Yusef Shakur in the summer of 2011 in front of his Urban Network Bookstore looks towards Grand River Avenue during a rainstorm. Yusef, a former gang member who spent nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit, now a father who serves his community as a freedom fighter.
Yusef – USA
Yusef Bunchy Shakur, born Joseph Lee Ruffin on February 15, 1973 in Detroit, is a father, author, educator, community activist/organizer, and entrepreneur, but his journey has been one of overcoming the odds.
Jojo, as his friends knew him, grew up in a home without a father, with an abusive mother and alcoholic who also found herself engaging in the street underworld to provide food, clothes and shelter for her three children she was raising by herself. Young Joseph was surrounded by violence and crime and eventually co-founded the notorious street gang “Zone 8”, which led to his incarceration at the age of nineteen for a crime he says he did not commit.
Joseph met his father for the first time in prison where they were both serving time. During his sentence Yusef (changed his name to Yusef Bunchy Shakur in prison) says he began a journey of transformation, in large part thanks to his father, from a gang member into an educated young man who would eventually leave prison and continue on a path of redemption.
Today Yusef travels the country to speak to youth about his experiences and to help steer young people away from a life of violence and crime. He continues to fight to overcome the challenges of crime, drugs, and violence plaguing the neighbourhood of "Zone 8" where members of his family and many friends still live.
Most importantly Yusef is father to Kobie and Deangelo. Yusef was in Kobie’s life since day one and continuously strives to be that positive role model as he grows. Yusef missed out on many of his older son Deangelo’s formative years while he was serving time. Deangelo was recently released from county jail on probation. Yusef knows best the challenge facing Deangelo in turning his life around.
Yusef Bunchy Shakur juggles the responsibilities of being a loving father and role model along with his fight to improve on his past, spread his knowledge, and help build strong young people who will contribute to future communities.
Photographs made between 2011 and 2016. Work in progress.
Yusef Bunchy Shakur (Yusef meaning honourable, Bunchy meaning 'Souljah' also in honour of assassinated Black Panther Bunchy Carter, and Shakur meaning thankful to God) gives an impromptu talk to grade eight students at Samuel Gompers Elementary-Middle School in the Brightmoor area of Detroit while they meet for an information session on continuing education and a planned school trip to a historically black college (HBCU in the winter of 2014).
A part of a letter describing one student's painful experiences growing up in an abusive environment received by Yusef Bunchy Shakur following one of his classroom speaking engagements.
Yusef sings along to Jay-Z's "What More Can I Say" while celebrating his 41st birthday at the Martz Park Gift Shop in Detroit's east side belonging to his friend Kwasi Akwamu who he met in prison and who Yusef says has been his comrad for 20 years.
A poster with a message of inspiration hangs on the wall of Yusef's Urban Network Bookstore in "Zone 8". Yusef was forced to close the bookstore just two years after opening it following the sale of the building without his knowledge. The new owner decided to go In a different direction which will more than likely be counterproductive to the transformational impact that the store was having on the community.
Yusef and his son Kobie play an arcade game at a movie theatre complex in the suburb of Madison Heights while celebrating the day before Yusef's 41st birthday.
A photograph of Yusef's older son Deangelo (about four or five years of age) with the words I (heart) my daddy on the frame, in the corner is a smaller photo of one-year-old Deangelo on the lap of a Santa Claus.
Kobie snoozes in the back seat of his father's car on the way from school one afternoon at the start of winter break.
Yusef speaks frankly with his son Deangelo about making better decisions, to prevent him from violating his probation, which would lead him to prison. Deangelo was initially charged with armed robbery but the charge was downgraded and he spent two months in county jail.
Yusef and his son Kobie load groceries into the trunk of his car in the parking lot of a shopping complex.
In the summer of 2014 Yusef lays on the ground of Ferry Park Street in front of his Mother's home next to a chalk drawing of 'Restoring the Neighbor Back to the 'Hood' during his eighth annual community engagement and school supply giveaway event in Zone 8.
Yusef addresses Architects and Architecture Residents from ‘Practice Space’ before a presentation of renderings and plans for the revitalization of Yusef’s building for the Restoring the Neighbor Back to the ‘Hood Training Center.
A picture of a screen showing Yusef speaking on Fox 2 news as he takes part in a marching protest in Detroit on November 25, 2014, a day after the grand jury decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Several days following his 2015 annual community event Yusef is seen walking out the back entrance of the house that he is fighting to transform into the Restoring the Neighbor Back to the ‘Hood Training Center.
Yusef and Deangelo speak to each on the street.
"When I was a little boy I use to be afraid to walk across the bridges because I thought they would collapse". Yusef on his way across a highway to a meeting at Wayne State University.
The word love painted on the basketball pad next to Yusef's mother's home on Ferry Park Avenue.
Yusef and his mother both speaking on their phones on her front porch one afternoon in August.
Kobie uses a pop machine at a mechanic shop where his father tries to get his car fixed.
Yusef at TV 33 in Highland Park before appearing on Think Tank which had him speaking to co-hosts Terian Morrow and Arno Sutton-Bey who spoke from prison where he has been incarcerated for 24 years.
Yusef seen on screen at TV 33 in Highland Park.
Yusef working at his new position with the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion.
A sketch of Yusef created on National Election Day 2016 while watching him vote in Zone 8.
Yusef shops for cereal at a grocery store near Zone 8.
Kobie moves a pylon to make way for his dad to park in front of Kobie's grandmother's place on Ferry Park Street.
Yusef drives back to Zone 8 from downtown Detroit along Woodward Avenue where the new controversial M1 Rail is being built.
A lawn sign outside of the work in progress Restoring the Neighbor Back to the ‘Hood Training Center.