Tapping his unlimited potential, and others'

Rumont TeKay, by A. David Dahmer

Rumont TeKay founded Murray Park Publishing.  His first novel "The Ruthless Dictator" will be out March 2.

Rumont TeKay's upbringing, his surroundings, and the people in his life created a mold in which distorted thinking is commonplace.
But he smashed it.
"There's an old saying that people use: 'I didn't choose this life; it chose me,'" TeKay says as he sits down to talk with The Madison Times. "I just want my peers as well as the generation after me to know that just because it's an old saying doesn't make it true. Because we all have choices that we make everyday — some are mistakes, some not; some are life altering, some not as much. Nevertheless, they all will result in a consequence. We make our own choices in life."
Rumont TeKay recently emerged from 11 years and nine months in prison on drug charges to found Murray Park Publishing, a company focusing on hip-hop and street literature that will publish his debut novel "The Ruthless Dictator" March 2.
TeKay credits his current favorable circumstance to his unmitigated desire to not return to the life he once knew — and to the positive people with whom he'd surrounded himself. TeKay is a welcome success story among the so many people who go to prison and are not rehabilitated — and the many who come out much, much worse.
From age 18 to age 30, TeKay sat in a prison cell, the result of getting caught in a pretty big drug bust. "It was the biggest cocaine seizure in Dane County during that moment in time," TeKay says. "I was 18 years old."
"Even a blind man would see that I was hit hard; a first time felon and an adolescent and I get smacked with a 35-year sentence,” he says. “With that type of pressure, an average teenager probably would have lost himself to the point where suddenly he cannot decipher fantasy from real after years and years of doing hard time. Me? I refused to lie down! My mentality and strong hold on the belief that my life wasn't over wouldn't allow me to concede."
Initially, there was no reason to think that TeKay would not be another statistic or that he would be any different from the millions of young men who go into the prison system with terrible attitudes and terrible upbringings and come out even worse.
"In the beginning of my prison term, I had no thought of change, I didn't desire one bit of it,” TeKay remembers. “I was young and still had that street mentality. I was a dedicated gang member. So, I continued to live behind bars with that learned behavior."
But something happened to him along the way. When prison officials tried to get him to nark on one of his friends, he wouldn't do it. So they put him in "the hole," a slang prison term for solitary confinement. He received 95 days there.
"The very first night that I was thrown in the hole, I had this dream where my life was basically chronicled up until that point," TeKay says. "A voice resonated within the dream — I woke up from it with a sudden and intense need to find out why was I really here (on earth).
It couldn't be to spend the rest of my years in somebody's prison," TeKay adds with emotion. "But, first I had to embrace change and pursue positive aspects. That transition made me so much of a better person! I had learned a lot from it, and above all I gotten to know a little of myself. And, as they say, the rest is history. It wasn't too long after that eye-opener that I decided to pursue my dream."
TeKay started to pursue what had always been his passion in life — writing. He had no formal writing training or experience, but he began developing his talents by writing letters for his peers in prison who could not express themselves on paper. Then he started writing his novel.
"Initially, I wasn't as diligent in the writing process of my book as I should had been," TeKay remembers. "To pen an entertaining, emotional-driven and riveting, truth-based storyline around an explosive plot isn't easy, but there's no other more fulfilling moment upon completion."
TeKay was also fighting the negative peer pressure around him.
"I mean ... what can I say…like any situation where one wants to implement change into their daily routine, there's these people — I like to call them ‘box people’ — who are stuck inside their own self-built box where being supportive of other people's positive change is nothing more than a corny joke. The very unfortunate effect it has is that that type of hate makes it virtually impossible for them to succeed to the highest of their very own potential as well," TeKay says. "I had to make a decision the day that I disassociated myself with those types of people. It wasn't easy neither."
TeKay would get away to either the library or his cell, complete with a typewriter and a desk light that he used to refer to as "the lab." TeKay smiles, "I used to tell people I was in the lab and I couldn't come out."
It was here where he started to write seriously and began to lay the groundwork. While still behind prison walls he began to network and make key connections with other published authors. After reviewing his work, their praises was all the motivation that he needed. He became pals with a young author named Victor Martin, who at the time had written three novels while incarcerated in North Carolina. Martin is still housed in the North Carolina prison system where he's working on his sixth novel.
"We corresponded on the regular and started shooting ideas back and forth to each other," TeKay says of Martin. "When I read his books, I was impressed. When I checked out his bio, I'd realized that he wrote them while in prison. He's definitely my inspiration and a good friend."
While in jail, he also befriended Wahida Clark, a national best-selling author who has publicly endorsed "The Ruthless Dictator.”
"Rumont TeKay will gain popularity with this one. Brace yourselves for the unknown!"  Clark says in her endorsement.
"Yeah, Wahida is very humble, very down to earth. She helped bring the best out of my writing. I'll never forget that," McKay says.
Seeing many young, incarcerated writers ripped off by publishers and others because of their lack of experience and business savvy, TeKay not only wrote constantly while he was locked up, but also educated himself about the writing and publishing business. TeKay also gives credit to a young woman named Angela Woods, a unit manager at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution, for helping him succeed.
"She understands me and every other young man/woman who genuinely seeks positive change," TeKay says. "She went out on a limb for me."
She helped to accelerate McKay’s release and when he got out, McKay founded Murray Park Publishing.
"Murray Park isn't just a name. Nor is it some fictional moniker ripped from the lines of a popular movie script and placed on the forefront of this company's ship solely to sound hard, hip, or slick. Murray Park actually exists, in the heart of Chicago, in the Englewood District," TeKay says. "Quite a few famous people come through Murray Park, but quiet a few infamous people as well. There's a lot of history there."
A history of people McKay likes to call "ruthless dictators."
"In the 'hood there are dictators dictating other dictators, but in the end there's only one 'Ruthless Dictator' that pulls the strings of them all," TeKay says. "Murray Park, where I grew up, is only 10 minutes away from where Jennifer Hudson's family was murdered. So please know that what I write about is uncut and unadulterated. Parental discretion is advised.”
Of his novel ‘The Ruthless Dictator,’” TeKay says, "Note: This is never glorification, only the stone-cold realities of day-to-day living for an insurmountable amount of this world's populaton."
 TeKay hopes that he can be an inspiration and a mentor to youngsters who — like him — grew up without much hope.
"I can't stress enough that no matter how big you think your block is, it is only an insignificant small morsel of the much bigger picture — the world!" TeKay says. “Stick to your goals and your dreams. Realize what you want to do, and go after it. There's a much bigger and better world outside of yours."
Most important, TeKay says,  don't lose your focus by listening to bad-intentioned friends.
“As I've mentioned before about the ‘box people,’ ... they are definitely out there. Look at them…They could be friends or even family members who might try to pull you down. You must prepare for it and stand up for yourself in a way that you never have before. Trust me, the feeling afterward is everlasting and you won't regret it. I guarantee it. I had to realize early on that I needn’t be wasting my energy being upset about a hater's tendencies. Instead, I'd rather use their fire to ignite my flame more and more. Haters know nothing more than to hate on whatever you do. So, I say use their discouraging words and/or ways to be your motivation!"
TeKay's overcoming of incredible odds should be enough inspiration for youngsters, but still he hopes they pay close attention to his life.
"You don't always have to make your own mistakes to learn critical lessons," he says. "Let guys like me be an example. There's absolutely nothing cool about throwing 10 to 15 years of your life away to some prison. And there's absolutely nothing cool about creating victims; unsuspecting or otherwise. Be smarter than I was. Don't do it.
"Obama's has shown that anything is possible," he adds. "You have unlimited potential, if you want to do it."

For more information on "The Ruthless Dictator" visit www.murray parkpublishing.com/mpp-books.htm.
You can order a signed copy for only $12. Shipping and handling is free. It'll also be available at local bookstores on Feb. 12 and at main chains (Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc.) on March 2 for a retail value of $14.95.