"In My Neighborhood"
Interview with Mr. Kirk Carter

Kirk is gone on to be with the Lord. Rest in peace. We miss you
Jearlean Taylor
Editor-In-Chief
Thoughtsofinspiration
I want to give a special thank you to Mr. Carter for being brave, courageous,
open, and honest for this interview. He hopes by telling his story it will help
those still out there.
TOI: What is your name & age? What nickname do you go by?
Kirk: My name is Kirk Carter; age 21. I go by 2 nick names; Manny came from my mom
and dad when I was just a baby. The other name Loaf came from big time drug dealer
who use to be round the way. Him and I and like 10 others was sitting in a trap house
and he said Loaf suits my look. I got that bread if you no what I mean, so that’s how
that name came about.
TOI: What is the name of the neighborhood you grew up in and do you still live there?
Kirk: The name of my hood is Westport. I grew up there and I still live there. You
can say I been there my whole life basically 21 years.
TOI: What do you remember about your childhood? Whether be negative and or positive
Kirk: Well I remember that there were a lot of hard times growing up. My dad use to abuse me, my sisters, and my mom. He
use to put our heads under the water and make my sister drink out the toilet. He also did sexual things to both of my
oldest sisters. He was very strict and he was a very mean man. My mom was on welfare for a very long time. She had 7
kids; 3 girls before me and one girl and two boys after me. I was the middle child and the oldest boy. I do not feel like I got
a lot of attention from my mom because it was to many of us for her to give one individual attention. Also food was a
problem at times. I remember eating noodles like everyday, all day because that was all she could provide for us. We took
trips up to social services every now and then to seek help with food. They gave us food, but it was nothing one would
want to eat, but we had no choice. When my mom had her 5th or 6th child she began working. She lost a lot of weight; I
guess from moving around because she was so use to always sitting around the house. Some things began to get better
once she started to work, but we were getting older and we needed and wanted more things that she could not get for us
being a single mom. I started wearing my friends’ clothes and shoes because I did not have any. I remember one point and
time I use to wear my sisters underwear because I did not have any of my own. My friends use to laugh and talk about me
all the time. And sometimes I would not have a shirt or socks on outside. I probably had on one of my sisters’ shoes that
was to big for me, but that’s how it was. The only thing that I can think of that was fun back then was family gatherings
going to the coast guard festival or going to the beach. I remember Christmas was pretty good. I began to sell drugs
around the age of 13 because I wanted fresh gear like my friends and I wanted to be like how they were. I wanted the girls.
I wanted to smoke weed. It just seems like that’s what Westport cool kids was suppose to be like at the time.
TOI: Did you have activities (camp, rec center, etc..) in your community for young people? If not, what did you do for fun?
Kirk: We had camp at school and in our hood, but I was not into that type of stuff and most kids was nor either. We had a
recreation center but being there was like being out on the streets, so why bother. We use to flip on dirty mattresses  for
fun, play nigga knocker, which is when you knock on someone’s door and run, Oddly, for fun and being young we engaged
in sexual activities. I lost my virginity at the age of 12 and most of my friends did as well. The girl I lost it to knew more than
me. She knew about condoms and how to use them. She knew a lot about sex. ______. Soon after that I was only wanting
sex, money, and getting high. It was not hard because I was making a lot of money. Girls and drugs were everywhere in
the hood, but selling drugs, getting high, and messing with the girls was what me and my friends did. We was growing out
of that other stuff; leaving it behind for the younger crowd and the ones that were not on our level. I would have had
about 5 kids right now if the girls that I messed with did not do what I said when they got pregnant. But thinking, maybe
after that first child I would have change a lot about my life because I would not had just been living for me, I would have
been living for someone else as well.
TOI: Did you like the neighborhood? Why or Why not?
Kirk: Yes I did like my hood back then because that is all I knew. Back then I thought that is how people lived. The hood
that is all I saw. Once I started selling drugs life became fun so I thought, except when the law got involved. Now I hate my
hood because its nothing here that I am happy to see. When I wake up in the morning to go to work or when I come home
from work I still see nothing for these kids. I watch them take the same path I did. A few years ago I had seen my lil cousin
a junkie in the making. He was getting higher than me and his brother ever did. More and more kids are selling drugs.
These days they get younger every year and the younger kids are getting high as well; smoking cigarettes and stuff. It’s
more now than it was back then. These kids are having kids; having sex. It just gets worst every year and they think what
they are doing is cool like I did. These kids need more people like me (out the game) to show them the way, but most
people I was hanging with still doing the same stuff, dead, or they are locked up. I guess I can not change everyone. I
know it’s hard because I have been threw it myself.
TOI: Growing up do you think there were negative influences around you?
Kirk: Growing up I do think that there were negative influences; my hood. When you come outside; just stepping out the
door you saw bad influences. The corner has criminal activity going on. My oldest cousin sold drugs and smoked weed
even though he finished school. Now he is gone because someone broke into his house to rob him; he fought back, but
they shot and killed him right in his own house. Everyone I was hanging around was selling drugs and getting high. None
of my cousins finished school except two and I have a lot of cousins. The ones who finished are my oldest cousins and
they are my aunt’s oldest kids. My next to the oldest aunt did not finish school and neither did her four kids. They all
dropped out before high school for real. My mom did not finish school and out of her seven kids three are still in school.
Me and my oldest sister got our GED, so really no one to look up to in my family except my oldest cousin and my oldest
sister.
TOI: Did you find yourself involved in things you should have not been? If so why do you suppose those things
caught your attention?
Kirk: I always found myself getting involved in things that I should not have. I did it because that is what everyone else
was doing; meaning my friends and all the cool people. It seemed like it was natural for someone to be doing what I was
doing in my hood because that is what everyone was basically doing. I wanted things that the others had that moms could
not get. I had to get it some way. I use to be a follower at points in my life but now I AM A LEADER.
Interview continues..(Part 2),  click HERE
(You have to read the rest)