This content was created by Corwin CJ Moneyway Johnson. This content was uploaded by Corwin CJ Moneyway Johnson. This is a YouTube interview titled "From Hood to Law: Activist's Inspiring Journey" (posted 2025-01-10) from the CJ Moneyway Show. Host Corwin CJ Moneyway Johnson talks with Andre, who recounts growing up in St. Louis, resisting gang/drug pathways, attending Drake University, graduating law school in 2021, and now working as a civil-rights specialist in Iowa while also doing hip‑hop, poetry, workshops and organizing protests. The conversation focuses on Andre's path from the neighborhood to law and community activism and carries an uplifting message for young people about alternatives to street life.
Thank you for taking some time out today, man, and joining me on the CJ Moneyway Show. Hey, so Andre, man, tell us a little bit about yourself and about your background, man.
Yeah, so, uh, I'm from St. Louis, Missouri. That's where I grew up. Um, pretty much spent most of my time, you know what I'm saying, with the homies. Uh, really big on family. Really big on like, uh, finding other ways to navigate struggle because I think a lot of the, uh, common ways that I was taught or seen was like drug dealing or, or gangbanging. And, uh, and I always kind of had that motivation in me to be like, all right, I see where this leads me, I don't want that, but I still want the perks because all the people who I was around who at least had resources was still share it with people. So I'm like, I, I want to be somebody who's in a position where I can share with my family, share with my peoples, but I'm not trying to end up in prison. Because as much love as they showed while they was there, the moment they went to prison, they gone.
Yeah.
And then we was all left all bad. So that was really most of my background, uh, was me in that space trying to figure that out, trying to navigate that. Uh, end up moving out to Des Moines, Iowa after high school to go to college, went to Drake University. And then after graduating Drake University, end up going back, uh, for law school and graduated law school in 2021. Uh, so now I work as a civil rights specialist, uh, for the state of Iowa, and I also do hip-hop as well, and poetry, and do a bunch of workshops and organize protests. Pretty much one of them guys who just do everything, just be outside with the community trying to show love to the people and be of service.
Yeah, jack of all trades, huh? Yeah. Hey, that's cool from a brother from the hood, man, to go get your law degree. Now you a civil activist and everything, you know, working for the state. That's cool, man. I think that's a great accomplishment. Because, uh, like, young brothers out there need to hear that. Regardless of where you come from, man, you still can— you can make it out of that. Because like something that you said was one thing that I, you know, one thing that I— reason I didn't do certain things either is because two things I didn't want to do. One, I didn't want to go to the service, and two, I never wanted to go to jail. And so if I didn't want to go to jail, then that meant that I had to do not the thing that was sending me to jail, you know what I'm saying? So I— hey, I see some of the— some of the cats from the hood, they balling out, making money, doing whatever they gotta do, and it was all good. I went, hey, 9 to 5, you know what I'm saying? I'm gonna go clock in this clock. I'll come back and kick it with y'all when I get off, you know what I'm saying? Because I had to get— I had to get mine too, but I didn't want to get it by any means though, you know. Yeah, that's—
