Harvard Book Store; WGBH Forum Network; The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

This is a great crowd and I thank thank you all for coming out. I really appreciate it. I'm sorry. But when you guys it was online right now on the way to work this morning I've seen two people who who were reading West what's actually set totally up I was sitting in the middle of the of the train and on my right someone is reading what's more it's booked and the other was also in the book and I actually got a chance to run over to to the X to my ironically that you know the author is here and he'll be at our bookstore at 7 o'clock and both wanted Well unfortunately I have prying and we're not but my point is that what's the word is out that the word is it really is out. It really is and I'm truly excited to be here to to introduce not only a mentor but but a close friend as I'm currently in the midst of as many of us including this time and I'm beginning to realize how much I can personally relate to this. This remarkable story.

Particularly from a broad perspective not getting to detail the idea of making choices in perseverance that comes along with that tackling challenges situations in our lives. Learning from them and simply getting better going forward. But nonetheless at the Reading this time I think West once speaks about he expects us to the readers us to to gain from that we understand this book is about so much more than a story of two boys lives in their different and different journeys into manhood. It is providing hope that resources from single mothers and in single families giving fathers who are raising families on their own. The teacher slash mentors who are working with at risk youth the teenagers who know that it is a world outside of the inner city or a rule planes that they call home but don't know how to scale the walls to get into to get into the nonprofit organizations.

That are the frontlines of fighting for tomorrows of our nation's children. Each and every day Iraq Afghan Veterans of America. The network of teaching entrepreneurship in the 100 Black Men of America have partnered between the book tours and their mission is the sole heart of this book is the soul heart of this book's definition. Lastly I think most importantly understand that this book is not about the casting some vision is history about the tragic events that lead to what is fine imprisonment or casting doubts about the sentencing. This book is intended to question why West's fate was sealed long before his judgement. And what and what can be done to avoid future tragedies. This book is intended to spark debate and action amongst all of us. Ladies and gentlemen offer their due

allowance and use my good friend combat veteran business leader Mr. elevate himself once more. Good evening everybody and thank you very much for coming through it. It is it is a real pleasure to be here today and and to see so many face so many friendly faces and not so many people I've known for so long and also just to come out to an event like this and see so many people because you never really know when you come out to these events just how many folks are going to show up. And you know I was it's always I've always had this fear before I actually became a real author which I'm still kind of getting used to now that we came before human author that you go to one of these events and it's like your mom and your sisters in the front row which makes Q And I go very quickly as well. So but it what it is I'm just very very appreciative for everybody being here.

And again folks coming from so far what I'm known for so many years looking for I see my good friend Sean is actually in the in the book who's actually New Jersey but he's probably the biggest Celtics fan in this room which is still confusing the world and whatever. But I but again I'm just incredibly thankful. Also just for the for the response. Just incredibly thank you for the response and just the reaction that that this book in this entire process has has received because the amazing thing about it and the amazing thing about this story is for folks who knew me you know probably of no less than than two decades ago to include folks like folks like Sean who was in my first police class. This whole process would seem extremely unlikely for a whole collection of different reasons. But but the basic story and the basic idea is my family I was born down in Maryland and when I was about three and a half years old I watched my father pass away from me. And that instance that that moment that my mother went from you know

being a you know a proud wife and a proud mother and and someone who felt like everything was just going great for the family and then out of nowhere she instantaneously becomes a widow with three children. She didn't deal with that transition very well. And what ended up happening was very About two years after my father passed away my family ended up moving up to the Bronx to go live with my grandparents. Now my grandparents actually immigrated to this country from my grandfather's actually Jamaican. My grandma was actually born in Cuba. They were you know they they ended getting married in Jamaica then moving to the Bronx and what they did when they moved to the Bronx was they bought a small house in the Bronx. And part of the motivation for buying a small house my grandfather became a minister my grandmother became a public school teacher but wasn't so much just about the shelter but because they wanted to own a piece of this country that brought them in and showed them so much love. So then my mother then moved myself in you know in my two sisters and her we all moved up to the Bronx to go live in this house with my grandparents. And it was an amazing experience moving back in my grandparents my my mother at that time was I was

actually working working three different jobs so my grandparents were actually in charge of much of the you know rearing in much of the raising as were as were growing up. But there was something that we noticed very early and there's something that my mother noticed very early as a move back up and that was the Bronx neighborhood that she was raised in was very quickly becoming a very different neighborhood in the Bronx neighborhood the Bronx neighborhood that she was raised in was one where she felt that people would you know the neighbors were looking out for each other and she told all these stories about how peaceful everything was the first time she actually saw fights was actually when she moved from New York to down to Washington D.C. to go to school go to college. But the Bronx during the 1980s and during And during the mid and late 1980s was a very different place in the Bronx as she'd grown up in the Bronx during the mid and late 1980s. Just like many other communities inside the country was going through a massive transition. With the introduction of crack cocaine inside of the neighborhoods there's actually a statistic that we talk about in the book where last year in New York City there were a little over 400 murders inside of

New York City last year. Back in the late 1980s there were a little over twenty eight hundred murders inside a New York City. And much of it and much of the rise in violence much of the rise in crime is much of the rise of incarcerations came from little vials and what it was doing to break down the entire infrastructure of neighborhoods and communities and the Bronx ended up becoming one of the many Ground Zero that saw this type of this type of downfall. And so as we move up to the Bronx and as we move to move up to these neighborhoods I then found my found myself going through this process going through this transition into manhood with all these other things going on around me. And in many ways I got caught up. So by the time I was 11 years old I was already an academic and disciplinary probation in school. By the time I was 12 years old. My friends and I were out tagging on a street corner wall tagging up my my tag used to be k k for kid Cupid

a name I gave myself and out of nowhere just as I finished the second came the circle going around the going around the case. You hear the who the cop the cop siren turned around to my friend and I look at each other and we start running he runs in one direction I run in the other direction. I was a really smart one because the direction I ran in was the direction of the cops. And within about three steps the cops thing grabbed me throw handcuffs on me and throw me the back of a car. And so I'm sitting there terrified because I know the next place I was going to was probably baby booking which for you baby booking is essential where they send juveniles when they send you downtown. And I am scared to death because I know if I got into baby booking the next call be to my mother. And that was the last call that I want to make. And I my friend who was there and he had his old his you know false bravado and as much he's moved on and was almost basically daring the cops to do something to him. And I was begging him to shut up

because I knew his destiny was mine at that point. And the cops turnaround they gave us a stern lecture and then they gave us a break that day and they got out of the car and they let us out and they took the handcuffs off and they told to get moving and I made a vow to myself that day that I would never find myself in a position like that again. I made a vow to myself that day that that was the most vulnerable I'd ever felt and for the first time I felt like I was no longer in control of my present or my future because they were. And I'm in a valley that I would never do it again. And then a week later about four blocks away there we were again and Cuba was marking up walls in the same Bronx blocks and then finally my mother decided that something needed to be done and my mother as she said multiple times before she felt like she had lost her husband before and she was not about to lose her son as well. And so my mother had been threatening me with military school ever since I was about eight years old

and she'd always say listen if your grades don't get better I'm going to send you military school and I said OK all right. And then nine years old came in she said no I'm serious. If you don't get it together you go to military school as I know I'm working on it. And then 10 years old came 11 years old came and then finally 12 years old she said No really you're going to military school. And in fact you're going next week. And then I don't know where we packed up the car and we were on our way to a place called Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania and for my peace brothers and the other folks from Valley Forge here Valley Forge is a far cry from from the Bronx. For a whole collection of different ways and that first couple days I remember my mother when she was you know she dropped me off and she's like OK I'll see you later I was like bye. I mean she was not the number one person on the list at that point. And if you decide to drop me off a member that first morning at 5:30 in the morning when we get our wakeup calls. And so

5:30 and I hadn't seen that side of 5:30 morning ever been to that point and so I don't know where you start here and I don't know if you all remember you know the group rocking the heavy metal group Guns N Roses and the song they play WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE. So I don't know you start here and then and then. That of the right all this all this heavy metal music. Lights are flash and there's trash cans and sticks that they're using to like hit the trash cans to make noise and then you hear all these very angry teenagers yelling and screaming at us to get out of our beds. And so we're in bunk beds and there's two people ROOM. I'm lying on the top bunk and my roommate a guy from Brooklyn is laying on the bottom bunk and he jumps up and he says you know he's 12 years old his legs are like this that he's shaken like you to go to the bathroom and he looks up at me and he's like no more we have to get out. We got to get out there because they were screaming come on get up get out Iraq's come on please get out Iraq's and something myself I don't know to please and I don't know what a rock is.

But they keep screaming this please get out Iraq's and get on the hallway. So he's looking at me he's telling me we've got to get up and I look over the clock and I see the clock says 5:30 elling minutes 5 3 in the morning. I was like Tell me give me about eight o'clock. Already like that. And and he looks back at me and I don't know if he thought I was either you know really brave or really dumb and he was going to wait to figure out which one it was and then he decides he'd run down the hallway and then I hear why is only one person outside of his door and then you hear the door Speaker Boehner hear the door slam paint chipping off the door. Then this teenager comes and some of the 18 years old comes and he starts yelling and screaming I'm my back home because I'm still in my bed and I'm covered up and I'm trying to get some sleep and he's being very loud and he's yelling and screaming and spits in the back of my head and he's yelling at profanities at me that never heard before. And finally I start to turn around and I start to look at him. And he stops yelling as

I think he assumes that this tirade was working well and I look at him I said Man if you don't get out of my room he's 18 and I'm 12. So to my surprise he smiles and he leaves my room. Something in myself you know there's military school the name bad. I think eventually I'll actually adjust to this. And then next you know the chain of command walks in our squad leaders but soon Sergeant platoon leader they all walk into the room and they pick the mattress up off the top bunk and they turn the mattress over as if I still wasn't laying on the mattress and we fall to the to the. And they fall five feet to the floor and then they escort me out to the hallway to join all the rest of my play brothers. And now it's my first morning at my military school and needless to say I didn't like it there very much. I don't want to be there and continue trying to show that I do want to be there by every time he turned around by trying to run out of the gates

and try to get out to the train station. And Lou in the first you know four days I ran away five times trying to get to this train station but it was after that last time that I tried my great escape that I started to understand something and actually had a chance to talk to my mom on the phone which made a big deal because after the last time I tried to try to run away. I had five minutes to make a phone call they said Call whoever you want. We don't care what it is but you've got five minutes and I call the only number I know which is my mom and she was expecting to hear from me for six weeks because we're in the middle police system and then plead system it's your first time in a military environment where you're not allowed any outside communication with the outside world no phones no radios no television nothing. It's a time where they want to break you down as individuals to basically build you back up as a team. And so now she was expecting here for me for six weeks she's here for hearing from in the first four days at 1:00 o'clock in the morning. So she has a phone she's like Is everything OK and like everything's fine. I just want to come home

and I'll do better. Clean my room lock me in your room. I'll do whatever it is Jima to do just allow me come home. And she stopped me and she said too many people have sacrificed in order for you to be there. And too many people are rooting for you to do well in order for you to have not at least give it a shot. And she said her father looking down he's proud of you and he wants you to try. And at that point and it didn't happen overnight. But gradually I started to understand the bigger picture. I started to understand that I was part of something bigger than just myself. I started to understand that the only way that my plate brothers could make it was if I pushed him. And the only way that I can make it is if they are pushing me I start to understand we are part of something larger I start to stand what accountability meant and leadership meant. And then I started to turn a corner. And later on I actually ended up joining actually as after I finished up from high school I ended up actually joining the army

and becoming a commissioned officer in the Army going on Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins that the larger concept to the story to this book became clear because during my senior year at Johns Hopkins I just received the Rhodes scholarship and the Baltimore Sun which was a long time paper was where we went that point where where I was before then started writing Art Wright wrote an article about here he was a local kid who just received this Rhodes scholarship and at the same time they're running a whole series on four guys who robbed a jewelry store. Four guys ran into a jewelry store to buy guns and two of them had mallets. The two with guns got everybody on the ground making sure everyone kept their heads down and two with mallets then proceeded to proceed to go around the jewelry store and smash jewelry cases and grabbing rings and watches and chains. And after they all got away with $40000 worth of jewelry one of them yelled Let's go. And

then the four guys sprinted out of the store. One of the people that were on the ground was an off duty police officer who was moonlighting as a security guard. This Off to two off duty police officer was a 13 year veteran of the Baltimore police force. Three times he had been named police officer of the year. He had five children. He had triplets and the only reason he was even working that second job was because you try to make extra money for his family. And so as they ran out of the store and ran into vehicles he ran outside of the store to see if he could stop them. And he was hiding next to vehicles to see if he could keep them from getting away. And he didn't realize that one of the vehicles that he was hiding next to was one of the vehicles that they were in. And then a window rolled down and then a gun went out the window. And there are three shots taken at point blank range and killed him instantly. And there's a 12 day national manhunt for these four guys. And finally after 12 days all four were caught.

And one of the guys in particular that they caught was living in the same neighborhood that I was living in. He's around the same age that I was and his name was also Wes Moore. So here in the Baltimore Sun you have features on two kids one Wes I'm always heading off to England on a scholarship and that Wes Moore ends up getting life in prison without the possibility of parole him. His older brother and two other guys all got life without parole. And the story haunted me. How does that even happen. How does it happen that you have two kids who had similar points in their life were going through their own personal challenges and trying to understand this concept of what it means to grow up into a man and end up in two completely different places. And the story haunts me to the point that a few years after I first learned about The Other Wes Moore I decided to reach out to him because I knew there were questions that I wanted to answer that only he could provide the

answers to. And so I figured out how to do it. And one day I wrote him a note just introduced myself and asking a series of questions and I wasn't sure if I'd even hear back from him quite honestly I didn't think I would. And then a month later I get it back from Jessup Correctional Institution from Wes Moore. And the first thing he wrote inside the letter was he first thank me for reaching out to him in the first place because he said when you're in prison you think the whole world doesn't think you exist anymore. And then he proceeded to answer all those questions that I laid out to him and not one letter turned to dozens of letters those dozens of letters eventually turning into dozens of visits. And that became the baseline for the story The Other Wes Moore. Now I say that to say essentially this and why I think that why this book is is I would never want this this book to be something where people can pick it up and say well that's an

interesting story. And then just throw the book off to the side and go about their lives. This book is a larger call to action. This book is a larger call to action because it helps explain to all of us what our potency is because had it not been for people who stepped into my life. Had it not been for my mother utilizing every single piece of leverage around her had not been for friends had it not been for people who stepped in and gave me a nice conversation or asked me how I was doing or people stepping in to helping with homework or whatever the case was mentors people stepping into my life aggressive and creative interventions. That I know the result could have been and the way and what the result is is that as I say on the cover the book The chilling truth is that his story could've been mine and the tragedy is that my story could have been his. This book in this story is about much more than simply two kids. This book in the story is about much more than simply Baltimore or one neighborhood or one socioeconomic group. It's about all of us. It's about the choices that we make. It's about

the people we help. We have our allies who are helping us to make those choices. And it's about the ramifications for those choices. I make it very clear in the in the first pages of the book and throughout the book that the only victims that day are Sergeant Bruce Prothero and his family and also make it very clear the whole idea behind this book is not to examine or cast a revisionist history as AC was saying on what happened that fateful day. But the point of this is to examine why West his fate was sealed long before February 7 2000. What was happening in the lives of these two boys that essentially causes this split. And the thing I understand is this is that fundamentally you have two kids who had similar times in their life who are both searching for help. And one kid got it and the other kid didn't. And now the world bears witness to either our attention or apathy. And it's ironic in terms of the way that we can look at individuals who look at communities

and we cast them off as years old those are their problems. Those aren't our problems. It's amazing how their problems become our problems very quickly. And Eleanor areas end up spreading and becoming anything but silent. The idea behind this book the idea behind this entire process is to show us how we all can get involved. It shows the ramifications of not getting involved. It's about showing us how much of a difference we can make as long as we're willing to do just a little bit because our smallest decisions in our life can have big ramifications and all of us can think about in our own lives. All of us can think about those small things that happened the small things we did or the small things we didn't do that made all the difference. So I'm incredibly thankful for the fact that people are understanding the message of the story.

I'm incredibly thankful that people understand the larger mission to this book and I'm incredibly thankful that people are taking it upon themselves to make a difference and all the others that we have in our society. So what I'd like what I'd like to do what I'd like to do briefly is is just this I. I've heard that authors at book signings they read a part of their book. So I think I'll read a part my book is I'm an author now. It's a short part of it's a short part of the book but I'm but then what I'd like to do is I actually have a have a few friends who have been like to like to introduce. And they're well I'll get into that base they're members of nonprofit organizations and just ask if you can just stand up and talk a little bit about the work that they do because again the part of the book that I'm most excited about is actually I mean all of this stuff is is is great and I think it's very well written and I hope you all will too. But part of what they're really excited about is actually in the back. And it's a resource guide.

And basically it's where to go to help where it's where to go for help. So if you are a single mother in Memphis. And this story touches you and you can see a little bit of yourself or a little bit of your of your family inside these stories. Here organizations that are in your area that would love to hear from you. Or if you're a philanthropist in L.A. and you want to be helpful you just have some spare time on your hands here organizations that would love to hear from you. So what I'd like to do briefly is just to read a little section of the book and then I'll introduce a couple of my own a couple of friends from the nonprofit partners. What I what I've done with this book is actually I've entered twice in different years. And as I was as I was talking with Wes I actually spent over 200 hours interviewing Wes his friends and family and my friends and family just to make sure that I was really getting the facts and the feel right for the story. And so I've actually one thing I realized pretty soon after I started the process of talking to Wes was that there were certain years that were critical in both of our lives.

And that's why I decided to break up the book was actually by different years. And what was happening in different years and use that as a way of helping to explain the packing the trajectory trajectory. Sure Jack to one of the boys and. But what I tried to do also was intertwine conversations that Wes in our happened were having in prison. And the reason I thought that was really important was this is I never wanted the reader to forget the ramifications and I would never wanted the reader to forget the stakes. I never wanted the reader to forget where our conversations were taking place that they were taking place in a maximum security facility and what exactly that's like. And again it's not done to sympathize with Wes but what it's done to show the truth. Because part of my frustration is when people have some kind of bravado or gravitas of what prison life is like. Prison is not a game prison is not a joke and every time you walk into a maximum security facility you know it.

And I wanted the readers to always remember that. So this is actually one of our one conversation one of the first breakdowns that we had were West talking about the role of Our Fathers. And and you'll you'll see and hear that. You know I told you I explained the story as to sort of what happened my father and Wes has met his father three times in his life and was his father actually lived at one time lived around the corner from Wes and just wanted nothing to do with him. And in fact and you'll see one of the stories one of the anecdotes I tell in the book is the last time Wes actually met his father was when Wes was 14 years old and Wes went over to his paternal grandmother's house because he is a very he has a close relationship with his father's mother but not with his father. And he went over to his paternal grandmother's house and he saw his father sleeping on the couch and his brother was with him what his brother was with him and Wesson told me to go say hello to him. And Wes went to go wake him up. And after tapping him a few times his father opened his eyes and looked at Wes and he said Who are you. And Wes talked about what that felt like to him. But

this is a story we're talking about the role of our fathers in this is a little section called Fathers and angels. Part one. West stared back at me after I'd asked my question. Letting the moment pass and a smirk flicker across his face before responding. I really haven't thought too deeply about his impact on my life because really he didn't have one. Wes leaned back to his seat and threw an even stare at me. Come on man. I pressed on. You don't think how things would you don't think about how things would've been different if you'd been there. If he cared enough to be there. No I don't. The lower half of his face was shrouded by the long beard that he grown an outward sign of the Islamic faith he'd adopted in prison. His eyes danced his eyes danced with amusement. He was not moved by my emotional questioning. Listen he went on. Your father wasn't there because he couldn't be. My father wasn't there because he chose not to be. We're going to mourn their absence in different ways. Well this is one of our first visits.

I drove in a half hour from my Baltimore home into the woody hills of central Maryland to just a correctional institution to see Wes Immediately upon entering the building. I was sternly questioned by an armed guard and searched to ensure I wasn't bringing anything in that could be passed on to us. Once I was cleared. Another guard escorted me to a large room. They reminded me of a public school cafeteria. This was a secured area where prisoners and their visitors came together. Armed guards systematically paced around the room long tables with low metal dividers separating the visitors from the visited where the only furnishings the prisoners were marched in dressed in orange or blue jumpsuits or gray sweat suits with OSI emblazoned across the chests. The uniforms reinforce the myriad other signals around us the prisoners were owned by the state. Lucky inmates were allowed to sit across from regular tables from their loved ones. They could exchange an initial hug and then talk face to face. The rest had to talk to their families and friends through bulletproof glass using a telephone visit or in prison or connected by receivers. They held tightly to their ears

just as I was about to ask another question. Wes interrupted me let me ask you a question. You come here and ask me all these questions. But you haven't shared any of yourself up with me. So tell me what impact did your father not have NOT being there having your childhood. I don't know. I was about to say more when I realized I really didn't have more to say. Do you miss him. He asked me every day all the time. I replied softly. I was having trouble finding my voice. It always amazed me how I could love so deeply so intensely. Someone I barely even knew. I was taught to remember but to never question what was taught to forget and never ask why. We learned our lessons well and we're showing them off to a T. We sat there just a few feet from each other both silent pondering an absence of will. Thank you very much.

And as I said there the part of the probably the part of the book that I'm most proud of is actually the part of back where we have the resource guide and what I've asked is for a couple folks from a few nonprofit organizing.