Marquise Bowie 

As an only child I had always put me first. Even when I started having kids. It was all me because I grew up an only child. I was self- centered, selfish. But now I get to put that not thinking less of myself but thinking of others more than myself. That's the energy that I've tried to put out to these youngsters. Because pride is, pride is deadly.

Paul Meunier 

Hello, I'm Paul Meunier, the executive director of the Youth Intervention Programs Association. And I'm a youth worker at heart. How lucky am I, I have the privilege to meet youth workers from around the globe and learn their stories and share them with the entire world. I'm glad you're listening because together we'll learn how their life experiences shape their youth work. As you listen, I encourage you to consider how your experiences shape what you have to offer young people. Welcome to this edition of The Passionate Youth Worker. Hi, everybody. For this episode, we're joined by Marquise Bowie from Minnesota here in the United States. He is a partner with the Minnesota BAM Project where they support young people into manhood. And prior to his current work in a high school, and in the community with the Minnesota Agape Movement, he spent 12 years in a federal prison. Before his release, he knew he was ready to get back. And as you listen to his story, you'll find out that he has made the most of his new opportunity. Marquise, thanks for being a guest on the podcast.

Marquise Bowie 

Thanks for having me. It's a blessing and an honor to be able to do this.

Paul Meunier 

Marquise, as we get to know you a little bit as we go through your podcast, we'll learn how your life has really just come full circle, and how you're now known as kind of a champion for young people in your community. But let's back up and start at the beginning. Thinking back when you were young, what was your home life like for you?

Marquise Bowie 

Well, I grew up in a single parent home with my mom. So, I was a mama's boy to the fullest. I was just a fun go lucky, happy kid up until probably the mid-80s when drugs ravished the urban communities in which I live. And then I seen my community kind of change. But in spite of that, I was still a happy-go-lucky type young guy.

Paul Meunier 

So, in the mid-80s, how old were you then?

Marquise Bowie 

10. I was 10 in '85. And that's really when the crack epidemic hit our communities.

Paul Meunier 

So, up until 10 was life pretty good would you say? I mean, were you doing good in school, have friends, playing in the neighborhood, all that kind of stuff normal 10-year-old kids do?

Marquise Bowie 

Yep, yep. Boys and Girls Club, Summer in the City. I was always part of activities, loved basketball, going to the YMCA, swimming, and all that good stuff that was in my community not too far from where I was at.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, and then the crack epidemic hit. And I remember that going through, especially the urban area. And the way that the police in society handled that was very different than just cocaine in general. Can you talk about like what changed for you and what changed for your community at that point?

Marquise Bowie 

I would say just me noticing things changing within my mom, I believe she started doing drugs early on. She was a young teenage mom when she had me. And with her having six, seven siblings. You know, that was kind of difficult. You know, her being the second oldest, her kind of being one of the champions and leaders of her sisters. I could see some things changing. But it was pretty normal though. You know, I tried to spend a lot of time at the Roller Garden and stuff like that. I grew up as an only child. So, I was around my cousins a lot, spending the night and weekends at their house. So, it was normal at the time.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah. Do you have fond memories of that?

Marquise Bowie 

I do. My grandma was a bus driver. So, and this is my dad's mom. And although my dad wasn't in my life like I wanted him to be I'd see him every now and again. And I'd see him at the Roller Garden when I went skating. And then when we were catching the bus to and from roller skating, I would always see my grandma in there which was brought me great joy to still have this connection. Even when I didn't see my dad at times, I would always see my grandma. That was always a joyful time because my dad was a cool guy. He you know, had leather pants. He was kind of like Cameo/Eddie Murphy, he had a motorcycle. So, I would always look for opportunities to see him. And he stayed not too far from where I was at. But, you know, he was he was one of the playboys back in the day, I would say.

Paul Meunier 

Got it. And that's maybe why he wasn't deeply involved in your world and you and your mom are kind of on your own for the most part?

Marquise Bowie 

Right, right. I believe he started dabbling with drugs, too and from what he told me later on that he really kind of moved away just to get himself under wraps because the drugs had started taking over his life. And now he's a successful truck driver, him and his wife. You know, we still talk, we still have a relationship that's still growing and building, even as I'm catching up with him in age.

Paul Meunier 

Right, I get it. And how about your mom? Are you still pretty connected with your mom? Is your mom, you've mentioned, she got into drugs and stuff. Is she now doing Okay, or what how's your mom?

Marquise Bowie 

My mom unfortunately passed in 2018. That was my last leg of my incarceration. So, you know, but I saw pretty often. And she was battling still. She was also plagued with diabetes, and, you know, a bunch of bad health choices growing up that probably caught up to her.

Paul Meunier 

So, you had your dad was kind of on his own. Your mom got into the crack scene, the drug scene that swept through so many neighborhoods. And then that's when your life started to change. Did you get involved with that stuf or can you talk a little bit about the transition from up to 10? And then what about after that?

Marquise Bowie 

So, we bounced around South Minneapolis a lot, a couple of different apartments. And then I specifically remember in probably like, 87-88, my mom started messing with this guy named Blackjack is what we call him. Come to find out that he was a drug dealer. And that's really when I seen like it turned for the worse where I didn't even want to be at home at all. Because I really, really didn't like him. He was from down south somewhere, I really couldn't understand his language. When I look back, it almost made me feel like he was really taking my mom away from me.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah.

Marquise Bowie 

And I just wanted to be away from him. And at times, I would just literally go home for when it was time to go to sleep or stuff like that. So, I really hit the streets full-fledged and really took up on a life of my own. And my life just took a turn for the worse really when my, one of my best friends, Abdul Ferguson, was killed. I think it was in 91. And that's really when I can see, like, physically, my life heading in the wrong direction. Up until then I was a good student, I was always in advanced classes in junior high, all the way up into high school. But once Abdul got killed, he was the cool kid of the crew and my life just really went downhill from then.

Paul Meunier 

I'm sorry to hear about your loss with your mom and your best friend. So, at that time not only were you losing your mom to this guy, you're losing your mom to the drug scene. It had to be pretty difficult for you. And the way you coped was you just got to get away and start that you grew up way too fast, right? You got out and started doing stuff with the friends and then your best friend, the cool guy, lost his life to violence. At that point, were you bitter and angry or were you still hopeful that maybe things are going to work out Okay? Or where were you at at that point when your best buddy was killed?

Marquise Bowie 

I was honestly just lost.  I mean, because I had never seen death that close. And then for it to be a best friend/cousin. A big part of me was missing. I remember we had just tried out for the Roosevelt High School basketball team. And he got killed in the midst of that. We were at a party. He wasn't supposed to be there because he was on house arrest. And I wasn't supposed to be there because I was a youth. It was an accident murder that happened. It was accident murder that happened. And that really changed the scope of our neighborhood because the person who got accused of it was a guy named Tony. And he was actually dating Abdul's sister. And that just brought on a whole different thing because a lot of people wanted to hurt him thinking that he was the one that did it. And in reality, he wasn't. There was another guy named Tony. But that name Tony came up. So, of course, you're going to pick the most popular Tony, you're not going to think of the lame Tony.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah. Yeah.

Marquise Bowie 

And that really did something to the community, I would say. And I can, I was looking at some Roosevelt High School pictures and I could literally see me morph from like an Urkel type guy to a Boys in the Hood type guy. And it was like, Wow, just to see that transformation myself. Looking through pictures, it was like, wow. I mean, but the times ever changing. You know, that was the beginning of hip-hop. And then here comes gangsta rap with NWA and, you know, they're kind of telling the street narrative and I can see myself thinking I was Ice Cube or Eazy-E or somebody like that. When Jheri Curls and, you know, you wanted to keep up with the fad so.

Paul Meunier 

Well, your world really got to turned upside down. And it's so sad that we have systems that support that kind of thing and allowed that kind of thing to happen. It was such a shame. And it's still a shame, because it's still going on today, right? You know it.

Marquise Bowie 

Right.

Paul Meunier 

You know it better than I do. I'm not telling you something you don't know. So, then at what point did you start getting in trouble with the law? Because we're gonna get to how you served 12 years in prison. But how did it build up to where that happened, whatever that was that caused you to go to prison?

Marquise Bowie 

Really just being outside. Most of the people that I grew up with were coming from single parent homes. So, it was really like the blind leading the blind.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah.

Marquise Bowie 

I mean, we're all closely related, whether it was through in-laws or cousin's cousins, and we just associated ourselves with the neighborhood gang which was the Bloods in Minneapolis, we were just a bunch of lost young men that really didn't have nobody to look up to other than the guys that were out in the street, making drugs, dealing looked cool. They had all the fancy cars, they had all the women wanted to be around them. They had the jewelry. Us coming from almost having nothing, you know, we looked up to that. We didn't have that many positive role models in the neighborhood that we could, you know, get under their wings, and them kind of give us something that we weren't getting.

Paul Meunier 

And then what was your first exposure into crime? Was it the thing that caused you to do 12 years or was it a kind of a gradual build up?

Marquise Bowie 

No, I want to say I had an incident at Roosevelt High School where I was registered at another school. No, matter of fact, let me back up. So, my first encounter was like me walking in on drug raids. When I was going home, 14, 15, my mom's boyfriend was a drug dealer. So, me walking in on drug raids in progress. And then seeing how the police were kind of handling my mom and the other people in the house, that kind of gave me a negative view of the policing. And, you know, me hanging out in the streets. I remember the first time I ever even really had some physical drugs, we found them, we found them in the neighborhood. And some of our older cousins and uncles used to get high. So, they kind of showed us the game, showed us how to break it down and distribute it in the community. And, you know, along most of the time, when you're in that lifestyle, you're going to carry a weapon for protection. So, I think my first encounter, like going to the county jail as a juvenile was me getting caught with a gun. And then I think a little bit after that, I ended up going to the County Home School in Minnetonka, it was called the Beta Program. And this was for like first-time people, I think I did maybe a month there. But they had us walking up hills in the snow and it was kind of like a military type thing. And then on the other side of that coin was the County Home School for the longer-term people. And probably within a year, I went to the County Home School for like a 9-month to 18-month sentence. Can't remember exactly, I might have caught call with some drugs or another gun. And, you know, every couple of years, it was those type of situations, but I was still a juvenile at the time so it was really only so much they can do. Never caught any type of cases where I had any victims so these were considered property crimes.

Paul Meunier 

So, what happened that you had to serve 12 years in prison? What was that charge?

Marquise Bowie 

So, those were a bunch of charges that kind of been recycled. I mean, so throughout my life, I would go to the workhouse, I got a couple of DWIs for driving while under the influence. I took up on drinking heavily. And my federal sentence which happened in 2007, was just all those cases kind of being rebrought back to the light. I did probation, I did a little juvenile time, I did some time in Hennepin County workhouse. And in 2007, some guys that I grew up with had got caught selling drugs, they got caught with pistols. And in order for the federal government to make it seem like it was a big drug conspiracy, they lumped us all in together with help from the other guys that got caught. They didn't want to take responsibility so they brought 11 other guys into their situation so they can get less time. And me with my track record, it was a no-brainer, kind of, to plead guilty to something because the stuff that they said was already documented that I had already did time for. So, it wasn't like I could deny it. But I didn't know that they can use that back against you in the federal government because most of them other crimes were state crimes. And 2007 was a big political time. You got new politicians that are running for office and they're, you know, trying to be hard on crime, and we were the scapegoats of their political game I'd say.

Paul Meunier 

Thank you for are getting us up to speed on that whole adventure that you went on. And it takes such a positive twist here. And what you're doing now is such an inspiration to so many people that you've gone through all that and here you are given back and we're gonna dive into that as soon as we get back from this short break. So, we'll be right back.

Jade Schleif 

No matter how you support our young people, The Professional Youth Worker, powered by YIPA, has your training and learning needs covered. Visit training.yipa.org, that's training.yipa.org to see for yourself, and then join the 1000s of youth workers around the globe who learn from our easy to access exceptional trainings. From our blogs to our podcast, The Professional Youth Worker is your go-to resource for tools to help you keep going, keep learning, and keep growing. Members enjoy free unlimited access to Live Online and On-Demand Trainings, and a preferred discount pricing for our one-of-a-kind certificate course. Annual memberships are ridiculously affordable for individuals and organizations. Visit training.yipa.org today to learn more. That's training.yipa.org.

Paul Meunier 

Marquise, right before the break, you were telling us how you ended up in prison. And then you in prison, decided you're going to come out and be a different person you're going to give back to the community and change things. And you started getting involved in different things in your community. Can you talk a little bit about why you became so motivated to try to help other young people so they didn't have to go through what you did. What changed that you want to give back so much?

Marquise Bowie 

So, when I was in Sherburne County, awaiting my federal sentence, not really normal was happening. I mean, they gave me a bunch of papers that were blocked out, because they were looking for these 11 other individuals on my case. And while I was in Sherburne County, my grandmother and my, my dad's mom passed, and she was always trying to get me to go to church. And before I went to prison, I actually lived a block away from her church, the church that I go to now. And she was this well-loved bus driver that went to church, that was really trying to get her grandchildren to do something different. And I'd always find excuses to not go to church. And I had always been around the church, but I was never a member of a church. And she passed and I thought to myself, well, I know she's going to heaven. And I remember at like 15 I was saved. I remember I was down at Powderhorn Park fishing. And somebody came and asked me did I want to be saved, and I knew the importance of being saved, but I didn't know it fully. And to myself, you know, I was I was saved in, in word. But when my grandma passed, I thought to myself, well, I know she's going to heaven. I don't know if I'm going there. So, I kind of rededicated my life in Sherburne County to trusting and believing in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Up until that point, I had always allowed him to be my Savior, because I didn't want to go to hell. But I didn't allow him to be my Lord, which would be in control of my life. When my grandma passed, I thought to myself, Man, I definitely want to see her again. And the only way to do that was for me to go to heaven. And at that point, I wasn't sure.

Paul Meunier 

At the beginning of this podcast, I talked about how you've come full circle. You went to Roosevelt High School and now you're working at Roosevelt High School.

Marquise Bowie 

Yes sir.

Paul Meunier 

Talk about how you got that job there and how that came to be because I find that really interesting.

Marquise Bowie 

So, early on, after the murder of George Floyd on 30th and Chicago, we called one of my mentors, Steve Floyd, who had been preaching this Agape love to us back when we were going at Folwell and Roosevelt. And we called him and asked him, can we have his blessing of use that name. Just because we knew that he was planting seeds way back then and we didn't really fully understand it. And he told us, like flat out if you guys are on the same type of stuff, no. But he so he kind of sat around and he at the time, he was a professional photographer, so he kind of just sat around and was doing his photography thing, but he watched us at the same time. And he was one of these guys that were bringing the Timberwolves to our local gym, he actually opened up Central gym because it was closed for a while and this is the school that Prince went to. And some of the people at the schools had seen what we were doing in the community. And they was hearing a message about us transforming street energy into community energy, knowing that we were the knuckleheads at one point. And once George Floyd got murdered, we literally made it where the neighborhood didn't burn down. And the first call we got was from South. They were having a local game against North High School. And they knew that that was a rival game and they asked us to come and be those alternative policing to that situation, be the extra set of eyes and ears and that's where we started. Going to South, the athletic director somehow contacted somebody from our leadership team. And then we just start going up to Roosevelt and I had always wanted to go to Roosevelt anyway just to make that connection. And then I found out two deans that work there were my childhood friends from when I was going there. And I just used to go up there and just visit them. And just being an extra set of eyes and ears. And the position became available because the guy that was at the spot that I'm at now, he's a little bit older than me, he was having health issues, and he would call off the day of work. And them seeing me just keep coming up there apart from Agape, just on my own. They kept seeing me come up there. And it was like, you know, they took a liking to me, I'm getting to know the principal, I'm getting to know other people that I went there with that work there now. And they were like, man, Marquise would be a great person for this job.

Paul Meunier  

Yeah.

Marquise Bowie 

And then what, two months ago, the job opened up and I applied from it. But I had to do a background check which was, which was crazy because my background is shattered. But they see me in action. And they wasn't just going off what they may have heard of me, they were seeing me in real life time. And you know, I passed a background check, and I got the job.

Paul Meunier 

That is so cool. You were just going up there just to be a community person to go up there and just be friendly with the kids and show them that there's other options. And to be that role model that so many of them don't get to see on a regular basis. You're just living this stuff. You are truly an altruistic person at this point in your life, giving back in any way you can. And I think about the work that you're doing with the Agape and some of the other stuff at the school. And I think you must be making a wonderful connection with some of these young people. Are you good at connecting with young people, do they gravitate towards you, or they go, Hey, there's Marquise, man, let's go just chat with him?

Marquise Bowie 

Yes, one of my mentors, Johnny Turnipseed, told me be what you needed. This was me, coming to one of the elders in my community that went through some trying times in his life. And I grew up with some of his sons. And when I was in prison, when my mom passed, he was the one that did my mom's funeral. And I had known this guy forever. And he had changed his life. He started working with Art Erickson from Urban Ventures at church that I was familiar with. He was doing a fathering program that I wanted to be a part of, and I was just going around him and sucking up all this stuff that he was putting out to the world. And he told me be what you needed. And that's really, that got me in the mind frame of really trying to just be that mentor that the youngsters can relate to. Because at one point in my life, I was them. And now they see me because they've been seeing me for the last couple of years volunteering. They see me now throughout the whole day. And some of them you know, I'm a shoe guy. So, I'm I got a I got an addiction to shoes and hats. And they see me so they want to have conversations with me. And you know, we're just connecting. I love basketball still, I'm still active basketball player. I'm in semi-good shape. So, they're looking at this old guy that you know, kind of can play basketball. And who is this guy? So, I’m the new kid on the block, so to speak. And, you know, I got a positive demeanor and I'm coming with a different approach, other than like a dean that's on you about attendance, and I'm trying to build relationships with them, and let them know like brother I was you. So, let's you know, let's go to class. Man, let's not just do a bunch of hanging out in the class, let's actually go to class. Even if you're not doing all the work, go there. And you might learn something.

Paul Meunier 

You must be beaming with pride and fulfillment, to think of where you were in 12 years in federal prison is a long time and here you are doing such noble work, righteous work, you must just be beaming inside. Are you?

Marquise Bowie 

I'd say beaming with humility, not thinking and the meaning of that to me, which is this older guy told me matter of fact he was a younger guy. He told me that the true meaning of the true meaning of humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. And me as an only child I had always put me first. Even when I started having kids, it was all me because I grew up an only child. I was self-centered, selfish. But now I get to put that not thinking less of myself but thinking of others more than myself. And that really stuck with me. And that's the energy that I try to put out into these youngsters. Because pride is, pride is deadly.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah. Your humility is so transparent. Because you have so much to offer what do you think the best thing you bring into your relationships with young people is? What's Marquise got that a lot of other people don't have? What do you got that is just magic with young people?

Marquise Bowie 

I got the experience to see myself in some of them as a, as a youngster that really had nobody kind of investing in them. And then I get to see, and I get to tell them what the alternative is like. If you don't want to finish school and you want to be a knucklehead and not listen to nobody, you're gonna go in prison, and you're gonna listen to everything that they say, you're gonna do the worst jobs that you could imagine, and pretty much do it for free. So, it's alright to go work at the Family Dollar, or White Castle or McDonald's and make a couple $100 up to 1000s of dollars versus going in to prison and working in the chow hall and only getting paid 12 cents an hour. And it's almost like modern day slavery. In reality, that's what it is. I became a chairside dental assistant in there and the most I made was like 60 bucks. And just think if I'd have took that energy before all of my criminality and went to school and did it out here, I probably would be making $40,000 a year or upwards. But in prison, I was making $50 a month, and that's roughly $600 a year. And in reality, they're getting paid $30,000 a year for housing me in prison. So, it's almost like they're really wasting money. Because I could, if they did, if they'd have put that towards my education outside and, you know, helped me find my path in life. You know, I would have, I think I would have done better out here than I was in there because when I went to prison, I didn't get in any infractions or whatsoever. I was like the quote unquote, model prisoner. And you know, a lot of brothers used to come to me and asked me to pray for them. A lot of people were wondering, like what was I in prison for, I'm like, I wasn't always like this. But it came with, you know, just humbling myself and really trying to figure out, what am I going to do going outside of prison? Because every, most of the people are going to get out. What are you going to do when you go out? Because you're going in the same environment, you're going to the same family. What are you going to do different that will keep you out of prison? And I found my niche.

Paul Meunier 

You did. And I can't help but think, Marquise, like, if there would have been people like you when you were younger you could have avoided that whole thing, I believe. Because I think at the core of you is a decent, human, community-based, loving person. And it seems like it's such a shame, because it seems like society is so willing to just let so many people fall through the cracks like that. And what a waste of human talent. What a waste of passion that you now have. I have one more question for you. And then we have to wrap it up already believe it or not, this time has gone by so fast. We learn from young people all the time. What are young people teaching you about yourself?

Marquise Bowie 

What are young people teaching me about myself today? That it's okay to not be okay. And just knowing that a lot of people look at people like youngsters, for instance, and myself, like what's wrong with them versus like what happened to them. And I'm just glad that I don't look like what I went through. A lot of people come out of my situations bitter, angry, mad at the world, mad at the system. But that's wasted energy. And I read a quote, one time, I think it was by Martin Luther King, that's like you're drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. And that's what happens when you get bitter and mad at everybody. They went on with their lives but yet you're one holding on to the anger and madness. And, you know, that type of stuff causes ulcers and cancers. So, let it go. Yeah, move forward.

Paul Meunier 

It's been a pleasure to get to know you. I am in awe of your commitment to our young people and working with the young people that maybe need the help the most. You have a tough challenge in front of you. But you seem like the very person that is up for the challenge. And I promise you, you are going to be changing lives of young people for many years to come. So, thank you for all you've done and using your life experience, the trauma that you went through, you're turning it back into something positive for your community, and you're doing it out of love for our young people. And anybody who does that is a champion in my eyes. So, thank you for the work you do and thank you, Marquise, for being a guest on the podcast.

Marquise Bowie 

Thanks for having me, Paul. Transforming street energy into community energy is I'm a specialist. I got a master's in disasters.

Paul Meunier 

You do.

Marquise Bowie 

Thank you.

Paul Meunier 

Marquise, before we go we always give the guests the last word. What words of inspiration or wisdom would you like to share with the listeners?

Marquise Bowie 

Seek to understand versus being understood. Of course, everybody wants to have their point of view heard, but take the time to actually listen to somebody and see where you can help them versus you always trying to be the one that wants help. Seek to understand versus being understood. And Agape Movement transforming street energy into community energy. Thank you.

Paul Meunier 

If you would like to share your passion for youth work, we'd love to spotlight you as a guest. If you have feedback about the show, please let us know. Just visit training.yipa.org, that's training.yipa.org and click on the podcast tab. This podcast is made possible in part due to a generous contribution from M Health Fairview. I'm your host, Paul Meunier. Thanks for listening to The Passionate Youth Worker.