Ice-T is about to donate his time to Texan kids in foster families and he'll be speaking from experience. The gangsta godfather lost both his mother and father to heart attacks by the time he was in seventh grade. If that's not brutal enough, T was then sent to live with his disinterested aunt in South Central Los Angeles -- a location that would prove to bring some powerful negative influences that populated the rapper's early singles."My aunt didn't really want me," he explained in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News. "She'd raised her kids. I came with the paperwork. I lived in a vacuum and I ended up connected to gangs, looking for belonging. We all look to be connected to somebody, be it through cliques, clubs or gangs."
Ice-T will address dozens of foster children at the Texas Foster Youth Conference on May 29. As for why he's a great speaker for the event, Ice pointed out that the youth is usually reluctant when listening to people like police officers or other authority figures. He brings the right mixture of authenticity and experience to get a much-needed positive message across.
"He was an orphan early on and he knows the issues our foster youth face," explained conference organizer Nancy Bonilla. "Because of his celebrity status, he brings recognition to the issues, and a big part of the conference is to bring awareness to the issues."
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