For a number of kids in Tulsa it’s a sad case of innocence lost. Lured at a young age by money, drugs and guns; the violent world of gangs.Earlier this week, FOX23 reported “Through The Eyes Of A Gangster”, the true story of gang banging on Tulsa streets.
The Tulsa Police Department Gang Unit reports last year there was a record number of homicides and half of them were gang-related.
FOX23’s Abbie Alford reports on a former gang member who has been shot, pronounced dead, revived and now living with Dialysis.
Now he’s spreading a message: The gang life isn’t worth living.
Rashun “Rawbeanie” Williams is a convicted felon who’s loyalty to the 107 Hoover Crip gang got him locked up for attempted robbery.
He has the wounds on his stomach to prove his loyalty to the gang.
"That's where I shot and had surgery," says Williams.
Thirty-two surgeries later, Williams had been pronounced dead. He was revived and now has Dialysis.
He got a second chance at life.
"I was just high off the lifestyle. The devil had me blind. And I was loyal to these streets and to the set," says Williams.
So he changed his dress code, his walk and his talk.
"These fathers and parents are not embracing these kids and telling them they love them. Men need to step up and be men. That's where it starts at is at home," says Williams. "We drop the habits that we have and invest in our kids and I think we will be better off and we won't have to worry about the drug dealers getting them or the gang bangers getting them. We have to sacrifice."
So Williams is being a role model to his 15-year-old daughter Brianna Jones.
"It shows me that you can turn your life around if you try," says Jones.
And teens such as 14-year-old Xavier Miller who used to get kicked out school at least once a week until he met Rawbeanie.
"He would talk to me about fighting and that you can get killed over fighting and it's not worth it, it's not worth it,” says Miller.
Williams says he’s given him and other youth boys a cell phone as an incentive to avoid the street life.
"Gangs is not the way to go. I can't tell them about the hustling and the money but gangs, gang banging is senseless," says Williams.
Being a role model for Miller has changed the boys attitude and his grades from F’s, D’s, C’s, B’s and A’s to A’s, B’s and C’s.
"I couldn't believe how quick I pulled my grades up," says Miller. "I believe that he is on that path of doing right he is going to be somebody."
It’s the confidence and determination that Miller says his mother and Williams have taught him choosing the gang life like some of Miller’s classmates is not worth living.
"If they get into a fight and they win they think that they are stuff and the next thing they want to do is get a gun and shoot somebody and they think they are they are stuff and they think they are bullet proof," says Miller. "I don't even like gang banging."
And this is why Williams says he’ll continue to spread his message to youth.
"With me out here talking to people about gangs my life is on the line. If I can have my life on the line for wrong it can be on the line for good," says Williams. "Now I am starting to make a difference make a change and these wounds are not in vain."
Some kids in school who get in trouble and drop out do it on purpose.
Williams says as a teen he couldn’t read very well so instead of being embarrassed in class, he would do something that would cause him to be kicked out of class.
This is just another way to spot a teen who may need more help than anybody knows.
Williams also works with the 100 Black Men of Tulsa organization to prevent gang violence.
The program was spearheaded by former TPD officer Marvin Blades.
The Tulsa Dream Center has started a new program called The Cure which aims to give kids and teens a positive alternative to trouble on the streets.
