What will I learn about: how sudden emotional trauma, like a parental divorce, can completely derail a promising childhood and leave youth vulnerable to destructive paths?

Understand how sudden emotional trauma, like a parental divorce, can completely derail a promising childhood and leave youth vulnerable to destructive paths.

What will I learn about: how the powerful allure of fast money and social validation can draw unguided teenagers into the violent and ruthless world of drug dealing?

Discover how the powerful allure of fast money and social validation can draw unguided teenagers into the violent and ruthless world of drug dealing.

What will I learn about: Learn how the 1980s Detroit crack epidemic devastated all sectors of society, destroying the lives and families of everyday middle-class professionals?

Learn how the 1980s Detroit crack epidemic devastated all sectors of society, destroying the lives and families of everyday middle-class professionals.

What will I learn about: why systemic failures, such as emergency services abandoning dangerous neighborhoods, bred intense paranoia and forced young men to arm themselves for survival?

Find out why systemic failures, such as emergency services abandoning dangerous neighborhoods, bred intense paranoia and forced young men to arm themselves for survival.

What will I learn about: Witness how the unhealed pain of childhood rejection combined with extreme street violence can tragically culminate in a life-altering murder conviction?

Witness how the unhealed pain of childhood rejection combined with extreme street violence can tragically culminate in a life-altering murder conviction.

Writing My Wrongs

Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison

Shaka Senghor

★ 3.4 / 5(11 ratings)

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Categories:

Biography & Memoir

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

💡Did you know that the power of storytelling can be a lifeline for someone serving a 19-year sentence for murder?
💡Have you ever wondered how a child from a happy home can get swept into the heart of Detroit’s crack epidemic?
💡What’s the secret to finding hope and purpose in a place designed to strip away your humanity?

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Key Takeaways from Writing My Wrongs

✓Understand how sudden emotional trauma, like a parental divorce, can completely derail a promising childhood and leave youth vulnerable to destructive paths.
✓Discover how the powerful allure of fast money and social validation can draw unguided teenagers into the violent and ruthless world of drug dealing.
✓Learn how the 1980s Detroit crack epidemic devastated all sectors of society, destroying the lives and families of everyday middle-class professionals.
✓Find out why systemic failures, such as emergency services abandoning dangerous neighborhoods, bred intense paranoia and forced young men to arm themselves for survival.
✓Witness how the unhealed pain of childhood rejection combined with extreme street violence can tragically culminate in a life-altering murder conviction.

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from Writing My Wrongs

Mind Map

Writing My Wrongs

Childhood & Trauma+

The Streets & Drug Trade+

Downward Spiral & Incarceration+

The Brutality of Prison+

Redemption & Transformation+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 7

What was the primary emotional catalyst that initially derailed Shaka Senghor's promising childhood?

A. Experiencing extreme poverty and homelessness from birth.
B. His parents' divorce and his subsequent feelings of rejection.
C. Failing his classes and getting expelled from high school.
D. Being recruited by a violent local gang at his middle school.

Question 2 of 7

Why did 14-year-old Shaka initially take a job selling crack cocaine for a man named Miko?

A. He wanted to fund his own severe drug addiction.
B. He was forced into the trade by his older siblings.
C. He had run away from home and desperately needed money for decent shelter and food.
D. He wanted to save enough money to pursue his dream of going to medical school.

Question 3 of 7

Despite the money and social validation Shaka gained from dealing drugs, what underlying realization did he eventually come to?

A. The money could not buy the genuine love and acceptance he deeply needed.
B. He was not making as much money as the rival dealers in his neighborhood.
C. The police were actively protecting the higher-level drug lords.
D. He needed to expand his business to other cities to be truly successful.

Question 4 of 7

When Shaka was shot multiple times at the age of 18, why did emergency services fail to arrive?

A. His friends were too afraid of police involvement to call 911.
B. The local hospital had been shut down due to a lack of city funding.
C. The neighborhood was considered too dangerous for emergency responders to visit.
D. The 911 dispatchers assumed the injuries were not life-threatening.

Question 5 of 7

What harsh reality did Shaka quickly learn about the prison environment, particularly at the facility known as 'Gladiator School'?

A. Inmates who showed any sign of weakness were ruthlessly preyed upon.
B. Guards were highly effective at maintaining peace and order.
C. Educational programs were mandatory for all new inmates.
D. Violent offenders were immediately placed in solitary confinement for their own protection.

Question 6 of 7

Before his transformation in solitary confinement, what major contradiction did Shaka struggle with while in prison?

A. He wanted to escape prison but also felt institutionalized and afraid of the outside world.
B. He studied the historical oppression of Black people while simultaneously harming other Black inmates to survive.
C. He preached non-violence to younger inmates but continued to orchestrate drug deals on the outside.
D. He respected the prison guards' authority but was forced by gangs to attack them.

Question 7 of 7

What activity during his seven years in solitary confinement served as a major transformative experience for Shaka?

A. Studying law to appeal his murder conviction.
B. Keeping a journal to deeply reflect on his life and actions.
C. Converting to a new religion and leading daily prayer groups.
D. Writing letters to the family of the man he had killed.