When Knights Ruled the North: Taking Life Back from the Streets of Merk City

By Richard O. Weeks Jr.

This book is just the beginning it is based on a time when I used my life experiences to help a young man try to avoid making some of the life altering mistakes that I’d made. It’s the first of a series of books that will cover some of the lessons I’ve learned and taught. Real life experiences everything from bulling and gangbanging to drug dealing and stripping. From prison and hauntings to calling on God to deliver me from it all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669860518

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Copyright © 2023 by Richard O. Weeks Jr..

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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.

Rev. date: 12/22/2022

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CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

They say that our surroundings and the things we experience as youth in life, shapes us into the people we become as we reach adulthood. This statement is very true, but it’s the choices that we make and how we deal with the repercussions of those choices that define our very character. It guides us to and through the lessons and tests that has been written among the stars. The first key to life is to recognize that there is a balance that must be maintained. Second is to understand that of all the fortune we have coming to us in life there is an equal amount of misfortune that comes along with it. Maintaining the balance between the two is simply being aware of the possibility of the bad when all is good. Then finding and embracing something good when everything looks bad and seem to be failing this will help you to keep your sanity. It’s unfortunate that it takes most of one’s life to figure it out and some people never grasp that concept. But if we can take heed to these two phrases; make the most of what you have and put a little back for a rainy day. Then we will have taken a very big step in the right direction.

Life has taught me that even the simple blade of grass has its purpose, but we can’t expect that blade of grass to provide shade like a tree would. All too often we seek something of some form to fill a purpose that it is incapable of providing. Then we find ourselves upset with the world when we’ve chosen the wrong person or thing to fill a purpose that it is incapable of fulfilling in our lives. Everyone has lessons they must learn and tests of faith they must take according to the paths they choose to walk in life. When the path chosen seems to be too strenuous maybe we’ve looked pass the obvious and are trying to take the test before the lesson was ever learned. Walking away or to give up on the task should it be learning or teaching a lesson, maybe giving or taking a test only prolongs destiny. In instances like this we should reevaluate how we go about handling the situation, because there are times in life when we think we understand and really don’t have a clue. Thinking that we’re making the right choices when in reality each move takes us further away from where we need to be even if it seems closer to where we want to be.

The name Merk city is a nickname for a small city in the state of South Carolina called Sumter. Although Sumter isn’t a huge metropolitan city like Chicago Illinois, Brooklyn New York or even Atlanta Georgia and even though it may not have all of the positive opportunities as the bigger cities it still managed to have all of the negative ones. To make things worse life in the south is a totally different world from that of life in the north. What I mean is that most of the old confederate states operate more on the good ole boy system more so than one of equality. This means opportunities, both good and bad come mostly from who you are and who you know more frequent than what you know and what you can do. This, like everything else in life has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. The largest amount of both comes from the southern hand washing system, people that know people that know people to get anything done that they need or want done. The thing about it is you never know who owes who favors or when or where someone may call in repayment on one.

This is all noted for the reader to understand that everyone have issues that they deal with daily. Some people just have learned how to maneuver through their struggles quietly in a way that they don’t attract too much public attention, so not only will this story keep you wondering what’s next, but it will allow the people dealing with similar situations have something to relate to. It will also help the people that have never dealt with situations like the ones in the story get an understanding that they are around people every day that deal with very serious life changing issues daily.

CHAPTER ONE

I’m driving down the highway 15 South one Sunday evening headed back towards town. I had just gotten off work and was headed home when my phone rang. Hello, I answered, it was Sarah, she wanted me to come by and talk to her son, my godson Shannon. Sarah is a longtime friend a single mother of five young adults. The baby of the five is my godson Shannon, he’s got some issues and talking of suicidal intentions. He has two older brothers in fact they’re the eldest of the five, but Shannon doesn’t have the same father as the other four and they kind of blame him for their parents break up. When we spoke on the phone; he told me that Indiana was bad but here is worse, and he just didn’t want to live anymore. I told them that I would come to talk to him in a couple of days. On that Tuesday I went and got Shannon and took him with me to the dirt.

Now the dirt as I call it is my quiet place it’s here that I come to deal with my frustrations. It has a fully stocked fishing pond; deer stand and my personal training ground. My little workshop is also there, for the times when I feel like tinkering. Its three and a half acres partially wooded just a calming place perfect for the purpose that I use it for.

Once we arrived at the dirt, I opened the shop while Shannon unloaded the fishing poles and bait from the truck. We sat out by the pond and began to fish not only is Shannon my godson he’s also a martial arts student of mine so when I say that I know him I mean just that. After about a half hour of quietly sitting I just asked him, so what’s on your mind? He quickly replied I just don’t want to live anymore, and the tears started to stream down the sides of his face. In this moment I felt something run through me, for a spell I felt his pain. He proceeded to explain that his sons’ mother wouldn’t let him see his child because he wouldn’t leave his girlfriend; you see they were best friends at onetime that is his girlfriend and his son’s mother. They got caught up in the dangerous game of swinging and slept with each other’s boyfriend. She got pregnant and her boyfriend left after finding out that the child wasn’t his, meanwhile Shannon and his girlfriend stayed together. Now Shannon and his sons’ mother have this disagreement. The boyfriend and Shannon aren’t speaking now, and they owe money to one of the local street gangs and wanted to know if I could help in anyway. By this time my son Richard pulled up he came over I told him that he was right on time. They both looked at me as I smiled, then I said I’ll help you, but you are men. As babies I’d fight for you because you couldn’t fight for yourself. As toddlers, I taught you the difference between right and wrong as well as when to and not to fight. In adolescence I began to teach you how to fight so that you can defend yourself. As a teen I’d fight with you because you didn’t know any better and you wanted to test your fighting skill. Now as adults my job is to stand back watch and guide you through your fight. Richard and Shannon both laughed and said you just don’t understand they’re killing people in these Merk City streets. Oh, I know I replied as I turned to Shannon and asked don’t you remember how I met the palmers up the road. Shannon started laughing; Richard just looked at us because he was unaware of what took place.

When the palmers first moved to the neighborhood form Florence, they like most teens these days were trying to be the gangsters that the media and music is brain washing them to be. There were four brothers, a sister and a cousin intelligent but misguided. Not knowing they had just moved a few houses down from someone that has lived the life that they were trying to emulate for longer than most of them had been alive. They would walk up and down the road every day after school smoking, drinking and looking for something to get into. One day they passed the dirt while Shannon and I were practicing martial arts the next day on the school bus they asked Shannon several questions about me. After not getting the answers, they wanted they told Shannon to ask karate man if he could catch a bullet. When he told me about it, I told him that actions like that he should avoided when he asked why I said he’d see later. The very next day while practicing the palmers came and stood at the fence where we were, I knew they would do this, so I told my students go to the pond while Shannon and I saw what they wanted. As we walked up one of them said Hey karate man can you catch a bullet? I replied do you know me? When he said no, I told him, people say that what you don’t know can’t hurt you. Well, my first lesson to you is to show you that the saying is a lie. Because not only can I catch a bullet I can throw them too, as I threw a handful of AK-47 bullets at their feet. Just that simple there could be six dead bodies at my fence, choose to be wise not stupid, now go live your life I told them before turning and walking away. Two days later they came by and asked to be students of mine and since that day we’ve grown very close.

Richard asked why I was never told about that until now. Everyone learns of things when it’s their time to learn. There are no such things as coincidence; you came at the same time that Shannon needed guidance, so it is apparent that you need to hear this lesson as well. Because I have the two of you here and we are talking about how dangerous the streets have become since the nickname Merk City. Well, I’m here to tell you that there was just as much or more killing, crime and corruption in Sumter before it adopted the name Merc City. I don’t want to see either of you make the same mistakes in life that I’ve made. You see the difference between then and now is then the way things were done so that you could at least try to get away with it. Now everyone is trying to make a name of being thugs and serving time in jail and it’s not just the young men. The women don’t want to be treated like ladies anymore, they want to be called bitches and be treated like whores. The world that was once built on love is now being rebuilt on fear. I’m telling you this because we need to change our decision making to those that will instill love in people’s hearts. Not fear like in my day. There were always gangs around Sumter at least one per side of town these were the days when knights ruled north main. Most of the gangs started out as dance crews because break dancing was still popular back then.

One evening we were walking back to the circle from Shamrock apartments they had a dance battle between the Electric body breakers and the Party crash crew. It was my homeboy Clyde, my two brothers Frank and Mark and me. We had just turned-on Vining Street when a car pulled up it was AJ and Jake they called out to me Rowe ! Yeah, what’s up I replied, come on and ride on the block with us. I hopped in the car Clyde also got in; we drove off while Frank and Mark went down in the circle. When we got on the block we went in and started to shoot a game of pool. After about an hour Reggie Black came in, Snatcher he said to me black attack I replied he said we’ve got business lets ride. Snatcher is the street nickname everyone knows me by. Reggie Black is one of the big go- between guys; remember everyone knows someone that knows someone. AJ and I got in the car with Reggie; he said there were some people he wanted us to meet. We went to Columbia and there AJ and I met Peter and Mr. Wright. Peter like Reggie worked for Mr. Wright, Peter owned one of the major car dealerships in Sumter. Mr. Wright owned a large real-estate agency in Greenville. Now I’m wondering why AJ and myself were invited to this meeting, AJ was a live wire that did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. I was always the one that everyone came and talked to, because I was a realest and tried to see things the way they were and not how people doctored things look. Although I was game to do whatever, I always tried to avoid hurting anyone.

Please to meet you guys’ Mr. Wright said. Reggie said that you guys helped him recover some product of mine that was stolen. He also told us you were loyal and trustworthy, so I wanted to thank you and offer a proposition. First let me say thank you for retrieving my belongings from Lake City, for a second I thought we would’ve had to take a loss on that one. That’s when things started to get clear; about a month prior Reggie’s cousin got robbed and shot in the back on Knight Street in Lake City. They didn’t kill him, but he couldn’t walk and although he wasn’t a Knight his brother was, and he was still from North Main or the North as I called it. Though all North Main stuck together and fought together there were only a few that were N. Main Knights. He told us where to go and who to see, so Reggie, AJ, Lue and I took a little trip to Lake City. Lue is AJ’s cousin he’s another loose cannon he did whatever and didn’t care who saw him do it. We parked our cars right outside of town, rented a car from one of the local drug heads so the plates wouldn’t lead to us. When we got to the spot, we knew they were inexperienced only two of them and they’re letting four strangers in the house with all their drugs and money. Soon as we got in the house, BANG! Lue shot one in the leg. You see we aren’t bullshitting so you better give it up because I’m not asking again. We left there with ten thousand dollars and an