Life salvaged in lockup

In 1992 at the age of 19, Yusef Shakur was a full-fledged product of the gang- and crack-infested Detroit neighborhood known on the street as Zone 8. He was also starting a prison sentence of five to 15 years for assault with intent to commit robbery.

Out of sheer terror, he wrote a letter to his father -- who also was incarcerated -- a father so absent he knew him only as a "sperm donor." Then at Ionia Maximum Correctional Facility, Richard Lee Carter had been convicted in 1988 of second-degree murder of another prisoner.

In the first of many letters that would set in motion a new direction and sense of purpose in life for Shakur, his father wrote back from his prison cell:

"Son, let your past mistakes become your teacher because your mistakes can become our greatest education ... You must use this time to prepare yourself to leave better than what you came in as. Turn your cell into a university by rebuilding yourself from the inside out ... P.S. You misspelled knowledge, religion, envelope, address, message and religious. If you don't have a dictionary, you need to get one. Words are powerful because they convey who we are. Use your mind to free yourself or somebody will use your mind to keep you a slave."

Some 18 years later, Yusef Shakur, 37, now sits in The Urban Network, a bookstore and community center he founded on Grand River Avenue in Zone 8, the same west-side neighborhood he used to terrorize as a self-described ruthless, heartless, hopeless gang banger and thug.

After spending nine years in prison, Shakur returned to his 'hood a responsible adult. He's a Wayne County Community College graduate, an involved father of two sons, ages 15 and 5, a Head Start teacher, an author, speaker and community activist.

"When I first wrote that letter," Shakur recalled recently, "I was still in the mindset of the Zone 8 thug. Basically, I was looking for a fight but my father came back and gave me direction. He began to help me to see the world differently. He penetrated that hard core criminal mentality of mine. For me and for a lot of young boys, whether we be white, black or red, we all want to be like our fathers. Here was an opportunity for me to be like my father, but in a positive way."

Two years ago, Shakur self-published his memoir: "The Window 2 My Soul: My Transformation from a Zone 8 Thug to a Father and Freedom Fighter" (Urban Guerilla Publishing, 2008). The book chronicles his violence-filled upbringing, his prison transformation, and his determination to break the cycle of incarceration for males in his family and his community.

Ava Jo Ruffin was 15 when she gave birth to Shakur, born Joseph Lee Ruffin. To provide for him and his two sisters, "Jo Jo's" mother became a prostitute. His only role models were pimps, thugs, predators and dealers. Violence was the resolution to any problem he had. After getting kicked out of every school he ever attended, his mother made him a ward of the state. He was 15 years old.

She defended her decision during a visit to her son in Maxey Training School. Shakur writes: "Mama listened to me rant and then said: 'Joseph, your life was putting my life and your sisters in jeopardy. This is the position you put me in: either let you run wild, like some (expletive) animal in them damn streets or put you in here where you can slow down and see where your life was heading -- which was to an early grave or prison where your father is at.' "

Little did Shakur know years later he would write: "My mama became my hero and my father became my mentor." Today, the book is in its second edition printing and it's getting notice from academia. The new edition includes a foreword from Michigan State University sociology professor Carl S. Taylor, and Shakur has been a guest speaker at the University of Michigan. He's awaiting the May publication of his latest book: "Scribes of Redemption: Letters From an Incarcerated Father to his Incarcerated Son."

Shakur says the bookstore is also a place for young men to come and talk. "This is me giving back now," Shakur says. "It's me helping to rebuild a place I once sought to tear down and destroy."

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