SHAKA SENGHOR
Transcript : - Non- verbatim
"His mother was physically abused and there was no love at
home. His mum was upset often for small things. He Stepped out because of her anger. He liked a Doctor, who was nice and so wanted
to be a Doctor when he grew up.
He grew up not feeling loved. His parent separated when he was 11 years
old. Things changed; he was recruited by
a drug dealer and became vulnerable. He chose consciously street life as he felt accepted.
He was with other broken fragile forks and thought that was
love. Gangs are about being bundled
together in brokenness. No one asked him
what was wrong and he was behaving that way.
He kept on being beaten. What was
the moral code? As when young he had a sense of what was right and wrong. He was naïve, became a drug addict and dealer
at 14 and was sexually abused then. In
STREET LIFE HE WAS LOOKING FOR VALIDATION, - “DO YOU MATTER; SOMEONE KNOWS I
EXIST ON THIS EARTH”
How come they don’t get the way to success and way to
freedom is education. What was missing
the in the neighborhood to realize that?
IT’S THE INTERNAL INDIALOGUE THAT HE BELIEVED MOST that he would not
turn up into something.
Something in him in his soul knew when he shot something
that something bad had happened.
When drinking he asked his friends what if he could kill
himself – THIS WAS A CALL FOR HELP. He was
wondering if his mother would care, he went home and tried. Due to the feeling of not being loved by the
woman who gave birth to him, so that the mother should have said I AM SORRY I
SHOULD HAVE LOVED YOU MORE (GUILT). He wondered
how it would have been for his nephews to find out. – Theren in greatest pain, WAS
REDEMPTION. -His love for his nephew was
WHAT kept him alive and not commit suicide.
What had been done to him as a young boy he didn’t want to do to another
boy.
His BELIEVE WAS distorted.
He realized there was a battle in everyone. It’s a broken culture that feeds your
brokenness. The more negative you are
the more you require VALIDATION. 90% of
people come out of prison and are CONSISTENTLY DEHUMANISED AND COME OUT WORSE
THAN THEY ARE.
He spend many years in prison for the crime.
Prison has its own rhythm different from the other world as
he was all alone. The amount of mental
illness is too much in there due to isolation.
It is LIKE DARKNESS. It’s a cold,
indifferent, bizarre place but this is where his transformation begun.
He discovered himself
and started, REFLECTING AND WRITING ABOUT HIMSELF AND met the Godmother
of the boy he had KILLED. She wrote to him about who David was. That he never got to see his first birthday,
she wanted him to know the devastation he had caused the family. Despite that she said SHE LOVED HIM AND
FORGAVE HIM. He wondered how. Mentally he was able to get it and receive
it. The letter made him feel he WAS REDEEMABLE. He then realized that was someone’s son he
had taken and up to then in his distorted mind he blamed the boy for being and
saying what he had said. It was denial
AS HE WAS NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY for
what he had done, as to him there was no father and no place to find laughter at home. It cracked
but didn’t open him up.
EPHIPHENY
He got a letter from his son who was 11 and everything in
prison the toughness crumbled to the ground.
Dear Dad my mum told me you are in prison for murder and don’t do it again
as Jesus sees what you do. Ask God and he will forgive you, the letter
said. He was hurt broken to see that was
what his son saw him, as a monster. So only
then did he know he was there for murder. What stroke him was that Jesus could see what
he does. He felt he was not a HERO and a ROLE MODEL. IN THE HOOD HE WAS A HERO WHILST HE WAS NOT
LOVED IN HIS LIFE.
THE POWER OF LOVE IS TRANFORMATIVE – For the love of his son
he wanted more and transformed.
Released in 2010 he now advocates for prison reform. He states redemption is possible and those in
prison should not be condemned for their past.
How do you emerge in a society that is so unforgiving. The world is so judging. Unless you have a
deep conviction one does not survive out
of prison.
Redemption is being given a second chance to prove who you
are. Humans can transform and become
responsible. Give people a chance to be
human.
“LABELS AND NOT YOU AND ME THEY ARE JUST LABELS.
WHAT WE TRULY ARE IS FOUND INSIDE. WHO WOULD YOU BE IF THE WORLD NEVER GAVE YOU A LABEL.
Judgmental,
prejudicial - of who we are. FIND WHO YOU ARE. EVERY FIGHT IS FOUGHT BECAUSE OF LABELS. STOP GIVING OTHER PEOPLE LABELS“ www.supersoul.tv
Reference
http://www.supersoul.tv/supersoul-sunday/full-episode-oprah-and-criminal-justice-activist-shaka-senghor,episode
aired on 13 March 2016 (verbal transcript from the video) – Non-verbar (shared from facebook page: supersoul sunday
LIFE SKILLS FROM THE
EPISODE (by Margaret Maingi)
Some people join gangs to get validation they don’t get get from home, as they find acceptance in the
gangs.
There can be distortion of reality in one’s mind. Senghor thought “do you matter, some cares in
the street”
Gangs are about being bundled together by brokenness
Find out why one is behaving they way they are – seek professional
help, when troubled and not sure what to do
All was due to the internal dialogue he had – that he would
amount to nothing
Suicidal tendencies are calls for help – Seek professional
help
Don’t do to others what is done to you. (If one was abused that is not reason enough
to do so as well)
The broken culture feeds into ones brokenness.
Isolation in prison causes mental
illness.
Reflect and write about your self
– Journal
When you do wrong, take
responsibility and stop blaming others ( he blamed his parents)
Be good role models to your
children.
Humans are redemptive so should
not always be condemned for their past wrong doings.
Labels are not you and me they
are just labels. (don’t live by the labels
others call you i.e judgments made. Find
out who you are.
Fights are fought because of
labels.