I’d like to hear your story from the beginning, if you’re not too sick of telling it.

I was born in Haiti, in an area about 15 to 20 minutes outside of Port-au-Prince. My dad was unemployed for almost his entire adult life. As you can imagine, there aren't too many employment opportunities in Haiti, so a lot of people have to create their own little economy in terms of commerce in the streets, trying to sell things and whatever they can do to get by, or they are just unemployed. There weren't too many options.

My mom and my dad ended up having four kids together in addition to each having two before they met. The relationship really didn't work out between them. My dad was dealing with a lot of demons himself and had issues regarding his drinking problems. Even though he didn't have much whatever little he did have he would gamble it in cockfights and poker games and different things like that.

That strained their relationship and my dad also became very abusive after he would drink and get high. As a consequence of that, I started kind of drifting away and just being a street kid. I was all over in our neighborhood trying to just survive and do whatever I was able to do, whether it's helping someone, whether it's climbing a mango tree, whether it was helping someone clean their backyard and in return they would give me some food, or whether it was helping a guy who was a mechanic, a family friend. I would pass him tools and help him clean cars and different things like that as a way of just obtaining my next meal or anything that was available.

We didn't have access to TV or electricity, but when we did get a chance to perhaps see a movie at a neighbor’s house, it was a big deal. I remember one of my favorite movies as a kid was Home Alone with this kid named Kevin. In that movie, I saw the house he lived in and the neighborhood. I had a vision of me moving into an environment that looked just like that. I thought we would have a house and a dog and a car and neighbors saying hi to us. I just thought that America was heaven on Earth. I thought that once we came here, there would be no more suffering, no more pain, no more hunger. Everything would be fixed. Life would be perfect.

Little did you know...

Little did I know. I came here and it was just totally different than that. We moved into Crown Heights and there was a lot of drugs, a lot of violence. There was a lot of fighting. We were living in this rundown apartment and it was about 15 of us living in there. Things were different than I expected. Having a language barrier also was a part of the struggle that I had to deal with. Not only was I just trying to survive everyday, but I also had to find a way to break down barriers and assimilate into this new culture and society.

That struggle was very difficult. As a way of surviving that environment, either you were the prey or the predator. It was sort of like survival of the fittest because every time I would leave my apartment, there would be a kid harassing me and trying to fight me and get into stuff. You had to deal with gang members. The only way to really survive was to either become as the people who were trying to impose their will on you or become a victim. To me, I was never okay with playing the victim role, so I became more like a predator than the prey.

As a result, I started having run-ins with the law. Also, I lost a few friends to the streets who were murdered, shot and killed. I also lost friends who were deported back to Haiti and other friends who ended up serving a very long time in the criminal justice system. Lucky for me, all of this took place when I was really young. By the time I started to have my run-ins with the law, I hadn't turned 16 yet so I was still considered a minor. Finally, after being arrested multiple times, I caught two serious cases that were D felonies for selling drugs. At this point, the judge was really tired of me and just wanted to send me away.

My family gave up on me. They were just tired of going back to court. In Haitian culture, if your parents demand that you stop doing something and you continue to do it, then they're liable to give up on you and just allow you to go through your trials and tribulations by yourself since you're not listening. It's your job to deal with it alone, regardless of whether you're a kid or not. As you can imagine, navigating the legal system alone at that age can be really scary and daunting.

"I just thought that America was heaven on Earth. I thought that once we came here, there would be no more suffering, no more pain, no more hunger. Everything would be fixed. Life would be perfect."

That sounds like just about the most isolating rock bottom in existence. How did you find your way out?

While going through the juvenile justice system, I met some really great people. Had a dean from my junior high school who took me in as a mentee and really went out of his way to help me. I had my first lawyer, her name's Christine Bella, who also started to mentor me and she started to help me beyond the courtroom. Then I met another mentor who's a close friend of mine now. His name is Marty Feinman. I'm actually in his house right now.