Former street kid finds Liberty
Posted on July 10, 2009
Off the court, they are street kids. And cops.
“There are no shields. No street thugs in a game,” says a clean-cut 20-year-old named Stewart Cameron. “Everyone is in shorts and a T-shirt.”
Tomorrow, Stewart will play his third basketball game benefitting Liberty for Youth, a homegrown outreach program that gets youth out of jail, off the street and on the right path.
With his close-cropped hair, neatly pressed shirt and shined shoes, it would be easy to assume Stewart will wear a police jersey for the big game.
In fact, he’ll square off against some of the very officers who used to put him in jail.
“I hated cops. I called them pigs. I spat on them. I broke their car windows. Now I shake their hand and say, ‘Thank you.’ ”
Hard to imagine he was ever a badass. That it took Liberty, basketball and — most of all — Jesus Christ to turn things around.
Stewart struggles to remember the sordid details of his tough and troubled life. Much is a blur.
There was the dad. He liked to drink and rarely left their east Mountain house.
Mom was addicted to prescription drugs. Lived in a haze.
Stewart was the last of five kids. His early years were spent in his room. He wasn’t allowed outside much.
In Grade 7, Stewart made the wrong friends. He was angry and mouthy. There were suspensions and fights. When school called home, dad capped things off with “a whoopin’.”
When he was 13, Stewart punched a hole in the wall during an argument with his dad. Police were called and thus began his long relationship with them. He was escorted out of the house with his knapsack and a grocery bag stuffed with clothes. For a while, Stewart slept in the big plastic tubes attached to children’s playground structures. That was in December. It was a step up when he started couch surfing at friends’ houses.
“I’d eat as much as I could while I was there.”
He was drinking and smoking weed. By 15, he was shoplifting. Shoes, laptops, Xboxes, food.
Some loot was for his own use. Most was to sell on the street.
“I found out I was good at it,” he says. “I know that’s bad.”
It took a year of stealing before he got caught. From then on he was in and out of jail, serving time for everything from theft to possession of marijuana to impaired driving to assault.
He was expelled from Grade 10. When he was 17, his mom died.
At the hospital, the day she died, Stewart met his mom’s sister for the very first time. She is a God-fearing woman with God-fearing children. Stewart liked this newfound family. He moved in with them. Went to church with them.
“I thought it was whack,” he says. “All that hand clapping and stuff … I was hung over every time. There was alcohol on my breath. Sometimes I was still drunk.”
This was at Victory International, a Pentecostal church. One Sunday, a preacher from the U.S. paid a visit. He pulled Stewart out of the pews. Talked about his life as if he knew him. Laid hands on him.
“And I felt the power of the Holy Spirit and I accepted Jesus into my heart,” Stewart says.
He was 18.
After that, he still got into trouble. Went to jail a few more times. Possession of marijuana with the intent to traffic, among other things.
“I was just trying to party up.”
When he was 19, and on bail, he went to the gym for some pickup basketball. A guy he played took exception to his cussing. Told him to watch his mouth. After the game that guy introduced himself as Brother Frederick Dryden. He led a group called Liberty for Youth. He helped kids like Stewart. He passed on his phone number.
“Stewart was a smart-mouthed street kid,” Frederick says. “I could see the anger and aggression he was expressing on the court.”
The next time Stewart was in jail he phoned Brother Frederick. They started talking twice a week. When he got out, Brother Frederick was there for him. Indeed, he’s been there for more than 150 Hamilton boys he’s helped pull out of jail or gangs.
Stewart got his high school diploma. Quit drinking and drugs. Stopped breaking the law. Now he’s doing Bible studies full time and plans to go to Bible college.
“I’ve grown in my relationship with Christ. I’m called to be a pastor.”
He says his church will not be a fancy cathedral with stained glass windows. “It will be real.”
Tomorrow, though, he will be on a basketball court. Taking on the cops, and — he grins — winning.
THE GAME
Liberty Prodigal Sonz vs. Hamilton Police
at Cathedral High School
Tomorrow, 12:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 with proceeds benefitting Liberty for Youth
Susan Clairmont’s commentary appears regularly in The Spectator. sclairmont@thespec.com 905-526-3539
