WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm telling you and this is the Catholic show. Fourteen year old Martin was shot dead this month becoming Boston's 21st homicide this year in the aftermath of his premature death. The city is grappling with the implications. Citizens and city officials are asking what will it take to stem this tide of violence. Is peace possible or have we already made peace with this culture of death and despair. For some answers we're checking in with two of Boston's most notable veterans working to end violence. From there it's on to a Baltimore native. Author Wes Moore. His book tells a tale of two inner city destinies. He is an another man named Wes Moore. We wrap it up with local made good a local doing good by way of architecture. Up next A Tale of Two Cities from Boston to Baltimore. From NPR News in Washington I'm Craig Wyndham. BP executives say the long tube inserted into a broken pipe at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is recovering about a

thousand barrels of oil a day. But Eileen Fleming of member station WWL always says the company acknowledges that's only a fraction of the oil that's gushing into the waters of the Gulf. BP is estimating that 5000 barrels a day are spilling into the Gulf a mile under the surface. But some scientists who studied moving images of the leak say the flow is more likely 70000 barrels. Meantime researchers are checking if the millions of gallons spilled so far have hit a loop current that could pull the crude past the Florida Keys and up the East Coast. Eileen Fleming reporting from New Orleans. That's the sound of the Gulf Aid concert in New Orleans to raise money to help those affected by the oil spill the performers included the city's own Preservation Hall Jazz Band Dr. John and Lenny Kravitz. It makes me feel really sad you know because for this call to be polluted who knows where this water is going to go where the where the wind is going to carry it is going to go up the Eastern Seaboard like they're saying and you know all these horror stories you know. We don't know yet.

It ain't good. Kravitz says he's concerned for the Gulf Coast fisherman whose livelihoods will be impacted by the spill. All the teachers counselors and other staff members who were fired at a high school in Rhode Island are voting today on an agreement that would get them their jobs back. Jonica member station WRNI reports the mass firings were part of an effort to turn around one of the state's worst performing schools. Continued employment would be contingent on teachers working longer days offering more after school tutoring and submitting to more intensive evaluation. Rhode Island education commissioner Deborah guest says it's the outcome she always wanted. This is the foundation for an aggressive plan to turn the high school around. And we're confident that with the conditions that are set out in the degree meant we will have the ability to do what needed me. Central Falls Teachers Union officials say they will recommend ratification vote results are expected this afternoon. For NPR I'm Flo Jonica in Providence. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a close decision that teenagers who are under the age of

18 may not be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole unless they've been convicted of murder. That decision came in the case of a Florida man who is currently serving a life term after being implicated in armed robberies when he was 16 and 17 years old. Stock prices are sagging on Wall Street and analysts say investors are still wary about Europe's debt situation and whether the rescue plan worked out by European Union nations will be sufficient to address the problem in Greece down dust rails are currently down 138 points at ten thousand four hundred eighty one. The Nasdaq composite index is off thirty two points. This is NPR News. From Washington. The White House says the U.S. still has serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program despite a deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil under which Iran would send some of its nuclear fuel to Turkey for storage. The deal is similar to an agreement that Iran had with the West last fall before backing out of the deal. In the interim

Iran has been enriching more uranium and the amount that it's proposing to send to Turkey reportedly constitutes only about half of its current stockpile. Anti-government protesters in Thailand are defying warnings to leave central Bangkok. And there's been more clashes between the protesters and government troops today. Protest leaders are proposing a cease fire and talks. Patricia Noonan says there's been no agreement so far but the two sides are exchanging communications plumes of black smoke from burning tires have become almost part of the landscape in Bangkok with protesters lighting the fires in defiance of the government order to go home. Demonstrators also say the fires make it more difficult for soldiers to shoot at them. For the past two months Red Shirt protesters have occupied Bangkok's commercial and shopping districts an area roughly 10 square kilometers. Clashes erupted on the perimeter of the zone after troops began an operation to encircle the protesters. Red Shirt leaders in the government have both called for the violence to end. But efforts to hold more

formal negotiations have so far failed. Concerns remain high that the military may crack down on all the protesters who may respond by going on a rampage of destruction in the commercial and shopping districts. For NPR News I'm Patricia Noonan in Bangkok. General Motors is reporting its first quarterly profit in nearly three years today. I'm Craig Wyndham NPR News in Washington. Support for NPR comes from us on college e united with thirteen hundred on colleges nationwide to help patients fight cancer online at us on college E dot com. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Kelly Crossley Show earlier this month to Juan Martin a 14 year old boy was shot dead in Boston making him the city's 21st homicide victim this year. Joining us to talk about what it will take to in this tide of violence are Pastor Bruce wall and Tina Chery. Pastor wall

is the senior pastor of the global ministries Christian church. He has also spent years on the streets of Dorchester mentoring youth and dealing with gangs. Tina Chery is the founder of the Louis Brown Peace Institute. The institute is named for Cherry son who was murdered in 1993 when he was only 15. Pastor Bruce Wall Tina Chery welcome. Thank you. Tina I want to talk with this start with you. Sixteen years ago you lost your son Lewis to violence and John Martin was killed the day before your annual Mother's Day March which is a march to in violence in the street. I want to know how you felt when you heard about John Martin. When I heard about Joe Juan Martin and Carly even before Joe Juan Martin because like we're saying he was to 20 furth homicide. So it's really when we hear about each child each victim it takes me back to 16 years ago. It's like my own son being killed or all over again. And it's

really really traumatizing. So it's it's it's a pain that you really can't explain and it's a pain that never goes away. And like young Martin the same the city was outraged when the was Brown was killed because he was considered a good child a good honor roll students. And it's even more painful again when we try to justify why a one Chalis killed and then when we get angry when another child who you know shouldn't be killed is killed. So it's really it's not just pain but it's also struggling and it's also it's also very confusing as to you know we get outrage with one but then we don't get outrage with the other 20 that happened before Saturday before Mother's Day. Reverend Bruce wall you are outraged about the 20 before and the 21st as well you've been working for peace in the streets since the 90s and you say this is a state of emergency what do you mean.

I mean that we have a homicide the city comes together. They have a press conference we're going to do something about it and then everybody goes back to their churches that the city administration goes back to the administration. I want to Compean I want to see a comprehensive plan to eradicate the violence the homicides in our city not just for a few months during the summer but for the entire year. We did it before we can do it again. What does that look like what's a comprehensive plan. Well a comprehensive plan would be a number of us are talking I've been walking in the Codman Square section of the city of Boston 10 blocks around my church. We have we have a lockdown that means that if anything happens in the vicinity of the church 10 blocks around the church we're addressing it. But we're in the neighborhood before it happens. We don't have teenagers controlling the streets in the 10 block radius of our church. If every pastor took 10 blocks three blocks five blocks that's part of a plan. The other plan that I was talking to some people about we again we have Tina Chery here in the studio. If the city or the state government was

serious about eradicating this her Peace Institute would be fully funded. You know let me just try to out while we're looking that a comprehensive plan. Again this is nothing new during the Clinton administration the U.S. the surgeon general really looked at violence as a public health issue. And it does talk about looking at focusing more on prevention than on rehabilitation. And then that violence prevention identifies behavior environmental and biological risk factors associated with violence. And it takes steps to educate individuals and communities about and protect them from this risk factor. And then I don't know if we remember when Chicago 16 yes I mean man was out. Yes we're President Obama. This patch Attorney General Eric Holder to the city to declare that he understood the urgency of the problem.

And right now that the potman of Justice has issued another report. That violence is a public health issue that more than 60 percent of the children survey are exposed to violence and nearly half of them are assaulted at least once. And then he went on to discuss the need for coordinated solutions response to this issue. In the past have been fragmented. The federal government does one thing the state does another. And there are private groups like yourself try to do something as well. And then we're not we're not supported and we're not validated and we're not value so we're really competing where faith community where cunt PDM with the bigger entities but yet in the end the community itself that we're trying to help is left on the 10 Did you know we find more programs to work after the problem happens. But yet the hotspot still remains the same and the players are younger and the

victims are younger and there's really no comprehensive approach. And we're all fragmented because we're go in after the dollar. So Reverend Weil let me just ask that because what Tina Chery has just outlined and you too is that you have to be proactive not reactive and we are in a reactive stance now where city leaders are. It's just not a reactive it's a defensive stand because every time somebody stands up and says that it's difficult in the streets it's difficult in the city then people are standing up and they're coming after you for making that statement again. During the 90s and during the 80s we were losing hundreds of young people on the streets of Boston and people worked together without all of this federal city state money. And again we had two years where we did not have any juvenile homicides. Once the federal money started coming into the city the preaches the community activists everybody who used to work together started competing for the same dollar. And then it fragmented. And so what's happening now is that the city wants to keep a lid on it because the city

is also receiving money for being the desire of being the city that's been able to effectively address that and the covers are being taken off of the city to say that it is not effective and they have the potential of losing resources so anybody who speaks to that is attacked by the city administration. All right I'm going to give you a chance Reverend Falwell we're here to respond to people who say that your outrages is ego based and it's all about you and not about the violence and. You want to respond to that. I can't respond to that. I've been doing this for over 30 is slept in drug houses work with families I've worked with neighborhoods I would not even dignify what they're asking with a response I'm just going to continue to do what I'm doing like I want to. For our listeners who don't know the history there are some clergy in town who have you know criticized you for for being out front saying that the city council needs to describe this as a state of emergency to name this as a state of emergency and let me ask you by naming it I mean you both have

said you and Tina Chery have said we need a comprehensive program. What does naming it as a state of emergency by the city council mean. OK. Does that mean that it gets more attention. Well right now what's happening in the city. Is that they're doing what they did in the 90s when they said in the 90s we do not have a gang problem in Boston and it wasn't until my Tayyiba went to algo Avenue and Sonoma street in Dorchester filmed what the gangs were doing that the city had to admit it and address it. Right now they're saying what the homicide rate the death count and not city. It's not as bad as L.A. is not as bad as New Jersey. I don't live in L.A. I don't live in New Jersey. One homicide is worth standing up and saying that it needs to stop. So the city if the city council stood up and said even symbolically we have a state of emergency that will be some one city official one body that would acknowledge that we have a problem right now. They are afraid to say it because they're concerned about what the chief administrator would say to them about it. You probably know that the line item for us jobs the

summer summer youth jobs has been cut. You know the city is complaining of not having funds for a number of programs but that's certainly one that's been talked about and a number of people are concerned that leaves a lot of kids with nothing to do and it's an environment that can lead to violence out of boredom if nothing else and and rage bubbling up. What it did what kind of response do you have to that. You know I look at it and again I think we as community as faith leaders I truly believe we as elected officials as as business entities. I truly believe that we're doing everything humanly possible that's within our control. I think when we when we say if this doesn't happen then violence is going to happen. I think we have to begin to believe and take personal responsibilities. So if there's no job. Is this who our children are. Are they described by a job. And then again our children do not make adult decisions.

If we have identified 1 percent of the population that's creating the violence we can give that 1 percent. But where are the adults in the lives of these children. Are we giving the adult the job. So the calling for more adult involvement whether or not you have a child who may be affected. I'm calling for i is going to take all of us when we go out there saying youth are the problem. And when we go out having and having emergency meetings and we have identify who these young men are and where we get these young people we're going to make an example out of them. Where are the adults in that in the lives of the young man we want to make an example out of. And what support did that family need before this child was identify how high at risk the young man who's in jail for killing my son is a son of a Boston police officer. But yet there is a family that goes behind that when these young men

come out of jail what have we do win for them. How will we be and prepared for them. Job is one job is one we are a city that's traumatized but yet we have not looked at healing as a community. So we had one final call up on that. And if I could with with Reverend Weil to this extent because there are some people if you read the comments after the stories about John's death and the community response are people are saying well that always happens in these communities what do you expect. How do you respond to that because Tina's just said this is a community problem not that is the main one part of the community that means all the whole community. I think we have in this city we have normalized the problem. So we make statements like it's the summer time. We're going to have violence why can't we change the paradigm and say it's summertime we're not going to have any problems with. We're not going to have any homicides and work toward doing that. This problem is a social problem spiritual economic What I'm saying is what the city should do is spend some money and bring in a

consultant. Should've brought him in before the crisis started but bring a consultant in who will bring us all together who ask us the important questions. Have us respond and deliver a plan to us that all of us will work on because as Tina said everybody is working on a different plan and what the definition of the definition of insanity is doing it was the same thing. And it's the right thing. A different result in the city is doing the same thing. We've had a couple homicides. We need to get these preachers in here very quickly to cover I mean bring the preachers in so that they could say that things are quiet we won't allow them to city and maybe we'll get to August. And and it just maybe we'll go to September and we'll wait until next summer. I'm tired of that. I want a comprehensive plan. And I think I think. As I said to people who say let me just ask this question What do you say to people who say in the in the 90s when you brought about the Boston Miracle by reducing the homicide rate to side rate by 60 percent doing some of the things you been talking about here that this is a different

day and a different era and that these kids are not like those ones in the in the 90s you know the Boston Medical let me tell you what the Boston Merica was a twenty six page report by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno under the Clinton administration the attorney general Janet Reno went around the country. And her report was one city's success story where the piece curriculum was one of the programs the attorney general cited that contributed to the reduction of juvenile crime in the city of Boston that twenty six page report was primary prevention what's deemed as public health issue now primary prevention focus in on the before the problem. But Tina is what how do you answer people saying different kids different era can't do the same thing that happened whatever that whatever therefore I look into this is different kids different era same hotspots.

The same as getting hot spots so we need to begin to act so it's the we we wanna RAS. We want to prosecute but they're coming back out of the same hot spots. What let me let the reverend while just really quickly at the you know respond to that as we close out this conversation again. I agree with what Tina was saying. What the city does we have a crisis and that's a common Square that's where I'm at. So the city will come up do a good job to try to clean it up but then there's a problem in Grove Hall so they go to Grove Hall and they clean that up but they're not. But they don't maintain they don't maintain what they've just done. That's because they don't have a comprehensive plan. You have different young people who will they know this saying they'll shoot a pastor they want saying that before. So again we have to sit down we have to talk with each other and we are going to keep saying it again. We need a comprehensive plan to address this issue. And we in this city we don't have the comprehensive plan. We have a part of it but we need somebody to pull us together and we're trying to just quickly tomorrow

from 12:00 to 2:30 at the First Parish Church. We are bringing agencies together who are working on primary prevention before the problem happens and then how do we present that to the mayor. How do we present that to the governor and that's focusing on the primary prevention. Right now our money is going on secondary and tertiary. Those that are creating the problem and then after the problem all we're trying to do is now balance it and look and that's also in 15 years. We're not dealing with another Jawan Martin because we would have looked at this violence as a public health approach and everything is being done at a parallel level so it's not we're not competing with the ministers. We're not competing with money with the police. We're not comparing money with the Corps but we're also looking at education and mentoring and parenting and gauge mente and all the things that we

all need for a healthy vibrant community what all children and families are valued. Peacemaking efforts. Well sometimes it takes a horrible horrible event isn't Joe on Martin's death to make people focus again and maybe this is the time for the comprehensive plan finally. Thank you we've been talking about putting an end to violence on Boston streets with Pastor Bruce wall and Tina Chery. Pastor Wallace the senior pastor of the global ministries Christian church has also spent years on the streets of Dorchester mentoring youth and dealing with gangs. Tina Chery is the founder of the Louis D Brown Peace Institute. The institute is named for Cherry son who was murdered in 1993 at the age of 15. Thank you both so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having us here. Coming up a story of two men who share the same name but have drastically different destinies. We'll be back after this break. Stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you. And from proven winners. A

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This is eighty nine point seven. WGBH Boston NPR station for trusted voices and local conversation with the take away the Diane Rehm Show and the Emily Rooney show explore new voices with us all day long here on the new eighty nine point seven. WGBH. The voice of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. And I want to invite you to join me in the learning tours a fabulous trip to the Berkshires this July 4 full days of music theatre and art. Learn more at WGBH daughterboard slash learning tours. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. Two men one name two different lives. Why does one go one way and not the other.

That's the theme of Baltimore native Wes Moore's new book about choices and expectations. The Other Wes Moore one name two fates was more welcome. Well thank you so much great being here. This book I have to tell you has captured me and I'm also haunted by it. It's really hard to let go which I know is good for an author. But it's disturbing in everything that you write about and it's also poignant. So let's begin just with some facts so that people can understand how this all came to be. How did you find out about The Other Wes Moore. I first found out about him. I was actually a student at Johns Hopkins University I was doing a study abroad program in South Africa and I was on the phone with my mother and she said I've got something crazy to tell you. She said there are wanted posters all over your neighborhood. For a man wanted for the murder of a police officer and his name is Wes Moore and if you see him do not approach because he's assumed to be armed and very dangerous. And that was the first time that I'd ever learned about Wes Moore and

so I came back to the United States and I started reading more articles because this this case absolutely gripped the city of Baltimore because the person that was killed he was a police sergeant a 13 year veteran three time recipient of police officer of the year and he was working as an off duty police officer at a jewelry store. And these you know four guys going into a jewelry store and rob a jewelry store. He ran after them try to get them keep them from getting away. And he was shot three times in point blank range. And but the more that I learned about the other Wes The more I realized that we had so much more in common than just our name that we both grew up in single parent households that we both were around the same age that we both have significant troubles with academic both academically and also in terms of discipline within our neighborhoods. And so it haunted me that how does this even happen. How does it happen that two kids with such similar backgrounds and such similar similar experiences end up in two completely different places. And that's why it haunts me to the point that one day I decide to reach out to him and write him a note in prison and a month later I received a letter back from Jessup Correctional Institution from Wes more.

One of the things that you didn't mention but which should be mentioned is that you were both raised by single mothers. The circumstances were different. West really didn't know his father very well but your father died and your father was married to your mother and died. And but the impact was intense as because of the absence of the Father. Absolutely. There was a you know quite a few conversations that Wes and I have had. Now I'm not going to visit him I know you know Wes for close to five years visit him over two dozen times. And one of the things that I've really learned is how the impacts of for both of us of not having our fathers there have have really affected our lives and there's as there's actually a scene in the book when Wes and I are talking in prison and and he says to me you know your father wasn't there because he couldn't be. And my father wasn't there because he chose not to be and therefore we're going to mourn their absence in different ways. And I told him you know I thought that was you know very accurate a very fair point. But I think one thing we both also agreed is that regardless of the reasoning regardless of Regardless of why we both grew up with just our mothers that

whole that was left in both of our lives was something that was so significant and so deep that I think both of us started looking for a lot of ways to try to fill that hole. And in many ways that we were looking were for both the case of both boys were not only dangerous and counterproductive but I really had significant impacts on the lives we lead. I want to give our listeners a chance to just hear a bit of your book and following up on the point that you just made. Looking for a way the other Wes Moore to find his way in the world and to and to be a man he looked up to his older brother and this is a just a brief passage when you talk about how his older brother Tony was trying to shape him. And by the way readers West does not have his book which is why I'm reading this. So people will understand that Tony wanted the best for Wes but he still felt that part of his mission as a Big Brother was to toughen him up for the battles Tony knew Wes would have to fight as he got older. Some days Tony would have Wes and Woody meet him at the Murphy

homes where he would assemble a group of Murphy homes boys the boys would circle up like they were getting ready to watch a gladiator fight. Tony would order Wes and Woody into the center of the ring. Then he would call out the names of a few of the Murphy Holmes boys at Tony's command West. Woody and the boys from the projects would start wrestling and punching one another first tentatively but then with increasing viciousness until Tony jumped into the circle and grabbed the backs of their collars separating them like pit bulls in a dog fight. If you ever slacken. Tony would pull an exhausted west to the side. Get within inches of his face and say. Rule number one. If someone disrespects you you send a message so fierce that they won't have a chance to do it again. It was Murphy Holmes Law and Wes took it to heart. That just went through me when I read that. Yeah and then the really unfortunate thing you know about that is when all that was happening you know Tony you know the West West was still nine years old. You know Tony was was

14 and you know Tony it's Tony played a really fascinating role in this Tony was actually the trigger man that day he was actually want to pull the trigger that killed Sergeant Sergeant Prothero and he along with Wes and two other guys all received life in prison. And but Tony was fascinating because Tony tried hard to keep Wes out of the drug game as Wes was growing up Tony knew Wes was a smart kid and Tony knew Wes had the potential to do well. And Tony really was trying to steer him in the right direction because Tony and fundamentally had essentially given up on himself. By the time Tony was around 14 or so. So it was that watching the relationship and the dynamic between big brother little brother role model and mentee really played itself out in many different ways throughout Wes's life. The theme one of the things through your book is about expectations and how they play a huge role in. Every kid's life and so you know I looked at that passage and I thought his expectation was that he was going to toughen up and West's expectation then of himself is that well this is what I'm meant to do to survive.

And on the other hand for you the expectations were quite different. That's right and and there was actually there was a time when Wes and I are talking in the prison and I highlight where I ask him I say. Do you think that we're products of our environments. And he looked back I mean he said actually I think we're products of our expectations. And I thought that was a really important point because you know as as continued on in the book when he basically was saying you know if your expectation is that you'll graduate from high school and you go on to college and you'll be you know be a productive citizen you'll get married and have children and be a good father then then that's what you'll do and kids will generally meet those expectations. But if the expectation for you or for the expectation for the neighborhood that you grow up in are that you probably won't finish. If the expectation is that you probably will be involved in a criminal justice system that you probably will be in a lot of facilities for the rest of your life. Then kids will have a funny way of meeting those expectations too. And the importance of making sure that we're setting not just high but proper expectations for our kids really rate really rings true throughout this process of this entire book because once I

realized that my expectations were different once I realized that I had people who are counting minutes to just start doing the right thing even always having significant challenges coming up. I was able to be able to see more explore more and really start to prove people right on the expectations that they were setting for me because their expectation became my expectations of myself. And even though you know it wasn't a smooth ride for you I mean you went to militate your mother had to send you to military school to sort of straighten you out and you ran away several times before you sort of got the message right but they say they hung in there expecting you to do better. They did I mean one thing I realized very early was even though I was giving my mother every reason to follow other folks lead and give up on me she wouldn't. And as frustrating as it was to me sometimes she refused to give up on me. And and it meant a lot and it meant a lot because she understood that that burden and that burden of child birth and going into adulthood can be very difficult for so many young kids. But my mother taught me something and she and she blew it and she repeatedly says and I think is absolutely right

when she says kids need to think that you care before they care what you think. And she knew that the only way that I was going to be able to break out of the challenges that I was having and be able to break out of the of the norm of what the expectations were for so many kids who were growing up in and in our neighborhood was that she needed. She needed me to understand how many people cared about me because if I knew that then I would care what they thought. And I would then be able to be able to meet their expectations. We're talking with Wes Moore whose book is The Other Wes Moore one name two fates. Now Wes when did when is the moment or can you from looking at both of your experiences determine when the other Wes Moore was really lost and when you were able to take a different path where you could have been lost but you managed to make a turn. I think in the in the case of Wes I think a real turning point for him. There are actually two pretty significant points one was was after he was picked up on attempted murder charges and he came back to the community and I think I think that was a really tough moment for him

because I think that's the point that even his mother will acknowledge that it was at that point that she realized that he was probably too far gone. And I know that his mother was really was his biggest supporter. And it should be noted that she worked very hard she was working two jobs and trying her best to keep an eye on these kids and just couldn't do it all. Absolutely and it's a very important point that you just made because also Wes's mother was the first one in her family to go to college. You know Wes his mother was actually been accepted at Johns Hopkins University and that and then the Pell grants were cut. And so she could no longer afford to go. So I can't help but think that his mother had the opportunity to finish school had she got a college degree from Johns Hopkins University I can't help but think that the prospects for her family would have been different for her would've been different and then in effect the prospects for her children then would have been different as well. So she was she was working you know very hard and was a stalwart supporter. But I think that was a real turning point for us in another turning point was when he went to the Job Corps. He had spent some time in the streets at that point really doing a lot with drugs. And he went to the Job Corps and got his GED started to

really try to turn his life around but then he came back to the community after being in Job Corps which is a job training program all throughout the country and the best he could do was was make some you know make loose money on the different jobs he was making because he had a felony record because you know he really there really was no place that was going to welcome him back into society. He he then found himself back on the street corners and doing what he knew how to do best. And as a way of taking care of his family. So I think there were larger lessons to be understood in that as we're thinking about recidivism and as we're looking as people coming back into communities after spending time in prison not just how we're preparing the community to welcome them back but then also how we're preparing them to come back into into the community because again we're talking 95 percent of people in prisons will come back at some point. And I think a real turning point for me was actually while I was at the military school because I think even though i even though I try to run away five times in the first four days from there and I hated every minute of it. When I first went it was also there that I began to understand that I was a part of something bigger than

myself. It was there that I began to understand accountability it was there that I began to understand leadership and that it really mattered that I was there I got rank and I got responsibility and that's one of the point when I think I made it I made a psychological decision that my life was worth something more. It wasn't so much about the you know actually physically transporting me from one community to another but it's about the psychological transformation that I was going through that I think helped help steer you know help steer me for the rest of my life. I mean and when you made the change you really made the change you know. Rhodes Scholar military veteran financial with the whole nine yards. I mean it couldn't be more different from The Other Wes Moore is life. Yeah. And yet you want to make clear that your book your story is not really about a good or a bad west. That's right. And I've. And that you've said that a lot of luck went into this. So you know this is a question you have to ask. I know every place you go but you got to ask try again ear what you

know how could it be that you could just keep going forward I know about the support I know about your you're feeling like you know your life was worth more but when you see somebody and you read think about this other Wes Moore and the loss of the talent and the possibilities for him it's you got to go back and try to pick out what specific can we do to try to head it off for other people. Well there's one thing I realize is that there is no one thing that I that we can do I mean I think you know parenting is extraordinarily complicated and particularly if you happen to be parenting in a neighborhood that in some cases is working against you in terms of you know helping your child go go through this part of this process of adulthood. But there are a couple things that I know and I know it from personal experience in the work that we do with kids is that as long as we're willing to be there to intervene and support that changes can make and we can genuinely make miracles happen. You know one of the things that I'm most proud of in this book is that it is actually the back of the

book because we have we list over 200 organizations around the country that are actually doing the work on the ground. There are lot of resources. Yes absolutely. It should be noted that a portion of the book the proceeds go to two organizations. Which are supporting you. Absolutely and in fact one of them is actually started in Boston city or is one of the organizations that is receiving a significant portion of proceeds in the other one is the U.S. Dream Academy which supports children of the incarcerated. So one thing one thing I know for sure is that as long as we're willing to intervene as long as we're willing to actually step up and be part of the solution that we actually can make great things happen I mean I believe it's so firmly that it literally on the cover of the book is a saying that the chilling truth is that his story could have been mine and the tragedy how do you get a muster let me ask you this Wes how do you get young people because they now you have the benefit of maturity. How do you get young people to understand the power and impact of their choices. Well I think I think one thing you can do is help to show them the impact of the choices I mean one of the reasons that actually decide even put together this book is not in any way to make people

sympathize or or you know with with with Westerners current situation or to glorify what happened. You know I make very clear who the victims of you know of February 7 2004 was Sergeant proctor or his family. But one thing I want kids to understand is these are the ramifications for your decisions. This is what happens when the small decisions become big decisions and then also just help them to reflect on the small decisions that they make within their own life every single day and how they impact not only themselves but also impact people around them. And then in addition to that showing that showing their caretakers and their Dulcinea mentors inside of their life how much potency we really do have in order to actually affect people. How much potency we really have in order to affect communities and affect the society that we live in in the country that we live in. You know one thing when we talk about this this burden of expectations you know for kids and why it is so important because part of it is and I think part of the fundamental problem is the expectations that we place not only on you know so many kids in these communities but on the communities as a whole is they are relatively low. You know if we really believe that the cure for

LS was going to be born in you know West Baltimore today or felt that you were the cure for cancer was going to be born in the South Bronx today then we would do everything it took to really extract those resources out of these communities the question is do we do we fundamentally believe that. But I do believe we can make that psychological change and actually create the expectations that will produce that will really fundamentally help people understand that these neighborhoods are not the problems these neighborhoods are the solutions to our problems as long as we're willing to put in the time as long as it will not put in the effort to actually create that. I wonder what you would say to people what do you want the kids to take away and what do you want others kids who are you know primarily affected or could be and others who are not who are outside of looking on you know at this experience saying well I'm not going to deal with this you know but it touches me. Well for the kids one thing I want them to understand is that is that I understand. You know I understand the pain and the hurt that they're going through and how difficult it is and how challenging it can be to grow up. You know and not just not just in certain

neighborhoods or in certain communities but for all kids in the challenges that you face. But one thing I want kids to understand is that you're not alone in this is that you have people who are there fighting for you and supporting you. Many people who you don't even know but who are out there helping to open doors and really provide support for you and as long as you're willing to give a hand out as long as you're willing to reach halfway there are folks who are willing to pull you the rest of the way. And what about the other people. And for people who don't you know who don't live in communities and think that think that this doesn't affect them. I point to this story as a perfect example is that many people thought that the communities that West was living in and the route that I was living in that it would affect them and til four guys walk into a jewelry store in another part of town and it results in the murder of a 13 year veteran of the police force. These problems if we ignore them generally don't stay in one community they generally don't stay in one neighborhood. So these are all of our issues. And if we care about the success of this country long term we cannot continue going on having underutilized assets in the in the in the make of entire communities and act like this isn't a big deal and act like it doesn't affect us because it's only that side of town because it isn't just that

side of town these are all people who can make a who can make a drastic difference in the lives of all of us. As long as we're willing to make that commitment. Well to quote from your book for the rest of us those who snuck in despite coming from the margins the mission has to be to pull up others behind us. What's more you're certainly doing that with this story. I congratulate you on it I hope everybody reads it. It is quite haunting and. I don't even know what to say that didn't you. It gives you a lot to think about. We've been talking with author Wes Moore His book is The Other Wes Moore one name two fates. You can catch us more tonight at the Harvard bookstore and Harvard Square at 7:00 p.m.. For more information visit Harvard dot com. Wes Moore thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much thanks for your time. Up next it's our regular Monday feature local made good. Stay tuned. For. That. The. With the. Fact that.

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and the Kelly Crossley Show explore new voices with us all day long here on the new eighty nine point seven. WGBH. The annual spring auction is stocked with all kinds of sweet deals. From pampering spa packages to guided tours of Yosemite to a pair of tickets to catch the Red Sox take on the Yankees at his store and my park has something for everyone. Take advantage of these sweet deals and do your part at the same time securely on line at auction. His. Choice from the most trusted source in public broadcasting. I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. It's time for our regular Monday

feature local made good where we celebrate people whose creativity brings honor to New England joining us today as a local doing good. Casey market is he's an architect with Choi Kobus and associates in Cambridge. His work has been recognized by the National Design publication contract winning its second annual contract inspirations award. Casey Marquez welcome. Thank you Kelly for having me. It's a pleasure. Oh good it's a pleasure for us we love local made good and we love the people who represent it so. First I want you to explain to our listeners what you did to win this fabulous award the contract inspirations award. Well our firm Jacobus and associates we we gave back to the community and had a project that's called the Community Project where we took a basement of the foster these kids coming in and out of foster care and we created designed a space for them that had a music studio where shop which shop and study everything a lounge area so we just really redid the whole place and they

loved it very very much. It's the Dorchester Putnam house. And it's a house for 16 to 19 year old young man who are almost aged out of the foster care system and they learn independence by living together in this space. Yes. So but I want you know you said it so modestly Oh we just made a lounge in a studio and you know in fact it was a pretty dank and dark place. It certainly serviced the young man well but you know it wasn't beautiful to be in. And what you did was fabulous So you really listened to them and brought that place back to just a special special place for them to be able to interact with each other tell us about it. It was a great experience I mean meeting the boys was a very great day. When I first went there I wasn't really supposed to be the project architect and I was just supposed to donate some of my time to recreate the basement in 3-D for the architects but after

going to the space and listening to the board and seeing what you know the basin was a really really disaster was in need of you know some love and some care and they had like a flood. We had a flood so we came in looking talking with everybody there. We decided to create create the space the same space they had but just give a lot of has a little style and I came in and became the project architect and just made it my own. Well there is a reason why I think this this particular project had resonance for you you yourself have had you know you had a few troubles coming up. Tell our listeners about it. Well I mean like a lot of young men don't have a father and a life and you know single mom that raises you know I just grew up with the wrong crowd older crowd and was in and out of the school systems I got kicked out when I was in sixth grade out of middle school I went to another school system for two years where you know gave me a little gave me little

confidence when I went to the other school because it was a smaller school. But then I started honing in on my skills after my eighth grade year there. Try to get back into my school system where I was going and they didn't want me to come back so I was always you were a troublemaker. Yeah right. I was a drug maker so the principal actually the principal at the time that kicked me out when I was in sixth grade she became the superintendent so she knew my background. So every year I try to get back in but they still let me play sports for the city because I was very good at sports so my whole thing was I was a very competitive and competitive person in nature so when they told me I can't you know I can't make it because I'm not a good enough student to come back in. It just propelled me to get back in the school system so after my 10th grade year I won a basketball championship with my new school and was like the student of the year in the Hall of Fame for the school so they finally let me back in. So I went back to high school and played a lot of sports and at that point in time I knew what I wanted to do which was either

architecture or play sports but I really wasn't looking you know what about let me just stop and pause you know architecture doesn't usually come up for kids. You you why why architecture. Well no. As a boy I love to draw and I love the way things come together so I always you know always to myself told myself how did things come together. It wasn't just architecture I think I just wanted to become a designer. I also design cars and design you know buildings and just little objects around the house and one trip my brother died when I was younger. We went to Dominican Republic where my family's from. And I met one of my uncles and I've never met before he was an architect so when he took me to his office and he you know showed me around and at that point in time I was like you know what. I'm either going to be somebody who play sports or an architect because I love to I can sit for hours and draw and when I saw him you know I was like God he's getting paid to draw in and come up with cool ideas I think that's what I want to do.

Now leaping forward many many years later when you are a successful architect and this project comes your way. How did it speak to you emotionally. Because I'm told that you really got invested in it that you really you know you could have and this is all pro bono work done by your firm so you could have come in just done the job but it really it meant more than that to you. Yeah I mean like I said at first I mean I wasn't really it was one of these projects where you know when they when they announced it to the office and they're like well we need some help. I was like all this is me this is you know sometimes I want to do it until I went to the house and you know I met the boys and I saw the space they had and you know and finally I just one one and one click together I was like you know what they're in the same kind of situation I was and you know I want to be where I'm at without support or motivation so just looking at the space I was like you know what I can create something and I at first I didn't I thought this project was going to be something I was just putting up some some Jip and some pain and calling it a day but I actually was I wanted something more for the boys and want to create something that they're really proud of in a

place where instead of being on the streets they can just come back to the house and and bring their friends and not have to be on the streets and that's what you know I tried like I said I made it my own. I mean written like it was my house and you know it was something that if I was a young boy back back being young and something I needed and I created it for them. Well you know Putnam House has been described as a saving grace for these young men who are getting close to aging out of the foster care system and for kids who are getting older in the foster care system. Sixty percent of them suffer from depression 54 percent of them even being unemployed a third being homeless. So something like Putnam House can really make the difference. I have to note that my last guest was talking about the power of expectations and you just spoke to that saying that you know when people started to support you you realize there was more more that you could do with your life. And here you are expressing that for other young men. Yeah I mean recently actually we had had a

meeting with a lot of the boys and also Pandit came which Family Services has a go program too. So we had a little speak luncheon and at the same I told the kids that you know use the resources they have and you know right now they actually are in a better place than most kids are not in a in a kind of a foster home because they don't have that kind of support base and you know Cambridge came a trembly and Children Services. They have a lot of. You know a lot of people that can help them in and point him in the right direction of what they wanted and you know me being back when I was I had a lot of coaches and a lot of people in my life that I mean at first I did not know what I wanted to do and it took me looking into myself and saying all right do I want to be like my friends. The way my friends are doing that you know doing nothing or do I want to be some better. And you know finally making a decision for myself. So you know I think people have to look into themselves and also use the people around them to get where they want to go.

Tell me about the laundry room. I understand that you really paid attention to what the boys told you and and made that quite special. Yeah I mean well what's funny about is that I mean we had a bunch of different designs and me from the from the get go I wanted to create something that was really strive again and you know out of this world. So the first design that I designed was very very you know very funky and I thought Id be edgy and I thought that's someone they would want. But actually they actually picked they actually wanted something that was more closed off and had doors and. And they also wanted the lounge room to be the central point of the. When you first walk into the basement because you know like I say what does it look like Describe it for our audience. Well the space. One of the things that we also did from from day one is incorporate the boys in every decision making that was made and one of the decision points that we did was that we had a mirror competition and the boys picked this train mural that we had that we were going to put on the wall and from there this thing sprung about of doing

a theme throughout the whole space. So is that a line drawn as well the MBT I think. Yeah well every room is a different color so we have the orange the blue the green the red the silver lining and the room was the blue line and you know the boys the reason why they picked is because the symbolic nature of them BTA was like a community and it's connected all connected them to the community and and also is what they use every day so they came came in hand so that when you first come in you're going to see the sort of a line that looks like almost like a train. It looks like almost like a train subway. And when you first come in you have these double doors that open up has a mural on it and there is the big a big laundry room because usually I use it tend to put the lunchroom to the side and they don't want that they like. Now we want to beg and we want to you know extravagant as I get whatever you guys want and actually what is the central part of where they hang out i guess. Yeah I mean like I like it. Like you know like they're trying to trying to become men so they're the ones that have to do the laundry and do everything so that's I think that's the most space that gets utilized the most down there you know because it's on a

day to day basis every day. Well I was there during construction we had to go and you know the lodge room was the first thing that was active and they were down there all the time you know doing their laundry and you know just talking to me and you know I was given advice and such like that so everything worked out great. They must be so excited and proud. Yeah I mean they tell you Well you know they haven't I haven't talked to him lately. The last time I was it was for Christmas we actually put the money together at our office and bought them a wee and some games and stuff like that and they just you know they love the space they just they couldn't wait to start utilizing them in the music studio which you know we actually created. A professional music studio for them and recently I just spoke to the Rector at the house and they just raised the money that they needed. So I think the quote might be in now. So that's the only thing that were missing was the equipment the music studio in the woodshop So I think it stops it now so I will be nice to see what's become of the space. I know that the lounge was getting used

a lot in. Same thing with the study study area. How do you feel. Very very great I mean. You know it's something I didn't I didn't imagine how successful the project would be. You know at first you know I was a little a little scary because you didn't know what was going to happen but. Like I turned out great. It turned out great. Yes. Well I love talking with a local made good person who was a local doing good. We've been talking with Casey Marquez an architect and associates in Cambridge. His work has been recognized by the National Design publication contract winning its second annual contract inspirations award. Casey Marquez thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much. This is the Calla Crossley Show. Today's program was engineered by Kay Conklin and Jane Pitt produced by Chelsea murderers. Our production assistant is Anna white knuckle be we our production of WGBH radio.