Chapter 6

The Other Wes Moore: Chapter 6

The chapter started off at woody's graduation. The chapter informed us, that only 38% of Students who start high school in Baltimore graduate. Wes was in jail for six months after shooting Ray. He was charged with attempted murder because no major organs were hit by the bullet, and because of his age, he was tried in juvenile court. Soon after he got out of jail his girlfriend Alicia gave birth to their child. While Alicia took care of their baby, Wes lived with his Aunt Nicey, who agreed to let him stay only if he worked or attended school. His lack of education and training, plus his criminal record, made finding a job very difficult. Though he was promising Nicey he was trying to look for a job, Wes was Selling drugs. On a good day, Wes would make over $4,000. One day Wes wanted to make extra cash, so when someone who he had never seen before wanted to buy cocaine from him, he sold it to him, besides all the signers that indicated he was a cop. Just a few minutes later, Wes was arrested for selling drugs to a police officer. Meanwhile, the author Wes has been at Valley Forge for three years.  He was transformed from one of the most disruptive students to one of the most respected. He had finally learned how to respect himself and others. Wes was not only committed to better himself personally, but academically and athletically. The financial burden military school had placed on his mother was lessened in his second year when he began receiving academic and athletic scholarships. He was the only sophomore starter on the basketball team, and colleges and universities had started taking notice of his skills. He spent his summers at basketball camps, speaking with coaches. His uncle lectured him about always having a back-up plan, and how education could help him in that. Though he wanted to keep dreaming of the NBA, the talk with his uncle and a letter from his old friend Justin brought things into perspective. Justin informed him that their friend Shea had been arrested on serious drug charges and was going to prison. Justin also shared that his mother was dying. Soon after that Wes experience racism by drunk white people, but he decided that he would let them go because they were drunk.

This chapter is similar to the book The Power of Habit, because it showed Wes's willpower to let the drunk people go, when in the past he would get in a fight with them.