A young Black man, a big dream and the Watts rec center that helped him out of the projects
LOS ANGELES — As a third-grader at Grape Street Elementary School in Watts, Marveon Mabon introduced himself thus: I'm going to be president of the United States.
He was a Black boy growing up poor in Imperial Courts — the fourth generation of his family to live in the public housing development.
One day, a teacher lingering in the hallway, after hearing the child talk about the White House — where Barack Obama then lived — gave what she thought was a reality check.
Aim lower, the teacher said.
"Somewhere like McDonald's or Taco Bell," Mabon recalled her saying.
He was crushed.
A few years later, at the Watts Empowerment Center, a gray cinder block recreation center in the middle of Imperial Courts, Mabon confided in Justin Mayo: He still wanted to be president.
Mayo, the center's executive director, took the child seriously. He sat with Mabon, and they wrote down the requirements for the job: Candidates must be 35 years old, a natural-born citizen, a resident of the U.S. for at least 14 years.
Mabon, now 20, said that conversation and his time at the
