This page have thouands of members all of which are supporting a movement of Amor por Alex and the injustices he, his family and his community have endured since his murder.... The founder of United Playaz, Rudy Corpuz was the one that called me the morning of his death to tell me just a block from my home a friend was murdered, I thought is appropriate to share how he came to be a part of our family tonight and why he graces our wall.... Thank you Jandro The-Giant and Suaro Cervantes for your words and your art, and bless you for being one of the Mentors in Alexs life ... I first met Alejandro Nieto when he was a high school student looking to participate in positive activities afterschool. He would come by the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center for youth on Mission and Excelsior. I ran a program for teens called the Waterfront Program and was given the opportunity to hire youth workers to help with outreach. He was a very charismatic young man who got along well with others and would always strike a conversation with people who had something in common. As a young man in the city, he could relate to others and was a good fit for my position of youth outreach worker. He was a young man who was developing responsibility and working with his peers as a role model. There were bumps in the road but I do recall all the growth he was open to. United Playaz was a program we teamed up with to provide a safe space for Friday night activities. When we started working with UP, you began to see that he was more in his element. I began to see a young man who wanted to attend marches, who wanted to speak out against youth violence and who began to find a niche that came naturally. He found a program that related to him and encouraged him to grow as a leader. I got to witness him developing his thoughts on what needed to change in the city to help more youth, but at the same time he was still with his peers having a good time. Many years later, we would run into each other in the neighborhood. He was always excited to see my daughters because he remembered being around them when he was a youth. I got to hear his stories of personal development as he attended college courses. He spoke with the same passion and added a new element, philosophy. It was always a great feeling to see him on the street and know that he was developing as a man. We lost a young man, a future community leader and most importantly someone who was developing into a man. We were all blessed to have known him and been able to have a chance to be a part of his life.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 04:08:55 +0000
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