How a man who served on Rikers came to serve in the NY state Assembly
Eddie Gibbs killed someone when he was 17 years old.
In 1987, Gibbs, one of four siblings being raised by a single mom, was living in the James Weldon Johnson public housing complex. Like many young people growing up in East Harlem during the crack epidemic, he sold drugs. One day, as Gibbs tells it, his friend Otis Frazier tried to rob him, stabbing him in the knee.
“All kinds of things are going on in the back of your head, and the first thing you think about is, I want to live,” he said during a recent interview. “I want to get out of this situation.”
Gibbs went with his mom to the police precinct and turned himself in. He spent a year-and-a-half on Rikers Island, took a plea deal for manslaughter, and served another three years in state prison.
This month, Gibbs became the first formerly incarcerated state lawmaker to be elected to a full term in New York — and one of just a few nationwide. He was re-elected to represent East Harlem’s 68th district with nearly 80% of the vote, after first winning a special election earlier this year.
“I knew people wanted me to fail, so that was motivation for me,” he said. “Keep going. Stay straight.”
Read the full story on Gothamist.com.
