Reggie East was born in 1975 in the projects of Harlem, New York. He was initially raised by his single mother, Sabrina, who had him when she was just a mere fifteen years old. Reggie never got the chance to meet his father but some of the men that his mother cycled in and out of their compact apartment made him suspicious. Clearly, Reggie’s mother Sabrina was not making the best decisions for herself or her son at this time. She sold cocaine in the streets of Harlem to make ends meet and be able to put food on the table for her son. In fact, Sabrina was quite successful selling drugs and made decent money doing so. By the time Reggie was about nine years old he became more in touch with what his mother doing in order to make money. However, Reggie quite frankly did not care. He loved his mom and she loved him. She always kept him in brand new shoes, nice clothes, and he never went hungry. Also, no child is just going to make their own conscious decision to leave their mother at that age no matter what. One day, however, Reggie’s life totally changed forever. It was a nice Summer Saturday in Harlem in the year of 1989. Sabrina had chosen to spend the day with her son Reggie doing all of the fun things that he loved so much.  First they headed to Quick’s where Reggie picked out the newest, freshest pair of white Reebok Pumps. They were a sixty dollar pair of sneakers and were one of the priciest pairs in the store. Without much plea from him, Sabrina got Reggie’s size wrapped up and paid for. Next they headed to get ice cream and then went on clothes shopping. At the end of the day Reggie thanked his mother for spending the time with him.

She responded, “No problem baby. Do you care if we make one last stop? I have to get something I forgot at Martin’s the other day.”
“Sure I don’t care,” Reggie replied.
Reggie knew that his mother hadn’t forgotten anything over Martin’s house. Martin was a man that had been in Sabrina and Reggie’s life for as long as Reggie could remember. Over the years Reggie grew smart enough to realize that Martin was in fact his mother’s drug supplier. Sabrina had received small hints from Reggie that he was aware of her occupation but there was some sort of don’t ask don’t tell policy between them. She did not necessarily go out of her way to hide her drug dealing from Reggie, but she would never want him to know.  As the car rolled on Reggie realized that his mother was picking up whatever drugs she was gonna sell that night. This also meant that Reggie would be spending the night at his Grandmother’s because his mom will not leave him home alone when she goes out to sell at night.  Reggie could not stand spending time at his Grandmother’s. Five of his cousins as well as multiple aunts and uncles all piled into the tiny apartment his Grandmother owned. Reggie got bullied by his cousins because of his mom’s wealth. Reggie’s cousins were not as fortunate as him so they loved calling Sabrina the “Dope Dealer” when just Reggie was around. This irked Reggie quite some bit but he knew first that his mother loved him and second that they were just jealous they did not have the same clothes and shoes he had. Once Reggie’s mom made her pickup at Martin’s, they then went to his Grandmother’s as Reggie expected. Upon arrival Sabrina her offered her mother some money for always taking care of Reggie. She extended a hundred dollar bill from her pocket towards her mother. Reggie watched as his instantly infuriated grandmother shouted,
“Get that goddamn coke money out of my sight! I refuse to take no money for taking care of my grandbaby the way you should be.”
Reggie’s mother was used to the rejection. She shoved the bill back in her pocket, pulled Reggie aside, kissed him, and then sped off. Reggie kissed his mom on the cheek and then spent the night admiring his new shoes and awaiting her return. Strangely enough, the next morning when Reggie woke up his mom had still not returned to pick him up. This was rather unusual as Reggie made his mom aware he disliked staying at his Grandmother’s. She was usually quite on top of getting him out of there as quickly as possible. Hours passed when the news finally arrived. Reggie’s mother was shot dead on the corner while she was selling drugs that night. This came as a surprise to no one in Reggie’s grandmother’s household except for Reggie himself. Everyone was sad, of course, but Reggie was absolutely distraught. His mother was one of the only role models in his life and was truly the one main lady that took care of him. Reggie told himself he would never make the same mistake his mother did and that he would never sell drugs. He laid in bed that night wondering why he was the one to have to endure all of this pain.
Reggie never truly realized how important his mother was to him until now. Once his mother passed away his life slowly turned into his worst nightmare. First off, he was forced to move in with his Grandmother and cousins in an even worse neighborhood of Harlem than he was living in with his mother. Also, he was forced to share bunk beds with one of his cousins in a room where another set of cousins shared bunk beds as well. The tiny room was cramped with four growing boys. Reggie was the youngest and smallest of the four which often led to him being picked on. Worst of all, Reggie no longer the things that he loved so much. There were no more brand new white Reebok pumps and Tommy Hilfiger polos. Reggie’s grandmother blessed him with hand me down converses that were bound to be either at least a half size too small or big every time he needed new shoes. Also, all the boys in her house shared a wardrobe that consisted of a variety of ragged attire. Reggie became totally fed up at this point and started to look for a job. He searched and searched until he was eventually able to find a part time position at a local restaurant. There he found out that after two weeks of his hard work he could afford to either get half of a pair Reeboks he loved so much or perhaps one Tommy shirt. At this point, Reggie began to really understand why his mother decided to live the lifestyle that she chose. He walked to the bank cashed his check and thought to himself as of what to do next,
“I have to go see Martin,” Reggie thought.
He slipped his money into his wallet and headed off to do just that. Martin came to the door surprised to see young Reggie on the other side. Reggie, just fourteen years old, barged in and began to discuss small talk with Martin. Reggie went on to explain how he has been struggling with living in his Grandmother’s home. Martin felt bad and openly offered Reggie some money. Reggie replied to the offer by saying,
“I don’t want your money. I want to make my own.”
Martin instantly understood Reggie’s implication and made absolutely no hesitation in presenting Reggie with his first supply of cocaine. Martin’s words were confined to,
“Don’t be stupid. If you are stupid, you didn’t get it from me.”
Reggie handed over the entirety of the money he made from his first check at the pizza shop and headed out the door. Within a week Reggie had made five times the amount of money he would have made serving pizza pies. He returned to Martin’s several times throughout the week to replenish his supply and started to build a relationship with him. Martin commonly spoke of how Reggie was so much like his mother. This actually made Reggie feel good. The late nights Reggie returned to his Grandmother’s home she was under the impression he was working at the pizza shop. It was a perfect set up. Reggie was able to save up boatloads of money and of course purchased a plethora of new sneakers and clothes. Reggie was finally content again in his brand new all white Reeboks until one night when the inevitable took place. A black buick pulled down the street on the corner where Reggie hustled. They pulled aside as slow like the rest of Reggie’s customers and rolled down the window. Reggie approached nonchalantly and asked
“What you fellas need?”
Without any answer the barrel of a nine millimeter handgun poked itself out of the bottom of the car window opening. Reggie ran at the sight of the weapon until he heard a blast. Reggie hit the ground while the two exited the vehicle and ran him down. They stripped Reggie of his money, cocaine, and worst of all, his white sneakers.