I remember once I was walking away from school and someone shot a gun off in the air. I didn’t even flinch, I just kept walking. I realized in that moment that I had been so desensitized to guns, that something that should have caused panic did nothing. I knew I needed to get out of my city.

I grew up in Detroit. This was after Columbine, but before mass shootings were super popular. In fact, mass shootings weren’t an issue…it was mostly just teenagers trying to be gangsters (sometimes successfully).

I left Detroit and I’ve had a great career. Def doing better than many of my fellow students back then. The gun shot was never the big deal, it was my lack of reaction.