Director's Statement
Several incidents and experiences led me to creating The Trust film. Perhaps more poignant than others, was living through the experience of looking into the barrel of a gun three times before I turned 18. Everyday I am thankful that when the young man held a gun to my head he had not yet come to the point where he could easily pull the trigger. Today he is in Joliet State Prison, serving life for first-degree murder. Looking back I often wish that I had been able to say or do something to change his path.
Another life-changing event for me occurred at age twenty-one when my cousin, whom I loved dearly, killed herself. That was the most devastating day of my life. Her death led me to work with Kara Grief Support where I changed my career from the corporate world to nonprofit and community development, including filmmaking, teaching Yoga and meditation, grief support counseling, and eventually working with the San Quentin Trust via Dr. Garry Mendez, the Director of The National Trust for the Development of African-American Men.
The delicate nature of our place in life became most apparent to me after I began working directly with incarcerated men and women. So many factors that determine our path in life are set before we are born: Who our parents are, where we live, our socio-economic status, race, culture, and health. Only when we reach adulthood do we begin to carve our own path. In America, there are ten thousand people currently serving life sentences for crimes they committed before they reached this point.
The men that I have met through the San Quentin Trust have inspired me and given me hope. I am committed to telling the stories of men like Darnell, Ernest and Stone who transformed their own lives and are now working as mentor counselors for both at-risk youth and other incarcerated men. My goal is to create a compelling, honest, and inspirational film that will be enjoyed by domestic and international audiences. My dream is that The Trust will generate a national dialogue about the effects of incarceration and violence in vulnerable communities and the state of our penal and educational systems as a whole.
