John managed to survive the tougher sections of Chicago and its suburbs, surrounded by racial hatred and gang violence. Before his father’s death when John turned fifteen, John’s father had administered a lifetime of belittlement, humiliation, and so called deserved beatings to his son. His mother’s over-protective love was an attempt to compensate for bringing another child into a house with a rage-filled father. “Gee, I wonder why I came out of the womb with a vengeance and why I went head-to-head with everyone in my life, including life itself.”

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