In That Number

Ty’ree’s Story

I’m a likable person, so I see myself. You could know me for a few hours, you going to automatically like me. Everybody in transition school liked me, so I could literally talk to anyone like my teachers or anyone in the office. They would really take time out, like they would stop in the middle of their work if I needed them. Even if they were doing something important, they would be like “Give me five minutes,” or whatever. They gonna make sure they talk to me before the day is over with.

I grew up in the Iberville Projects, the Fourth Ward. It was rough. I didn’t have everything I wanted, but my mom and my grandma, they gave me everything I needed. I have four siblings - two brothers and two sisters. I’m the baby. It was special because my momma had my brothers and sisters when she was younger and she had me when she was kind of older.

When I was fifteen I went to jail for three years and three months. All my friends, they used to go to the Youth Study Center, back and forth. The way they talked about it, they never really sat there for years. So when I first found out I was going, a lot of my friends told me about this and that; it ain’t bother me. But once I found out that I actually might stay awhile - then back and forth to court, back and forth - this ain’t how they made it seem. This is really stressful.

I just took it day by day. I would talk to my sister, talk to my grandma. They helped me through it. I feel like I wasn’t just fighting for me, I was fighting for them, too. Cause remember, I’m the baby. Everybody in my family loved me. So, it was like, I know I got to get through this so they can get through so I can go back out and get to them.

Now I get motivation and drive from being in the Welcoming Project. I won’t say that I depend on people, but I do know the Welcoming Project is going to come through. Like, if I really, really need something. I can turn to them as support. Because like, it has brought me an opportunity I didn’t think was going to happen. They pushed me. I don’t really like to do nothing, so they pushed me to get up and try everything I could and this summer I got a really good internship because they kept pushing me.

At the end of the day, you got to take this as another lesson learned, like if it was meant to be. You can’t stop what’s going to happen in the future. There ain’t no way around it. You probably didn’t know, but you needed this sit down. You was trippin’. If I saw someone going down a path that looked like they might end up in jail, I’d just tell them my story. I’d tell them, that’s what comes with this, this is what comes without it. ‘Cause everyone used to tell me the same thing and I ain’t never want to hear until it happened, and I was like “Dang, I wish I would have listened to the people.” So I’d just tell them like, “yo, I used to do the same thing. You’re going to regret your decision. Just think twice before you do it.” They say follow your first mind, but it ain’t always follow your first mind.

So yeah, it took time away from me, but I feel like it made me better cause then if I didn’t have a sit-down, I would have never had time to think about, “alright, what’s my purpose in life? What do I want from myself?” I knew jail wasn't where I wanted to be at. Now I know my purpose is bigger than everything. I actually want to be somebody before everything is said and done. I know I want to be successful.