Harsh.TV Hotspot Features Cedric Dean

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Cedric Dean, Author, Educator, Activist & Founder of Safeguard Atone Validate Educate (SAVE) Programs

Tells the Story of the Criminal Life...Told from Behind a Prison Wall

For the Love of the Streets is Dean's cautionary tale of the old adage, crime doesn't pay!

For the Love of the Streets, is a coming of age story of a thirteen year old boy who turns away from a walk of righteousness to a path to lawlessness. On a real road to self destruction by terrorizing the streets of Charlotte, NC this story can only be told by one with intimate knowledge of the streets. Cedric Dean weaves a tale that keeps you turning the pages to get a close and personal look at the gritty underbelly of society’s criminal element. For the Love of the Streets is a cautionary tale of the old adage, crime doesn't pay.

Semi-autobiographical, Cedric Dean is Dedrick Reid, the misguided boy. He lives with his 31 year-old single Christian mom in an urban middle-class neighborhood. His mom, Annie Mae, wants to keep him in the church. Dedrick makes decent grades in school but chooses the wrong friend, Marvin Mason, a fourteen year-old delinquent. The two connect with a certified teenage gangster, Timbo, who starts them off on a deadly crime spree consisting of robbing drug dealers, traffickers and kingpins…they are on their way to winning respect, money and money…or so they think.

The book strikes a nerve right at the beginning, as it unveils a senseless shooting in an occupied dwelling of children. Through the pages of For the Love of the Streets we see how the lives of many are forever changed because of the crimes of these three hoods including the death of a beloved friend and the heart break of law abiding citizens. The book ends with a simulation of what actually happened to Dean when he was sentenced to fourteen years in prison as a juvenile. But sinners are not pardoned on the basis of the troubled childhood they endured. Dean wants readers to identify with his childhood because of the risks he has taken and the excruciating experiences he has survived during the long years of his journey from American Gangster to American Leader.

The implied subtext of this book is that his characters and millions more at risk youth, are willing to undergo unimaginable danger and hardship to live in the streets instead of their homes. But the book never brings that notion to the surface, and indeed is not explicitly political in any way. It is a story by a reformed criminal whose faith in God, willingness to change and strength to endure and overcome barriers and unusual odds that can be a blueprint for those on the wrong path.

When Cedric Dean began his career as a writer it was behind the walls of a 8x12 cell. Seven years into his second prison term, Dean was placed in a Special Housing Unit, where he was confined in a cell for 23 hours a day. With a lot of free time on his hands, he read an urban novel entitled: "B-More-Careful" by Shannon Holmes, who had also served time in prison. He enjoyed the book so much that, upon completion of reading it, he started writing a tale of his own (For the Love of the Streets). "Mine is the tale of someone whose faith in God, willingness to change, strength, and infatuation to overcome barriers, impediments, and unusual odds can be a blueprint for anyone on the path of death and self-destruction," Dean wrote in his book "How to Save Our Children From Crime, Drugs and Violence," a self-help book published in 2010.

Renouncing the "thug" life Cedric has dedicate his life to saving at risk youth from making the same mistakes he made that led him to a Federal prison. Cedric Lamonte Dean is best known for writing the parental self help books "How to Save Our Children from Crime, Drugs and Violence" and "How to Stop Your Children from Going to Prison" (a book that has been used in Federal Bureau of Prisons' adult continuing education & parenting classes) and Leaders Breed Leaders and accompanying youth work books. Dean is also the founder of SAVE (Safeguard Atone Validate Educate), which is a national prisoner led movement dedicated to preventing lawlessness and building character in misguided minds and Save a Child Month.

“To Reach an At Risk Child You Have to Send in Someone Who
Lusted for The Life, Lived The Life & Left the Life…

That's Where Someone like Cedric Dean Steps In”

Your support is needed to assist SAVE's mission of helping at risk youth and incarcerated inmates change their lives around through the

Save Atone Validate Educate (SAVE) Programs

ALL proceeds from the sale of the book will go to implementing SAVE Programs

For the Love of the Streets can be purchased at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Streets-Cedric-Dean/dp/1440415633/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319119756&sr=1-1

For More information on For the Love of the Streets or its author, Cedric Dean Contact
lynkpr@gmail.com or visit www.aboutsave.org