(Ehe JJortlanÒ (DbserUer____________________
Page A8
September 11,2002
From Gangs to Grace
continued
from Front
Nicky wanted her party to be
perfect. There were streamers,
cakes, chicken and punch, blit
N icky had a sinking feeling inside.
Something was telling her the night
would not go o ff as planned.
As the evening wore on, rival
gang members did start "talking.”
Soon after, a fight broke out be
tween Nicky's friend “Red Dog,” a
Blood; and a member o f the Crips
gang The Crip was asked to leave,
but as he walked out the door he
muttered, “This a in ’t over.”
Moments later, a Jeep drove up
and Red Dog strolled outside.
Nicky told him not to go. Judgment
impaired and temper flaring, he ig
nored her. He approached the car
and crack, crack, crack, gunshots
blasted from a passenger seat
shooter. Red Dog took o ff running
and Nicky quickly lost sight ofhim
as he disappeared between houses.
By the way he sprinted away, she
assumed he evaded the gunfire.
Regardless, the sight made her
sick to her stomach.
When she got back inside, she
realized no one had heard the gun
shots over the thundering noise o f
the music and dancing. All she
said was, “party’s over.”
Red Dog’s “homies” found him
later that night and dragged him
back to his house. They gave him
to his father and asked if he would
be okay. Red Dog’s father felt his
pulse. “My boy is dead,” he sadly
said.
Upon hearing o f her close
friend’s death, Nicky was con
fused, saddened, and enraged.
She didn ’ t know what to do with
the emotions racing through her.
At that time in her life she seldom
did. Instead o f speaking to her
aunt, her grandma, a counselor,
anyone, she held in all her emo
tions inside. Nicky then decided
what she wanted most o f all was
revenge. N icky wanted to become
a Blood.
That night marked the begin
ning o f her gang life. A stretch of
violence, incarceration, and unbe
lievable pain that would last al
most 10 years.
Always in trouble with the law,
and always looking for trouble,
Nicky took her anger out on any
one that got in her way. Life was
not pretty, but there she was with
her "hom ies" w ho she called
friends, “slinging” dope on street
comers, and steeped in a war that
never, ever seemed to have any
winners.
The emotional scarring ran deep
and thick. She saw 24 ofher friends
die by the bullet. She has family
incarcerated. She has been shot
twice and jailed three times.
That last jail sentence landed
her in solitary confinement for two
weeks. For the first time in a long
time, Nicky was totally alone. She
turned inward. The pain was be
coming to much to bear. At last, the
violence had to stop. There had to
beachange. Butthis time it w asn’t
about changing something else or
someone else. N icky had to change
herself.
Luckily for her when she de
cided to get out o f the gang life, she
had the support o f family members
and friends that had really been
there all along, though she chose
to ignore them.
She had her grandma, “ Ma”,
who through everything, never
turned her back on Nicky. She had
her Aunt Jovita who she could call
any time, “just for someone to talk
to.” Her grandma and “Jojeya” as
she called her aunt, never judged
her and were always supportive.
It w asn’t easy at first, but Nicky
knew she could escape the lifestyle
that had claimed the lives o f so
many friends.
Her head was fullofdreams. She
was thinking positive. She felt more
pow erful than ever. Now she
wanted to help people like herself.
She wanted to reach out to kids in
gangs and their parents. She
wanted to reach out to those kids
just thinking about getting into
gangs. She wanted to tell them,
show them, what it was really like,
on the inside.
Shortly after her release from
prison, Nicky quickly outlined an
idea for a book, a work book that
would tell her story and offer posi
tiv e a lte rn a tiv e s to the gang
Lee Woodrow Jackson
»
I
“Ask Nicky: A Young Person's Workbook for Building Dreams, " was written by Nicole “Nicky
Taylor o f Portland, a woman who escaped a life in a gang.
" Its not hard to get out.
You just got to separate
yourself and stay
positive, that’s all.
-N icole “Nicky” Taylor,
author of book about destructive gang life.
lifestyle.
Two years later, she would com
plete and publish “Ask Nicky, A
Young Persons Guide to Building
Dreams.” Offered in both Student
and Teacher/Parent editions, the
book now sells at Powells Book
stores, Barnes and Nobles and
Amazon.com. forabout$15.
N icky’s personal insight into
the destructive life o f a gang mem
ber makes her perfect for the job.
Van Crashes While Eluding Police
Police have arrested a suspect in a
domestic assault who is accused o f
fleeing the scene o f an injury accident
at Northeast 102nd A venue and Gilsan.
Police said the Sept. 4 arrest fol
lowed a reported assault o f a female a
few blocks away.
As officers approached the sus-
»
pect, later identified as 34-year-old
Lee W oodrow Jackson, he’s accused
o f backing the van toward the officers
and striking a police car. The van then
fled the area at a high rate o f speed.
Police said they later discovered
that Jackson’s vehicle had collided
with a Honda occupied by three adults.
When You've Got Family Behind You,
You're Never AloneJ
I
Her stories offer insight and ques
tions after each chapter that force
readers to think about the choices
she made and the choices they
must make growing up around
gangs, drugs, and violence.
Nicky's advice is concrete and
undisguised. Her prose is personal,
honest and open. The stories are
often tragic, but always eye open
ing.
Nicky has since done presenta
tions at a handful o f local schools,
and spent months working as a
valued employee at the Juvenile
Detention Hall where her book is
used as a learning and study tool.
Nicky says the kids at schools
are responsive to her message, “they
listen, especially from someone who
has been there and done that.”
N ic k y
sa y s
a lo t o f
“gangbangers” want out, but think
they can’t do it.
“Its not hard to get out,” she said,
“you just got to separate yourself
and stay positive, that’s all.”
N icky hopes her book will reach
those at risk kids and their parents,
“ If we can get the parents we can
get the kids.”
She would love to see the book
in Portland’s classrooms. In fact,
she would love to see it picked up
by schools everywhere.
“1 don’t think there is another
book like it out there,” she said.
Her mother, Enola is very proud.
She wants to organize a discus
sion panel with other parents to .
discus issues raised in N icky’s
book.
“A lot o f parents don’t know
what to do,” she said, “its time for
peace, they’re dying so young.”
Nicky now has her sights set on
a new goal. She wants to make a
movie about her life in Portland s
gangs. She has already written the
screenplay called “no more tears.”
“Its gonna touch everybody’s
heart,” she said.
Her intention is to reach even
more youth than she already has.
“I think I’m here for a reason.”
N icky wi 11 be available for a book
signing on Thursday and Friday,
Sept. 12 and 13 at Reflections, just
o ff Martin Luther King Jr. Boule
vard at Killingsworth, between 4
p.m. and 6 p.m. both days. Parents
are encouraged to attend. She has
also shared her inspirational story
with radio station talk shows and
has been featured on TV news.
Witnesses Dispute Shooting Accounts
continued
excess force,” he said.
A nother w itness said she told
police she w as a navel officer
trained in life saving m easures,
but she too was refused access.
O th e rs sa id it a p p eared to
them that p o lic e lacked c o n
from Front
police about the procedure on
trying to assist with CPR.
“The o ffic e r’s response to me
was to grab me by the shirt and
to push me w ith unnecessary and
cern to give m edical atte n tio n
to the victim .
Police, how ever, reported to
media outlets on Sunday that the
crowd ignored orders to leave,
and the crow d was very confron
tational.
African Americans are dying
at higher rates than whites from
smoking related diseases.
Every year about
45,000
African
A mericans
did from
smoking related
,
diseases.
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