Chapter 01
My story begins in a neighborhood in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where I breathed my first. In a family of ten children, I opened my eyes as the seventh son and was bestowed with the name ‘Haywood…
Chapter 02
Prospering under the shade of a loving and nurturing family, I embarked upon my school journey at Payne Elementary. Each day was an experience there, a joyous space for my adventurous…
Chapter 03
In May 1966, I stepped foot in the land filled with booby traps and chaos – ready to fight my way through it, but little did I know, it was not just the war against the Vietnamese that I had to fight…
Chapter 04
In April 1968, the ashes of the news of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination that spread like wildfire across the globe eventually reached our camp in Vietnam, too. I still had…
Chapter 05
With each passing day of seeing the situation of my people, my blood is taxed on my mind. The government is causing injustice against us. Even though I had finally managed to step into…
Chapter 06
The heist news spread like wildfire through the country and the prison system. The notoriety of the crime continued to rise about “who did it?” It turned viral locally back in the day…
Chapter 07
Amid the echoes of the banging gavel announcing our sentences, I marched onto a new journey – a new path of life. It was a “prison bus ride” 26 miles from the D.C. Jail…
Chapter 08
After meticulously planning the groundwork for my new path, for our new journey, I strove to build upon it and bring the benefits my veteran brothers and I were still entitled to, even while in…
Chapter 09
There was a time when the Black soldiers were returning home from the prolonged Vietnam War, and the US government’s conspiracies against my people became evident to me. Tainted by the atrocities of…
Chapter 10
After serving my reduced sentence, I stepped out of prison as a changed man. My path was evident before me. My purpose was clear. However, it wasn’t easy to adapt to my new life…
