KERRY M. KIRSPEL FOCUS SB
Violent crimes have dominated the news in recent months, and it sometimes seems as if nothing is being done successfully to stem the tide of violence in our community and in our nation.
But one man has made it his goal to put violence on hold locally. And because he paid a debt to society after he was sentenced to 30 years behind bars on a charge of murder and attempted murder, he knows what he’s talking about.
Terrance Winn is the president and creator of PIPES, or “Priorities, Intentions and Practical Exchanges,” an organization that aims to prevent violence in Shreveport.
“Our motto is ‘Reversing the flow,’” Winn said. “PIPES is an organization that is set up to educate people on preventative measures of crime and to give you alternatives to crime. It’s set up to curb the violence. It’s also set up to be a reentry for guys that are re-entering society from prison.
“PIPES started through my 30 years of incarceration.” Winn said he served his time and has taken responsibility for his actions.
When did Winn conceive PIPES? The idea for PIPES, he said, “hatched while I was in prison. When I came home, everything I was doing was PIPES already. I formed a group and let everybody know what it was going to go with. Everybody was on board, and we went with it.”
About eight people were involved in that first incarnation. Today, the group has doubled to 16, “and it’s going to grow some more,” Winn said.
PIPES has already made its presence known in the community, having recently hosted a march in honor of Minnion Jackson, a 17-year-old who was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting on I-20 on Aug. 26.
What specifically is PIPES trying to guide people into doing? “I’m trying to guide people to think because to give into anger and for you to act violently, there’s going to be casualties. And with those casualties come consequences. That’s when you’re waking up and seeing steel doors, a barbed wire fence, and then you’re going to say, like, man, I shouldn’t have did that.”
And by then, it’s too late.
“So if you can think before you do it, you can walk away without having to pull out a weapon or put your fists up and hurt somebody. Then you did a good job as a man,” said Winn.
Is he delivering his message broadly or is he going into specific neighborhoods where there have been acts of violence? How is he targeting the people who really need to hear this message? “I’m targeting it firstly in your crime-riddled neighborhoods,” he said. “I’m trying to do it broadly, but I’m going in those neighborhoods and speaking. I’m listening because it’s not just about speaking, it’s about listening because a lot of times, those guys want to be heard.
Winn said he has been receiving positive responses from the people to whom he has spoken “because I came from where they come from.”
“It’s an identifying mark. They identify with me, so they know that I’m not far removed from where they’re from. And they know that I actually have lived a life, a downward trajectory of living also. So they know that this is real-life experiences. This isn’t just someone that they don’t actually understand the hardships and have no intimate details of being incarcerated.”
Winn said he has already seen positive effects that PIPES has had on people. When asked for any specific examples, he said, “A guy committed an act of violence against another guy. The perpetrator, he’s incarcerated right now. And the victim, initially he had apprehensions about this. So after we talked, he’s willing to meet with [the perpetrator]. So it’s a forgiving act. That’s a positive.”
How does Winn help people overcome a fear of possible retaliation? “The best method is the age-old method that we use: You’ve got to meet your fears head-on. You’ve got to face your fears. What happens in society is that communication breaks down, and we don’t communicate. So when we don’t communicate, we turn to other methods of getting our point across and that usually is violence.”
By removing those barriers, Winn said, “we can really speak.”
He compared such barriers to the Berlin Wall. “You can’t speak from one side to the other side of the Berlin Wall. You’ve got to tear them down.”
How does Winn overcome the idea that a man has to be macho and tough, never backing down from a problem? “You grow with that. It’s taught to you. That’s why sexuality is a big hurdle within the black community,” he said. “We’re taught to be tough, and machismo comes with it. You don’t break it down, you educate it. You tell that machoism to be thoughtful. You tell it to be compassionate. You tell it to be empathetic. You teach it as you’re telling it. This is what machoism can do in a positive light.”
He cited Arnold Schwarzenegger as an example. “On TV he’s this big, big character, but this is a man who is a foreigner who became a governor. He got the size, he got the toughness to do everything, but you don’t think he was confronted by situations that you was confronted with? But he walked away from those situations not to kill, maim or injure a person, and he became a governor that’s successful. And he’s a tough guy.
“Or you’ve got Marion Barry, a convicted man. He was a mayor before prison. He came back and became a mayor again. So you’ve got to have a good thought process because it’s about succeeding before you commit the crime.”
Winn said that anger management is key. “We all have issues of anger,” he said. “There isn’t a human being that’s totally happy. There’s not, a human being that anger doesn't touch the surface. When you allow anger to get beneath the surface, then you just act mechanically. You’re no longer who you are. That’s why people say, I stepped outside my character. … Some people get so caught up in the moment they can’t walk away.”
PIPES has several upcoming activities, including a play, “From Prison to Success,” which will be presented Oct. 23 at Lake Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Winn is also publishing a book called “In-no-sense” in a couple of weeks.
Persons who would like to help Winn and PIPES in their mission to curb violence in the community can contact him at 469-799-5741. He also has a Facebook page at “Teewinn” and on Instagram at street_educated6.
THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE September 18 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.