Frank Lucas, former drug kingpin and inspiration for the blockbuster film American Gangster, is using his newfound celebrity for a good cause by starting a lecture series aimed at New York City high school students.
In association with his Frank Lucas Youth Foundation, the reformed gangster will begin the series at JFK High School in the Bronx on Tuesday, December 18 entitled "Get Grades, Not Guns or Drugs." The series will be geared towards students but will be open to the general public as well. Lucas will address topics including unity, optimism and brotherly love in addition to a Q&A segment. The talks will serve as a spring board for the Frank Lucas Youth Foundation Symposium, which will be held on January 12 in Newark, NJ.
"If I can just save one child then this will all be worth it," said Lucas. "These kids must know that the road of drugs, violence and crime is a dead end road."
Though the reformed criminal has claimed to turn over a new leaf, urging students not to follow in his footsteps, an earlier scheduled appearance was recently cancelled due to Lucas' inability to sell everyone on his new image.
"I changed my mind the night before," Principal Adolfo Muhammad of MS 143 in Brooklyn told New York's Daily News, after being asked why he cancelled Lucas' lecture. "I'm just not convinced in this particular case. ... I need to see a little more before I bring him in."
"I was very disappointed," Lucas responded. "I really wanted to talk to them, to tell them what I did was wrong. I'll go down on my knees if I have to."
1 comment:
This is what I think: Frank Lucas
Post a Comment