“I listen to music and try to keep from going outside. Right now they’re gunning for young black men and I don’t want to be apart of that. What keeps me focused is music and my schoolwork. Oh, and my parents because they stay on me.
Stay out of trouble and do your best.” - Omarion, Charles, & Darius, Park DuValle
“My daily motivation is to get up and be better than I was yesterday. I see things in my life that’s slowly starting to build up and the more I work for it, the better it gets. There’s slow times, there’s times when I don’t grow but there’s times that I do grow. It gives me motivation to get up out of the bed and try. If there wasn’t any results, people wouldn’t be getting out of the bed and keep doing the same thing.
The challenges with growing is myself, which is the biggest obstacle. People get stuck in their own ways and what’s going on. We do that instead of just living life for what it is because you only got one. People just focus on the little things. Sometimes I focus on the small things that don’t matter and letting it get in my way.
Just live. Take your life for what it is and don’t try to make your life someone else’s. Don’t try to be someone else, be you. Wake up and be happy for what you got and live your life because that the only way you’re going to be happy.
The West End could use some community work and have people come together and clean up a little bit and make it look more presentable and friendly. A lot of people will look past that stuff. People will even look passed somebody sitting on the side of the road. Maybe more people should be a little bit more compassionate or try to. Then we can come together and clean up and try to make everything look nice and hold pride in the neighborhood.” - Mark, Russell
“We want to do something positive in the community. We want to get the brothers together, congregate together, be positive and put together a hell of a unit, and stunt at the same time. Ya dig? We’re trying to rep the city how you’re supposed to. We got people from all over the city that are black, white, the whole nine, man. It’s the Louisville Mopar Muscle. It’s the Muscle.” - Mopar Muscle, Shawnee
"Be humble throughout all situations and circumstances. Always have a plan and set standards for yourself." - Domo, Russell
"The key to happiness is family, love, and staying positive. If you have a positive attitude, you're going to be happy. Have a good outlook on things and have respect for one another. Life's too short to be angry all the time. If you're going to have a good day, it's your attitude that determines your good days.
Don't kick people while they're down. If that's your brother, don't kick him while he's down, help him up. Iron's sharp as iron. If I know something that I can teach my sister and she can teach my nephew, I'll put it out there. Help one another out. I'll reach out for you because I love you. We ride, we die. Help somebody out.
The West needs more community centers and less liquor stores. We need people to stop littering. Start an organization to get all of these kids something to do. Teach people about financial literacy in the community. That's stuff that they don't teach in school." - Pat, Alex & Jay, California
"We're focused on getting that dollar rotating within the community, so that people are able to be successful. We want people to have jobs and we want the retailers and commercial businesses to come, so that that there are local jobs for people within the community. We don't want to see a whole bunch of part time stuff, we want folks to get insulated with the right kind of jobs. We want to collaborate with housing developers and housing rehab programs to help people. We don't do housing but we want to help those that do to be successful. We want the community to get plugged in. If there's a way that we can help collaborative partners, we want to do that.
One of the first things that you're going to see One West do is to get businesses to willingly participate in a program that will be hiring staff and will be on the street, cleaning up, every week. We want to clean up the trash in the streets. We're going to start on 12th & Broadway and go all the way up to Kroger. We want Kroger to get involved, as well. We're asking businesses who are willing to participate financially, as well as volunteerism. We want the community to participate, too. The hope is for this initiative to bleed into the side streets, where the businesses and the families in the homes can see that this is not what we do here and to say that trash in the streets is unacceptable. We want to engage the city to be a partner in this, and provide more rotation in trash pick up and supply more trash cans throughout the community. We think that this visible change, right off the bat, will restore the pride within the community. We want to get that investment in the area so we can begin to put these vacant and abandoned properties back into play and be able to attract retailers and grow and help grow home businesses that need a little help out the gate.
This year, my goals are to help clean up the community and foster that collaboration with residents to clean it up. Second, we want to be a collaborative partner with projects and programs in neighborhoods that are moving forward with progressive value added development strategies. We're in a capital campaign that helps to fund any and everything that we want to do. So, we're asking for an investment from West Louisville and all around to help us to be able to do more. So we're out seeking investment to do more. With the YMCA and Passport coming, we want to continue to build on that momentum. We have some things underway, relative to real estate development, that we'll be announcing within the next couple of months.
It's extremely important that West Louisvillians be involved. I have never seen community economic development go well whenever the community was not apart of it. Ownership is within the community. For-profit developers don't have to engage the community but community economic developers do. The Bingham Fellows Class of 2014, that started One West, were comprised of local leaders. Those leaders recognized that in order to effective in revitalizing the community, you had to have the community at the table. Our board is comprised of all people from all nine communities of West Louisville. Not only is it leaders from across the city but leaders from the neighborhoods. We've got folks representing the arts community, folks representing the residential community that are all serving on the board and leading the committees. For the first three years, One West focused on outreach to the community. They listened to what was important to the community on the different issues and concerns that they felt were of prominence. We made that our priority list.
Another thing that we're very serious about is private investment because we don't want to be a 'here today, gone tomorrow' kind of business. We want to do what is going to be value added with a long term strategy. We need a long term strategy with all of the challenges that we have. With that, every time we have a win or success, we are going to celebrate that and help promote what's happening. It's going to be one initiative at a time and it going to require patient money, that's going to help us reach the long term goals." - Evon, President & CEO of One West, California
"Put the guns down and come together as one." - Chontia, Parkland
“Give us a day out of the week and just a strip in Shawnee Park. Invite all of the kids and shut it down. Just give us a few hours and let us ride. Let the kids watch us go back and forth. We don’t even have to be out here, but at Shawnee Park. All we gotta do is shut off the strip and they can go around the circle, to keep the traffic moving, while we do our shit.” - 502 Mud Boyz
“This is not a bad neighborhood, it’s not a bad part of the city at all. I love the people and this neighborhood. I was born and raised in this neighborhood. I was raised right there on Madison. I’ve been in this neighborhood my whole life and I’m 60 years old. It’s some really good people in this neighborhood. There’s some real nice people, man.
I’d like to see our young people get themselves together. Instead of fighting, help one another. If you’re doing good, share some of your portion with the other man. Help each other.
We need better government and better representation. Look at this shit! Ain’t no way in the world people are supposed to be homeless, with all of these vacant ass homes. Some of these churches will tear down a nice structure just to make a parking lot, while somebody in that congregation is struggling. They could take a house and charge somebody $25 a month until they get on their feet but they rather tear the damn thing down and make a parking lot. It’s that crazy ass shit.
Keep your eyes on the prize. If you go rob a bank, take God with you. If you do anything, take God with you. Pray everyday and give thanks. Even if you got a bucket or a pot, say thank you! It sure beats getting locked up. (Laughs) Keep God with you and share this space with someone.” - Pervis, Russell
"I want people to stop the killing and just be friendly to one another. I just wish the best for everybody." - Robert, Shawnee
“Remain positive and keep going after your goals. Keep doing the right thing, even when nobody is looking. As a matter of fact, I’m going on eight years sober. So, I came from nothing. When I started my sobriety journey, I started off as a server, at my current job. I’m now a manager and I’ve been that for two and a half years. As long as you have people continuously helping and praying for you, keep working towards your goals, no matter where you’re at, where you live, or how you grew up.
I was the only child, so I wasn’t raise like that. I just experimented few things in life. I ignored a lot, the obvious one was my mom. I was in the streets and thought that I knew it all. I had my first child when I was thirteen. So, that started the effect of me thinking that I was grown. One thing led to another.
The most blessed moment is when I found and started loving myself right in the midst of and in spite of.” - Bridget, Algonquin
"My defining moment in wanting to become a barber is when I was taking my daughter’s mom to her house and we rode past a barber shop. It belonged to this well known barber named Big Don. He was working at the time and it was sold out. He had the nicest car in the parking lot. That steered me into thinking that I could make a living with this. So many people miss out on their gifts. I had a gift, dealing with these clippers about 23 years ago.
Riding past Haskin's, right across Victory Park did it for me. I think that was the moment I knew that I needed to be in the barber shop. My first week in the shop, I knew I was going to make it. The second week was kinda rough. The first week, I came in at the right time. I started on a Thursday, it was busy. It was a bunch of walk-ins and the shop was on Broadway. That started it for me and let me know that I’m gonna be alright at this.
What motivates me is watching younger barbers, that used to be customers, turning into the talked about barber. I’ve had the pleasure to witness that a couple of times. You know, guys that I’ve seen go to barber school and now they’re the household name. That motivates me.
I remember walking in here and no one could see my vision. The barber that moved in here with me couldn’t see it either. He was like, ‘Man, we ain’t gonna make no money, right here!’. You can make money anywhere, it’s you. It’s not the location, it’s you. Now, location plays a part on the traffic but once you get a good barber, you don’t want to have to keep traveling around, trying to find somebody else.
My service to the community has been positive. There’s been a lot of guys that have come to me for advice. I’ve even came in here needing advice. I’ve cut a lot of prominent people over the years. I ask questions. If I don’t know something, I’m asking questions and a lot of people have helped me. One of the most humbling experiences that I’ve had is when we moved over here. All I had was money to buy the building but not money to renovate the building. My customers all pitched in and helped me in some kind of way. That let me know what kind of impression I had on people. We’ve had guys that would come up in here and picking up sledge hammers to knock out walls because they want to see you back in business. That touched me so deep. Plus, there was 50% of the people in here who were helping and I had never cut their hair. That lets you know that this is more than a business.
The happiest moment of life is when my kids came into the world. My happiest moment, pertaining the to barber shop, is when I got to cut Muhammad Ali. That was probably the stand out moment, an honor. But definitely, the happiest moment of my life, hands down, is that I have 4 children and being the first person to hold them. Ain’t no accomplishment greater than that.
Don’t give up because failure comes first. The person that fails and gives up will be the failure. It’s gonna be bumps but the key is to get up. I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s been some nights when I didn’t think that it was going to work. Just keep your head and know that God has a plan for you. I think that’s the advice that I can give anybody. It’s going to be bumps but you can’t give up. As long as you got that ‘I won’t be denied’ type of attitude, you’ll be alright.
Parents need to step up. Parents gotta start listening to the teacher before they pass judgement. They have to realize that their kid might be an angel but they’re not an angel all the time. I see so many parents that are ready to tear into a grown up over their kid. You think that you’re being a good parent, you’re not. You need to put your kid off to the side and let them see you talk to a teacher and someone of authority. If a kid sees you being disrespectful to another adult , what do you think he’s going to do? Ain’t no more respect. The reason why we have so many young dudes out here being disrespectful is because nobody showed them. No matter what you might think of a person, whether it be the police or someone working at McDonalds, when that respect is lost and you don’t show it, that little one behind you is watching you and doing the same thing. We’re all caught up in our lives and forget that we have these little guys watching and will end up acting just like you.
Everybody needs to have an eye. When I was a kid, I cursed a lot. I grew up on Shawnee Terrace and my friends were all in that area. I would change the way I talked because I didn’t want to hear somebody’s parent tell me that I couldn’t come on their porch because they heard me cursing. Now, everybody is just minding their own business and don’t want no parts. You have a lot of people that are spectating and saying ‘I knew that was gonna happen’ and not preventing it before. We need to look out for one another and be nicer to each other.
We need more of our own. I’ve been in stores and watched foreigners treat our kids like they’re stealing and will charge them extra if they’re not with an adult. We need to get our own and support our own. We don’t support each other at all. You’ll take some trifling shit from a big store. I seen it at Target or JC Penney and we'll take it. We won’t even take the time to call their corporate office but if it’s a small store, a black business, it’s the opposite. We won’t even mess with the store any more. That’s the mentality.” - Dontay, Owner of Clippa City, Russell
"We need some centers around here. There's only a few and you have to travel far to get to them. That'll keep everybody out of trouble. You feel me?" - Young homies, Portland
"We need more stores in this area. You know, somewhere where we can get some quality stuff. We got a million Dollar Stores but we need better stores for a better shopping experience. That would be the biggest improvement that I can think of. Also, they need to fix the sidewalks and streets to make them a little better.
My advice to the world is to let things go. If something bothers me, I just tell myself to get over it and move on. There's other stuff to do besides being angry and depressed. Drop all of that and move on. Find something to do and not something to sit on." - Dave, Russell
"I think that education is your key out. Without an education, you can't even go to McDonalds, now. So pay attention, work hard, and focus on your education." - Regina & Tina, Shawnee
“I was looking at a life sentence and beat the 85% by one month. My charge was that man and then I didn’t start the 85% until June of ’97. I was under the old law, where they make you do half of your time. I did 10 flat, for 1st degree manslaughter. This neighborhood, right here, I grew up in this whole area.
Back then, this neighborhood was an alright lil neighborhood. It was where you could fight and be friends on the same day. Everybody knew each other. We got along, kicked it and stuff. If we fought, we were friends on the same day. Now, this neighborhood done totally flipped a script. It done changed. This young generation, man, they’re ignorant. Some of them will listen and some of them won’t.
It’s kinda hard to create that connection with the young generation because you have to be on their level. What I wanna do is be a motivational speaker because I feel like I can get with a lot of people. I can go to group homes, prisons, and schools to talk to the troubled kids and stuff like that. That’s some of the things I really want to do if I can keep the demons off of me. I wouldn’t mind helping these brothers out.
The happiest moment of my life is when I had my son. I got one son and he just turned 5 years old. He’s named after me, Lil Earl. I had to change some of my ways when I had him. I had to quit gang banging, cause I’ma Crip. I’m real close to Victory Park because I got family members over there. I had to change a lot of things, like drinking and smoking. Being a father, I don’t want him to be like me. He can wear any color, I don’t want him in no gang. He can wear red, yellow, blue, orange, whatever he wants to wear. I don’t want him in no gang, man. My son inspires me.
I have congestive heart failure, so I have to change some of the things that I’ve been doing. I have to change my eating habits, too. I realize that I can’t do some of the old stuff that the Pearliza used to do. I was a bad person. Who wants to walk around and watch their back 24/7? If I keep on trying to do the things that I was doing in the 90’s, I’ll get killed out here. God’s not going to let me stay out here.
We need more role models in the West. We need more guys that are my age, the OG’s, that the young people look up to. We need more of them to stay on the them and give them the best advice. We need more people that are trying to help. As you can see, they’re trying to bring the gang banging back. If we can get all the OG’s from every neighborhood to have a meeting, whether you’re in the East End or Newburg, and come together and maybe we can help some of these young guys. This era now, you ain’t crackin unless you have a gun, smoking loud, wearing Jordans and Rock & Revival. So, if you ain’t got none of that, you ain’t jumping.
I would like to open up a place for inmates that get out. Instead of going to a halfway house, they’ll have a place to go. A lot of guys feel like they don’t have any family, so they go back to the streets. Next thing you know, they get caught up selling drugs and doing some of the things that they were doing. They end up getting sent back and end up getting institutionalized. So, I would like to open up something for them and for the youth to go shoot ball at. Remember when they had St. Anthony’s? They stopped it because kids was going in there and tearing stuff up. I used to hoop in there back in the day. Now, they don’t have nothing for the kids to do.
My advice to a young person is if you got something good and God gave you a talent, go on and do that.”-OG Earl, Russell
"We need this, something positive." - Stephon, Russell
“I’ve been doing this for about thirty years but I’ve been here for two. This location is the one of the busiest locations in West Louisville. I always wanted to be in this spot and when the opportunity came, I took it. If I go, somebody else will snatch it. I’ve already built my clientele and I’m not trying to give up my clientele. I’m here for a reason. Eventually, I’m going to buy this lot and build. I gotta start somewhere and this is where I’m going to start. It might take another year or two to get to where I’m going but I’m going to get there.
I live in the Highlands, I moved out of the West. I actually left the West End and moved to Atlanta. I lived there for about twenty years and came back. I’ve only been back in Louisville for about eight years. I had some ups and downs. I’ve been shot and robbed since I’ve been back. I was living a crazy lifestyle but I had to give it up. I have always been blessed with the skills to cook. I didn’t need anything else. People have to eat every single day and all I need is my skills.
I’m just thankful for being here. When I wake up, I gotta give thanks. Sometimes, you have to bless somebody because you were blessed. I’m just thankful for the opportunity to bless others. If you pass it down, a lot of people might be in a better place than before. A lot of us can be selfish and being selfish won’t get you too far in life.” - Yaya (Owner of Yaya’s BBQ), Russell
"One of my proudest moments of being a dad is seeing her go to school." - Mike & Nevaeh, Parkland
"When you’re young, you make mistakes. When you grow up, you see that you grow apart from some people. You may have thought that people were going to be in your life forever, but as you get older, you see that ya’ll are going in two different directions. What you always believed to be true and the people that you believed to always be around may not be there later on. You have to be to differentiate the two. You gotta figure out who’s going to be there, who’s going to stand the test of time with you, and who’s really there for your best interest.
My advice to the world is to love and laugh more. Everybody’s so serious, nowadays. What happened to the good times where we can just sit out without the bullshit? I don’t even like going out anymore because I don’t want to get shot, at the club, trying to be cute. I want to go to concerts and stuff like that but I fear.
It’s our youth. Somebody gotta get ahold of them and give them some guidance in them before we make any kind of progress. It’s not even the adults, for real, it’s the kids. They got their own mind frame, thinking they’re grown and that they don’t need adults. They’re just out here doing their own thing, thinking that whatever works for them works for them. Whether it be in jail or in the ground, they don’t really care. Somebody has to get a handle on our youth because they’re not giving a fuck. We’re not going to be able to procreate or have a future if these muthafuckin kids keep killing each other or killing us.
In Louisville, we have a high crime rate. You look on the news and it’s mostly kids. It’s the lost kids out here doing dumb shit. You also have the ones that have parents at home, not doing what they need to do and trying to be friends. Do you and get a handle on this youth. I’m having a problem with that, too. I got a teenager, too. It’s hard.” - Shonda, Russell