Q&A with major bunton

Q: You have quite a fascinating story. Let's start with this: how did you end up in LA, or eventually getting connected to Renew?

Major: I don't know where to begin. So I grew up in the city of Inglewood. This is where my family moved from Indianapolis. We came out here 35, 40 some years ago and I grew up in the small city of Inglewood, right down the street from the [stadium]. I had a great childhood at the beginning stage, but when I got out here, we struggled for a minute because we just didn't have the financial situation that could help us succeed. 

At that time, I started questioning myself. I started recognizing how we were different from other people on our streets and that we were poor. I noticed that we did have some of the stuff that the other kids had. And so I think at that time, I sort of felt indifference. I start to feel left out. And I think at that moment, I started questioning how I can try to find ways to meet the needs of my influencers, the kids I surround myself with. 

I got involved in crime at the age of 12, and it was endless.

I played on a baseball team and all my teammates had accessories, wristbands and I had none of those things. And so one day I was just walking through the mall and when I saw the wristbands, all I could think about was how it made me feel that I didn't have the wristbands.

Something came over me. I grabbed the wristbands. As I tried to walk out, they grabbed me and took me to jail. At the age of 12. I was terrified. Crying. I just didn't know what was going on. And that was the first time that I ran past law, and from that it just progressed. I was progressing from selling drugs – it was the 1980s and the "War on Drugs."

I got caught up in that war that most young black males and hispanics got caught up in. 

That pulled me in, because I noticed I was able to buy the things that my family couldn't afford and then that progressed. 

It became about territory. I was trying to protect my territory where I sold my stuff. That opened up the gang lifestyle, because now I was trying to protect where I make my money. We built this crew. Then that became a gang, and then we started fighting over territory and then that became the red and blue thing. 

From that point on, it progressed even more…I started wanting to carry guns or use drugs. And so all of these things started contributing to the person I was becoming. Right before my eyes, I realized that I was becoming this menace to society. And when I looked up, I was in and out of jail for drugs, guns, stealing cars, you name it. It was part of the culture. I really felt like it was more about this reputation or just acceptance that I was trying to receive from my peers, even with all those things that came with it.

And then at the age of 20, I committed an accidental murder. They sentenced me to 15 years to life at 20 years old. I went to prison and had the same mindset. I didn't look at what I did, how it affected the community, affected, you know, the family, their additional family, you know, all those things. I had no clue the impact, the ripple effect that spread because of that choice that I made that particular night. So I lived like that for probably about 24 years. 

Around 2011 is when I turned my life over to God, and it was tough. It was tough to do it because I had to re-imagine this whole new way of life in a new way of living in this new whole belief system of doing right and wrong. So I had to realize how to replace those things. "How do I replace all the things that I was doing in the past with God?

And so there was a struggle. There were times where I'd have good and then fall back to the bad, and I just continue to believe in my change. And I started to meet the right people, tried to contact the right people. People started to see my potential. I started to see my own potential. Then I started to value myself. I started to believe in myself. And then at that point, I was just fully engaged in change. 

And I would say the biggest test God put me through was in 2014 when I was in the SHU (the special housing unit). It [was] solitary confinement for two and a half years. And, you know, I had no books. I had nothing to read. My neighbor used to play this channel on TV called Jesus Christ TV. And I listened to the music and it was therapeutic music to me. And that was my way of connecting with God.

And I started to feel like He was showing me something. He was telling me something about where I was at and how it was supposed to live when I silence out of that situation. And then after my two years in that time, I got out and I just told myself that I was going to do everything in my power to stay on a course that God had provided for me, even when I didn't even realize it. And so I did. I stayed on course. 

I eventually met a guy named Sithy [Bin]. He was in charge of the guys who were engaged with church. And so I connected with Sithy, and Sithy will always keep me accountable to be there and show up and do all my work. And so I did that and it was definitely important to have someone who really believed in me. 

In 2017, I had to go before the board to show that I was no longer the same person. I owned up to everything. My lifestyle, the gang lifestyle, everything that I did, that one particular night, everything that contributed to my behavior. I gave them causative factors. I gave them every minute of my life from the point that I started making bad choices. 

And they came back two hours later and they said, "Mr. Bunton, you're no longer a threat to the community. Therefore, we find you suitable and you'll be going home in 90 days. "And I put my head down and was like, "man, unbelievable". And 90 days later, I was on. I came home March 5th, 2018. I've been home for four years. I got off parole last year. I finally got my passport. I haven't traveled yet. I'm still thinking about where I really want to go.

Once I came home, I wanted to give back to my community. And so I started a nonprofit called Inglewood Wrapping Arms Around the Community. And what we do is provide housing for our guys who are coming home [from prison]. Sithy went through my program. Some other guys in church went through my program.

We have housing for these guys to make that transition back into the community where they don't have to pay rent. What we find funders by them, they help them pay so they can get on their feet, get ahead. And then when they're ready, we find them permanent. Housing in the permanent housing pays their rent for a whole year to the able to really just merge back into the community. So the nonprofit and on top of that, I go back into the juvenile halls and I go back into the prisons now and I teach theater now. 

We teach a highly intensive and improv style theater. We use it to express basic emotions, sad, happy fear, anger, to play in these characters that we design. We realized that when these individuals start to play these characters, they really start to play themselves and start to realize these four basic emotions and how they can be fully in control of those emotions when they're in character. 

And we try to show them how to transfer that over to their real lives that they really have full control of those characters. So when you come home and they start to beat their face with these characters, I mean, we are faced with these emotions. They know how to fully deal with them. So that's the best lesson. That's it to sum it up in a nutshell, man. 

Q: First of all, thank you so much for opening up and sharing that. It's a really powerful story and testimony and a lot to unpack there. And I guess maybe I start with you mentioned that in 2011 you gave your life to God. Growing up, was church something you regularly attended or not until later in life?  

Major: I attended church. It was more "attended" church because I was probably 10 and I had a friend that I used to love to spend a night with. And his mom would say, "if you want to spend a night, you have to go to church on Sunday." So that's when I started to engage in the church because I started to like it when I was young. And the reason why I noticed I started liking it is because my friends were really engaged in church at that age.

When I was 17, I went to church for about a year. And that only took place because I was in a foster home. I did enjoy that there was some connection, but I didn't really understand the commitment, how powerful church can be. Like I told you, 2011 is when I started to really fall into this path with God. Before that, I lost myself. 

In 1995, I met this guy who was practicing satanism. He tried to share that with me, and because I was in his dark place. It just seemed to align with that. It seemed to align with this dark world I was living in and he told me about this here, and he just convinced me that, "hey, this is okay." I said "I'm living in this dark world. And this is the parallel to how I feel this anger that I can't describe or can't control. And I started practicing it, and it wasn't like a practice or weird chant. I just said "hey, this is what I believe in." That's just what it was. And I did that for 20 years, from 1994 to 2010. 

When I was in a program called AA, they started to talk about faith in God.

And here I am dealing with this dark world. I was hearing everyone constantly talk about their faith, and I wanted to change, but I didn't understand how to make that crossover.

And then one day I was just sitting there. I was hearing the power of God, and I was hearing the way He was moving in people's lives. And right there I looked back, I saw this dark person and I was like, "the hell with you, man." I just went straight forward. I started walking towards what God was providing for me right there. And that moment he just started opening up doors that I couldn't even imagine that He had power. That's when I decided to make that change.  

Q: Wow, that's wild. Out of curiosity, what was it about Jesus that really compelled you so much? What drew you to Him?

Major: There was a young lady I met when I was inside. We would talk on the phone and she would tell me about her faith, her walk, how long she'd been walking with God. And I think it was just the way she approached me with it. It wasn't forceful. It was this generosity of sharing what she experienced. 

That started to engage my thought process in wanting to look at this particular area of my life, the spiritual area that I wanted to look at. And at that point, I started to question myself. I think that was the most important thing that I started to question what it was that I really wanted. 

And she was really the pillar of that. She really initiated that with grace and generosity and her ask that was so generous. And I think that made me feel comfortable because I had people in the past [where] it just seemed so forceful or seemed so demanding. 

I remember the first time I prayed, she said, "would you mind praying for the kids?" when we'd come to see her kids. And I was terrified. I was so afraid. I was just like, "what do you say? I don't know."

She said "speak whatever's in your heart." Like, don't worry about how it comes out. Just imagine Him being right here in front of you and just share. Just do that in a prayer. And I was terrified.

So they called me for a visit. I went out there. She showed up with her step kid and her kids. 

I prayed and I felt  so good. And I was so grateful, man. I was like, "man, God is working in my life." 

I thought, "I've done so much wrong. Why are you choosing me to walk with you?

And as time went on, I started to realize that He said that there is something much bigger than you can realize right now that I have for you. It is a testimony to your walk and your love for Christ and God. Just all these things that He was teaching me. 

My commitment to the negative lifestyle was still entwined in me. I just needed to learn how to put it in a healthier place. When I make a commitment to something, I'm all in. I made that commitment to God. I knew right there and then that there was no back and forth. It wasn't going to be back and forth walking with Him. So I would say that was my my turning point.  

Q: You mentioned going through solitary and some of those like really tough moments. How did you find joy even in the midst of such hard moments? How did you find peace or feel or connect with God even in those tough moments? 

Major: I would say faith. I think my faith got stronger. I believe that God had taken me through several tests when I was there. You know, He puts things in front of me to see what I was capable of doing, what kind of choices I was going to make. And I realized that there was a struggle, but I realized also that God was present. He was present in my life at that moment. I couldn't tell you how, but I know that He had my back. He had me like "I got you, this is nothing right here." This is going to be a part of your lifestyle and your testimony that you're going to be able to share with people. 

I finally got my own TV after four months and then I would listen to Jesus Christ TV twice a day, and then I read the Bible as well. And then I would talk to other guys who were practicing the same walk because every, every four days they let you go to these kennels like, you know, dog kennels. They're like cages. 

And they allowed us to go in there for like an hour and a half, and you would see other people in these kennels. You just see someone you like, "Hey, how you doing?" And you know, we start a conversation and we realize that we're practicing the same faith. That opens up the door with sharing information and sharing books. "Hey, I got some books you might want to read, you know, on this or that, you know, pertaining to our faith" and we shared books with each other on that. 

God was really showing me that if I wanted to find freedom mentally, this was the way to go about it, and I really realized that He really helped me find freedom in that way. Because once I went into the war, it didn't matter what took place in there. I already knew that I was mentally free already. I said, "man, I won the battle." Like, I knew that I was mentally free, and all I knew was that my body was still present in those wars.

But the most important thing to me was the prison of my mind, and my belief system that had captured me all those years was no longer in shackling me anymore.

So I realized that God allowed me to take those shackles off. And I noticed this raw view of life in freedom and love and faith. People of different races. And it just opened up a door that I never could imagine. 

Q: That's really cool. It speaks to what the Bible talks about as far as being new creations. And I think it's cool that you're able to share that fellowship with those people, even if it was only for a limited amount of time. How have you been able to build community and continue that fellowship here at Renew?

Major: I was going to a church in San Bernardino. And then I was transferred down to L.A. My close friend Kevin (Waters) said, "we're looking at a church right now. Rosie (Marquez) [and I]." And we went. We went there for the second time. They asked "would you like to join us?" And I was like, "sure." 

Back in L.A., I had no church. I definitely wanted to find a church. And so I went with Kevin now, and I think the first thing that really grabbed me was the diversity that they had. That, to me, was really powerful. And then also the pastor, you know, his approach, how he teaches, how he shares the Bible, also his background and how he was brought into this place from [Virginia].

All that really made me feel comfortable. And then the more I went, the more I started to gravitate to the word the pastor, the fellowship that we were all receiving in that space. And, you know, I just felt comfortable and I felt no pressure to be there. I started showing up every Sunday. And so it's been about probably about a little over two years now that I've been going.

Q: What have you been involved with while at Renew? Are you part of a home group?

Major: Yeah I am. It's in Inglewood. That's our own group, and we actually do it here at my office. I felt that we weren't utilizing our space on Tuesdays. I said, "listen, you guys are always welcome here." And so we've been meeting here every Tuesday night doing our own series. So it's really been pretty cool. And a lot of the people in the whole group get a chance to come by and see the office and see what I do over here on this side of town. 

Q: That's super cool. It seems like in the home groups, it's like family. People really care about each other and listen to one another. And I was curious, what's the reception when you share your story, your testimony with your home group? How have they supported you or listened to you in that?  

Major: Great question. I really believe it's so important how we put the right people as facilitators that make people feel comfortable to open up and share. That space that we share for two hours is open to each and every last one of us that sits in that circle, and open to whatever it is that may be bothering us.

So what we're going through in life or how it's fine to still connect with God on a much higher level. You're able to hear that. You can feel the resistance sometimes for people who just don't want to share, but somehow they find a way to share. I'm really passionate when someone is fighting something inside, but somehow something makes them say, "I have to let go."

I'm so connected to that because of my past, and how I'm able to watch some of the strongest belief systems change because they had to look within themselves. I'm really connected to human behavior and how people are really willing or find the courage to take a leap of faith and question themselves and want to do something better for themselves and understand that it's OK to fail. 

Q: What your organization does sounds a lot like Jesus: caring for those who falls through the cracks or those society forgets about. Jesus was always pursuing those people. What is your mission?

Major: Our mission here is [being] an Inglewood Wrapping Arms Around the Community is [to be a resource center], that's what it is. We also have other partnerships. 

We have [a program called] Creative Acts. We go into the juvenile halls and we teach civic engagement as well as some theater. And we do that and we do that for all the campuses, all the juvenile halls and all the camps all through California. 

That's one program that is up under this umbrella of Inglewood Wrapping Arms Around the Community. Then we have Dream Live Hope led by Rosie and Kevin. 

They have 50 beds that they provide for our returning citizens, those who've been incarcerated or on their way home or who are home. And they go to our resource center and get acclimated to one of our programs. And then we have 40 beds. 

And we also serve the homeless. We serve anyone in need that are looking for housing. And then we can provide the funding for them because we have certain funding resources that we can tap into to get that individual funding. We bring them in, and then we connect them with our warm handoff programs and connections that we have. And we just continue to do the work and spread the work to the community. And also we do food drives every two weeks. You know, we can serve the community right here at our office. We have job referrals. We have a connection with the [new] Clipper Stadium. 

So any of our guys who look for work at any one of those locations, we have contacts at those two locations, we can give them some employment and get them ready to just really acclimate themselves back in the community.

My most exciting project, and this is really going to blow your mind is a virtual reality (VR) program as well. And what we do is we actually shoot content for VR. We shoot a concept or we shoot a scene and we upload into our VR headset and then we go into the prisons and we share with the guys inside. 

I was gone for 20 or 30 years [from society]. I had to experience [coming back to society] on my own without any help, like swiping a credit card or using a GPS system.

We're trying to get people to reimagine what reality looks like. So that's some of the problems that we have. We've shot a bunch of content in the last few weeks, and I'm so excited to go back in April to share this information and allow these guys to find hope and to reimagine what freedom looks like. 

This is a game changer now, because when I came home, I struggled for a long time. There was this fear that I didn't know any of this stuff.

Q: Those are some amazing resources you provide for the community. What's ahead for your organization this year?

Major: Our mission this year is to extend our housing program, and we want to also try to get permanent housing for our guys. So when we say permanent housing, some of these guys are not ready to make that transition because it's just overwhelming. 

It's a lot of responsibility to have your own place. And it's terrifying at times. So we want to be sure that we can extend their stay. And then when they're ready, we can connect them with permanent housing. When I say permanent housing, there will be a funder that will pay for their housing. We want permanent housing for these guys to pay their rent for a whole year. 

And last but not least, we want to see if we can start building relationships with landlords because I didn't have a track record to show that I'd been in apartment buildings and I paid my rent on time. I had no check whatsoever, right? So every time I put in an application, they kept on denying me. "You have no track record, you have no track record." I was like "how do I get past this?  I felt like they were still charging me for the crime that I committed." 

The last apartment I looked at, the lady asked me to come by. I was like "I don't have a track record."  She's like "no, just come by." She says, "what kind of work are you involved in?" And I said, "I'm in Theater." And she says, What company? And at that time, I was working for the Actors Gang in Culver City run by Tim Robbins from Shawshank Redemption. I worked with him for about two years. And so when I told her that, she immediately said, "Oh, Tim Robbins, I've worked with him before. When do you want to move in?" Tim Robbins is the reason why I got my apartment. But everyone doesn't have that resource, you know?