So I want to say stop calling me an ex con.

Straight up a person convicted of a crime is a person.

I say I am a formerly incarcerated person because it is important in my line of work.

By my very existence I’m challenging every implicit bias or stereotypes type you may have been lead to believe…

I tell you because my goal is to change the narrative- to expand peoples limited thinking.

I tell you because I want nay sayers to know and see the success they told me I could never achieve was in my reach and attainable after all.

See before they incarcerate us the naysayers imprisoned us and confined us in their negative limitations.

You’ll never be good enough!

You’ll never amount to anything!

You’re just like your mother!

You’ll never be smart enough!

Finally we let their mere words define the limits of our success. But not me!!

I will be that one who opens the eyes of a nation and gets them to recognize their judgment and cast it aside.

I call me what I need to , so that you can understand from where I came. Because when a person has a 23 year time out of society believe me reintegration is by no means easy.

So success is something I strive to maintain daily- it’s difficult to succeed in a world where doors are slammed in your face because you have a criminal record.

But I do it because the more I succeed the more it will help those like me rewrite the negative messages they heard and believe they too can succeed.

And as we all succeed the naysayers will be forced by reality to recognize change is possible. People do get better and overcome.

They just have to stop judging long enough to give us a chance.