INSPIRATION

When I first got signed up for a military-style program called “Young Marines” in 5th grade, it was supposed to be a punishment. My abusive step-father was convinced it would straighten me out, always talking about how I was bound for “Sing Sing” prison. Even on the way there, he kept telling me I was in for a rude awakening. But what was meant to break me down ended up being the exact safespace I needed.

I came out of bootcamp not just surviving but thriving—with honors and a rank promotion. I stood out in everything—from camping and physical training to marksmanship. That moment when my mother and step-father had to pin that badge of honor on me, I realized the power of having a space that builds you up instead of breaking you down. A place where you can march in parades, train like leaders, and show out at events—all while finding community in peers. 

That’s why I built Young Survivors—to give youth from the ghetto a place where they can lead, release their anger in non-harmful ways, find community, and celebrate their “ghetto” heritage. A modern and innovative infrastructure where our youth can speak freely, explore their firearms interests in a safe and contained environment, learn the logistics and operations of the systems put in place to oppress them and manipulate their expression, and strengthen their natural survival skills and passions under the oversight of well-versed educators and compassionate community leaders. Young Survivors will also give them the opportunity to make money through paid opportunities, and give them the space they need to find confidence in their presentation and life experiences and wave their cultural flags.

A safe-space created for them, with the inspiration of them. Because once upon a time, others wore masks too, and those others created cages called ghettos and surveillance systems under the guise of government assistance which created the problems our communities now face. And to combat and correct “problems”, you first have to understand them and their origin. To understand all of the cogs in the machine, sometimes you have to step off of your mature, refined, evolved, or intellectual pedestal and step INTO the machine with the cogs of “YNs” so that when you receive feedback from your left and your right, you can transcend back up with deeper understanding of all the components of the machine and provide comprehensive oversight in improving it’s functionality with practical solutions.

From my studies of the Black Panther Party movement, and direct insight of the chaotic and misguided “YN” (young n*gga) movement, my hopes of “Young Survivors” is for our youth to develop from “YNs” to militant and moral-focused “Young Survivors”—equipped defense professionals, artists/creatives, and empathetic leaders who transcend from the misaligned and misunderstood youth table to the experienced adult table—from cogs to conductors. That is done by standing in the field with them—sometimes wearing their beloved “sheisty” masks—to let them know that we see them, we understand them, a lot of us once were them, and we are fighting the same war.

A war against systemic oppression, manipulated systems, and unconscious ignorance. Because again, the conductors who put the “crabs in the barrel” wore masks too. But ours will be used to stamp urban unification and fight for systemic elevation.

Decoreyan Snow, Chief Admiral & Survivor of Child Abuse & Poverty-Stricken Circumstance