I am an intern through a program called Public Allies. It’s a branch of AmeriCorps. After you get accepted into Public Allies, you get placed with a non-profit. I actually picked Open Gate because of my… previous lifestyle. I was like, heavy in the streets. I was dealing narcotics. To the point where I began to realize I was doing more hindering than helping. I wanted to change my position, my role in the community. Try to help people out.

I would sell narcotics. I sold since I was like 12. I would sell heroin and crack cocaine. I began to, I just felt like I was tired of that. So instead of being part of the problem, I decided to be part of the solution.

Q: How does a 12 year old start selling drugs?

My daddy went to prison when I was 4. My mom died from epilepsy. I was staying with my grandmother until she died when I was 11 and they tried to put me in a group home and I ran away. I was basically homeless. My neighborhood, that I grew up in, I already knew a bunch of guys sellin drugs. I basically wound up hangin around them. It became part of the lifestyle.

I use to hang out at a local tavern. I didn’t go in, but I’d be outside with older friends who would patronize the place. I would run things for them. Depends on the package I ran, but for the more established fellas I could make 50, 60 bucks. I might just be taking it a couple of blocks away. Small package, they might pay me $10 to take it two blocks. My involvement grew from there because I seen what I would say at the time was the bigger picture- establishing myself as my own man. Being able to take care of myself was the bigger picture for me. To have a place to sleep. So I saved up the money I made to get my own package.

Me and my sister got an apartment together until I was about 15. I did that from 12, up until 19 when I went to prison.

Q: How much could you make in a month?

I profited about $4,000 a week.

Q: What did that go to?

A little more than half when to cars, clothes. Lawyers’ fees just in case, I set it aside. Because you know eventually it’s going to happen. You are going to have some sort of run-in with the law.

Here in Milwaukee, there are gangs, but they’re not really a big- like one person calling the shots- there’s a whole lot of dealers I would say. Depends on what side of town you’re on. Because I would say there are more organized gangs on the south side of town.

Q: Who were your customers?

It was a mix. I had customers from all over Wisconsin. It starts off just being people in the neighborhood, but then you meet people through those people. That’s how I got clients in suburbia. A guy from Green Bay or Oak Creek might come and he might spend $300 or $400 but a local guy might spend $30 or $40. The people come from the rural areas, they didn’t actually come every day, but they’d get enough to last them.