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“My brother, Ronald Freeman, and he’s passed now, I asked him if I did all the paperwork, would he go to college? … He had this crazy look on his face, but he said, ‘If I get accepted in college, sure I’d go,’” Darrell V. Freeman said. “I did all the paperwork and Ronny got into college. He ended up graduating on the dean’s list.”
Freeman’s brother — one of the three brothers who died from various medical issues — was the first in the family to attend college. Freeman followed in his brother’s footsteps and is now a sought-after speaker for his mentoring initiatives as well as relationship advice.
“My motivation was my upbringing in South Philly. My motivation — I’m the guy that at South Philadelphia High School, [2101 S. Broad St.,] my high school guidance counselor said I didn’t need to go to college because I wouldn’t make it. I didn’t have what it takes to get through,” Freeman, a native of 19th and Christian streets, said. “I’m three degrees past hearing I wouldn’t make it in college and eight books past and five books that haven’t been printed yet.”
The prolific author began publishing in 1990 and since has updated one of his earlier works, “Investing in our African American Youth — Can you handle it?” to be more comprehensive.
“I added about 125 pages. It’s now about 200 pages and it didn’t come out till 2010. I added pages to that because I felt as though I needed to update it with some more parent and relevant material like respect: Is it lost? Can we ever get it back? Stuff about music and hip hop and gangs and hope,” the author said of the work originally published in 1994. “My time living in that gang era in South Philly, [I write about] what it took to get me to see beyond gangs and drugs and how to meet the needs of youths from broken homes.”
Now a father to four — Darrell, Jr., 28, Patrice, 25, Phylicia, 22, and Darren, 20 — Freeman is practicing what he preaches, including the advice he gives about being a good father.
“I talk about how to mentor young people in 2010,” he said of the rerelease. “When my book came out again, I made sure the emphasis went on diversity and cultural diversity, helping young African American children to dream.”
Aside from passing on his life lessons through his books, Freeman commonly books speaking engagements. He will next be in action near his now-home state of Delaware, speaking Feb. 14 at Morgan State in Baltimore, about relationships and then March 10 in Wilmington at a conference about dads stepping up to the plate.
“What happened was that I started writing and I couldn’t stop,” he said.
Freeman moved from 19th and Christian to 21st and Christian before settling in Wilson Park at 27th Street and Snyder Avenue. He then attended Chester A. Arthur, 2000 Catharine St., and Norris S. Barratt, then at 1599 Wharton St., before finishing up at Southern.
“When I was growing up, I counted some eight to 10 of my friends who were murdered from elementary to high school. When I was growing up in South Philly, one friend of mine, we were in like sixth grade, he got murdered,” Freeman said. “He was the first one. He was just standing outside on a day at the wrong time.
“That’s when it started. The list just continued — personal friends who got murdered growing up in South Philly. There was a gang every several blocks. You couldn’t go from one neighborhood to the next without going through a gang and getting beat up, wounded, chased, murdered or stabbed. That’s the gang era I grew up in.”
Freeman wanted to escape the circle, and realized he could use personal experience to help others.
“My [experience comes from] having been in the trenches. What happened was that I was a youth minister for awhile,” he said. “I was doing that in West Philly, a youth pastor, and as I was doing that, the pastor asked me to run a youth ministry. There were no materials, nothing relevant to African-Americans.
“Here I was with all these young people and I was expected to give them leadership and give direction, and there was no material on how to minister, to train young people and youth leaders in the trenches.”
Freeman began writing while matriculating at West Chester University where he studied secondary education and minored in business administration and African-American studies.
“I wound up pledging a fraternity. It was the first African-American fraternity ever — Alpha Phi Alpha. Martin Luther King Jr., was a member,” he said. “Those guys taught me business. I wound up becoming a national officer, and I was in meetings with judges and attorneys and national prominent figures. I was mentored by Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta and MLK’s right-hand man.”
After graduating, Freeman got a job working with inmates at Impact Services Corp., a job he maintained off and on for almost a decade. His writing and mentoring was a natural extension of this line of work and though the publishing industry can be brutal, Freeman found a way.
“To be honest I got so tired of calling publishers and calling organizations and asking them to publish me. I got tired of hearing the word ‘no,’” Freeman said. “Here’s what I taught my children: Don’t ever tell a Freeman no because when you tell us no that’s when we get it done.”
Freeman began his own publishing company, which has published his works. Now as a nationally and self-published author, he hopes to be able to make other aspiring writers’ dreams come true.
“My goal is to reach a certain point when it comes to equity and financing so I can reach out there and do for others what was not done for me,” he said.
Whether it’s through his written or spoken word, or through his company, Freeman continues to affect change in the community. His ability to do this, he maintains, comes from a childhood spent on the streets of South Philly.
“People say, ‘So you grew up in Philadelphia?’” Freeman said. “And I say, ‘No, I grew up in South Philadelphia. The home of the Eagles, the Sixers, the Flyers, the Phillies — that’s where I grew up.’” SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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