Antong Lucky - A Redemptive Path Forward: From Incarceration to a Life of Activism

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

A Redemptive Path Forward

Antong Luckys story is about transformation from beginning to end. Every human being has a God-given inalienable right to enter the road to redemption. Hes the example of the redemption our nation needs.

Malik Aziz, chief of police of Prince Georges County, Maryland

With breathtaking candor, Antong Lucky shares his compelling journey from devastating poverty and incarceration to neighborhood leader in low-income Dallas communities, becoming a nationally recognized activist, equipping and empowering young inner-city residents, and advocating for sweeping changes in urban power structures to create a more just society. Antong has an extraordinary gift for leadership and a heart for community service. His story will inform and inspire others. It could very well change your life.

Don Williams, founder and CEO of the Foundation for Community Empowerment

Antong Luckys story is both wrenching and inspiring. His experience is an undeniable lesson in how people can transform themselves, each other, and their communities in ways the criminal legal system never can.

Danielle Sered, author of Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair

Experience an intellectual marvel tell a miraculous true story that provides the solution to the widening divides in America. Antong Lucky reveals harsh realities and presents compassionate activism for timeless hope and a renewal of the belief that fearless love will win.

Drew Willey, CEO and founder of Restoring Justice

A Redemptive Path Forward is both timely and timeless. Antongs profoundly moving memoir offers a searing portrait of a young man caught between the laws of Americas unjust legal system and the laws of the streetsboth hell-bent on cutting his life short before it really even begins. Yet above all else, Antong gifts us with his inspiring journey to redemption. Hope is fuel, and this important book delivers it in drovesjust when we need it most.

Brittany K. Barnett, attorney and author of A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice and Freedom

Reading this book, A Redemptive Path Forward, has given me insights into just how vulnerable our youths are. The streets are waiting to pull them in. Antongs redemptive path is masterfully laid out as a guide for others to follow. His natural leadership is turning this idea of redemptive activism into a force for good to be reckoned with!

Alice Marie Johnson, criminal justice activist, author of After Life: My Journey from Incarceration to Freedom and CEO of Taking Action for Good

Antongs redemptive journey from the most dangerous man in his neighborhood to an ambassador of peace should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand what authentic transformation truly requires. Over the years, I have had the privilege of witnessing first-hand his trials and tribulations, but more importantly, his many, many triumphs.

Bob Woodson, President of the Woodson Center

I dedicate this memoir to my friend, my brother, father figure, and spiritual guide, the late Bishop Omar Mulidna Jahwar. Twenty-one years we spent together, each and every single day epitomizing and advocating Redemption & Transformation for the least of thee. If I had to do it again, I would choose you. Thank you for believing in me. May your soul rest with the greats who also fought to make this world a better place.

Ive come to understand and to believe that each of us is more than the worst thing weve ever done.

BRYAN STEVENSON, TED TALKS, MARCH 5, 2012

Redemption is possible, and it is the measure of a civilized society.

GREG BOYLE

CONTENTS

A fter nearly two decades of friendship co-laboring, my friend, my brother, MY FAMILY, Kiddo Antong Lucky, delivers us a memoir that gives us an inside look at his transformational journey. The epitome of redemption and transformation himself, this memoir captures a step-by-step and process-by-process layout of this journey and provides a comprehensive glimpse into the fortitude it takes to bounce back from the crushing idea of the hood that so many young men in urban communities find themselves trapped under.

This book is the TRUTH for communities, prisons, schools, and nonprofits across this nation. It not only provides real evidence that transformation exists, but is also an inspiring blueprint for those trying to find a way out. A brother who ran a gang now helps kids stay out of gangs. A brother who ran from police now trains and works with police. TRUTH.

As a father, a brother, a coach, and, most important, a man of God, I personally recommend this book to anyone looking for inspiration and motivation. This is the real-life story of an underdog who became the big dog that helps the little dogs perspectives on their transformational journey.

Deion Prime Time Sanders, Pro Football Hall of Fame NFL Player and 2021 Southwestern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year

I was born in 1976 in an East Dallas housing project named Frazier Courts, a low-income housing project with a reputation that said: Enter at your own risk. Frazier Courts was filled with drugs, alcohol, and violence, with little hope for anyone ever getting out. It was one of the toughest neighborhoods in Dallas. Nobody flinched at the sound of a gunshot; nobody startled at the sight of the police cuffing someone on the street. The underground culture of the neighborhood was etched into the value system and maintained by a seemingly inextinguishable loyalty to it. The flashes of hope came in the form of education and the earnest attempts of educators who saw something in the kids and made every attempt, despite the odds, to bring it out of them. School was a refuge for me and many other young people who sought to escape the harsh realities of our environment and sometimes even the war zones of our own homes. As much of a star as I was in school early onI was a straight-A studentit was no match for the pressures of the hood. Survival was the rule of law.

Twenty years later, I was in prison as a direct result of a life spent acting out the ideas and images impressed upon me during my childhood and formative years in East Dallas. In prison, I had time to stop and realize how much Frazier Courts and its surrounding neighborhood had played a significant role in not only my being there but also the hundreds of thousands of kids like myself, born and raised in the hood, who eventually end up in a jail cellor the grave. Was this the only fate for us or was there something else at play?

Twenty more years have passed since I got out of jail, and the changes Ive made are evidenced by the fact that I am a father, mentor, youth advocate, and public speaker, as well as a community and redemption activist, meaning that I believe every single person is worthy of setting right the mistakes theyve inevitably made along the way. Likewise, many things have shifted in America over the past two decades. Whether its race relations, the office of the president, social media, technology, or the way that music is made, transformation is visible all around. But one thing that has stubbornly