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He was a sinewy 16-year-old, with dark skin and a slight fade to his short-cropped hair. A scar that slashed beneath his nose--the remnants of a surgically repaired cleft lip--made him appear menacing, as did his habit of punching his right fist into his left palm as he spoke. Staring at himself in the mirror, his hood up, Fred recited from memory the Pledge of Success, which had been recently introduced to him by a teacher at his high school. I promise to use this day to the fullest by giving my best, realizing it can never come back again.
East Oakland street gang, once hit a woman in the face with a recycling bin because they didn't like the way she looked at them. On Piedmont Avenue, after passing through the west gate of the Cal campus and cutting east across the grounds, Fred passed fraternity houses not unlike the one he was once caught robbing. His final push came at Stadium Rim Way, a steep incline into the Berkeley Hills that put him at the eastern lip of Memorial Stadium.
Richmond this way: "You hear the gunshots, you come outside, you see who is on the ground, see if you know them, and if you don't, you just go back on about your normal life." Once, if you wished to insulate yourself from the drugs and gangs or, like Fred, turn your life around, your best chance was to dedicate yourself to a sport.
Oakland have noticed a decline in kids' commitment to sports. And the youngsters who do play speak grimly of their chances of emerging from their darkened surroundings.
Pop Warner football program, which includes 295 boys ages five to 15. Even more haunting: A number of well-intentioned athletes, those who did everything they could to stay away from trouble, have been killed or severely wounded in street violence in recent years.
Oakland played sports, but it is undeniable that many of the most promising youngsters--serious athletic aspirants--have died. More than one youth coach laments that he attends more funerals than games these days. While coaches, parents and activists debate how to address the problem, few disagree on the date--Aug.
Oregon , which had awarded him a football scholarship, and because he had worked tirelessly to stay clear of the street culture. "After Terrance died, my players looked at it like, If he couldn't make it, how are we gonna make it?" says Khalid Elahi, who was an assistant coach of the Richmond Steelers youth football team when Terrance was murdered. "You try to tell them, 'I know they took Terrance, but we still have to have hope,' but they think, I am going to do all this work, go through all the trouble, and I am still going to die."
America , according to an Attorney General's report to Congress in April, with approximately one million total members, and gang affiliation and violence continue to rise. The situation is more serious than those numbers suggest, as the report to Congress focused on larger national gangs such as the Latin Kings and United Blood Nation and ignored the numerous smaller and unaffiliated crews.
Oakland are not large or organized groups participating in vast criminal enterprises. They are not easily identifiable by tattoos or the color of their clothing. Members often align themselves based solely on where they were born, and many are related.
"They won't harm a little kid, but the problem for a lot of athletes is that they look older than their age because they are bigger," says Pugh, the East Bay Warriors president. "A 12-year-old will look 14, and that is considered old enough that he should know not to be caught in the wrong neighborhood. A boy might just be riding his bike to practice or have to change buses someplace, and that will be enough to get him killed." The gang Fred helped found, the On1 Boys, consisted of about 40 members.
Oakland (the Hyphy Boys) and can mean, among other things, dangerous or crazy. Asked why he and his friends named the gang On1, Fred struggles to explain. "It's a little phrase that, like, means a lot of stuff," he says. George Knox of the National Gang Crime Research Center says that gangs like On1, for example, were not likely counted in the report to Congress because "they are what we call a Level 0 gang. They would be a pre-gang, more of a neighborhood prey group."
His male role models were older boys in North Oakland and Pugh, 44, who's also a cousin. He tried to get Nunn to sign Fred up for the East Bay Warriors, but it wasn't until Fred was 11 that she agreed. "That might have been too late to reach him," Pugh says. Playing for the Warriors, even if for only a few years, changed Fred. After one of his first practices, he came home and did the dishes without being told. A stunned Nunn called Pugh, who explained that all his players were required to behave at school and for their parents or they couldn't play.
Berkeley High, Fred and two other On1 Boys stole a bike from a house near the school. Stealing a bike is usually akin to shoplifting a pack of gum in Fred's world, but the bike he stole cost more than $2,500, and he went into the house to steal it, which amounted to felony burglary. The judge wanted to incarcerate him, but Pugh, with the help of a probation officer he knew, came up with an alternative: Rite of Passage (ROP), a rehabilitation program for at-risk youths. Fred almost ruined the arrangement when, a few months later, he and friends entered a Cal frat house during a party and started snatching purses.
Colorado to compete in a triathlonlike event among all ROP schools. Fred felt safe and directed at ROP, and it was amazing how quickly sports worked its magic. He pleaded with ROP administrators to release him early so he could be back at Berkeley High for football season. Fred was released from ROP in the fall of 2006 and reenrolled at Berkeley High as a junior. Because of his criminal record he was shifted to Berkeley Tech, an affiliated "continuation" school for at-risk students. Fred got several jobs through a city program called YouthWorks, including one at the public library and another at a recreational center, running the scoreboard and cleaning the gym. In February '07 he spoke at the East Bay Warriors banquet, explaining how he had lost his way and how he had reformed. The following month he participated in Berkeley High's off-season workouts as a 5'9", 170-pound quarterback and cornerback, and began running to Memorial Stadium each morning.
It was a really, really hard decision, but I just felt Fred should stay at B-Tech." Despondent, Fred spent more time with the On1 Boys and less working out. Soon he found a lifeline: He heard how many college football players had played at the junior college level first. He told friends, "I'll still get there, just by a different route."
TODD WALKER , THE coach of the Berkeley Cougars youth football program, believes that if his athletes aren't fully divested from the street life by age 11 or 12, they are lost. All that death, all that violence, and no one helps them deal with it."
Oakland while walking to a friend's barbecue, his only crime being that his dreadlocks looked similar to those of a boy the shooter sought. During the gunfire, two boys with Jaee ran sideways from the source of the shots, seeking the cover of buildings. Y (Stop All Violence on Youth), which promotes awareness of violence against kids.
That nonprofit helps families handle the aftermath of an untimely death, such as burial costs and grief counseling. Young athletes die, foundations are formed, but nothing changes. "We know we can't stop the murders," says Marilyn Washington Harris, Khadafy's mother. He takes them on tours of the funeral home where he works as a mortuary specialist. Funerals are often showy affairs, and Walker, who also volunteers as a grief counselor for the Khadafy Foundation, wants kids to see the hard truths about death. He has cleared practice fields of syringes and condoms (using latex gloves provided by the city);
Oakland gang so it wouldn't deal drugs during his team's practice; stopped fights in bleachers and parking lots between fathers from rival cliques; and instituted a dress code for adults who wore such revealing clothing that it led to scuffles when one boy c...
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