You have a lot of people that don't vote because they say their vote don’t matter.
That the system and the government is gonna do whatever they want to do anyway.
But I say, well at least you have a voice.
I'm a convicted felon who don't have a voice.
2007 we came back home from off a vacation and my door was kicked in July 12th.
I was charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and cocaine
based marijuana.
I was going to go to trial because they said that they found drugs in my house.
There wasn't no drugs in my house.
They were just going on what an informant told them
I got locked up July 12th 2007.
I won my appeal January 2009 and I came home august of 2009.
I was left with two options.
When I came home, I had to either believe my situation was going to stay the same, or
believe it was going to get better.
And as you see here today, you know what choice I chose.
I have my bachelor in business administration, and I’m a student at Strayer University
pursuing a masters in finance.
I’m also employed at Brown Mackie College as a Librarian Assistant.
It took some adjusting.
I had to get adjusted with work-life balance, and also being a father.
And my friends who still locked up keep me going because they say Steve, you know we're
behind these walls, and you inspire me.
And I think about my friends, like what’s going to happen when they come home?
So that’s why I started GPS.
As I came through the situation, I realized like man, there’s a lot of other individuals
that’s going to come out too.
There was no start.
Where’s the rehabilitation at?
If we don’t get put in opportunities to get ahead.
We’re going to go back to what we used to be doing: robbing, selling drugs, scamming
or what not.
So I would want GPS to be that guiding point to guide them and help them be up and running.
Are we going to save everybody?
Probably not.
But if I could save 4 out 5, I think we’re doing good.
Me and other individuals like myself, we don’t have a voice.
We can't vote for our city councilman.
We can’t vote for our congressman.
We just have to take whatever come our way.
What's going on with my community who has no voice?
Specially like the people here in the Overtown area, or any area, the Liberty City area, half of those
people convicted felons over there.
So they can't vote.
So they gonna have no voice in what's going to happen to their community.
You do the crime, you do the time.
We all know that.
But you was already punished for however long.
So if you sit up here and you tell me I have to wait ten years just to vote?
Especially, a person in my statute where I came home, and I’ve done over the top of
what you've asked me to do.
You know, I have character references letters, you know I have degrees.
I'm working on a masters right now.
I haven't been to jail, or in trouble since I was released August 25th, 2009.
Nobody don't want to help me.
So it makes you feel bitter and then you start to adopt that philosophy of what everybody
else say: "Man, forget the system, I'm not voting."
But me?
I care, because my daughter, both of my daughters is growing up in this generation, which is
different from my generation and I need to be a part of that system where I can vote,
so they can have a better future.