

This is the first part of a six-week series on Michael "Little B" Lewis.





In January of 1997, as a 17-year-old high school senior, I submitted my application to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Eight months later I'd call Atlanta and Morehouse home. In the 18 years since, I became a student leader, graduated from Morehouse, married my high school sweetheart, had three kids of our own and adopted two more, wrote and published my first book, started a church, started a charity, bought and sold our first home in Atlanta, nearly died in a car accident, started and sold three businesses, moved to California, moved to New York City, and moved to South Africa. I've now been alive longer since I sent in that application than I was before I sent it.

A few gray hairs are popping up on my 35-year-old head and I now have children in elementary, middle, and high school. In that same period of time, since January of 1997, a young brother I now see as my peer, Michael Lewis, has spent every day of every year in prison. As I reflect back on everything that's happened over the past 18 years, my mind can't even begin to fathom what it would be like to have spent all of them behind bars. No marriage, no kids, no college, no travel, no businesses, no charities.

When Michael entered prison, tried and convicted as an adult for murder in Georgia at the outrageous age of 13, Bill Clinton was president of the United States and hadn't been impeached yet. The top movie in the world was Titanic. Michael Jordan was still winning NBA championships. Michael Jackson had just gotten married, Princess Diana and Mother Theresa were still alive, and the internet hardly even existed. iPhone and Android and Bluetooth and Xbox and Twitter and Facebook were all make-believe.

Before we dig in to Michael's story, take a moment and think back to when you were 13 years old. Where did you live? What grade were you in? How great was your judgment?What did you like doing when you were 13?

Now, think for a moment about all that you've learned and experienced since you were 13 years old and imagine spending every single day since your 13th birthday in prison. It's hard to grasp isn't it?

Head below the fold for Michael's story.