Antong Lucky, the founder and former leader of the Dallas 415 Bloods Gang, is the current President of Urban Specialists. At an early age, Antong, a talented & gifted straight A student, was forced to make a choice between having good grades versus his safety and wellbeing in his neighborhood. Unfortunately, he succumbed to a life of crime, gang violence and drug dealing that ultimately landed him in prison. However, in prison Antong denounced his gang affiliation, started to educate himself and began working to unite the rival gangs.
Antong quickly rose to become one of the most respected and sought after mentors in prison. His teachings of conflict resolution and redemption taught fellow inmates how not to use violence as their primary language but instead practice peace and love.
Antong has spent the last twenty years working to end violence & build equity in communities by training traditional and non-traditional changemakers across the country to effectively show up in communities and also mentor youth away from a life of gangs, crime and violence.
Most recently Antong trains police officers one effective community engagement strategies. Antong believes in Redemptive Activism, a term he coined in his book, A Redemptive Path Forward, the belief that the object of our activism must be entitled to change we are seeking to make.
