We Beat the Street: How A Friendship Pact Led to Success

At eleven, Sampson accompanies his older brother, Andre, and two neighborhood boys, Crusher and Razor, to meet a man named Reggie whom they believe will teach them kung-fu. Their ideas of martial arts are all gleaned from campy movies. They want to learn jumps and fake karate chops. Reggie, however, has different plans. He teaches them body stances like Black Crane and Praying Mantis as well as body-strengthening techniques. But more than that, he teaches them exercises to try and quiet their minds and concentrate. Reggie encourages the boys to think of themselves as an ocean, a fluid body of power that cannot be undermined by the violence and temptation of the streets. Sampson is intrigued by Reggie’s philosophy, but it doesn’t quite manage to keep him out of trouble.

When another friend, Eddie, says he is going to start a carpet-cleaning business, Sampson is eager to get in on the prospect. He even accompanies Eddie to get some supplies. It isn’t until he is leaving the store that Sampson realizes Eddie’s plan was to shoplift needed items. Sampson is arrested and waits in a cell until Eddie’s older brother, Ronald, comes to tell the police the whole story, supporting Sampson’s earlier protests to the cops that he thought Eddie paid for the supplies. Sampson is hurt and humiliated by the experience at first, feeling that he’s been played for a fool by Eddie. To his surprise, though, many other neighborhood kids admire him for getting in trouble and being locked up. Sampson is temporarily heady with excitement from being thought of as tough and worldly. But then he gets a sobering example of where this can lead when Razor, one of the friends that went with him to learn martial arts from Reggie, is found dead in a car he stole and crashed. At the time of his death, Reggie is just a few days past his twelfth birthday.

When Sampson is again awarded high honors at the end of seventh grade, he knows better than to let on. Sampson knows the key to popularity and maintaining his reputation is pretending like he is failing his coursework, like his peers. When his high marks are visible for all the see, Sampson copes by boasting that he cheated, that’s all. When he gets the honor roll this time, though, Sampson is in for a surprise. His grades haven’t just earned him an award at a brief ceremony; he is also been praised for reading several grades above level. The school has informed his mother that he should sit for an entrance exam to get into a magnet junior high and high school, University High School, which will offer him challenging college-prep classes. At first, Sampson balks at the idea, but his mother insists. She will not accept his refusal. She wants him to go to college and this is his ticket in. Unable to get out of it, Sampson boards the bus on test day and spies one friend, Craig, whose mother is also making him take the exam. Because “he hated to be beaten at anything,” Sampson tries his hardest on the exam and walks out at the same time as a tall, lanky boy with braces, a boy who will go on to become one of his best friends for life (63).

When Rameck joins George and Sampson at University High School in ninth grade, he instantly succeeds academically. The coursework is challenging but he does well. He also thrives in the school’s theater program, landing the lead in the school play. Still, Rameck is reluctant to make lasting bonds at his new school. He feels the pull of his neighborhood friends and considers them his true peer group, the ones that help him establish his identity.

One experience that makes him rethink this is when he joins up with his Plainfield boys one day and as a group they head to Arlington Avenue, to pick a fight. Soon enough, they find a group of Arlington boys who are ready to fight them. Things get rough and Rameck and the rest of the Plainfield boys escape onto a passing bus. They try to convince the bus driver not to let the Arlington boys on at the next stop, but the bus driver tells them he can’t refuse passengers. The Arlington boys try to pull Rameck and friends off the bus but the Plainfield boys are able to fend them off. When they at last reach the final bus stop, the Arlington boys are still right behind them, waiting. Rameck and friends run for cover as quickly as they can and hear gunshots fired, shots aimed at them by the Arlington boys. Rameck tries to breathe and recover from the experience of almost being shot and potentially killed. He starts to really wonder where his life is headed and what decisions he needs to make.