I wanted to deglamorize this place because this is ridiculous. No child would ever want to end up in here. Admittedly, I've never had a computer because we aren't allowed to have such things. But I found out that children were interested in computers. The program teaches individuals to become computer literate, but it also teaches leadership and communication skills with other youth.
Anger is at the core of a lot of street violence.
That anger that we talk about is self-hate. On a daily basis these youngsters digest negative stereotypes about blacks, and eventually they end up believing them and acting them out in life. That's basically what happened to me. My books, they are about instilling confidence, trying to convince youngsters that they have the potential to succeed in life, and that they don't have to succumb to the stereotypes. For me, there was never an individual there that I could empathize with when I was growing up.