This is the remarkable true story of Terroll Lewis, a young man who grew up in Brixton, London, surrounded by drugs and gang culture. By the time he was fifteen, the reality of being stabbed, shot at, and involved in buying or selling drugs was completely normalised. He was able to live with his nan and granddad, who gave him a secure base but they had no idea about his gang life.
By the time he was 20, he'd seen and experienced more than most people would see in a lifetime, and he was barely out of his teens. The most gut-wrenching part of the book was when Terroll was accused of murdering one of his best friends, simply because at the crime scene there was another Black man of a similar build. During his time in prison, Terroll thought about what he could do to turn his life around, and make a difference in his community. He had unwittingly groomed the young people on his estate to be part of gang culture, and regretted it.
There is an important thing about gang culture which I learned from this book. Members are extremely loyal, clever, and protective of their blood and chosen family - traits that we all value. The violence and drugs are a part of it, of course, but what Terroll and his friends put first was their community.
It was this that Terroll chose to focus on what he was acquitted and released from jail. He founded a fitness class, which grew like wildfire, then got the funding he needed to start a gym. He used the opportunity to mentor young men in his community, and still continues to this day.
Another thing that I learned from this book is that there are too many communities who are left behind, too many children who have no idea of the opportunities that they can take advantage of, so they turn to what is at hand. It teaches the reader that there is so much more to what we can see in "gang culture". These are young men (primarily) with families and friends they want to protect, and society needs to invest in them so they can turn their energies to more positive things - exactly what Terroll Lewis was able to do.
"One Chance" is a fascinating, insightful, and ultimately uplifting story that will bring hope to anyone who reads it.
