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His dad left when he was 8, taking all the money that the family had.

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The preacher invited those who wanted to give their lives to Jesus to come forward. Ben walked down the aisle to where the minister was standing.

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Ben's mom, Sonya, was very depressed and going through pain and sadness, so she decided to go to a mental hospital while the boys were watched by sister, Scott.

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Two black boys being watched by an old lady

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There was no way she could afford to stay in their Detroit home any longer. Ben's mother moved her little family to Boston, Massachusetts, to save money.

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Ben's cousin died on the streets, and Ben learned a valuable lesson from his death, and that was "Some things aren't worth the risk."

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Sonya Carson taught her sons the value of a dollar, for instance, riding the city bus cost the same amount as a loaf of bread, so Ben and Curtis rode their bikes to school to save money for groceries

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two black boys riding their bikes to school

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One day, Ben went to the store to buy a couple things and received too much change back. At first, he was excited that he had gotten extra money, but then he realized it wasn't right and went back to the store to return it.

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During the two years in Boston, the Carson family had saved up enough money to move back to Michigan.

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When Ben got back to Detroit, he realized he had a big problem, he was behind in his classes, and the other kids started calling him "dummy".

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Ben's mom saw the grade that Ben got on his midterm and decided there needed to be some changes. She started by telling the boys they could only watch three TV shows a week, then she said the boys had to write two book reports a week on whatever they read.

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One day in science class, the teacher asked the students if they knew what type of stone he had, and nobody else knew except Be,n and Ben only knew from reading. This is when Ben realized that if he wanted to get smarter, he would have to read, and this is where his love for reading began.

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One day, Ben was hopping trains on the way to school, and he got caught by a group of bigger boys. One of them was carrying a stick. The bigger boy hit Ben with the stick, and all the other boys crowded around him, calling him ugly racist names and said that if he ever went back there they would kill him.

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Ben was awarded for being the highest academic achiever in his grade. After she handed Ben the award, she turned back and said into the microphone, " You are not trying hard enough!". It's clear she thought white kids were smarter than African American kids.

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white colored teacher yelling in a microphone

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Halfway through Ben's 8th-grade year, he moved back to his old house on Deacon Street, which meant he had to change schools again. This school was different from his last school; people here didn't care about who was smart, they cared about who dressed smart.

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Two teens wearing suits and one black teen wearing messy clothes

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Ben was getting "capped" on at school, which meant people were joking him. Until one day, he decided the only way to survive the "capping" was to be the best at it. So one day, when a 9th-grader started capping on him talking about the shirt he had on, Ben replied to him and said, " Yea? Your mama wore it," and from then on, it didn't take Ben long to have everyone's respect

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Instead of Ben coming home from school every day and doing his homework, he started going to the park and shooting hoops with his friends, This caused his grades to slip from A's to B's to C's.

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black teen boy shooting a basketball by himself