Costel’s Reviews > Blue Rage, Black Redemption: A Memoir > Status Update
Costel
is on page 250 of 416
My life's soundtrack was P-Funk, music that was notable for the funkadelic phase of musical madness, drugs, sex, and urban violence. Popular funk artists like Bootsy Collins, the Ohio Players, Rick James, The Bar-Kays, and the greatest of all funksters, Parliament, reigned supreme in South Central Los Angeles.
— Mar 19, 2026 11:07AM
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Costel’s Previous Updates
Costel
is finished
On June 25, 2006, Shirley Neal and I traveled to South Africa to fulfill his first request. His ashes were released in a lake at Thokoza Park, located in Soweto, South Africa.
— Mar 19, 2026 02:09PM
Costel
is finished
During my last hours with Stan, he made two requests of me: he asked that I scatter his ashes in South Africa and that I continue his work to steer marginalized youth away from involvement with gangs, drugs, and incarceration.
— Mar 19, 2026 02:07PM
Costel
is on page 398 of 416
People who claim racism is nonexistent here, or anywhere in the United States, are in denial, or they live above the poverty radar. Racism is not an excuse, it's an obstructive reality.
— Mar 19, 2026 01:08PM
Costel
is on page 395 of 416
"Son," I told him, "just because we exist around madness does not mean we have to function like mad dogs."
— Mar 19, 2026 01:05PM
Costel
is on page 381 of 416
I am not the violent genetic misfit incapable of change that the courts, society, media, law enforcement, and prison administration believe I am. None of these people really know me. They only know of me.
— Mar 19, 2026 01:04PM
Costel
is on page 376 of 416
Peace and blessings to you, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. I'm grateful and proud to have met you.
— Mar 19, 2026 11:40AM
Costel
is on page 374 of 416
Winnie responded hotly, in her lilting accented English, "The death penalty should be terminated across the board, wherever it exists!"
— Mar 19, 2026 11:39AM
Costel
is on page 325 of 416
The more I read, the more I discovered the contradictions in myself and in the world I thought I knew.
— Mar 19, 2026 11:37AM
Costel
is on page 284 of 416
I never knew Raymond's ambitions, but in our small world, ambitions were rare, and mostly fantasy.
— Mar 19, 2026 11:36AM
Costel
is on page 198 of 416
My path was a path of ignorance. I learned nothing, gained nothing, and had nothing of worth to offer anyone. I was trying to counsel teenagers not much younger than I was, in age, in mentality, or behavior. I was no more prepared to be a counselor than I was to be president of the United States.
— Mar 19, 2026 10:59AM
