“These are the most important years of your life to figure out what you want to do.”
Richard Garland knows just how important a child’s high school years are. The professor and anti-violence expert spoke Monday to students at Sto-Rox Jr./Sr. High School.
“You think it’s too early to think about what you want to do? The future? It’s not.”
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Garland grew up in Northeast Philadelphia. He lived with his grandmother until he was 13. Within a few years, he had been thrown out of school and was living the gang life. One of the students asked how he got into gang violence.
“Old heads. My old heads got me into that,” he explained, referencing the term for informal mentors. “But it was my old heads who told me I needed to start thinking about doing something else.”
That epiphany wouldn’t come until decades later, though, when he was in prison. He was there because he had been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and hindering arrest apprehension and prosecution. From 1979 to 1991, he was behind bars. All told, he spent more than 23 years in prison.
”My old head used to, when I first got there, they used to give me a book. ‘Read this book and when you come out in the morning, we’re going to talk about it.’”
Garland, now the director of the Violence Prevention Initiative at Pitt’s Center for Health Equity, remembers blanching at that.
‘You’re like, no! I’m not gonna…’” he trailed off. “But because of the old head, I had respect for him.”
Garland finished his time behind bars at Western Penitentiary, the now-closed prison more commonly known as SCI-Pittsburgh. His hunger for education grew during his incarceration, earning his GED and starting a Bachelor’s degree in Communications at the University of Pittsburgh that he would finish when he got out. The drive he developed was really a re-ignition of what his grandmother instilled in him decades before.
“Fortunately, I’ve had strong women in my life. Real strong women. I would love to say it was the dudes that looked out, but it was always the women,” citing his grandmother, his step-mother, and renowned Pitt professor Mary Margaret Kerr.
Garland kept learning, getting his Master’s degree in social work from Pitt.
“Education is the reason that I’m doing everything that I’m doing today. I used to look at people who went to college as lames,” he remembered, laughing. “When I finally started going to school, I was like, ‘Man, OK. Well I guess I’m lame now, because I’m trying to get an education!’ But it was good.”
Of the 2,000 or so men in Western Penitentiary while Garland was there, he estimates only about 25 got a GED.
“I’ve been really fortunate,” he remarked softly.
Getting through to children can tough, especially on the sluggish Monday morning when Garland spoke to an auditorium filled with upperclassmen. It didn’t faze Garland, though. He still made connections. He also knows the Covid-19 pandemic has been tough on children who are re-integrating to the classroom.
“Socialization, no coping skills, I’ve seen an uptick in kids doing more drugs because they can. They couldn’t go nowhere. They couldn’t do anything,” he explained. “And it not only affects kids, it affected this country as a whole…everybody. It’s just unbelievable.”
Social media can also be a problem.
“Before I go into a hospital, I look at a person’s social media page, and then I tell them stay off social media.”
Garland goes into hospitals as part of his work with GRIPS - Gunshot Reoccurring Injury Prevention Services - a program that supports people who are recurring victims of gun violence.
That program is part of a sweeping portfolio for Garland. In addition to his role at Pitt, he reviews homicides for Allegheny County; he works with McKeesport Violence Prevention; and he leads Reimagine Reentry, a group that helps inmates successfully readjust to society.
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“How many of you like school?“ Garland asked the students in the auditorium.
A few hands shot up.
Garland was dismayed, but not for long. He took questions, working to quiet students who were talking to hear those who wanted to speak up.
“Who are the future leaders of this country?” he asked.
“Me!” said one student in the crowd."
“I want that to be all of you,” responded Garland.
When he was asked if he had any words of encouragement, especially for graduating seniors, his answer was straightforward.
“I want you to really focus on getting an education.”
Because if Richard Garland’s life has proved anything, it’s that there is true power in seeking knowledge.