Humans have the tendency to ignore the overflow of emotions they experience, fearing it might become a setback. To counter them, many bottle them up but certain unattended emotions can slip through and unleash an array of regrettable words and actions. Nonetheless, they can also turn into a positive manifestation, leading to a change that reaches out to those in need of it. Ricky Kidd is one such individual whose experiences gave him the motivation to make a positive change and say ‘not anymore’ to a system that has long held prejudice against people like him.
Released on 15th August 2019, Ricky tasted freedom after 23 years in prison. His experiences helped him to start a business, I Am Resilience, 6 weeks after his exoneration. A platform that quickly became a gateway for individuals confined within various prisons – be it actual prisons, their homes, or themselves. Ricky believes that “Freedom Is The Ability To Embrace Life Fully.” Relaying all he learned and captured while in confinement, Ricky wants to create a chance for people.
Anger is a natural response if one is reprimanded for a crime they had nothing to do with. It engulfed Ricky but instead of letting it fester, he turned it into a motive. To this day, he continues to introduce reforms and campaigns that plaster every cracked crevice in the justice system.
Ricky has become an active speaker at the American Speaker’s Bureau, leaning on his experiences to inspire others. His initiative to start a complete program enabled him to overcome life’s hurdles. Commitment and omitting worldly distractions aided him in positively transforming mindsets, ideas, and perceptions. He has learned all the whats and hows of the business world with his experience and strength. These have acted as a stimulus for him to reach seemingly unreachable heights.
Ricky has learned valuable lessons from life. Instead of spiraling, he studied criminal and social issues and people’s nature, trying to pinpoint what people benefit the most from. As a result, he started to educate and inspire from within. It started by successfully running programs while he was imprisoned, an initiative that followed him when he was released. Now, he carries those same words of passion to evoke a sense of completeness within others.
Not only is he establishing a rapport with the exonerated but also with individuals who are undergoing difficulties in their life. His story gives a replete sense of adoration and inspiration. His humanness and his anger make him a relatable figure to many. Ricky is still enduring the consequences of being wrongfully convicted, something that is not easy to phase out. Nonetheless, he has turned his anger into a voice that motivates individuals to create opportunities. Falling into and suffocating in quicksand and being pulled further down by the disparities in the justice system, Ricky calmly and persistently reached out for help and earned the freedom that was rightfully his. “Potency,” “obduracy,” and “doggedness”; are some of the near-synonyms to the word ‘resilience’. In other words, Ricky Kidd is a man who perfectly substitutes the word ‘resilience.’
