“I had been up for two to three days, drinking and smoking as much crack as I could,” recalls the Los Angeles native. “I had a five-week old baby, Scottie, and the baby’s mother, also a crack addict, walked out that weekend and never returned. Scottie would not stop crying and I began to fear that he was going to die.”
Holding the baby in his arms, he says, “I looked into his eyes, filled with tears and promised him I would never get high again. I apologized for tolerating his mother’s crack addiction during her pregnancy, collected my belongings and my beautiful baby boy, and headed for a life free of the burden of addiction, addicts, and social deviations.”
“I think what happened that day was a spiritual experience,” he says. “I don’t think it is just a coincidence that my turning point came on Easter Sunday.”
Estranged from his family, unemployed and unskilled, Scott called his mother. She had essentially disowned him years earlier after multiple attempts to help him get his life on track,. “My mother listened and then said that I could come home on the condition that I went through a rehabilitation program.” Scott joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and every day for months, he attended meetings and he always carried Scottie with him. It took three to four years before the urge for crack subsided, he admits, but he hasn’t touched drugs since that rock bottom day in April 1990.
Kicking his drug habit was just the first step to getting his life together. It would be a steep, uphill climb to create the kind of life and stability he wanted for his little boy. He needed employment, but with a criminal record, landing a job would prove a challenge. His father, a veterinarian, got him a job cleaning cages at an animal research facility. It was hard, unpleasant work, but it paid $25,000 and it was a start. His next opportunity crossed his path during an AA meeting. Someone from a local junior college football team invited him to come out and watch practice. While there, the coach asked him if he wanted to participate in practice the next day. Impressed by his physical size and abilities, the coach invited him to join the team as a fullback. Of course, that also meant he had to enroll in school.
He was 26 years old and starting community college. He took two to three classes each semester while working full-time. “For the first three years, all of my classes were remedial courses,” he says. In my first college English course, I was the only English-speaking person in the class.”
As it turns out, Scott was functionally illiterate. Introduced to drugs in the 5th grade, school had not been a priority. Now he had to make up for lost time.
Undeterred by his lack of college preparation, he was determined and says he thoroughly enjoyed education. “I was positive. I was in school! I had spent the last 10 years as an absolute loser. I felt great at this point. I had a three year old, I had been off of drugs for nearly three years. I was working and going to school.” Around this time, he also met and married his wife. A 19-year old student with two jobs, she was serious about creating a bright future. Together, they’ve done just that.
After five years, he earned an Associate of Arts degree with a 3.5 grade point average. He continued his education at California State University at Northridge. Despite a full-time work schedule, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies two years later, graduating with honors and a 3.9 grade point average. Scott didn’t stop there. He applied to several law schools and was accepted and offered a teaching assistantship at the University of Dayton. In 2000, he and his family, including his wife, four children and his wife’s grandmother, moved to Ohio. He graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law in 2003.
“I wouldn’t be where I am now without my wife,” he insists. When he finally made it to law school, she supported the family while Scott pursued his law degree. “It takes so much to go to law school that I simply would not have been able to do it if not for her. She worked and took care of seven people.”
Although he graduated from law school, his application to sit for the bar was twice denied because of a prior felony conviction during his crime and drug days. He enlisted the help of attorney David Greer and a committee appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court overwhelmingly approved for him to sit for the bar in 2004. He takes the bar exam this week and will have to await the results. If his determination and resolve of the last 15 years is any indication, Scott Washington has a great shot at realizing his dream.
Currently a staff attorney in the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in Dayton, Ohio, he also spends much of his time counseling young felons whose lives are strikingly similar to the life he left behind. His vision is to use his life experiences to have a positive impact on the African-American community. He speaks and motivates ex-offenders who are trying to transform their lives and offers five lessons that he gleaned from his own transformation:
By: will d
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