Prior Crips Gang Member Adopted by God

“I was a menace to society. I just belonged where my community was at...of other broken boys.”

This “community” Boomer Bennett speaks of, was gang life. It gave him identity, purpose, and a family.

“I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, these are my people,’” recalled Boomer.

Boomer grew up on the rough streets of South Central L.A. The oldest of four boys, he was raised by a hardworking single mother who taught them right from wrong, and even took them to church on occasion. For Boomer, that just wasn’t enough.

“I was hurt that I didn’t have a dad. I was hurt that I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to be in a family with a mom, a father, and just the normal American dream. And I was hurt by that because I didn’t ask to be here. It’s not fair.”

So, Boomer took to the streets in search of father figures. At eleven years old, he found them in the infamous gang – the Crips.

“I needed to prove myself to a man, to a father figure. I needed to show that I can be a son, I am worthy of having a dad. Outside of being a gang member I was a poor, ugly black child. I was really humbled to be accepted. Those were my family. These guys don’t have dads; we all go to the same school. We all are dealing with the same crap at home. It just seemed like that’s where I’m supposed to be.” 

Anxious to please his new “homies,” Boomer began stealing for them and was arrested for the first time at twelve years old. He spent his teenage years in and out of detention centers for violent behavior and theft. There, he found something he didn’t elsewhere: respect.  

“I was lacking what society demanded for me to be successful. I was lacking a dad. I was lacking an education. All of that crap that I needed to be successful, to be an honest, contributing member of society, I couldn’t do that if I tried. However, this side of life – not only am I a contributor of this, I set the rules. I make the rules now. I’m loved. I’m liked.”

At eighteen, he longed to be with his family and even got an honest job. It didn’t last long.

"I came home and I told myself like, ‘All right! Let’s try the straight and narrow thing.’ I loved my mom, I loved my brothers, and I know they loved the crap out of me, but that’s not where I belong. I’m in too deep. I’m on a mission. Prison is my mission.”
  
Boomer would accomplish that mission. After only a few months, he returned to his gang where he headed up a robbery spree to finance their operations. A year later, at twenty years old, Boomer was arrested, found guilty for burglary and sentenced to sixteen years in California state prison.

“My mindset is, this is home. I consider jail freedom because I'm gonna go in there, and I’m going to be accepted by my community, all my homies in there.”

Once in prison, Boomer handled security and operations for his gang and rose through the ranks quickly.

“I’m not the top guy, but I’m up there. I’m with that circle and we’re making decisions and we’re making calls. I’m a god in my own mind; I’m my own God. And the more and more I move up the ladder, the more and more I’m worshipped.”

For five years, Boomer ruled, instigating fights and racial hatred with other gangs. Then, in the summer of 2009, Boomer made a request that had disastrous consequences.

“I go send some of my boys to go get me some water, and some Hispanics are over there getting water at the same time. Their cups happened to hit, and a riot broke out. All three Blacks die, one of the Hispanics died, and a whole lot of people were injured.”

The prison went into a sixteen-month lockdown. Full of hate and anger, Boomer started making weapons and plotting revenge. He says it was then someone spoke to him. He knew at once who it was.

"God asked me what was I doing. It was a voice of authority that made me stop. This is what God said to me, ‘You have not committed acts of violence against human beings, you’ve committed acts of violence against me because every human being bears my image.’ From that conversation with God, I knew I wasn’t God.”

There was more….

"I had to come to grips with, ‘You were implicit in it. You carried along this whole charade of races against race.’ I couldn’t deny the reality that because I instigated this racial hate, these guys are dead. That’s for the first time in my life I couldn’t justify violence against another human being. And that broke me. I know their reality. I took that. That’s serious. That’s serious. The context of everything that I thought was right and wrong changed in that cell. And during that lockdown, I sat on my bed and God took me through my life, every act of violence that I committed, everything I stole, every lie I told. I didn’t even know a lot about Jesus, but I knew that the lifestyle I was living was trash in the eyes of God," Boomer said. "I told my roommate, I’m like, ‘Bro, I’m out.’ He said, 'You’re out of what?' ‘I’m done.’”

Boomer left his gang and over the next two years, studied the Bible and attended chapel to learn more about how to live for Jesus. In 2012, while still serving time, he cofounded Jesus Followr University, a non-profit organization that teaches others how to follow Christ. Then, in 2016, he was released and went on to become a pastor and speaker. Boomer is also a loving husband and an ever-present father to four beautiful children. He looks to his relationship with God to lead them well.

“God became my father in that cell. That’s the foundation of my life: that I was adopted by God. In this life, I can be exactly who God created me to be.”