Page 12 - Florida Sentinel 8-1-17

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Youth Football Players On Trip To Learn Lesson Of ‘Forgiveness’
The youth players met with:
Youth football players prepare for their trip to Montgomery, AL on Wednesday.
her jaw and face.
Manuel was tried as an
adult and told that if he pled guilty, he would be sentenced to 15 years. Instead, he was given a life sentence.
Ms. Baigrie found it in her heart to forgive Manuel and over the years they have develop a friendship. She has even fought for his release. Their story has been told in many major media outlets. Ms. Baigrie is accompany- ing the group to Montgomery.
Stevenson took an inter- est in the case and argued that it was cruel and unusual pun- ishment to sentence a 13- year-old child to die in prison. On October 29, 2010, Stevenson and EJI won a unanimous ruling from a Florida Court of Appeal, that concluded that juveniles con- victed of attempted murder cannot be sentenced to life without parole.
Manuel was released in November 2016 and Ms. Baigrie was there to greet him. He has entered the in- stitute’s program that helps former child inmates adapt to life outside prison.
Manuel, Ms. Baigrie and Stevenson will share their story of forgiveness and redemption with the young people from Tampa on Thursday, 27 years from the date of the shooting.
“Initially, we wanted to take high school players on this trip,” Keys said, “but so many of them are back on the football field preparing for the upcoming season.
“However, it worked out because Ian said he’d rather talk with the younger guys, many of whom are about his age at that time,” Keys ex- plained.
The students will also the Civil Rights Memorial.
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
A group of young football players from area youth pro- grams left Tampa on Wednesday (July 26) head- ing to Montgomery, Ala- bama. However, although the youngsters are athletes, their trip had nothing to do with running, passing, football or sports. “It (the trip) has everything to do with forgive- ness, empathy and life,” Ty- rone Keys of All-Sports Community Service said.
Through his “Weapons of Love” program founded 3
years ago, Keys encourages young people to use weapons of love to squash an alterca- tion. Those weapons are: for- giveness, love, service, justice, character and educa- tion.
In partnership with 4 of the alumni of All-Sports that he has mentored over the years, Keys took players from the Jackson Heights Youth Center, Junior Bucs and Brandon Bears to Mont- gomery. Ironically, Keys played for the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Chicago Bears.
The group of 30 young- sters, accompanied by Keys,
Ricky Sailor, Jasmine Tramel, Jamal Jefferson and Maurice McCul- lough, will spend 2 days with Tampa native Ian Manuel and lawyer and au- thor, Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson is founder of Equal Justice Institute (EJI), which recently has assisted several Tampans with their release from incarceration.
It was 27 years ago that Ian Manuel, 13 years old at the time, shot Ms. Baigrie outside a downtown Tampa club in a botched robbery at- tempt. The shot was non-life- threatening, but it shattered
PAGE 12 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2017