FleetWood on the post

Fleetwood Reaches Out To Help Jobless, Ex-offenders


Fleetwood

09-17-06

Fleetwood’s life has moved across a chessboard of glitz, glamour, crime and violence.
His “My Space” website shows him standing with famous Hip Hop recording artists and there are photos of attractive young ladies.
However, Fleetwood now says he was a “playa” before he realized he was being “played.”
A graduate with a PhD from the proverbial School of Hard Knocks, he was only 12 when he “first got into trouble.” Later on, Fleetwood would spend 17 years in and out of jail for mostly drug-related convictions. He was also arrested once for assaulting a police officer.
Today, at age 42, Fleetwood (the only name he cares to use for publication) has matured, turned his life around, and is helping to rescue many others. He conducts workshops at Juvenile Hall, serves as a peer counselor at several homeless shelters in San Francisco, and works with numerous nonprofits that offer positive alternatives to the unforgiving streets.
He hits the pavement daily to look for jobs _ not for himself but for others in need. When he finds employment opportunities they are posted on his My Space website.
“My number one job is finding jobs for others who can’t get hired because they have made a mistake and employers don’t want to give them a second chance,” said Fleetwood during an interview at The Post. “I realized I was being used by the system. I was a pawn in a game. I was tired of being a pawn and a sucker. Then I found my spirit and now I believe in God. I pray everyday. I want my mother, who is now an angel, to be proud of me.”
(His mother passed when he was only 17. His father (“who was a mobster”) and both grandmothers all passed in 2004.)
Fleetwood also runs a publishing company called “You Ain’t Gettin’ My Publishin” and in January he will release a book entitled “Hip Hop Tried 2 Kill Me.”
To survive the bling-bling rap world, he said “you have to be spiritually grounded in a Devil’s business.”
He is highly critical of MTV and BET for the way scantily clad young women are featured in videos. “They are telling young Black women they have to be dress like a hooker to be accepted. They need to cover up and be the queens they are,” said Fleetwood. He also preaches against the violence projected from popular video game like Grand Theft Auto.
Today, he’s empowered by his respect for mentors, and his love for his baby sister, Attica Bowden, 32, who went from living in public housing projects in San Francisco to becoming a firefighter in the city and owning seven properties.
Fleetwood said he does not have any respect for “poverty pimps” who only exploit the needy with empty promises. “Guys who need to put food in the refrigerator and pay bills, need a job right now, not a job training program where they go for six weeks and then don’t get a job. I’m going to be confronting the politicians and asking my brothers to help build a cultural arts center.”
Among the organizations Fleetwood works with are “United Players” in San Francisco, Oakland-based “On the Bricks” and “Straight Forward,” a San Francisco boxing club.
“I want to help raise future CEOs, not rappers,” said Fleetwood. “I want to see more Bob Johnsons of Cathy Hughes (founders of BET and Radio On) not another (rapper) 50 Cent. I tell young people not to be a puppet. Don’t let someone put you on a string.”
The West Oakland resident also spends time with youth to “stop the violence and let them know that someone out here is helping them get a second chance.”
During his high-energy workshops at Juvenile Hall he talks about the criminal justice system, “why young people have problems,” and “what does the future hold” for them. He relates to them in order to “instill hope.”
Many young offenders were born addicted to cocaine, heroin or alcohol because their parents were substance abusers, he said.
Editor’s Note: Fleetwood can be reached at his Homeboys Hotline (510-451-2961) or at his My Space website: Myspace.com29fleetwood.