Yesterday Harlem Rev. Calvin Butts asked his congregation to pray for Afrika Owes, the 17-year-old straight-A student who was charged with ferrying guns to Harlem gang on the instruction of her boyfriend, who is currently doing time at Rikers. "She was just led astray as so many have been," he said. "I'm asking for your prayers...save this young woman." Owes was once a part of his church's choir and youth ministry, and her mother still attends the church. Butts said, "We want to believe she was led into this. Our sense ... is that she is not a drug dealer."
Still, Joanna Molloy at the Daily News believes in her, saying Owes was just an unfortunate product of her environment. Even though she had the intelligence and drive to get accepted into Deerfield Academy, her mother said she was always "Afrika from the Block," and that she felt uncomfortable in the prep school world. Still, was it that hard to see that bringing cash and guns to her boyfriend and his gang was probably not the best idea? Butts said the church was considering offering legal support.
Owes is currently being held in Rikers, and asked her mom to bring her books to read, among them "The Color Purple" and "The Autobiography of Malcolm X." She's also reportedly studying for her SATs.
