Norman Williams
My name is Norman Williams, I’m 48 years old and I was born in Jamaica. Raised in the mean streets of Southside, Central Kingston by a single mother of five children.
During the political civil unrest, in the 70’s and 80’s, my neighborhood experienced the most-documented brutality of that time. In 1978, ten young men were lured out of the neighborhood by government agents and five were murdered, the other five escaping — these men were my cousin and my friend’s father.
One of these men was a part of the Jamaica National Soccer Team, and my hero. This incident is called the “Green Bay Killing.” The following year, 1979, I was shot in my face by a stray bullet at age eight when a rival member came to my neighborhood and shot it up. I almost lost my eye and spent over a month in the hospital.
By the time 1980 had arrived, the unrest was at an all-time high in Jamaica; the military teamed up with the rival political party and massacred people at a party (this was called the “Gold Street Massacre”). Eventually, my mother immigrated to the United States after that incident.
Me, my brothers and sister followed behind, gradually one after another. I arrived in the U.S. as a teenager in Brooklyn, New York with my single mother working two – sometimes three – jobs to take care of her children. I got seduced by the false hope that came with selling drugs and enticed by the luxuries it gave, though inevitably, I would get arrested from time-to-time for misdemeanor marijuana sales and carrying a concealed weapon.
On 11/24/1995, a drug deal negotiation-gone-bad ended with a human being losing his life. I can’t erase or change and will not forget – the question of guilt or innocence doesn’t end there, I’ve fully grasped the trickle-down effect one brand of choices can have.
I have numerous self-help laudatory Chrono’s, a diploma in Bible study, eight certificates from ECS Prison, Vocational Computer certificate, a certificate for Non-Violence Workshop (AVP), M.A.N.U.P. Chrono and
certificate, as well as Self-Help Facilitators mentoring chrono.
With strenuous circumstance and this violent environment without any rehabilitation assistance from CDCR, I am committed to my emotional and spiritual growth, welfare, and society.
Sincerely,
Norman Williams K-80125
CSP Solano A5-225
PO BOX 4000
Vacaville CA 95696
