The NBA player spent two hours inspiring 250 inmates and talking about responsibility and fatherhood.
Amar'e Stoudemire recently visited 250 incarcerated teens age 16 to 18 in New York's Rikers Island to inspire them to succeed. On Friday, the Knicks player joined Malcolm X's grandson Malcom Shabazz, ex-Knicks player John Wallace, former NBA player Etan Thomas, rapper Styles P and others to talk with the inmates for two hours at the prison gym about fighting through the stereotypes.
"The plan for us is not to succeed, and it goes back to when there was slavery," Stoudemire said. "What you got to do is look at yourself in the mirror and say: 'What am I going to do so I will not be a number?'"
"In the school systems, our neighborhoods, it's a hard situation for us. But you got to be man enough to know you got to be good fathers and stay out of here after you get back home," he added.
Stoudemire later told the New York Post that his goal was to motivate the fathers behind bars and "keep their spirits up."
This summer, the NBA all-star began releasing a children's book series through Scholastic titled STAT: Standing Tall and Talented, which are aimed towards middle school children to encourage them to read.
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