CHICAGO—Despite his best efforts, Malik Jones, an inner city man, slipped back into negrosity by grabbing a 40 ounce, a cigarette and a pistol Dec. 29. This regression came after nearly five years of living a clean, upright,real Black man type life. Mr. Jones regularly attended meetings at Negro Anonymous (NA). “I went to my meetings every Monday and would say, ‘Hi, my name is Diego and I’m a recovering negro,’ ” said Mr. Jones. Tippie Rower, Mr. Jones’ cousin immediately threatened Mr. Jones’ new lifestyle when he returned from Joliet Correctional Facility.

“But then Tippie came and it was all down hill from there,” said Mr. Jones. “I tried to bring him up, but he took me down.” Unwittingly, Mr. Rower tempted Mr. Jones with loose women and hard alcohol. Mr. Jones kept strong until one day he slipped on a Corona bottle in his living room. Next thing Mr. Jones remembers, he’d thrown out his Common and Roots CDs and was only listening to old No Limit artists. “My God, it was ugly. I think the final straw was when I walked in my room and Tippie was watching BET rap videos,” said Mr. Jones.