“I’ve had some situations where law enforcement has been involved… and I am so thankful they were.
Starting at around 15, I made some decisions which started me down a hard road. In high school, I had a kid with my boyfriend, but he ended up physically abusing me. Luckily the DA and the sheriff knew what was happening and got me to the nearest Greyhound bus station and said ‘Get out of here and make something of your life.’
But here’s the kicker: when I went to get my record expunged, the clerk of the court who helped me was the sheriff’s daughter-in-law.
Then there was September the 2nd of 2016. I remember it was 11 o’clock at night, and I just heard a piercing scream from my husband.
‘Emmanuel’s dead! He’s dead! He’s gone!’
Apparently, the guy went into a house full of people and told my son to come outside and fight. My son refused. He walked up to him as he was sitting at a table playing dominoes, and he put a bullet in his head.
That night, my other kids who were all older than Emmanuel, took every gun at my house that night and were ready to ride out to ‘take care of business’ themselves.
And I had to stop these grown adults, with emotions and tensions so high, that to take revenge was not the right thing. I had to convince them to stand down and not take the law into their own hands.
They didn’t take the law into their own hands; now, that man is locked away.
Around this time, I learned my husband was a predator. He decided he couldn’t keep his hands off my daughters and cousin.
I remember getting home early one day, and my 11-year-old cousin was outside.
She came to me crying, and I said, ‘You call your mama because I have to call the police.’
I’m gonna tell you the honest truth… I straight-up punched him.
And then I told him, ‘You’re going to prison.”
But the court system takes a long time. Four solid years I stayed with this guy while I waited for things to go to trial.
I had no choice. I talked to an attorney who said, ‘We have a justice system where you are innocent until proven guilty, and if you leave this guy right now if you divorce him without any proof, you lose your home that’s in your name. Not only that, you have to split everything 50/50.’
So I waited.
I remember it was April 17th, 2018, and I’m sitting in the back of the courtroom.
I had just testified earlier that day, and the deliberations for the jury took less than 30 minutes…
‘Guilty!’
When they said ‘Guilty,’ it was like… I don’t know how to describe it. It was like a warm hot rush of air flooded over me, and I felt completely at peace.
I’m part of a group of women who, some of them experienced home invasions. Some of them were carjacked. But these women aren’t victims. They’re warriors. They’re advocates.
We are blessed to live in a constitutional republic, governed by a constitution and laws, and that is a gift.”
Lucretia Hughes Klucken
Loganville, GA
Lucretia is the Co-founder of Fallback Productions Studio LLC and show host for “Real News with Lucretia Hughes.
