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Hector's death prompted Morales
to seek freedom behind bars. He took stock of recent history and then made changes
to keep the peace within. "I watched the L.A. riots in prison on the television.
You know Reginald Denney who was pulled out of the truck and beaten?" he asks.
"Denney forgave the individuals who did that to him."
Inspired, Morales began to forgive himself for the crimes he had committed. He began
to forgive Ramirez for kicking down his door when he was seven. He began to forgive
himself for leading his brother into gang life. And, eventually, he began to forgive
the officers who shot his brother dead.
"Way before I began to forgive the police, I began to forgive myself as an individual,"
says Morales. "I let my pride down and said, 'Well, you're going to have to
learn how to read and write.' I did a lot of reading around police, youth relations,
and programming."
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There was a time when you would get a pat on the back if you arrested a young person.
Nowadays,with neighborhood policing, you receive a pat on the back because you have
the ability to communicate and help young people change their lives around. |
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By the time Morales got out of
jail, both he and Ramirez had taken a look back and decided to work the streets differently.
Morales is now pursuing a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, and he is a youth-outreach
worker in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood where he grew up.
As for Ramirez, he has begun to practice neighborhood policing. "Before I thought
'That's not my problem. My problem is just to arrest people,'" he says. "Neighborhood
policing has brought me an awareness that we have to build a friendship with the
kids. Not every young person is a punk, a maggot, a hoodlum... It has helped me to
understand their problems, their pressures, the things they're going through at home."
"There was a time when you would get a pat on the back if you arrested a young
person," Morales says. "Nowadays, with neighborhood policing, you receive
a pat on the back because you have the ability to communicate and help young people
change their lives around. That takes more of a challenge."
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