Sammy Rangel, a former violent extremist, and other keynote speakers addressed globally important issues about diveristy at the Eighth Annual Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity Symposium Tuesday afternoon.

The first to speak among the list was Rangel, author and executive director of the Life After Hate nonprofit organization. Rangel presented “A Life Born of a Thousand Wounds” at the ICGD Symposium.

Before beginning the presentation, he warned people in attendance, saying his life story is extreme and may require students to lean on each other and talk to him, teachers and advisors about any uneasiness.

To start the presentation, Rangel asked attendants the question: “Who is writing our story and does the way we tell it matter?” He said he wanted the audience to think about whether or not the way they told their own stories brought them closer to people.

Next followed the stories from his adolescent years.

In his earlier years, Rangel said he suffered from physical and sexual abuse as well as violence. He said he was known as the “Pecan Bandit” because he stole $89 worth of tiny pecan pies priced at 5 cents apiece at his local convenience store.

On his 11th birthday, he said he left home and met a group of kids who were the children of drug dealers and gang members.

During the first day he left home, Rangel said he broke his arm while trying to learn how to break into houses, and the second day, he witnessed a homicide.

At 17 years old, Rangel said he was sent to the Menard Correctional Center, which was controlled by white supremacy gangs. There he survived multiple race riots.

In one of the race riots, he said he found himself fighting about 15-20 white supremacists with nothing but two knives in his hands. A single black man who jumped in to help was shot and killed by one of the guards.

In an attempt to help the black man, Rangel said he dragged the man through 150 jail cells to get medical care.

He worked with the top 10 high-risk offenders who were considered to be “the most dangerous and the most difficult of the (entire) high-risk population,” Rangel said. He was able to help reform them by telling his story and stressing the importance of learning from mistakes and making change.

Rangel said students should never stop learning to look for answers.

“I never want you to stop being hungry (for knowledge). I never want you to stop developing yourself,” he said.

Freshman criminology major Alejandra Ibanez said her favorite part of the presentation was hearing about Rangel’s life experiences and lessons.

She said she learned that “life is unexpected but, (it) always (has its) positive outcomes through darkness.”

Junior psychology major Diana Rogel said she did not know what the conference would be about but she really enjoyed it.

“Even though it was just an hour, I feel like it was really motivational. It really impacted me,” she said.

The ICGD Symposium took place at Arcola/Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union from noon until 5 p.m.

Lauren King can be reached at 581-2812 or at ltking@eiu.edu.