I am the youngest and only boy out of the three children from my parents. I have two other siblings, Karina who is 4 years older than I, and then there is Shamekia, who is one year younger than Karina. At the age of seven years old, my mother Latarsha Hamilton was falsely accused of 2nd degree murder. She was incarcerated for five years of our young lives. We were all sent to live with my grandmother on the eastside of south central. Here is where homeless people beg minors for change, and prostitutes are located on every corner. It is as if they are the neighborhood watch, for an inner-city community. The two strongest people that I know are my grandparents. My grandmother who made breakfast, dinner, and washed our clothes on a regular basis; and of course my grandfather, who was the sole provider of the family whom made all these things possible. During my fifth grade year, second semester, I remember my father forcing my sisters and I to come live with him, his wife, and step kids in Watts, Ca. Kenneth Sampay is my father, who named me after him. My father is an alcoholic, divorcee, un-employed, pot-head, who had lost his home, and was forced to move in with his mother, my grandmother, several months after my 5th grade graduation. Things had gotten pretty hectic by now, because me, and my 2 sisters shared a single, white, small room with my father. I must recall that this was the worst living situation, but the best learning experience of my life. During my short stay at my father’s house I attended 96th St Elementary School, where I got picked on, got into fist fights, and was bullied majority of the time. I graduated from 96th St Elementary as the "Master of Ceremony," and held the most outstanding grades in my 5th grade class. I remember being asked by the principal, "Please, do not let this be your last graduation." By the 8th grade I was 12, and my mother was released from prison. After all the back and forth long letters throughout my elementary and middle school years, she was now home. I watched my mother everyday throughout my last days of middle school, challenge her-self to find a job and a new home for my siblings and me. And surprisingly she did; but unfortunately I was the only one who had decided to come live with her. By then Karina was 18 & pregnant. Shamekia was addicted to marijuana, had grown up with little next to no guidance from her parents, and now she could not even fathom how she needed to start planting vital seeds for her future. Here I was, summer of 2010, new look, new area, re-connecting with my moms’. I attended Crenshaw High School my freshman year. Crenshaw is located several blocks from my mothers’ 1 bed room apartment that we both shared. Confused about my personality, sexual orientation, I didn’t know how I was going to be treated, and all I wanted was to be accepted by everyone in my class; which didn’t go as I projected. As a freshman I was picked on, but throughout my sophomore and junior year, I somewhat found pieces of me. I’m currently now in the 12th grade, experimenting with life. In my web design class me and my partner tammy & I, are building a Online clothing store app. In this App you’ll be able to shop and buy clothes & receive them with our premium next day shipping service. The name of our App will be abbreviated with the first initial of my partner name and me. KT Edge “Tammy & Kenneth” online shopping app, we’re planning to launch over 3000 downloads in the 20 minutes of the app release date. Our clothing store will feature some of the hottest and finest work of artist clothing all across the world.
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