David Munroe learned violence from his parents. His father beat his mother, his mother beat David, and so he learned at an early age to inflict violence on others to get what he wanted.
His parents, and step-father, were gang members. At age 9, David stabbed his stepdad in the back to protect his mother. By 11, David himself joined the gang, and at age 15 he committed a murder. He was convicted and imprisoned for 19 years.
While in prison he spent a long time trying to understand why he was violent. He realized that in fact, he didn't like confrontation at all, and slowly came to see that he had been copying the behaviour he'd witnessed at home.
That's the sad part: the tragic side of this story. A person was dead and a teenaged killer was locked away for almost 20 years.
Now comes the good part: news that is hopeful. David figured that if he could learn violence, then he could unlearn it too.
After being transferred a couple of times, he arrived in a state prison in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was now in his early twenties and began working for the Squires program there, which brought at-risk youth together with men like David who were in prison. Working with these young people, he realized he loved to help troubled kids.
David was released in 2016. He is now working for United Playaz, a violence prevention and youth development organization in San Francisco. He teaches teenagers and children about “social-emotional learning” (SEL), where young people learn to understand themselves. David knows from personal experience that if youngsters resort to violence it’s often because it's the only action they understand, and he knows they'll listen as he opens their world to other options. He is a credible resource for troubled youth, because he's from the same background as them.
What David Munroe has done is, he has turned his life around and is helping prevent children and teenagers from making the same mistakes that he made.
Do read The Guardian article below to learn how and what and where. It is so encouraging to know that how people start out in life is not always the way they end up in life. People can change. It takes time, and thought, and assistance from social workers and other professionals, but David's story shows it can be done. He now has a house, a partner and child, and is very much involved in his community.
I wish the best of luck to this man and hope there will be more like him. Change is possible.
David Monroe's story, as told to Abené Clayton, The Guardian December 11, 2019