Celebrities step up for jailed teens

The teens shuffled into the rec room at Charleston County's juvenile detention center Friday night wearing flip-flops, green and blue corrections uniforms and scowls as hardened as the cinderblock walls.

Twenty-five boys and five girls, ages 13 through 18. Each inmate already labeled as a runaway or murderer, or something in between.

A small group of entertainers making a rare visit to the facility Friday shook off the menacing looks and immediately challenged the kids not to accept the labels.

"In life, you have a choice," said Rose Rock, mother of comedian Chris Rock and nine other successful children. "You choose to be here in your little getups with your little flip-flops."

Rock joined Amanda Diva, a former MTV2 DJ who appears on VH1's "Best Week Ever" and just released a new hip-hop album, who was in town for a special benefit today, and others at the detention center to inspire and entertain the youths. Rock shared stories about growing up poor and her own boys' brief troubles with the law while Diva used her experiences as a radio host and writer to explain that there's still hope for them.

They were initially met with cold stares, but the women chipped away with jokes, music and no-nonsense talk.

"A lot of people think you are dumb; that you don't give a damn; that you don't have anything to say," Amanda Diva said. "We're not those people."

At one point Diva shared her microphone with a kid whose street name was synonymous with someone who's up to no good.

"You need to change that name," Diva said, "because (being up to no good) is what got you in here."

Diva welcomed the willing but nervous kid up to the front with a word of warning: "I get to leave," Diva said. "You have to stay here and they're going to clown you if you're not on point."

The boy stepped up and by the end of his song, his peers were cheering. A correctional officer congratulated him and gave him some encouraging words.

Rock, who's promoting a book that's coming out next month, told the teens that they can accomplish anything they want, but they have to quit being ashamed of what they want to do. Take that job at McDonald's and put the money toward what you want to do, she said. Pursue that career as an auto mechanic or a hair dresser and don't let life's circumstances dictate who you are, she said.

She said a barber from New York travels all across the country to cut her son's hair.

"Where you are now: Let it be a stepping stone," she said.

Rock told stories about her own sons. One was arrested years back for driving with a suspended license. Rock said she went to the scene and picked up her car but left her son in the back of the police cruiser. She let him stay in jail for the weekend.

"He said, 'Mom, you didn't see me in the back of the car?' " Rock said. "Didn't you see me wave?"

Joseph Bailey helped bring Rock, Diva, Vivica A. Fox and others to the area this weekend for a banquet sponsored by his nonprofit organization, Bailey's B.A.S.H. (Belief With Action Serves Humanity). He told the teens that so many successful people have been where they are now but strived for success.

When it was over, one boy who is an aspiring writer thanked the entertainers. "I want to thank all y'all for coming and telling us what's right and giving us a chance."

Fox will be in town tonight with Diva and actor Omar Benson Miller for the 1st Black Tie Fundraiser Banquet at the Sheraton Hotel. Money raised will go toward a state-of-the-art "Hope Center" the organization wants to build in Charleston to benefit the tri-county area. Diva will perform, and attendees can bid on a date with Fox.

Reach Andy Paras at 745-5891 or aparas@postandcourier.com.