By Connie,
The Beat Within/NAM

I was born in New Orleans and moved to the Bay Area when I was 9.
    My uncle J-Rich was killed when I was 11 years old, and I told myself that when I became a teenager, I was not going to listen to nobody. So when I turned 13, I stopped going to school and started to hang out with my big cousin.
    Shortly after that, my older cousin was also killed. I felt so bad, I cried and cried until I went to sleep.
    I was not going home or going to school, I was just on the block from night to day. I started getting arrested and making my grandmother stress because my brother and sister were already in the system.
    After already suffering so much loss, two more of my cousins were killed together. I just lost it. I was talking to them three days before Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, my grandma called me and said, “Baby, I got something to tell you.”
    I had a bad feeling, so she told me that my two big cousins got shot down. They were not coming back. I stopped and started to cry. I thought it was the end of the world. I got kicked out of my group home that day. So then they put me in a different group home.
    I was in that group home for 10 months, and now I am going home to my family. I am going to try to make sure I stay this time. So for everybody out there, especially those that are locked down, please do good and make yourself and your family proud.