighborhood, including mine.
But we believe that we
engage the community
and our mission to build capacity
within the family,
that it would ultimately impact
the goal to restore,
revive and reignite every troubled
community in our city.
There’s still hope.
You can make a difference
in your community.
You can help and change
where you call home.
You can start with the simple
neighborhood cleanup.
You can make it a point to bring fun
and educational resources to your
own community. Be consistent.
Meet the same time, the same
day in the same location.
Make yourselves a committee of one that
will bring the group together.
Be consistent. Make sure that
there is a plan of action.
And make sure that you are holding
everyone accountable for
the job they signed up to do.
Including yourselves.
When all odds are against you,
be willing to be that one bullet left
in the chamber.
Thank you.