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The Biography of Willie Harper
I was born on February 9th, 1982. I was raised in Paterson New Jersey by my mother, my grandmother and my aunt.
My mother was only 14 years old when she had me
I started drawing when I was 3 years old. I never liked drawing, so I stopped. When I was 6 years old, I had a family member that used to do artwork on people’s clothing. His name is Omar. He would draw Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck on pants and shirts.
I asked him to make a pair of pants for me. Omar always gave me the same answer, “yes”, but he never did. I was so upset.
One day I saw him drawing on a pair of pants for my mother. I watched him. I asked him if I could help. Omar laughed and said that he didn’t need my help. I told my grandmother “I can do that Nana”. Everyone in the room laughed with him.
Nana said, “show me”. She gave me a pair of pants and a marker. I began to draw, and when I was finished it came out better than Omar’s drawing. I was surprised just as much as everybody else!
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I never knew my father. Not having my father around lead me straight into the streets.
I met a young man named Darius and we became best friends. We joined a gang, and for years that became our family. I received the love I was missing at home.
I ended up having a child, a little girl named Na’Asia in 2003. I had a son named Messiah in 2004, and another little girl named Brianna in 2005 with 2 different women.
In 2004 we ended up joining another gang. They told us that they would help us get jobs, help us fight against oppression, and help us take care of our children. We were so young and dumb that we fell for it.
Darius and I made a pact with each other. If anything were to happen to me, he had to do something positive in remembrance of me and vice versa.
One day I was with him and about 40 other people that were in the gang. I got a phone call from my children saying that they were hungry. So, I talked to Darius, he stated that he was alright. I told him that I had to go get my children some food and that I would be back.
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10 minutes after I left I got a phone call that changed my life forever. The information that I received was that he got hit in the head multiple times with a wooden baseball bat from behind.
By the time I reached the hospital, Darius’ head was the size of a watermelon. He was left brain dead. A decision was made to pull the plug on him, and he died shortly after.
When Darius died, I was so angry, I lost myself. I blamed my children for calling me, not realizing that their call is what saved my life. I was in “war-mode” looking for his murderers for years. I was in the streets so deep and heavy. So heavy that I lost my family because of it. I was never home, my children’s mother left me because she thought I was cheating. When she left me, she kept my children.
This broke me down to my core. Having my daughters being raised by another man killed me from within. I couldn’t put my children to sleep anymore; I couldn’t wake up to their laughter anymore. I was lost and in a dark place for a long time.
In 2007 I met my dream girl, Elizabeth. She took me out of the streets and showed me that life goes on. We created our own family and got married.
I finally began to see the light. She brought me back.
I created a clothing line called Fallen Fathers Apparel. Losing my best friend before he met his own child and losing myself inspired these designs.
I couldn’t save Darius from the streets, but I can save my children from being Fatherless.
You don’t have to lose your life to become a Fallen Father. I was the Original Fallen Father because I lost myself to the streets.
