Testimonies
Adanna Johnson
I grew up in a lovely village, Noak Bridge in Essex where I was brought up with Christian and Rastafarian values. My parents broke up when I was young and by the time I was in my early teens I began to take my frustration and hurt out on the world. In my late teens I started binge drinking and sneaking into clubs, I was always smoking weed and this all became a normal way of life for me. I began hanging out on the streets of London where I met other teenagers who were also up to no good. Life became one big party for me.
By the time I was in my late teens I started going to bigger raves in London and became more attached to the darker side of life such as watching gangster films and listening to music that glorified crime. I was attracted to the wrong crowds and often ended up in the wrong places. All these things would mirror the person I was becoming; I ended up hustling weed and was living in fear.
My name is Luke - my story begins in 2002, my life style was a graffiti-filled tagging one. I was driven passionately by getting my name painted largely along the tracks, streets and on the side of trains underground inside and out, I lived for my street reputation and image. Petty crime followed this life style shop lifting, drug taking and heavy binge drinking was a day to day occurrence. My friends were drug dealing and taking drugs. I am not trying to glorify the life that I lived but I had friends killed on the tracks one just recently.