Temario Stokes Jr., second from right, poses with fellow members of the New B.O.Y. program at the “Youth Drip Gala” award ceremony at the Skyline Club in Indianapolis.
SUBMITTED PHOTO.
During the final year of his life, he spent time trying to make a difference in people’s lives.
Temario Kendall Stokes Jr., a 16-year-old Greenwood resident and Whiteland Community High School student, was shot and killed on the morning of Aug. 25 as he waited for the school bus in the Summerfield Village subdivision. An 18-year-old, Tyrique Sevein Radford El who Stokes knew, has been charged with murder.
The founder of New B.O.Y., a youth mentorship program in Indianapolis that has seen other boys perish at the hands of gun violence, wants Stokes to be remembered as more than another shooting victim.
Kareem Hines founded New B.O.Y, which stands for New Breed of Youth, 14 years ago, after he was part of a similar mentorship program in New York City. With the New B.O.Y. program, Hines hoped to reach teenagers who had gotten into trouble with the law, who had difficulty in their family life or who generally needed a mentor to help them through tough times, he said.
“I asked to collaborate with Marion County probation and the Department of Child Services, to get young men court ordered to participate in our program,” Hines said. “We have relationships with community-based programs, from guardians, aunts, uncles, people who want their sons in a positive environment and want to surround them with positive influences.”
Stokes entered the program as part of a court order from probation last year, but instead of dragging his feet, he jumped in with both feet, Hines said.
“We have something called Wednesday Leaders Circle. It’s the worst day for young men to join our program because there’s no field trips, it’s just a raw, intense, high-accountability discussion,” Hines said. “Temario immediately gravitated towards the realness and the passion of the conversation. He had street credibility and it made it safe for other young men to join in. He was transparent about his situation, his desire to have a better relationship with his dad. He talked about the transgressions in his life and how he didn’t want to die at an early age. Death was surrounding him.”
As Stokes continued his participation in the program, his horizons expanded. He went on a ski trip to Perfect North Slopes, jokingly telling Hines, “Black people don’t ski” before hitting the slopes. He ran hills at Fort Harrison State Park and took part in a boxing program, which Hines said was a productive way to release his frustrations.
“It gives them balance; when they go back to their environments they don’t have an outlet. This program gives them an outlet. It’s a pro-social environment versus an anti-social environment,” Hines said. “We have conversations about goals, negative effects of social media, gun violence, the consequences of being a youth in jail. You can be in a mentorship program rather than the department of corrections. He used the program as an outlet and we saw a paradigm shift in his mind with regards to what he wanted his future to be.”
As Stokes deepened his involvement with New B.O.Y., he served as a mentor to other teens, who took him more seriously because he had been to juvenile detention and was choosing a different path in life. In May, the mentorship program granted him the Most Improved award, choosing him among about 70 youth members.
“He became a mentor to a lot of young men in that circle, he helped give a safe space for a lot of young men to talk,” Hines said. “His attitude became contagious and other people felt it was OK to change. We dare kids to be different, not to fall to the cultural norms that your culture says is cool. When he received these accolades from this program and other programs, young people listened. We put him in a position to talk to other young people and the younger kids in the program looked up to him.”
Despite turning his life around, negative influences in his environment came back around, even after starting a new school and moving to Greenwood. According to a probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday in Johnson County Superior Court 3, Stokes was shot after a dispute regarding a dirt bike that was stolen from his family.
“We talk about playing chess with their lives rather than checkers. You have to think about every move you make, the people you’re surrounding yourself with and if they have your best interest in mind,” Hines said. “Sometimes your past can catch up with you. We talk to young men about really being careful. Even if you decide to change, the people around you might not be ready for that change.”
In light of his death, Hines is planning how best to honor Stokes, and is currently thinking of starting a scholarship fund in his name. Two weeks before his life was cut short, Stokes visited New B.O.Y. He had finished his probation requirement, but he still wanted to connect with teens in the program, speaking at the same Leaders Circle he was introduced to during his first day in the program a year prior.
“We loved reconnecting with him. When he spoke, people followed regardless of the topic,” Hines said. “He told a young man he should be appreciative of going back to school after he hadn’t been to school in two years. It’s about connection before correction. He was great at making a connection and he really epitomized the program, the philosophy and what it means to be a New B.O.Y. cadet.”
