Alcohol
Ilton's story

What could you lose by drinking alcohol? Ilton loves to dance hip-hop. Drinking alcohol could mess up his sport. He's seen alcohol change someone he loves. So he doesn't drink.

“For kids today,” Ilton says, “I think it’s harder, because they see drinking every where on the streets, on commercials, people on billboards."

“My friends that I dance with and me, we stay away from alcohol. We don't need it, basically. We got dancing. We got each other, and that's all the support that we need."

“Dancing just frees my mind from stress, from everything else. It's like a natural high. I wake up, sleep, and just eat, thinking about dancing."

“Alcohol can bring a lot of trouble. We don't want to be in jail, we don't want to get arrested. We don't want to get in to no gang activity. Sometimes you end up doing things when you drink alcohol that you'll regret the next day. You know what I'm saying?"

“My friends are like my brothers, you know. They're like my second hand. Any time I need anything or any help or any favor, I could just go to them, and they'll try to give it to me. It was like a connection."

“We go to parties and things like that, and a lot of people, they don't really force us to drink. But when we just say no, we just go to our corner and dance."

“I wish a lot of other kids would be the same way, and come and ask for help with things like that. It'll make it easier to keep 'em off the streets. They could go on a good path and do their thing, and go good.”

Lino is Ilton's favorite uncle. He taught Ilton to dance. Lino used to drink, but doesn't anymore.

“It was hard,” Ilton says. “I didn't like to be around him when he was drinking. It was like talking to a wall: he wouldn't hear you. It's easier now because he don't drink. He's down to earth now. You could speak to him. You could tell him anything.”

If you feel pressured by someone to drink, Ilton says to walk away.

“You're your own person. You have your own ways. If that's their way of drinking, that's what you got to tell them, you know. 'That's your way. My way is to stay the way I am, and I don't want to drink.' If they can't respect that, then you just need to leave them.”