15th Avenue

Babalu moved us to 1546 N.W. 69th Street. Our house was settled between 15th and 17th avenue, in Liberty City. Along with drug holes and violence, 15th avenue was notorious for Luke Skywalker’s video “Move Something”. It was shot in front of “Mr. Wonderful’s” grocery store. 15th ave. was and still is well known for “The Pok-N-Bean” projects that sits partially on the southern end of the avenue. I don’t understand why Babalu decided to move us there, putting us in the dead center of drug dealers and prostitutes. This was a horrible decision, especially for Duke.

He is my mother’s 5th child, born in early 1979. His former name is Konduko Tiywan Buford. Memories about my brother are always centered around his troubles. Although I and a few of my other siblings were able to turn tragedy into triumph, all of us didn’t turn out the same way. I don’t remember a whole lot about Duke’s personality but I do remember that he was always determined, set on doing what he had to do. Long ago, I asked him to jot down his life, from his perspective. I knew that his points of view were a lot different than mine. They had to be, our lives were totally different. You see, Duke was and still is serving a life prison sentence. He has been incarcerated since he was 19 years old. 16 years later, he remains incarcerated. Initially, he was serving two life sentences, but was able to get one appealed. He is now in the county (Dade) jail awaiting a decision regarding the remaining sentence. Although I am unable to detail his charges and the current state of his case, Duke’s story is definitely a story that will be told. His story is one that is appropriate for discussion today, as we try to understand the complexities surrounding deaths African American men and our communities.

Although I could be wrong, I believe 15th avenue changed Duke’s thought process. It widened his view of the world we lived in and gave him an understanding of how he thought he could survive. He wanted to do something about his situation. At this point, the stealing started. He was not only stealing from us, he had began to go to stores and take things. Most times, he was taking things to sell them so that we could eat, other times he was stealing so that he could have things for himself. There was a time in the mid to late 80s when Miami was in some sort of racial uproar (some things never change) that lead to rioting and looting and Duke took full advantage of this opportunity. He looted to get the things we needed to survive. He was sort of like a Robin Hood. The longer we remained on 15th avenue, the more engaged Duke became with the lifestyle of the people that lived, worked and breathed 15th avenue. His life was changing.