Sampson Davis - We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Led to Success

Table of Contents

DUTTON CHILDRENS BOOKS

A DIVISION OF PENGUIN YOUNG READERS GROUP

PUBLISHED BY THE PENGUIN GROUP

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Text and photographs copyright 2005 by The Three Doctors LLC

All rights reserved.

eISBN : 978-1-440-69590-2

1. Davis, Sampson. 2. Jenkins, George, 1973- 3. Hunt, Rameck. 4. Youth with social disabilitiesNew Jersey
NewarkBiographyJuvenile literature. 5. African American youthNew JerseyNewarkBiography
Juvenile literature. 6. African American physiciansNew JerseyNewarkBiographyJuvenile
literature. 7. FriendshipJuvenile literature. 8. SuccessJuvenile literature. I. Jenkins, George, 1973-
II. Hunt, Rameck. III. Title.
HV1437.N6D.922dc22 2004023210

Published in the United States by Dutton Childrens Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 www.penguin.com/youngreaders

http://us.penguingroup.com

Uncle T.J., I will miss you;
you are a great man!

SAMPSON DAVIS, M.D.

Ellen Bradley
Ma, this ones for you too!

RAMECK HUNT, M.D.

For Annette and Jackie.
There is always hope.
I believe in you.

SHARON DRAPER

INTRODUCTION

THIS IS A TRUE STORY . We are real people. We started out as kids in the toughest neighborhoods of Newark, New Jersey, and today we are doctors. We had to fight drugs and crime and hopelessness. We had to overcome obstacles like poverty and apathy and violence in our community. Individually we probably would not have succeeded, but together, we were able to make it through high school, college, and medical school.

We are Dr. Rameck Hunt, Dr. Sampson Davis, and Dr. George Jenkins. We call ourselves The Three Doctors. We now work in the same community where we grew up, trying to help the people in our neighborhoods.

We never thought our story was anything special. It wasnt until after we finished medical school that the public showed us what a remarkable journey we had made. In retrospect, its probably best that it happened that way. If we had thought about how daunting the task was that we were undertaking, we probably never would have even tried.

In these pages we want to show the power of friendship and of positive peer pressure. We also want to show the necessity for strong role models in the lives of young people. The three of us suffered because we didnt have many, and we hope to offer young people today three strong, positive role models they can depend on.

Dont get us wrongwe made lots of mistakes. We often made foolish decisions, sometimes got involved in dangerous situations, and frequently suffered the consequences of impulsive behavior. But we werent bad kidsjust kids in need of focus and direction.

We want to show that obstacles can be overcome and how struggles can lead to success. We hope that by reading our story, young people can avoid some of the mistakes we made and perhaps can be inspired to reach for dreams of their own.

Many of the names of the real people who lived and died in our neighborhoods have been changed in this book to protect their privacy. But their stories are important and need to be shared.

We hope that our story will add a beacon of hope to young people in particular and to society in general. Anyone with a dream can succeed and with that success return to where it all started and make the world just a little better.

CHAPTER ONE

YOU DONT HAVE TO CUT MY FOOT OFF, DO YOU?

SAMPSON, AGE 6 Im going with you, six-year-old Sampson Davis boldly told his big brother, Andre. Sampson, with honey-gold skin; large eyes with long lashes; and dark, curly hair, stood with his feet spread apart and his arms folded across his chest, daring his brother to challenge him. He had learned early to look and act tough, especially with the older boys his brother hung around with.

No, man. You too little. You be crampin my style, Andre replied.

I dont care. Im goin anyway. Besides, Moms said you gotta watch me today, Sampson said, knowing that when their mother said something, she meant business. Both boys knew better than to disobey their mother. She did her best to keep her children in line and had been known to use both broom and belt on them when they broke her rules.

Sampson also knew his brother hated for him to tag along with the bigger boys. Andre was ten and had his own set of friends from the neighborhood.

Well, just keep your mouth shut, and dont do nothin stupid, Andre warned. Me and my boys got business to take care of. He swaggered a little, making sure his little brother noticed. Sampson grinned and ran quickly to join them on the sidewalk.

Sampson and Andre and his friends liked to pretend to be tough, but not all of it was pretending. Kids learned early in the area around the Dayton Street Projects that walking with an air of being in control was often necessary for survival.

You hear Peewee got beat up last night? Andre asked his friend Leslie as they walked down the street.

Yeah, man, he had it comin to him. You dont take money from the Bomb and not get tightened up. Hes lucky he aint dead.

Sampson listened carefully, saying nothing, but taking it all inconfident he could handle the knowledge of activities of boys much older than he. He didnt think it was unusual at all to be discussing fights and drug deals and muggings. Thats just how the world around him functioned. There was no alternative to compare it to. His stomach sometimes tightened with a mixture of fear and excitement, but he didnt let the older boys know it.

The group walked down Dayton Street in Newark, New Jersey, that summer afternoon, laughing, cussing, and spitting on the sidewalk just to show this little bit of turf belonged to them. They had no particular destination in mind and ended up in a small, grassy park not far from the projects. As Sampson walked with the older boys, he gloried in the warmth of the lazy afternoon sun.

Look at how they keep this place, Andre said with disgust, his voice full of fifth-grade authority. The park was filled with broken glass, balled-up potato-chip bags, beer bottles, and other bits of trash. Trash bins all bent up and full of garbageno wonder nobody comes here.

Yeah, look at this mess, Sampson said, sounding like a smaller version of his big brother. How somebody sposed to sit on these park benchesall falling over and broke. The concrete frames, tilted and no longer braced in the dirt, wobbled easily when the boys tried to set them straight. The green wooden slats that made up the benches seats and backs lay strewn on the grass.

Lets fix the benches! one of Andres friends said suddenly. Well be like construction workers!

How we gonna do that? Sampson asked, intrigued at the game.

Easy, man, Andre replied enthusiastically. We got the parts. All we gotta do is put them back together.