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Faces From 1 MAD DADS stands for Men Against DestructionDefending Against Drugs and Social Disorder. The original chapter was founded in 1989 by a group of Omaha men and parents who were fed up with unchecked drugs and violence in their community. Since it’s inception, the organization has grown to include 14 chapters nationwide. VJ Smith is the CEO and President of the Twin Cities’ chapter. Smith is the recipient of many father of the year awards. His work as a community advocate and organizer has been recognized on numerous occasions by the City of Minneapolis. He’s also received a Leadership Award from Boy Scouts of America, among many others. He is a true hero. But he will tell you, at one point in his life, he was no boy scout. In fact, this selfdescribed monster led a very different life in contrast to his image today. “I was like Nino Brown (New Jack City). I was a DJ on KMOJ, giving away toys by day and at night, I was a monster,’ said Smith referencing his time back in the 80s as one of Minneapolis’ notorious drug dealers. “My dad was never with me,” said Smith who was abandoned by his parents when he was nine-years-old and placed in foster care. He said he ran away from that foster home and to the drug trade. “I have five sons by five different women,” said Smith. “When I had my first son, I didn’t know how to be a father, I just knew he had to be with me so we’d drive around in my Cadillac to see all my girlfriends!” Smith admitted that like
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Insight News • December 14 - December 20, 2009 • Page 3 many new fathers he was naive about fatherhood. “I didn’t have the skills, the answers — I didn’t know what to do. I remember not knowing how to teach him to ride a bike so I took him to a hill and pushed him,” he recalled. He does lament the son whose life he wasn’t a part of. “I cut his umbilical cord, but [who I was] caused me to be without my son and unable to be a father to help my son’s mother raise him,” explained Smith. Smith learned later that
another son he’d fathered was being sent to prison. He began writing letters to his son in an effort to build a relationship with him. “I wanted to instill some hope in him. I felt I could save his life,” said Smith. After an arrest in the early 80s, Smith realized that something had to change. He said, “I couldn’t identify my role as a street hustler with being a father. One night, I had a dream that my son invited me to school for career day. I showed up with a couple of
hoes, Hennessy and crack cocaine: I was clean! But my son was disappointed. He said, ‘Daddy, that aint no job!” Smith was confronted with the possibility of his dream becoming his nightmare. “That’s not what I wanted to be known for,” reflected Smith. After turning his life around. and over to Christ in 1998, Smith founded the Minneapolis chapter of MAD DADS. Determined to give back to the community the organization became involved
in many street patrols: the Soul Patrol, the Million Man March and other local and national initiatives to reclaim youth from the streets. “At MAD DADS were all bad dads,” said Smith jokingly. “We’re mad at what we did and what you’re doing!” MAD DADS provides a unique opportunity for Smith to be in the streets-but this time as a positive force. “I ain’t got dope, but I got hope,” he said. Many have been transformed by the MAD
DADS experience. Approximately 90% of participants —clients and employees— are people who’ve come from the streets or have experienced some form of abuse or dysfunction, drug-related and otherwise. “It’s hard being good. But they come back. You keep trying, doing your best — that’s all God wants,” said Smith of the men his organization serves. “Sacrifice is a big FACES TURN TO 5