It’s called “Operation Making A Change” and the concept came to Geo Gibson two decades ago in a prison cell. The 49-year-old Illinois native has been running OMAC in Lexington for about a half-dozen years. The former gang member aims to help young people avoid the pitfalls he experienced.
Gibson gathers a group of young people around a table for a mentoring session. He directs them to the board behind him. “And I did write a quote today remember ‘change starts with who?... yourself. I’m gonna try it one more time. ‘change starts with who? Self. It starts with self. Definitely. Keep that in mind every single day when you get up brushing your teeth, washing your face, looking in the mirror, remember. Change starts with self,” said Gibson.
Geo Gibson was born in Illinois, moved to Wisconsin where he took up a street life of drugs and gang activity and now he’s in Kentucky doing a whole new thing. Calling himself the first student of OMAC, Gibson said it all changed for him during his third time in prison. “So, I started evaluating my life. And the list that I came up with was really negative. It was really nothing positive that I really accomplished other than I was still living. And so I said, there has to be a reason and a purpose for me. I’m still here. And so, by the Grace of God man, I said one of the realest prayers and here I sit,” explained Gibson.
Gibson says Operation Making A Change teaches self-worth, motivation, and encouragement. It first originated in Lexington through the County Attorney’s Office and now is part of the police department’s Police Activity League, better known as PAL.
Gibson said more people who “have been through the fire” are needed to step up. The mentor said it’s not something that can be picked up one day and then put it down. On this night, Thomas Lewis was one of the adults on hand for the mentoring session. “I see too many children dying in the streets, too many young people incarcerated and somebody’s got to do it. Somebody’s got to step up and do it. You can’t just sit back and look at say, ‘well, look at this child doing this. Look at this child doing this. Why they doing this? Why they doing that? Somebody has to get out there and try to help them. Somebody has to try to show them that there’s alternatives to the streets. There’s alternatives to drugs, gang violence, and all the other stuff,” said Lewis.
Lewis said, if asked how he made it, he’ll then give his personal testimony and that he keeps his “head above water” through prayer and church.
Two mothers who have lost loved ones to gun violence sat around the table. Kenya Ballard lost a sister-in-law, who was eight months pregnant, a granddaughter, and stepson to gun violence over just one year. “I’m here at this table because I don’t want them on a T-shirt. I’m here at this table because I don’t want people to make posters. I’m at this table because I don’t want you to be a statistic,” said Ballard.
OMAC Director Geo Gibson said many of the youth participate in his program as an alternative to incarceration. One of the questions posed this night was ‘have you lost someone to gun violence?’ About half of the dozen or so participants raised their hands. There were also comments during and after the session about why juveniles shoot other juveniles.
“It was just hard like knowing I won’t be able to have another conversation with him. I can’t see him. Especially the look on his mom’s face. It was hard for her. It was so hard for her.”
“Sometimes like people be scared to like lose in a fight. Like, take an L. So, instead of like taking an L, they’d rather you know shoot it out and stuff.”
“A lot of people hate on a lot of people and a way to change it is be changing social media ways, have people get in touch with other people. Having people show off the stuff that they got and stuff like that. Cause that’s how a bunch of us coming along with hate.”
“Law enforcement should be a little more strict on these guns. Cause I know some homes I could probably walk into now and there would be guns sitting on the counter of the table or something like that. That’s how all these robberies or whatever you want to call them are having easy access to these guns.”
“It’s crazy I don’t really have a solid answer for it. It’s just unbelievable that everybody is getting killed over guns over something very dumb that they can’t figure it out in a different way.”
Operation Making A Change typically meets twice a week. More information about how to get involved as a participant or mentor can be found at the OMAC website.
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