Creative Writing and Artwork from New Jersey’s Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

About the Program | Speakers: Valerie L. Egar, Mary T. Previte | Photos from the Event

Notes on the Speakers:

Assemblywoman Mary T. Previte

She has devoted her life to a belief in these kids and this population. She was the Administrator of the Camden County Youth Center. Also an Assemblywoman four times. And a member of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Advisor Committee.

Thrilled to see so many counties participating in this program. Wants the names of the teachers so that she can thank them personally for their encouragement and support of their students.

She began with the story of talking one on one as the Administrator of the Camden County Youth Center with a child. Not just any child, but a child that had been shot and now wanted to be a journalist. A child who had to learn and practice breathing exercises because the bullet had punctured and collapsed his lung. A locked up child who had come face to face with violence.

She produced a newspaper at the Camden County facility. This was her method of research. To sit knee to knee with a child and a typewriter. In this case, with a child who was shot for his leather jacket. He refused to give it up because it was a gift from his Grandmother. “ Coco kept the 9 millimeter up to my chest. This was at the River Road Minimart. And he shot me. I’m shot I said to the man in the Minimart. The man said, It ain’t my effing responsibility and pushed me back out the door and Coco was still shooting. When the ambulance came and they put me in the back, the man said, I think we’re gonna lose him.”

She put that story on the front page of her newspaper in 1974. She was the Main Lady at the Camden County Youth Center, and as such, the students would talk to her. A former teacher at Camden High School (for five years), she was home on maternity leave when she was appointed head of the Camden County Youth Center and began making “footprints that would last forever.”

During high school, she taught English and Journalism. She loved teaching and reaching out to her students. She did not know anyone was watching her. But Louis Katz was one of her students in home room. He graduated, went to college and became a lawyer. Then he ran for the position of Freeholder. He won and became the liaison to the Camden County Youth Center, a position he had held for only three months when a boy hanged himself. After that everything hit the fan.

Louis Katz said, “We must change this place from top to bottom. No child of America should die in a place like this. We need someone in charge who loves children.” He remembered his High School Homeroom teacher and appointed her to head the Centery. It was only supposed to be until someone better came along. Thirty-one years later, she’s still the Main Lady at the Camden County Youth Center.

She was young, green, inexperienced. But she made an impression from the very first. She came to the Youth Center in 1974. She wanted to start a Center newspaper. She wanted to still see and work with kids, not just serve as an administrator.

These are centers that house boys who kill, girls who share their bodies, gang members, etc. She never looks at the list to see what their charges are. The worst offenders can be the best- behaved.

Seeing, listening , talking to the children daily for the interview. “What’ happening!’ As a result we have a sampler of favorite stories. She started this practice with an ordinary regular student reviewed for the newspaper. It wasn’t a list of favorite songs or the names of basketball winners; instead it was articles like why I moved to the streets and the beatings and ruises that popped out big as a result.

This turned out to be an amazing medium to see into the souls and experiences for the Children of America.

Often we don’t listen. We see superficially, the bad headlines; the language, the clothes they wear and the way they wear them. We see what they want us to see – what they show us.

These stories are so powerful, much more than those in a standard student newspaper. She took copies with her when she went out to speak – at the Lion’s club, the Boy’s club, before Judges and Freeholders, reporters and legislators. More powerful than a research project. This is the real world o four most vulnerable children – told in their language.

She didn’t put a piece of paper in the hand of a child and asked that child to write her or her story. She knew this wouldn’t work. These children had always been told they couldn’t do something like this. The contents she received are so much more important than the format. The minute the Main Lady said come and sit knee to knee and talk to me, she had students who would open up and tell her everything. She also asked Social Services for the names of students whose stories should be included.

She grew up in China. Had to prime the pump when she first came to America. She does the same today to get the individual attention of students. An absent Dad is the most primary theme found in these students. The second – an American tragedy – the theme of violence.

These students recognize themselves in the stories in the pages of her newsletter.

They like the stories with the biggest feelings – anger, happiness, pride, fear.

When you respect a child’s feelings and artwork and show genuine interest in everything, that changes your relationship with that child.

She wanted to create a certain atmosphere in the entire building. There were riots when she first came to this position. She found two cans of mace in her desk drawer – used frequently and left by her predecessor.

Emerson quote: “An institution is the elongated shadow of one person.”

She sent a message. Nikki had marijuana twisted into his dreadlocks when he came to the Center. She interviewed him for her newspaper. “My dad – I hate his guts. I ain’t never seen that man a day in my life. My mom made money selling herself on street corners.” He became the man of the house. But what would his life be like?

When she wrote the story, she quoted that student. She used “ain’t” in the story. She types it, makes a Xerox of the story. Right or left-handed, you see the hand of the author on both sides. A picture is also included. The impact on the soul of the child is immediate.

They’re not all sad stories. Some are “I Wanted the Feeling to last Forever” stories.

In the Juvenile Detention Centers, the classes have fewer than twelve students. She has teachers who’d rather be there than teaching in a public school. She gives these students a reception, punch and cookies – an invitation to a graduation. The students are excited to be recognized for doing something good – for the first time. One told her little siblings they could be special, too. “And not one knucklehead ruined it. Everybody cheered. I wanted the feeling to last forever – like a dream come true.”

There’s a picture of the child on the cover. Those incredible things that the children write are sometimes so sad. “The day my brother got shot.” The word “dead” appears in every single story in one issue.

She’s also concerned about the children of incarcerated parents. More than 50,000 children have a mother and/or a father locked up. Currently there’s a researcher at Rutgers studying this. There was a forum at Clinton. But the most important voice dealing with this issue is the voice of the children. She took four children to see “Jailbird Dad and Mom.”

One told the story of playing in the living room when the bounty hunters came to get my mom. I was seven. The child thought it was his/ her fault. The parent spent five years in prison – only letters and pictures for the child, for who the Mom’s Mom became her Mom.

There may also be stories about every day kid problems – of the “I want a job” nature. This can be a real problem. The Help Wanted Sign is up, but when they see a student from Camden, the job is no longer there.

She has collected theme issues – Teen Pregnancy (both from the boy’s and the girl’s perspective), guns.

Wonderful art – even if it’s just stick figures. With guns representing the guns in the neighborhood.

Hungry Ghosts is her book about the Center experience. She asked these kids how old they were when they first heard gunshots.

She retired last year. Each person brings his or her uniqueness to the experience. Doesn’t know if the new Director will continue this program.

For her one of the most moving experiences in her life was listening to the experiences of these kids. Recently she met an adult offender who asked her if she still did the newspaper. He told her he had been talking about the newspaper just the other day, and the impact it had on him.

The thoughts of these children – a legacy she is so proud of. And she salutes those who put together this project and brings the thoughts of these children to a wider audience.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Juvenile crime rate is decreasing. But there is no improvement in the circumstances of the lives of these children.

Poverty is the worst abuser of children. Where there is poverty, there is abuse.

The code of the street drives juvenile crime. A student cannot overlook being disgraced or dissed or disrespected. There will be payback – or the student will be regarded as a nerd.

The clothing the students wear helps protect against disrespect. Timberland boots have been around for a long time. Also jeans, sneakers. The brand varies. The clothing the teen wears sends a message – you have the power/ you have the money (to buy clothing like this.)

One day a week is fight day at one particular school. The administration and the guards know this and look the other way, giving the students a chance to work out their hostilities and their relationships on their own.

Poverty means kids are not doing well in school. Also the dysfunctional family is a contributor, in particular the break up of the family.

Will this message of violence get to the legislators? Unfortunately, this little student newspaper is no competition to the gun lobby. The students who tell their stories here use street language but no profanity. Also, she is careful to never let them make a confession in the context of their stories.

This newspaper that she produced for so many years is a gift to us and to herself.