I told my husband that I do needed to go over there because if this was my baby I would want someone to come over and be there for me.” But he said, “You don’t even know her. You don’t know them. You’ll get hurt.” I told him that as long as we continue to operate in that manner and not just simply take the time out to embrace somebody in a bad situation, we’ll never figure out what's going on. But we were weeks into it and I found myself feeling empowered.
I wanted to start the arts academy for these children, giving them an opportunity to come off of the streets, crying, being angry and blowing up. Let's grab these babies, let's teach them how to paint. Let's teach them some songs to sing. Let's teach them how to dance. Let's put ‘em behind the turntables to be DJ’s. Let's teach them some poetry so they can express their feelings. Because not everybody is going to throw a football, not everyone is going to bounce a basketball, but everybody has feelings. I recognize this could help because I had anger in me that I was seeing in these children who burned down the Quiktrip. Because when you suppress the person’s voice and it's something they gotta say, and you don't give them a chance to say it, it’s internal.