Summary Of A History Of Violence By Segun Akinsyala

In the essay, “A History of Violence”, the author Segun Akinsanya reveals information about his childhood explaining his troublesome life. He goes into detail on how he contributed to the downfall throughout his youth years. Segun was influenced by many factors that caused the negative outcome throughout his childhood, such as, the negative contributions from family, the instability of his child and teenage years, and his own struggle to find his identity of self-worth. Segun’s family played an immense part, they contributed to the negative actions throughout his life, he honestly didn’t have any family support or stability. By the age of 8, Segun’s mother was involved in a fatal car accident, killing her instantly. At such a young age,

By grade 7, Segun had been initiated into a gang. He then began to consult in men who were older, Mr. T was an older man who would sometimes give Segun and his friends money or even food. Until one day he asked them to complete a task, Segun only thought it was right because of how he helped him. “I didn’t look inside the bag, but I knew it was full of drugs”, stated Segun. There was a group known as the “Galloway Boys”, who participated in drug trafficking, gun running, and prostitution. Segun aspired to be just like them or apart of their doings, he looked up to what he saw because he thought that was the only way to survive, he felt a sense of power and control when involved in those things. “I skipped school one day toward the end of grade 9 to play dice with three Galloway Boys in one of their basements. Within an hour, I’d lost $1,700”, stated Segun. Segun then realized that he had been set up and that he didn’t have the funds to pay them back, which resulted in Segun robbing to pay the Galloway Boys

Segun failed in school due to his behavior, which resulted in him participated in alternative schools. This is when he falls into the believe that no one cared because, the alternative school’s academic expectations were far much lower than a regular school’s expectations. Segun had begun to fit into that stereotype that young black men aren’t meant to be successful. Furthermore, Segun ended up pleading guilty to violation of probation and was sentenced to 30 days in a juvenile detention center in Cobourg. After he was released, he came home to an abandoned house, he had stayed with is friend for about a week until one of his sisters finally called him. She informed him that his father was very ill and that they had moved out to better their education. She had assumed that Segun was fine and that he could care for himself. Segun had lost his