Drama depicts how ghosts of victims haunt inmate
NBTHS assembly drives home dangers of gang membership
BY JENNIFER AMATO Staff Writer
What would it be like if you knew you had one hour to live? That is the exact question students at North Brunswick Township High School were asked Jan. 13 during the gang-prevention assembly "One Hour 2 Live," performed by the Soul of DAWN Performing Arts Troupe of New York City.

JEFF GRANIT staff Mikaela Corbo (right) portrays the spirit of Krystal X, a girl who was murdered by Kashawn Davis, played by Jason Barkley (kneeling) during "One Hour 2 Live," a gang-prevention assembly performed by the Soul of DAWN Performing Arts Troupe at the North Brunswick Township High School Jan. 13.

Sponsored by the North Brunswick Municipal Alliance Committee and presented by the township Board of Education, the North Brunswick Police Department and Bishop Calvin Enlow of New Destiny Family Worship Center, the presentation focused on Kashawn Davis, a 21-year-old gang member on death row for murdering three people. The fictional dramatic presentation shows how the spirits of the deceased haunt him during his last hour alive.

"Most gang members devalue life. The one reason they're able to kill is because they can dehumanize a person and devalue life," said the Rev. Princeton Holt, pastor of DAWN Christian Fellowship and CEO of DAWN Ministries in Brooklyn, who wrote the play.

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff The characater Kashawn Davis center, attends to Krystal X, played by Mikaela Corbo, whom he shot during a gang-initiation murder during "One Hour 2 Live." The spirits of his two other victims, Jason, played by Franco Bulaon, and Tisha, played by Nyla Zaare, look on.

With the pervading message that "murder impacts the universe" and that "you cannot take someone else's life without taking your own," the actors portrayed the immediate and far-reaching results of Davis' actions. As the minister comes to deliver Davis' last rites, Davis begins evaluating why his life progressed the way it did.

Intermingled are the first-person accounts of the people whose lives Davis claimed. Jason Miller, Tisha Franklin and Krystal X all tell Davis about their experiences. Miller says they were friends in the neighborhood, playing ball together, and Franklin says that Miller used to like her.

Gang member Kashawn Davis, played by Jason Barkley, center, is haunted by the spirits of the people he murdered. The gang-prevention drama "One Hour 2 Live" was presented at North Brunswick Township High School Jan. 13.

Yet Davis' first reaction is, "Everybody's gotta die. Why should I care? Nobody cared about me. Why should I care about you?"

He said the feeling of a gun "makes me feel alive" because everyone becomes afraid and shows the aggressor respect.

However, after hearing the story of Krystal X, things begin to change a little. Krystal recounted how the night before her murder, Davis' brother told him that this was the day to prove himself as a man. The next day, Davis' brother parked his car and Davis waited to shoot his new gun, waiting to find a stranger to shoot for gang initiation.

When a teenager came into view, who was "strong," "charming" and "elegant," Davis heard his heart beating, felt his hand shaking and held his breath.

He "made his face into a mask to mask his face" and finally hit Krystal in the back of the neck with his third gunshot as she turned to run away.

Although Davis looked the girl in the eyes, wishing she didn't die, Davis' brother looked at him like a man.

"What went wrong for me to end up here?" Davis questioned aloud at the memory of his first killing. "I wanted to see blood, I wanted to kill, I got a rush when I saw it in the newspaper the next day. I got caught up in the hype."

The minister reminded him that neither his brother nor his friends were there for him now, while he was awaiting execution, despite Davis initially joining the gang to find companionship and respect.

Davis then goes on to tell why he had this need for companionship and respect from others — his father was killed in a drug deal gone bad, his brother was 15 when he got arrested and his mother got a new boyfriend who abused her. Davis said he was "angry inside" and "I lashed out at everybody."

"Everybody became the target of my anger," he said.

He said becoming aggressive in school made him "feel powerful" for the first time.

"I didn't feel like the dirt my mom thought I was."

The persona of Krystal X then reappears, telling Davis that she is the daughter he never had, because he was placed behind bars instead of having the ability to lead a normal, productive life. She said that by killing others he destroyed their futures, as well as his own.

"Murder has a domino effect with universal consequences," the narrator said, as Davis concluded, "If I would've known in the beginning what I know now, I would have made different choices."

For more information, visit www.dawnministries. net or www.myspace.com/soulofdawntroupe.