Not Your Average Teenager
[Music]
[Applause]
hi guys
not your average teenager so i have to
ask a question
what were you like at 15 when i ask most
people this
question they reminisce on maybe their
first
maybe second year of high school they
tell me about how they had to plan their
sweet 16th birthday party
and then they’ll just tell me something
nostalgic when i was 15
i remember being so insecure
not about a boy that i liked like most
girls my age
but because i had just been asked to
squat and cough
naked in front of a female officer
she ordered me to take off my clothes
and squat
in front of her fifteen-year-old me was
in jail
i was an intake being charged with
attempted
murder in the years leading up to me
turning 15
i had always been determined that i
would be a ballerina
i love attention and i love to dance so
i
always knew that that sort of stage was
for me however
i grew up in northeast d.c in a
neighborhood that was plagued with
violence
raised by a single mother who had to
work two jobs to support me
and my older sister my older sister
tried to help raise me
but she was just a kid herself so she
was in way
over her head she didn’t know how to
change a diaper
she wasn’t prepared to teach me how to
talk
how to read and write how to tie my
shoes
to take me to school to feed me but
she tried one thing i greatly remember
my mother telling me
was that if i ever got into a fight and
i was the one that got beat up
that she would beat my butt
those words stuck with me for the rest
of my life
so one day when i was in high school and
a classmate and i got into an argument
i went home and i told my mom that girl
was
much bigger than me mom reminded me
again
that if i were the one to get beat up
that she would beat
my butt and she walked over to the
kitchen drawer
and she pulled out a parent knife she
handed
me a paring knife with a blade that was
about
this long so the next day when i got to
school
and my classmate approached me i pulled
the knife out of my pocket
and i stabbed her right in the abdomen
i was immediately arrested and locked up
still 15
jail was a totally different world
imagine being a teenager you’re already
prone to rebel
and now there’s someone telling you what
to do
what to eat when to eat how to eat it
when to use the bathroom
how to use the bathroom when to go to
sleep and when you could watch tv
and it always stayed on the same channel
i was
so afraid all i could think about was
trying to go to sleep on that thin
mattress that barely covered that metal
slab that was supposed to be my bed
and again everybody was much bigger
and much taller than me
i was released from incarceration and i
found myself back into the same
neighborhood
with the same friends the same family
and the same
drama luckily a district attorney took a
chance on me
she was starting a program for at-risk
at high-risk girls and she wanted me to
be a part of it
i was honored this program gave me a new
type of self-esteem
somebody believed in me somebody gave me
a chance to show my potential
and it was in that program that she
showed me how to
live in an environment but not be of
that environment she gave me the tools
that i needed for success that would
lead me to greatness one day
tools such as how to dress for an
interview
how to conduct myself in an interview
how to build a resume
anger management how to change the way
you speak according to the setting that
you
are in and it was with those tools that
i was able to graduate high school i was
able to graduate
college and it was at the university of
maryland eastern shore
with a degree in rehabilitation services
where i now have the tools to
effectively rehabilitate those with
mental
and behavioral needs after i graduated
college
i became employed for dc’s national
association
for the advancement of returning
citizens cure the streets program
why i hope to plan community events and
forge peace in the former neighborhoods
that i used to live in
i even became employed at district of
columbia public schools
where i now work at baloo senior high
school as a paraprofessional and
educational aide
what i do is i assist children with
educational and behavioral needs
in smaller classroom settings and i give
them more attention
and more time to comprehend the lessons
that are in front of them
what i’m really able to do is pour
myself into the children that need me
the most
i’m able to show the children that they
can do it because they remind me so much
of myself i worked with one girl
she had actually just turned 15. she was
in charge of taking care of her four
younger brothers
because her mother had abandoned them
she was fighting constantly
her grades were slipping her clothes
weren’t clean and she had just stopped
coming to school altogether
so i took her to lunch one day and i let
her tell me everything that was going on
with her
i just listened every fear every cry
every piece of anger i just let her let
it all
go i took her out more often
on top of letting her vent to me daily i
took her shopping to boost her
confidence in herself
i took her out of her neighborhood out
of her comfort zone
i took her to a musical she never been
before
and i helped her with all of her
homework she did a complete
turnaround and she still calls me
constantly
that is my proudest moment
unfortunately i lost my mother a month
before my 20th birthday
and i always remember feeling so
disappointed that she passed away before
i could show her that
i could change before i could show her
that i was making something of myself
i always think about the kids in dc who
were my age
and the kids now who don’t have that
chance
or don’t know that they can change they
don’t know that there’s more options
out there for them i have looked for
options for them
according to usa today the district of
columbia has the highest rate of
juvenile incarceration in the entire
nation
and a recidivism rate that is hovering
just under 25 percent
that is more than twice that of every
state in our entire
nation and unfortunately these youth in
dc don’t have any programs because we
don’t have enough funding
to keep our programs going
i wonder what all those kids will do now
how will they succeed so
i joined community family life services
speakers bureau and it was there that
they taught me
how to not be ashamed of my story how to
not be scared to tell everybody what i
was going through and what i had gone
through
and now i use my voice for good
i have spoken to the justice impact
institute
on the impact of female incarceration i
have spoken to american university
on the impact of how we need more
nonprofit organizations in d.c
i have been featured on the one and four
podcast where i talked to marcus bullock
the ceo of flick shop
on incarceration and recidivism in dc
and more recently
i have spoken on the budget hearing for
the office of victim services
and justice grants for 2020. i use my
voice for good
these children don’t know that there’s a
second option out there for them
and they don’t know that there’s so much
more to us that people don’t know
we are strong we are resilient
and we are yearning for help at the end
of the day
so i have to ask you again what were you
like at 15
have you checked on any 15 year olds
that you know today
thank you
you