Shamell Glover is a man, 31 years of age, with a mission and a message for youth. "Having gone to jail, does not define who you are." How does he know this? He knows because he has spent almost half of his life behind prison bars. Shamell talked to me about his story and his journey from a small boy of 9 years selling drugs on the street to becoming a gang leader. One saving grace to his story is that he never got hooked on any of the drugs that he used to deal. It was an easy start for him by just going to the store for some dealers and then he started getting more and more responsibility. Shamell was smart and with natural leadership qualities moved up the ladder quickly to being in charge. In his own estimation he was pretty much on his own from the age of about 10 after being given the ultimatum by his mother "stop dealing drugs or leave," unfortunately he chose to leave. Looking back he wished he had someone in his life to look up to, someone that could have taken him to a ball game or to the park to play some ball. He knows that would have meant a lot to him. But having no real direction he fell in with people that gave a structure to his life. It hadn't always been just about the streets for Shamell who joined the navy at 19 and served for under a year, became connected with All Souls Bethlehem Church through a faculty member at Erasmus High School and even completed college courses in prison. Shamell is now ready for next part of his life by giving out the message that you don't have to go down the road to prison, and it's no life to be separated from the people you love. It may be a harder road to follow, but its one where you won't be used by the system either. What many people don't realize is that in our Constitution slavery is permissible in the United States under the 13th amendment which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime. So, convicts are being farmed out to corporations for as little as pennies a day, so that companies get cheap labor and higher profits. To read more about this go to: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289
If you are interested in having Shamell come and give a talk about his experiences at your school, youth group or parish, contact him at teflongluv@yahoo.com