Elijah Dukes: From G to Gent?

Washington Nationals outfielder Elijah Dukes has a checkered past.

In my sociology class yesterday, we were talking about Wilson’s theory of Truly Disadvantaged, in which the theory talks about how the image of ghettos developed into the image of ghettos we see today. Basically, after the Civil Rights Movement, people living in ghettos were given opportunities to succeed. However, the ones who didn’t have the means to succeed ended up staying behind and since all the successful people left, the ones without the necessary means had to fend for themselves. Most of them turned to a life of crime because they had no other means.

My teacher then asked us if this is true, how can we change it? I responded that most people have a sense of pride where they come from and even if they are successful, it isn’t always easy to let go of your past. That brings me to the story of Elijah Dukes.

Dukes was one of the top prospects in the Tampa Bay Rays organization just a few years ago. Dukes had a really hard childhood growing up in the Tampa area.

• In 1992, a hurricane destroyed his family’s home and forced them to live in a shelter.
• In 1995, his father was convicted for murdering a man who sold his wife fake cocaine.
• He saw his mom come home with her teeth in her hand after she was punched in the face by a friend of the man her husband murdered.
• His mother lost her job and went on welfare.
• His witnessed his brother get shot in the leg during a drive-by shooting.

If you think that’s bad enough, that isn’t all of it. When Dukes was 13, he was arrested for the first time for battery. He bounced in-and-out of jail the next few years of his life for unpaid tickets and more battery charges all because he let his temper get the best of him.

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“Elijah has made some mistakes, but I’m the same guy who witnesses him break down every time something goes wrong with one of his friends, ” Tyrone Evans, Duke’s little brother said. “If anything happened, he would be there for them. And I’m the same person who, at his graduation party, witnessed him crying. He has a big heart and he’s very emotional.”

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Those emotions and temper came out during a game with the Durham Bulls in April 2006.  Dukes was upset at a Bulls pitcher for blowing the lead of the game and not sitting on the bench after he was pulled to witness the outcome.  Dukes confronted the pitcher after the game, only to be berated by his coaches in front of the whole team.

Dukes responded the way he did his entire life, through physical altercation.  He felt threatened and was defending himself in the way he always did back on the streets.  He was being challenged and if you back down from a challenge on the streets, your lose your credibility.  Dukes didn’t back down from this challenge either and reached for the pitching coach.  The whole ordeal made him distraught afterward.

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“It upset me big-time,” pitcher James Shields says. “You could tell he wasn’t trying to piss off the pitcher. He was just trying to be a good team player. I think he cried more for the team than for himself.”

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When he finally made it to the big leagues in 2007, Dukes was making headlines in the Tampa area papers and it wasn’t for what he was doing on the diamond. In April of that same year, Dukes’ wife asked for a restraining order against him because he barged into her middle school classroom after he was forbidden to be on the grounds.

After she missed a court date and her restraining order plea was dropped, she asked for more protection against Dukes after he left her a threatening voice mail and sent a picture of a gun to her cell phone on May 2.

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“Hey, dawg. It’s on, dawg. You dead, dawg. I ain’t even bulls——-. Your kids too, dawg. It don’t even matter to me who is in the car with you. N—–, all I know is, n—–, when I see your m—–f——- a– riding, dawg, it’s on. As a matter of fact, I’m coming to your m—–f—— house.”

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As you can see, Dukes hasn’t always made the right decisions. While he was wrong, I can’t necessarily blame him. Most people think that since he is a major-league baseball player, he’s supposed to be a role model, yet they don’t realize he was a 22-year-old kid when he was called up to the Rays, who never had a role model himself.  He was using the game of baseball as his role model.

When you see a kid like Dukes, it’s easy to give up on him, just like the Rays did when they finally had enough of his behavior problems and traded him to Washington. However, giving up on him is doing what his father, his wife, and many other people in Dukes’ life growing up did.  How can we expect someone like that to change if  he’s constantly being given up on?

As a sociology major, I know you can’t change over night, especially a kid like Dukes. Through my education I have learned that when you live in a ghetto, you’re forced to be on guard all the time even if you don’t want to be. When you live in a ghetto your entire life, you’re used to reacting to a situation with violence because you’re forced to. People call Dukes a thug, but he really isn’t.

Contrary to public opinion, his heart isn’t made of stone. He wants to change and is really trying hard. At 24-years-old, he finally has people around him that are teaching him right from wrong.   The trade to Washington actually seems to be a blessing for Dukes. It got him away from his childhood and has allowed him to focus on what he does best, and it isn’t get arrested - it’s baseball.

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“Being young and being at home is just not a good thing for someone who probably is not mature enough to handle those situations. . . . I was just a real hard-headed guy. I needed to be able to admit that I do things wrong, and it’s okay to do things wrong, but just make good after that.”

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Here’s what Nats hitting coach Rick Eckstein and teammate Lastings Milledge had to say about Dukes.

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“Wow,” Eckstein said. “The potential is just off the charts. He is so strong, so quick, so powerful that he can do things with pitches that most can’t.”

Said Milledge: “I think [Dukes] can be the best right fielder in the game if he stays healthy. This year, I think he’s a 30-30 guy.”

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This is a challenge to all baseball fans - out of fairness, you should try to change your view on Dukes if it’s the “thug” image. Since he is working hard to change his life, we should be fair and give him a chance. We have to remember that the things we learn at five, six, or seven, Dukes is learning at 22, 23, and 24.

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“I’ve been working on myself a long time,” said Dukes. “I finally found that breakthrough, and from now on everybody gets a chance to see the real Elijah Dukes.”

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Till next time, duking it out is not the answer to your problems.