I realize I will always be the poster child for police brutality, but I can try to use that as a positive force for healing and restraint.

We wouldn't be as far along as a country if we didn't take on some of Martin Luther King's ways that he instilled in us.

I had to learn to forgive. I couldn't sleep at night. I got ulcers. I had to let go, to let God deal with it. No one wants to be mad in their own house. I didn't want to be angry my whole life. It takes so much energy out of you to be mean.

Obama, he wouldn't have been in office without what happened to me and a lot of black people before me. He would never have been in that situation, no doubt in my mind. He would get there eventually, but it would have been a lot longer. So I am glad for what I went through. It opened the doors for a lot of people.

As a black man, you run from the cops. It's different now, but back when I was coming up, you run.

As far as having peace within myself, the one way I can do that is forgiving the people who have done wrong to me. It causes more stress to build up anger. Peace is more productive.

I know and value what it means to wake up and be alive and to share my story. I'm so blessed to be here and to be able to talk about it.