altariqsankofagumbsspeaks-blog - Tumblr blog

[altariqsankofagumbsspeaks-blog]

date: 4-6-18 place: the unsane ward song: let you down by: nf title: I'm sorry I let you down (dedicated to the Brim brothers and sisters) by: al-tariq Sankofa Gumbs author of: How to Keep your Kids Away from Gangs, The Turtle who got Bullied now on Amazon Kindle! They are about helping our kids. I'm hoping that this post reaches each and every one of you that are reading this and it helps you get a proper understanding of how life is about being able to learn from your mistakes and grow up and be something better than even you thought you could be. this letter is to my Brim brothers and sisters. I want to write to them and share it with the world because I want everyone to see that life is truly something amazing and should be lived for happiness and helping people. so here goes the words of a man who has finally grabbed his shooting star and is riding it to the moon!!!! P.S. This will be a long one so have a seat and ride with me for a second it won't kill you! peace! Dear my Brothers and Sisters, as I sit here in this chair and writing these words I have sat back and done a lot of thinking over my life and the things that I have been through and I would like to share some of them with you so you can see that all the stuff you heard about me may just be people adding on to it, that really don't know what happened to me. first, I want to say that I love each and every one of you because you have chosen to be with something that I choose to give my all too and make it something that you could be proud of. now, when I first joined the set, I was 21 years old and I was so angry over my past and the things I have been through that I wanted to be apart of something that I got to choose who I rode for because at the end of the day we have chosen a gang lifestyle and have to accept everything that came with it. so you would meet someone you know really don't love it the way you do but if he or she is apart of it you have to put your life on the line for them and that always bothered me. people think that the move I did was about power and that's so far from the truth and shows that they don't really know me. I wanted to be able to choose who I rode for and put my life on the line for. now, as I started to go through changes because I was becoming someone under the Bloods that even I didn't see. I was just trying to show the brothers from every set that we are all one and shouldn't be killing each other. when I was coming through the ranks yes I did things to make the hood look stronger than the rest of them because I knew in that lifestyle weakness is preyed upon and will be crushed. so I went hard. I was placed in the gang unit in Northern State Prison for being a leader and riot starter. So, they separated me from everyone again. wouldn't allow me to have a cellie until I was moved over there and they put me with the other brother who was considered a leader. they would pull me out and try and jump me but when they saw I wasn't scared they would take me back to my cell. all because I wasn't afraid to say I was a Blood member. anyway, my time in the gang unit (the first time) was eye-opening and I got to see how if this thing I love didn't get fixed, I and a lot of other good men and women was either going to be killed or spend the rest of our lives in jail. so, when I was finally released from prison in 01, I was 24 years old and had just done 44 months on a 4-year sentence. and I truly wanted to find a sense of peace but as I walked around my neighborhood I got to see that the Bloods and Crips had destroyed the one thing that is for us. our community. so a month later I found a home for the family and tried to make sailing drugs the last priority. I tried to have more love around there than anything. I tried to show as much love to everyone who stepped out there, so they would know that this isn't truly us. we are just angry at our conditions. I spoke to community leaders and everything. but the streets got a hold of me again and I was taken away from them for something I truly tried to stop but anyway, I was back in jail again facing life in prison. so while in the county I tried to help put a truce together with the Crip homies because we are in there fighting for our lives and we still trying to beef with each other over something that truly can be fixed. because why do we hate each other? what's the reason? a lot of my brothers who was somebody under what we stood for was upset but when I sat them down and explained it to them like I'm doing to you they got it. I And in 04 when the then-Councilman Ras Baraka  reached out to me through one of the young brothers and asked to be apart of the truce on the streets i told him I'm with it long as it's not political because once it becomes political, the message is lost to all the media and cops getting involved and it's not about them. it's about those kids who look up to the street guys, it about stops killing each other. it's about loving yourself enough not to hate someone else. and if we have to make a show of it so it can be every where and look good on someone resume then I'm not going to tell my lil brothers and sisters to support it. period. because we won't be used. and then soon as something goes wrong your first answer is to lock us down and bury the key. that's not right.) I have placed back into the gang unit once again after I pled guilty to my crime. after being in there for the second time, I truly felt the change in me coming. i felt myself becoming more of a man than a gang member or gang leader. i wasn't trying to become a better gang leader. i was trying to become a better man and then i can be a better leader. i know my position in the Bloods and how I'm looked at. it took me years to really see what every one else saw because to be honest, i was in denial for a long time about who i was in the eyes of the cops, community, and my brothers and sisters. But, i can't run or hide from it anymore because then it seems like I'm lying about my words. So i accept it as what it is but i have chosen to use that position to help now. i was kicked out of N.J. for not being someone who will let them treat us less than human in Northern State Prison because they don't like gang members or understand them. and all the while my own kind was going against me because even back then i had a pet peeve of dealing with fake nonsense, if your being real on who you are i will go to my grave fighting for your right to be who you are. if you want to get a job and still come through and get love its my job as your brother to make sure your not caught up in the nonsense of those of us who is still with the nonsense, i always told the brothers to treat the brothers who want out of the nonsense with love and respect because one day that will be you.it's the way you leave that should be the problem not the fact that your done selling drugs, gangbanging, robbing people and all the nonsense we think we have to do in order to get the love and respect of our peers. and a lot of guys will try and condemn a brother or sister for wanting to live a life of some peace and say they went soft or don't love the hood any more and that's not it at all. everyone gets to a point in their lives where they realize that life is meant to be lived. the problem be the ones who is faking and think this is some type of movie or something and play with their lives as if they have more than one of them and that's who i fought for back then. the real ones who knew who they were and wasn't hiding it behind some pride to impress people. don't get in the car if you don't want to. the situation in Boys in the Hood where Tre said let him out of the car. that was real. even though Doe was hurt he understood and let him out that takes real strength it never meant he didn't love his best friend. Anyway, so the same ones i put my life on the line for was trying to hurt me. it made me so angry, i snapped. and i was shipped to AZ. where i was forced to be around guys who was suppose to be my enemy but now i have to put my life on the line for them because out there its about your race. not your gang colors. So i got to meet good Crips who love what they are but understand that it's real ones under everything and they want change too. So it opened my eyes and i was allowed to see change in my heart. So when i got back to Jersey, i told my brothers and sisters I'm done gang banging. because with gangbanging you have to deal with the politics that come with it. you have to deal with the hate that comes with it. you have to watch even your own who suppose to be with you and if your not doing something they like they find ways to try and cross you out whether with the cops or bullets. so, i didn't want to be apart of that hate any more. it was my entire reason for fighting for the little brothers and sisters back then because i didn't want guys with money or big egos thinking they can just tell the young ones what to do in order to forward these guys own ego of being somebody and that's why the beef started, it had nothing to do with what everyone was talking about. and i don't sit here and say i was perfect and didn't do my share of nonsense, what I'm saying is when it came to this that i love, i chose to always try and do right by it because i knew about the meaning of the first two letters, B.L. and i knew i didn't want to be apart of the last two, O.D. however,  like the US attorney said i was still speaking for the same thing i said was done with. So i couldn't explain to her that if I'm going to be accused of being a leader then why not let me use this position to lead them the right way because if i say I'm all the way done and now u have a vacuum and people who only want power and is willing to hurt their own kind in order to get it is going to destroy the community. but i kept my thoughts to myself and took my time like a man even though my own people told on me again. and then i get to the feds and i see all this nonsense going on here where everyone wants to be the man of something. Everywhere i went i tried to get the brothers to see there is a better way to be who you are and still love the thing that you say you love but they been watching Gang land so long they think it's the thing to be. they crash over some of the dumbest shit, and they cross some of the good brothers out over nonsense. i was told on in two spots and then i was stabbed for trying to honor what we love and suppose to stand on as men and my own kind that was suppose to help me stood there and watched and then went to the police on me???. that was it for me. and as i said in my last post i told my brother Tef, I'm there in a different way. i can't and will not put my life on the line while my brothers and sisters sit there and watch me die. To my lil brothers and sisters I'm truly so sorry i let you down because i should have seen this before and been a better leader. I made mistakes because i was very young and didn't understand a lot of the hurdles that was put in my way and even though things didn't turn out the way i hoped i still love y'all to death but back then i did what i could for the family and when the time came i did it for my community but when will i get to rest? it will be 20 years for me in these hell holes and i can barely get a brother to pick up the phone to ask him to go check on my mother or my nephew or son after all i have given it has come to this and yes i'm one of the ones who has never complained or b****** or went to the other side and i gave Y'all a big brother Y'all could be proud to say is your big brother. i never told, never ran, never broke any of our rules in here or out there and this is the thanks a brother like me gets. so what do you think will happen to you once your down and out? and i know a lot of people wish i had life but that isn't in Gods plan. but as i sit here i feel so sorry for the young brothers and sisters who haven't made that change in their mind to want something better out of life. it don't mean you don't love what  you was it means your choosing to put your life first,. the life of your kids and family first because you have given what you can to it. and if they love you the way they say they do they will respect it because one day it will be them and they will want the same love when they came through and not treated as if they left a brother to die. my pain is now being released into my writings and I'm going to take this shooting star to the moon, the question is who is going to ride it with me? I'm truly sorry to those who feel i let them down but I'm only human and ask that I don't be judged on who i was but who I am now! love you and didn't know it was going to turn out this long but s*** what's wrong with reading? its fundamental..lol love you words from king Sankofa the retired General!!!! P.S. If your looking for the old me CHECK THE MORGUE!!!!!

[altariqsankofagumbsspeaks-blog]

song: 1 Day by: Plies date: started writing 2-14 ended 2-16-018 title: A Letter to my 20 Year Old Son by: Al-Tariq Sankofa Gumbs

before I write this I want everyone who is reading this to know this is a letter for all sons. I want you to be able to talk to your son. I received a letter from my son the other day and it threw me for a loop. I'm going to write him personally but I felt now what all parents feel when they are worried about their kids out in the streets and don't see their future pass a four corner block or friends who won't help him grow into something that is meant to live not die. so, I write this with a heavy heart and a smirk on how life has a very weird sense of humor but if you can find the humor in it then all is well. so, let me talk to my son and with the blessings that it may help you talk to yours. truly your Sankofa from the belly of a hungry lion....... I just wish I had one day to bring the ones back who want to help and tell their stories.........

Dear Son, what's up young man? how are you? I'm hoping and praying that you're good over there in your own form of hell. you know I miss you and its crazy how we have come this far but yet have stood still. now, as for myself, I'm ok and just taking it one day at a time and letting God do what he does. you know I'm not too religious but I know he exists. anyway, your letter was met with love and happiness to finally hear from you. It's been a minute but you're my blood so we will make it back to each other. now, the part about your letter where you still have feelings of wanting to be what landed you, me, your uncles, cousins and grandmothers and grandaunts into a small piece of hell. so, let me try and tell you a story because i remember you asking me why do guys who lived in those streets for so long and then when they get older they try and say they are done with living in those streets and I tried to explain to you as best I could because you seem to think if I'm talking to you its preaching and I never looked at it like that when I was your age. I looked it like it was teachings because it's about something that I don't know. let me give you a little history of your father that you may not know. now, remember I told you that I was down Jamesburg 20 years before you got there. and let me tell you that when I was down there I was trying to chill because I had 3 1/2 years to do and guys down there only had like a year. anyway, one day a dude from Newark got into it for stealing an Atlantic City's guy's walkman and (you know in prison stealing is a no-no but we were all young and didn't look at it like that). so, anyway, the guy who got his walkman stolen didn't want to fight. so, two other guys from A.C. and Newark ended up getting into it. and I had to hold down the guy who started something and didn't have anything to do with it because stealing amongst men is a no-no because you're doing something and hiding your hand. anyway. with that riot, i was sent to prison. From prison I get shipped out before I even hit the yard because of my age and the guys from the Newark having beef with the c/o's. I was shipped to Yardville corr. facility. where you're at now. I was 17 years old. I had no idea what my life would be once I got back on the streets because I didn't use my time wisely. I was fighting and taking my stress out on everyone instead of trying to get my head together. I ended up doing 2 1/2 years on a 3 1/2 year sentence and it all started from trying to back a thief. I got home and family was still crazy. took back to the streets. you were born a year later and I was in prison when you were born. I made it home on bail three weeks after you were born. I got to hold you in my arms for a month and then I went back to the streets because I refused to be begging anyone for anything. four months later I was back in jail facing life in prison for crimes I didn't even do. I was told by a prosecutor investigator that since I refused to co-operate that I was going to spend my life in jail and MY SON WOULD GROW UP AND BE LIKE SPIT AND PEOPLE WILL WALK RIGHT OVER HIM. I never forgot her words that day in the room. I still stood on my principles but it bothered me that if I didn't find my way back from this darkness that her words will manifest itself into reality. So after being blessed by God, I was sent home in 01. where now I'm not only a man who has made it back on the streets, I have no knowledge of what to do because I spent all my time fighting the cases or gang banging and trying to teach people about gangs. I came home and I swear to you I wanted to leave the streets alone. but not knowing anything and the pressure of being Killa Reek the man with a new hood I went back to the streets. I got to spend probably two months with you. I was locked back up three and half months later for trying to be loyal to my friends and the code and raising A GANG BEFORE RAISING YOU. I still ended up taking 10 years and having to go and do the time. I became so angry I couldn't see straight. I have been bounced all over this country for trying to be loyal to a code and people who don't care about me. you think those streets care about you? through all those time I couldn't pay someone to come to my aid and bail me out. friends stood tall at the beginning and then they fell off.i ended up catching another sentence while doing that time and had to find out 2 minutes before I was to walk out of the door to hold you in my arms. you was there you remember the pain you had when i didn't walk out of that door? it was all because of my actions but my so-called friends left me and told on me. and now i have now been locked up for 16 and half years and i can count on one hand how many people i can depend on. i have to endure dealing with the women who come in my life thinking that I'm lying because those before me have lied too them about what they are going to do when they get home.picture trying to convince someone that your telling them the truth and they taking your word on blind faith but everything you say has that second guess. a man should never have his word questioned. because he stands on what he says out of his mouth.but how could you when your actions keep taking you away from them for so long? how do you judge them for wanting to live their lives which means you go on the back burner. its pain like no other. i have to endure that i don't know my old friends and barely know the new ones. i have to watch every one with a keen eye and make sure their hearts are pure. you want to live like this? i haven't seen your grandmother in over five years. i haven't seen my sisters in over five years. i have lost three brothers, two grandmothers and cuzzins and wasn't able to go to any of the funerals. and you think that even at the age of 20 you can tell me that you know what's ahead if you decide to continue to walk down this road? because at the age of 20 i didn't know nor did i care. and look what that mindset has gotten me? you think me being soft because i would rather choose peace overlooking over my shoulder because i beat a guy up in the county twenty years ago? you think i want to not trust my old friends and afraid of my new ones? you think i don't want to lay up next to a woman and make love to her and be her protector? you think that i want to live in these cold cells where every warden takes even the smallest things you have and the c/o's treat you like your their child when you have over ten years over them in age? they don't want you having a lot of photos of your family! they don't want you to kiss your chick unless they look in her mouth first, you think that's cool? you think that the men who have been killed for their hood or for a person who soon as the dirt was on their casket they are forgotten about because life goes on. you think a man is soft because he wants to raise his kids and be something more than a number? you want to look up and see that the only stamps on your passport is because you flew from one state to the next in handcuffs? you want to know how it feels to want to love a woman but think that she will be gone in six months because doing time hurts all that are involved? my son, i will always love you and want the best for you even if you don't want it. all my life have been about being loyal and holding my loved ones down to the best of my ability and they still cross me. family members are far and between. i don't have not one blood relative family member on my email. so is this something that you are inspiring to be? you want to live your life like this because you think its cool? they want to say i have changed and some may say soft because I'm choosing to put my life first and not the things that are taking my life. its what a man does. and any man will tell you this. we are dying out there and before i was apart of that destruction but i swear to you if i knew better i would have done better because my heart was never meant to be cold. you have listened to all the stories that are meant to make it sound cool. and for that I'm sorry because i was suppose to be there and raise my boy. it breaks my heart to hear that you are still locked up. a man job is to raise his son into the man that he should be. its not to force his life onto him. my job is to let you know what those traps are and make sure you stay firm on that road and never fold. and i have failed in that and I'm sorry as your father. not as a ex-gang leader. it has come home to roost and there is nothing i can do unless you choose to want to live. choose to want to be more than those streets. choose to listen to not the preaching but to the lessons. because that is what life is: LESSONS. every day you suppose to want to be better than yesterday. i want you to know i love you lil man. and i take the blame for the beginning of my lack of being a man. for not being there when you needed me. I'm so sorry for letting you down when your birthdays came i wasn't there. when you wanted to know about woman. when you wanted to know about friends. when you wanted to know how to deal with a bully. when you wanted a hug because you knew your pops was there. I'm truly so sorry for any of my part in the hurt that you felt and is feeling now. and i don't want you in here. i don't want to bury my son. i don't want to worry about what happens to you because you have taken a risk factor up from 50% to 75% because you have put yourself in situations that will bring you harm.what young men your age don't realize that everyday that you spend in here is the equivalent of two months on the streets. your life is on hold. and if your dead then that's entirely different story. its a form a of hell that ya'll don't see because you only see your age and that you can do five years three times and still be young! my boy i love you and i know your a young man and is still trying to figure out what is it you want to do with your life but trust this shouldn't be one of the options. use me as a example of what NOT to do. i haven't been with a woman for 16 and half years. i haven't gotten to walk to the store. i haven't been able to play video games. i haven't been able to eat what i want. i haven't been able to hug my mother without being told to let her go after a minute. i haven't been able to have more kids because i made choices i must pay for. so anyone out there let your kids read this if they think doing things that are illegal. if they think being in prison or coming to prison let them read this long message/lesson. to my son i love you and a gang member isn't something i wanted for you or for anyone kids. its why i wrote that book and i fight for the youth. that is the stories you should have been told about how i made sure ibn on the land made sure all the young brothers and sistas under 18 go to school and class. you should have been told about me protecting the kids in the neighborhood. you should have been told about me respecting everyone who i came across. and tried my best not to be violent at every turn. i want to see you live and trust me this is nothing but another form of death. its just a slower death. so my son take this as a lesson and not as me preaching. don't be like the old me be like the me who always came and got you when you was little. the one who didn't disrespect or hit your mother. be the writer i know you want to be. i love you so much my young son. who is now wanting to be called a gangsta by his father.:( thank all of you for reading this and I'm hoping this helps for you to pass to your kids and show them what can happen if they want to be like Killa Reek. peace to you and yours:) there is nothing with wanting to live to see your family grow old and become more than what it was. its apart of life. this isn't what life should be like. thank you King Sankofa... A letter to my Prince Sankofa with tears in my eyes!!!!

[altariqsankofagumbsspeaks-blog]

It took a Knife to....

Song: Patience by: Damien Marley & Nas

Title: It took a Knife to.... By: Al-Tariq Sankofa Place: Inside the belly of a hungry lion!!!! being held: P.O.Box. box 33, USP-Terre Haute, Terre Haute, in 47808 (my new plantation)

what's up family, friends, and foes. I want to thank you for taking out the time to read what I have to say because it is greatly appreciated and I won't take advantage of it. now I named this one "It took a knife" because I don't if any of you know I was stabbed last year. I'm ok but as I'm going to explain in this written word that is coming off the top of my head because that's how I write so bare with me. it took me a minute to figure out what I wanted to write. the song: Patience is one of my favorite songs and every time I listen to it it makes me think about a few things in life concerning a lot of things. anyway, here is what is on my mind.

it took a knife for me to realize that homies isn't your homies. it took a knife for me to realize my life is worth something more than a gang death. it took a knife for me to realize that i don't ever want another person to go through this lifestyle. it took a knife for me to watch my so-called homies show me their true intentions. it took a knife for me to realize that i was making a mistake that could cost me my life. it took a knife for me to put my son and family first. it took a knife for me to wake up and see the reality of my life and where it was headed if i stayed sleep. it took a knife for me to sit my a** down. it took a knife for me to be like ok this life is over for me. it took a knife for me to realize that being real isn't what fake people want. it took a knife for me to realize that its about my son and making sure he has a father he can be proud of. it took a knife for me to see my life flash before my eyes. it took a knife for GOD's voice to finally get through it took a knife for me to realize i have changed. it took a knife for me to want to fight for my life above any and all things. it took a knife for me to love life. it took a knife for me to realize this world needs more real ones and i want to live because I'm one of them. it took a knife for me to want to make love to a woman again. it took a knife for me to wish to see my kids again. it took a knife for me to realize that people who say they love you will show it and the ones who don't will show it also. it took a knife for me to realize that everybody has something to live for. it took a knife for me to want to write these words to you being honest. it took a knife for me to beg all the kids to leave the streets alone. it took a knife for me to reach across the line and ask the Bloods and Crips to want to live for their families and be something that the flag can be proud of. it took a knife for me to realize that things aren't the same. it took a knife for me to realize you can't trust people. it took a knife for me to realize that life is worth living. it took a knife for me to fight for what's right and leave the wrong behind. it took a knife for me to really pursue my passion of writing and push the nonsense to the side. it took a knife for me to pray to God and tell him thank you for loving me enough to give me another chance to do what he has planned for me. it took a knife for me to say I'm done 1000% with gang banging and representing a lifestyle that is destined to get me killed. it took a knife for me to love the meaning of a True Blood. it took a knife for me to understand why a true Crip is my brother and not my enemy. it took a knife for me to choose life over death. it took a knife to make me give a f***! With that, I choose life over death. peace over war. love over hate. these are the words of a man who has changed from a gangster to a gentleman. I am humbled in my retirement from that lifestyle. I did what I can to make sure all things stayed real. when I was fighting the guy without a knife and my so-called brothers stood there and watched without doing anything it woke me up. yeah, i fought him without a knife and didn't run but the point is it woke me up. I got stabbed once. I won the fight but lost the battle. because I got hit once and with that one hit it was two inches from my juggler. it could have killed me. I have been in all types of things and it was at a time I was with the nonsense but I was always ready. this time I wasn't and the guys around me was and didn't do anything to help me. so that was it for me. I'm hoping the kids reading this understand that just because a person sits and eats with you every day and your suppose to be his homie, brother, cousin whatever. don't mean he has good intentions for you. if it can happen to me what do you think will happen to you? so it was a wake-up call for me. and I'm using it to help. so thank you and I pray this story opens some eyes to the reality that things have changed and to die for a person who truly doesn't care about your life is something your family can never get back. if she or she cares about your life they wouldn't do something to put it in jeopardy. period. words from King Sankofa. Peace to all of you!

[altariqsankofagumbsspeaks-blog]

1-10-018 song: Human by: Rag 'n' Boneman

title: A Letter to God From: Al-Tariq Sankofa Gumbs Written from inside the belly of the killer whale

Dear God, i want you to know that as i write this letter to you that my eyes are watery and i cant seem to get my head to match what's in my heart because I'm so tired of being pulled this way and that way by everyone but i am your son and i know that i am built to last and trained to go so i make no excuses for the hurdles you have put in my way. all that i ask is that you bare with your son and give me the chance to talk to you and ask for your forgiveness and give me the strength to keep fighting these brick walls that seems to be closing in on me. i ask that you continue to watch over my family, love ones and friends and allow my enemies to see that I'm not their enemy and that we are all apart of the same struggle and all i want to do is see them happy and make it to see their family and kids grow old. i don't want to beef or argue with anyone. i ask that you see me as a human who has made mistakes and a man who is capable of letting his past dictate his future but he can change his stars and use his past demons to make some angels. i know and understand that life is meant to be a test and that this isn't the end of the journey and i truly want to see this life i have lived become something that can help. God, i ask that you open the hearts of every racist and allow him or her to see that to hate to take away from your true spirit. i ask you God to open the eyes of every one who thinks that because they have money their lives are better than the next. i ask God that you let your son be the man he was born to be and that he is free from all anger and pain. i ask that you give me the strength to be a human and not be blamed for the actions of other men. i ask that you help me fight these animals who continue to throw sticks and stones at my heart and brain. i ask that my past don't hinder my future. i am your son, who just want to be a man who can raise his children and protect his neighborhood, and help the women understand that every man isn't a pervert and wants to harm them. i ask that any mistake that i made you help me understand that i am only human and its apart of life. i ask that you forgive me for any harm i may have caused any one. i ask that you allow the true men of this world to step up and fight the injustice of this world. i ask that the wicked be condemned to the gates of hell. i ask that life shines on the kids and give them the chance to live their life and be something better than even their parents envisioned for them. i ask that you for give my family for not understanding the concept of what true family is. i ask that you forgive my mother for her past and allow her kids to forgive her for her past mistakes because she is only human and made mistakes too but she is our mother and i cherish her with everything in me. i ask that my father knows that he has made a man who wishes that he is proud of him and he respects his heart as a man and that every thing he has ever said to me i remember and cherish. i ask you God to forgive all of my enemies for anything they have done to me. or wish to do to me. i ask that you watch over all those that i have come in contact with. God i ask that you open the heart of every gang member and let them see that life is more than just a color of a flag. i ask that you open every cops heart and let them know life is more than just a badge. i ask that you send your son back to help man get back on their path of being who they are. i ask that every one in every religion understand that the lessons in each and every book tells the same story of you and what you want from your children and that no child of your is better than the next no matter the color of their skin or their religion. i ask that you open the skies so that man can see that you truly exists. i ask that you help people see that we are all only human and its how you treat your neighbor and that to hate is to be apart of death. i ask that you show them how good it feels to love instead of hate. i ask that you let my peoples know not to put the blame on anyone because we all have to answer for everything we have done. i can't answer for what my brother did. i can't answer for what my mother did. i can only answer for what i did. God i ask that you show them that the world is only here to house us and that our true home is in your kingdom and we are your subjects. they have lost their way lord and need your help. i ask that you take my brothers that was sent to you too early and love them. i ask that you protect my son and show him that his father is only human but he loves him more than life. i ask that you God help me fix my community and don't allow me to be killed in the process of helping. i ask that you love me no matter what because God i love you and i ask that they don't put the blame on me. God i am your son and I'm only human! God please give me the strength to deal with man because they have no idea of what they do. i love you God. i love you God and please don't put the blame on me! your son Al-Tariq Sankofa Gumbs. I know my past and I see my future and its has to be better than my past! With the grace of god. i love u!!! R.I.P. to Kwan, Herman, Monty, Fu, my brother baby haywire's baby mother. and any one who has lost a loved one. lets start finding ways to love each other and not hate each other. I forgive everyone and I'm praying you forgive me because at the end of the day we are all ONLY HUMAN!!!! PEACE KING SANKOFA!!!