The No. 1 problem facing young people in America today is gang activity.
Those were the words driven home to more than 100 parents and children by former Harlem Globetrotter Richard “Pee Wee” Kirkland at a youth event that brought Kirkland to the New Hope Community Center in Poughkeepsie on Wednesday, Jan. 30.
Kirkland spoke about the dangers of being in a gang, and ways for kids to avoid getting caught up in the lifestyle.
“I want them to understand that making the wrong choices at a young age will destroy their life,” he said.
Kirkland discussed the Bloods and Crips, two gangs known for their colors: the Bloods wear red and the Crips wear blue.
Kirkland brought one young boy, Lakuan DeLeon Jr., to the front of the audience and asked why he was wearing the colors red and white. DeLeon, 12, and wearing an Ohio State shirt and red and white sneakers, said to Kirkland he liked to dress color-coordinated, but Kirkland wanted to paint the bigger picture.
“If you wear red in your community and if you’ve got Bloods in your community, when they see you, you’re a Blood,” Kirkland said.
Kirkland’s overall message didn’t target any particular age group, but focused on realizing that gang activity can happen to anyone, anywhere and for any reason.
“We’ve got kids in gangs, that have 85 and 95 averages, beating kids up, not respecting kids, but they don’t know the consequences,” he said.
Kirkland’s own journey has led him across the country, giving motivational speeches for the past 25 years, most recently to inmates at the Dutchess County Jail awaiting release.
“It wasn’t good, because a lot of it had to do with them (inmates) making certain decisions about their life, and most of them were there for making bad decisions,” he said.
Kirkland knows firsthand about prison life, and he has devoted his own life to preventing children from being drawn into gang life and drugs.
In 1971, Kirkland was arrested on several criminal charges, including tax evasion. Kirkland was convicted of conspiracy to sell narcotics and sent to the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania to begin a 10-year term.
Since being released from prison, Kirkland has focused on education. He earned a master’s degree in human services from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1995.
Kirkland also started the School of Skills, a Harlem-based program which uses basketball as a vehicle to teach important life lessons.
Some, such as Dutchess County Sheriff’s Public Relations Officer Robin Fryar, believe home and school are where good moral values are taught and learned.
“It starts with support from our parents, from the people that work with our children,” he said.
Other suggest communities shape children’s behavior.
“It’s not the parents’ fault; it’s what’s going on in the community. Even if that one parent is out, you still have kids going into the gangs,” Kirkland said.
Event organizer Tyrell Bennermon, a Poughkeepsie resident, agreed with Kirkland’s message.
“A lot of people feel as if just because you come from the projects, you’re more susceptible to problems, but you could live out in Spackenkill and still have the same thing,” Bennermon said.
Mayor offers words of hope
Mayor John C. Tkazyik (R-Poughkeepsie) appeared with his own story of hope on Wednesday night: that any goal is possible, even at a young age.
“When I was 21 I ran for city council and won,” he said. “So when I served on the council, I said to myself, ‘Someday I want to be mayor.’ So at the age of 28 I ran and won. That was my goal, and that was something I set my heart and mind to.”