LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Would it be possible for someone with an abused childhood, from various foster homes with no real love or support, to end up helping others?
Could a person once controlled, addicted and subjected to crack cocaine and homeless on skid row, make a miraculous recovery and become a respected and successful member of society? Is such a transformation possible?
Would it be possible for such an individual to completely jump out of such a self-destructive path, with no foreseeable way to get out of the depths of despair he found himself in?
For Ron Roberson, the answer to all these questions is an amazing "yes."
Ron Roberson is today a picture of success. He is a news anchor for CNN Headline Local News, has his own production company, and is a Christian Minister of God with his own congregation in the city of Montebello.
Roberson came from a most humble and tortured beginning. Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, he lacked a loving atmosphere at home during his childhood. What he received instead was an environment of fear and abuse from an alcoholic father who tortured him.
Roberson ran away at the age of 13 and then quickly became a victim of the Foster Care System and was always longing for the "family" that he never had.
In searching through religions, he became a Black Panther, Black Muslim, Black Nationalist, Buddhist, crack addict, thief, and finally a completely lost and homeless person on skid row where he went to die.
"This is where I found the true and living God, as I was prepared to jump from the seventh floor window of the Frontier Hotel. God spoke to me and said, "You've tried everything, now try me." Today, God has given Roberson a burden for the hurting, the homeless, the hungry and youth.
Roberson's immediate family today consists of a very supportive wife Earline "Tina" and daughter, Kezyah. Roberson has done work at Mission Church on Skid Row at the Union Rescue Mission. He is also a facilitator to a substance abuse and recovery program through Free-N-One.
Roberson is the producer and director for Miracle Productions. With Miracle Productions he has worked with some of the top names in show business such as Whoopie Goldberg, Johnny Brown, Isaac Hayes, Chaka Chan, Ray Charles, and many more.
He has produced and directed several award winning commercials, documentaries and short stories. In the field of sports, Ron has interviewed some of the top athletes in the country. They include baseball great, Eric Davis; boxers Oscar De la Hoya, Paul Gonzales and Ken Norton; football stars Lester Hayes, Willie Gault and Tony Dorsett.
Roberson is a motivational speaker, educator and the Southern California spokesperson for Comcast. One of his greatest successes is the AT&T Cub Reporter Program, where youngsters as well as adults are taught the phases of television production. Many of his students have gone on to take positions at cable companies, local networks and private productions.
He has also produced many television production workshops throughout the Los Angeles Area including the Union Rescue Mission, the Los Angeles County Probation Department and many church organizations.
ET: You said that you were a victim of the Foster Care System.
RR: Yes, now when I left, I ran away from home, and when I ran away, I was placed in Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall. My parents were actually coming to get me out after they decided it was time to release me, but I refused to go home. I had it good there, was playing ball, had a place to stay, had friends and so I refused to come out.
When I finally did come out about a year later, they placed me in a foster home, but I never could find a foster home that really was a home and neither was I really ever fostered. They would label what I could eat in the refrigerator and what I could not eat.
Of course, they were eating a little higher on the hog than I was and I had to eat pretty much like oatmeal and that kind of stuff. I would have to get up late at night after everyone had gone to bed and I would actually eat some of the scrapings and things they would have left over. There was never any real love, affection or any sense of home. So I think I went through about four or five foster homes until my last one where I was able to find some type of love and family and where I graduated from high school in Compton.
ET: You were a member of the Black Panther Party and you liked the fact that you had a feeling of family.
RR: Yes. Absolutely. Now that I do understand, and understood even at that time. I used to find families and friends. My friend's mom would be my mom, and you could only go so far with that as it would only be a temporary thing Then reality would set in, this is not really your mother or family, so who are you?
You don't really have anybody. So I constantly went through the Black Panther Party in Compton, just to find some folks that I could belong to and to have some sense of family and friends that I could really call my own, and they seemed to embrace me.
The same thing with the Muslims. I was a Black Panther with the Black Panther party, I was a Muslim, Brother Ronald 14X.
I was in synchronized breathing, transcendental meditation, just a lot of different things to find me and my worth. Once I had that 12 gauge in my hand and the respect of all of those that knew I had it, for a moment there I felt like somebody.
ET: What's your opinion of the Black Panther Party today?
RR: Oh, it's a farce. One of the things, and it happened to me early, that is why I did not stay with them long. When I joined the Black Panther Party, at least the Compton chapter, was a place where kids could come and enjoy the after school program, they had the hot lunch and breakfast in the morning and that kind of stuff. That's what I knew them to be, and they gave me a 12-gauge shotgun over at Stockwell and Orambi one night and told me to get up in a tree.
They were moving some arms somewhere and if the Sheriff or anybody were to come by, my job was to let them know. Man it must have been about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, and I am up in that tree, and it just dawned on me, I am up in the tree with a shotgun, and I am supposed to let them know when the Sheriff is coming.
What's going to happen to this tree when the Sheriff sees me? There wouldn't be a leaf left on the tree. So I felt I was more like a sacrifice than a home thing, plus I was not into violence and even as a Black Muslim I was not into racial hatred, because I had lived with so many different types of people.
Once again I was willing to do some things and accept some things just for the sake of family. But in a short period of time I was able to find out what they were really about. And when they were harassing Panthers wherever they went, it did not take me long to get out.
In Part II Roberson discusses life with drugs on skid row and his experiences in Mexico.
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