Born Captive, Made Free

By Carl L. Route Jr.

This book is about a male’s transition from boyhood, manhood to fatherhood in the midst of navigating a troubled past filled with demons he has to contend with while leading a family. After being labelled a convicted felon for past indiscretions he decides to follow that course of criminality for a short period but something happens to change his mind and eventually his entire life, he finds God. Finding God while seeking truth was a life-changing experience for him so he decides to carry the message to all who would hear him, leading him down the road to a very unique but impactful journey towards teaching and training other males about responsible boyhood, manhood and fatherhood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664247321

Carl L. Route Jr.

Carl is currently a Community Transformer and Wisdom Council member at Reaching Our Brothers Everywhere (ROBE) since 2019. Graduate of Morehouse School of Medicine’s Satcher Leadership Institute’s Community Health Leadership Program 2020. Community Activist, Criminal Justice Reformer, Responsible Fatherhood Advocate/Ally/Author (1991 – present), a volunteer with Georgia Department of Corrections and Georgia Department of Community Supervision as an I Choose Mentoring Support Mentor, Certified Healing Communities Station of Hope and Community Stakeholder/Partner with Georgia Prisoner Reentry Initiative and member of former President Barack Obama’s initiative, My Brother’s Keeper Task Force.

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Copyright © 2021 CARL L. ROUTE, JR.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher

make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book

and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Cover design by Carl L. Route, Jr. & Custo-Minz Publications

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982

by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4733-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4732-1 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date:  11/30/2021

I would like to hear from you. Please send your comments

about this book to [e-mail]. Thank you

CONTENTS

Introduction

Preface

Acknowledgements

PART ONE

Chapter 1     Growing Up - Skipper

Chapter 2     Adolescence - Smelling Myself

Chapter 3     Back to the World – I Thought

Chapter 4     Coming to Atlanta – A Huge Step!

PART TWO

Chapter 5     Systemic, Societal, and Institutional Barriers - Focus on Georgia

Chapter 6     Let’s Talk – For Real Though!

Chapter 7     Jail House Ministries – Preachers, Lawyers, Etc. Just A Desire to Give Back or Visions for When I Get Out!

Chapter 8     Developing the Spiritual Man/Self – None Are Perfect, All Were Given Gifts

Bibliography

About the Author

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INTRODUCTION

This is a guide for those who have been imprisoned by others, institutions, systems, and even themselves. Like those who accuse the man, them, or they, of holding them back by using a system of oppression which has been likened to the enslavement of the children of Israel of the Bible days. For those today, in the 21st Century in the United States of America, Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) communities of protesters who have been living without much of a chance of achieving social justice or upward mobility under the rule of the now exposed systemic racism imposed under a white supremacy ideology, who have endured up until now. The world-wide Pandemic of COVID-19 has been a catalyst toward fearless dialogue about race, social determinants of health and vulnerable populations which appears to be somewhat of a liberating experience for many who have just been going along for the benefits. Also for the many parents who have been held hostage by their own children who accuse them of all kinds of unimaginable forms of neglect and abuse in order to justify their misbehavior or just to excuse themselves for the failures in their own lives. Our vices (substance abuse, sex, gambling, the love of money and power, etc.) are vehicles we use as well to cause ourselves to become entrapped in what can appear to be inescapable webs of containment. As it is written in a well-known verse of scripture from the Open Bible-King James Version (John 8:32), And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. There is a difference between being made free and being set free. For instance, after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by the American President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865, many enslaved Africans were legally freed from the legal institution of slavery but the ones who had benefited from their enslavement felt it necessary to devise a system which would keep those freedmen in a position which would continually benefit them so they created slave codes, laws and policies that would inevitably lead the freedmen back into captivity. One can be set free only to find oneself captive again without the proper tools and/or training, but when one has been made free they cannot be held captive any longer. One freedom empowers an individual to remain free never to be imprisoned again while the other only provides temporary release.

Follow one man’s journey from a societal and systematic-imposed imprisonment on to a self-imposed one, to ultimately being made free after seeking, learning and applying many truths.

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PREFACE

Carl, really believes that what is good for people is good for all people. As an Earthling, Human Being and Global Citizen, all persons are entitled to certain unalienable rights which should be protected by those in power. The forty-fifth President of the United States (POTUS), left the office in literal shambles after what many accuse him of, inciting an insurrection and storming of the Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C., on January 6th, 2021. He had declared the 2020 Presidential election results fraudulent and asked his supporters to fight like hades to take their country back. Those who were afforded and afforded him an opportunity to succeed by any means necessary while living in a racially divided and segregated America did exactly as he asked. After managing to straighten out much of the wreckage of his past, Carl, believes that had he been given the same opportunities as a 44 or a 45 or any of his white counterparts he would have already set benchmarks much higher than just becoming the so called