January 14, 2026 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Carl Montgomery grew up surrounded by neglect, instability, and violence, where a broken childhood pushed him toward gang life and years in prison. What began with poverty and bad choices led to a cycle of crime and incarceration that seemed impossible to escape. But prison became an unexpected turning point. Through faith, accountability, and new purpose, Montgomery began rebuilding his life and breaking free from the path that once defined him. This is a powerful story of redemption, transformation, and what it takes to start over.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American stories, and one of our favorite
stories year in year out, day in day out, are
redemption stories and faith stories. The next one comes from
the documentary The Father I Never Knew, a movie that
tracks the lives of former gang members that were raised
without a positive father figure in their lives. The director
(00:32):
Don Albert graciously gave us the interviews to tell these stories.
Joey Cortez brings us today's story, the story of Karl Montgomery.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I didn't have the traditional lovey dovey household. My mom
was an alcoholic and a drug user, and my father
as well. My father would beat on my mom regularly.
They would have people over the house partying, drinking, listening
(01:05):
to music, and they left me and my brother be
by herself. As long as we didn't interrupt them, they
wouldn't interrupt us. Maybe I was eight, eight or nine
years old when I started not trusting my parents. I
never forget it. It was on Christmas. I wanted a
(01:27):
Batman cape. Batman capes was very what you want to
have at those times. Eight years old and they took
me to the mall, said on Santa Claus's lap. Santa Claus, Yeah, sure,
I'm gonna give you a Batman cape. Sure, come Christmas?
No Batman cap? Got some socks? Hey, what's wrong with that?
(01:51):
You know? My mom said, you know, Santa was going
take care of me as long as I be good.
Fine with that. So I got some socks. I didn't
get nothing, and I didn't think nothing of it. Okay,
we live in a bad neighborhood. Maybe Santa Claus got scared.
We didn't even have a chimity. You know, I'm rationalizing,
I'm figuring everything out. So a year ago past and
(02:14):
I'm nine years old, and I still want my Batman cape.
I still wanted My mom wou didn't take me to
them all again, and it looked like a different Santa Claus.
But I still asked them, Hey, what happened to my cape?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You know what, I apologize. I'm gonna bring it to
you this year. Make sure you're being good and stuff
like that, and okay, fine, no problem, Come Christmas. I
got some underwear, didn't get no Batman cap. So I'm mad.
I'm so mad. I'm just I just can't believe it.
Why don't I have my Batman cake? You know, that's
(02:52):
all I wanted. I was good and everything. My brother
he got some socks. Last year, I got the underwear.
He got the socks, and it was first. So we
go to school when school start back, and that's when
I realized we was poor. I didn't realize we was
poor until some kids told us. They bought all they
little toys and stuff to school, and they was wondering
(03:13):
where our toys and stuff was at. And we had
socks in underwhere So they said, oh, y'all poor, that's
why y'all didn't get it. And I said, no, Santa
Claus just didn't come to our house. They were like, na, no,
Santa Claus ain't real. I said no, my mom wouldn't
lie to me like that. No, she wasn't.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
No.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Uh So they like, no, yep, she lied. Y'all poor,
that's why y'all didn't get it. And I'm like, poor,
We not poor. We not eat the opens. We eat
every day. You know. That's how I'm thinking, we eat
every day. How can we be poor? We can't be poor? No,
we not poor. So we go I go home and
come to find out we are poor. I asked my mom, Hey,
(03:55):
they said, you lie and Santa Claus not real what
what happened? You know, see my father though, you know,
he was there, He was around until they died. My
dad died a year after my mom. This was a
couple of years after this incident happened, so I was
around nine years old. So they passed away. My mom
(04:15):
passed away in my early teens, maybe like twelve or thirteen.
My dad died first from kidney and liver failure due
to substance abuse. They was addicts. They shot and drinking.
They drank the wine back in the days night train
red rods and stuff they got now is different from
(04:36):
what they had. They had potent stuff, so I guess
my mom couldn't handle it and she died a year
later after my father did. But I was ran away
from home by then because once I found out that
they was lying to me about Santa Claus, I didn't
trust them no more, and I had fights with the
kids at school because I thought that they were telling
(04:57):
me the truth my parents was, but come to find
out they was lying. We was poor. Santa Claus is
not real, and for some reason, I thought Santa Claus
and God and Jesus was the same people, you know,
a white man because I sink the White Man of Jesus,
you know, on a picture, and I seen white Santa
Claus with this red suit. But for some reason, I
(05:19):
thought they was together. So when I thought when I
knew Santa Claus wasn't real, I thought, well, God ain't
real either. So at that age, around nine to ten,
I didn't believe in God because I knew Santa Claus
wasn't real and I thought they was hooked up together.
So I started just hanging out in the streets, stealing candy,
(05:42):
doing things that I knew I shouldn't do, because I
wanted what everybody else had. I wanted candy, I wanted toys.
I wanted a bike, I wanted a big wheel, and
I knew he was poor. I knew I couldn't ask
my mom and dad for it, because for one, my
dad wasn't around, and for two, my mom done, she
had her night train. She really didn't care, and why
(06:03):
would I ask her? And she lied to me and
say I'm gonna get give it to you on check
date because I found out we was on welfare. Then
she don't give it to me. So I'm hanging out
of the street. I'm going back and forth to youth homes,
juvenile centers and things like that. Normally, when you a kid,
if you get arrested, you can be released as long
(06:24):
as your mom or dad come sign you out. If
they don't come sign you out, they pull you into custody.
Otherwise they would release you from the police station. So
I had a lot of times I would have to
go to the juvenile center because my mom's and dad
was nowhere to be found. So at that point, I
got it attracted to a gang. Gang members was coming
(06:45):
to school. You know, they was dressing nice, they was
had food, you know, all the girls was with them.
I maybe was around ten or eleven at this time.
And one of my friends his uncle is his cousin,
cause his people were gang members. So I hung out
with them, and we hung out with them all together,
(07:08):
so we was part of them. They would feed us,
we had a place to stay, they would protect us
and things of that nature. And I trust them for
some reason. I believe if they say, hey, we're gonna
buy you some food. They bought me some food, some
French fries, some hot dogs, some chicken, whatever. And I
basically started living at one of the hangouts which was
(07:30):
owned by one of the gang leaders. Basically, I was
on the payroll narcotics, drugs, and things of that nature.
When you're a part of the gang culture, whatever gang
that you're in, you basically played your alliance to them.
So my alliance was no longer with my family, but
(07:51):
my alliance, my loyalty, was for the gang because they
provided the food for me, they provided the protection for me,
the house hold of me, and I believe that they
was out for my best interest. The gang lifestyle may
seem attractive, but it's a lie. It's a big lie
(08:14):
that the enemy feed these little kids today because it
tricks them into believing that it's going to be glamorous.
But the only outcome is death, being shot in a
hospital or prison, and prison is not fun overall. All together,
with six months here, eleven months here, a year and
(08:34):
a half, they're eight months here. All together, over all,
I spent maybe around ten years, around ten or twelve
years in jail, and I'm forty four years old now.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
During prison, Karl found the father figure in his life
that he was always looking for God, And now out
of prison, he's trying to live a life anew.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Now the Lord has put on my heart to reach
back and help those who have went through some of
the things that I went through. I have lived that lifestyle.
I've been shot, I've shot. I understand what it is
like to hold a gun, to carry a gun, to
have a gun be used on you. I know what
(09:20):
it's like to be in the audi home, the prison, jail.
I know what the understanding that would take for a
person to be able to overcome some of those different challenges.
So now the Lord has put on my heart a
desire and a passion to be able to share Jesus
with some of these kids who has never been exposed.
When I was thirteen fourteen and I thought Santa Claus
(09:43):
and Jesus was fake, if I had somebody would have
shared the love of Christ on me, I really believed
that my life would have been transformed. So I believe
God is going to use me now to go share
with some of these individuals, some of these kids who
need to know about God and how real he is
and his desire to love on them and have them
(10:04):
be saved.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
And great work as always to Joey on that story,
and again thanks to Don Albert for graciously giving us
the access to the interviews from his documentary The Father
I Never Knew, which is again available on Amazon. And
What words of wisdom, What beautiful words the story of
Karl Montgomery. Here on our American Stories.
This is our American stories, and one of our favorite
stories year in year out, day in day out, are
redemption stories and faith stories. The next one comes from
the documentary The Father I Never Knew, a movie that
tracks the lives of former gang members that were raised
without a positive father figure in their lives. The director
(00:32):
Don Albert graciously gave us the interviews to tell these stories.
Joey Cortez brings us today's story, the story of Karl Montgomery.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I didn't have the traditional lovey dovey household. My mom
was an alcoholic and a drug user, and my father
as well. My father would beat on my mom regularly.
They would have people over the house partying, drinking, listening
(01:05):
to music, and they left me and my brother be
by herself. As long as we didn't interrupt them, they
wouldn't interrupt us. Maybe I was eight, eight or nine
years old when I started not trusting my parents. I
never forget it. It was on Christmas. I wanted a
(01:27):
Batman cape. Batman capes was very what you want to
have at those times. Eight years old and they took
me to the mall, said on Santa Claus's lap. Santa Claus, Yeah, sure,
I'm gonna give you a Batman cape. Sure, come Christmas?
No Batman cap? Got some socks? Hey, what's wrong with that?
(01:51):
You know? My mom said, you know, Santa was going
take care of me as long as I be good.
Fine with that. So I got some socks. I didn't
get nothing, and I didn't think nothing of it. Okay,
we live in a bad neighborhood. Maybe Santa Claus got scared.
We didn't even have a chimity. You know, I'm rationalizing,
I'm figuring everything out. So a year ago past and
(02:14):
I'm nine years old, and I still want my Batman cape.
I still wanted My mom wou didn't take me to
them all again, and it looked like a different Santa Claus.
But I still asked them, Hey, what happened to my cape?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You know what, I apologize. I'm gonna bring it to
you this year. Make sure you're being good and stuff
like that, and okay, fine, no problem, Come Christmas. I
got some underwear, didn't get no Batman cap. So I'm mad.
I'm so mad. I'm just I just can't believe it.
Why don't I have my Batman cake? You know, that's
(02:52):
all I wanted. I was good and everything. My brother
he got some socks. Last year, I got the underwear.
He got the socks, and it was first. So we
go to school when school start back, and that's when
I realized we was poor. I didn't realize we was
poor until some kids told us. They bought all they
little toys and stuff to school, and they was wondering
(03:13):
where our toys and stuff was at. And we had
socks in underwhere So they said, oh, y'all poor, that's
why y'all didn't get it. And I said, no, Santa
Claus just didn't come to our house. They were like, na, no,
Santa Claus ain't real. I said no, my mom wouldn't
lie to me like that. No, she wasn't.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
No.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Uh So they like, no, yep, she lied. Y'all poor,
that's why y'all didn't get it. And I'm like, poor,
We not poor. We not eat the opens. We eat
every day. You know. That's how I'm thinking, we eat
every day. How can we be poor? We can't be poor? No,
we not poor. So we go I go home and
come to find out we are poor. I asked my mom, Hey,
(03:55):
they said, you lie and Santa Claus not real what
what happened? You know, see my father though, you know,
he was there, He was around until they died. My
dad died a year after my mom. This was a
couple of years after this incident happened, so I was
around nine years old. So they passed away. My mom
(04:15):
passed away in my early teens, maybe like twelve or thirteen.
My dad died first from kidney and liver failure due
to substance abuse. They was addicts. They shot and drinking.
They drank the wine back in the days night train
red rods and stuff they got now is different from
(04:36):
what they had. They had potent stuff, so I guess
my mom couldn't handle it and she died a year
later after my father did. But I was ran away
from home by then because once I found out that
they was lying to me about Santa Claus, I didn't
trust them no more, and I had fights with the
kids at school because I thought that they were telling
(04:57):
me the truth my parents was, but come to find
out they was lying. We was poor. Santa Claus is
not real, and for some reason, I thought Santa Claus
and God and Jesus was the same people, you know,
a white man because I sink the White Man of Jesus,
you know, on a picture, and I seen white Santa
Claus with this red suit. But for some reason, I
(05:19):
thought they was together. So when I thought when I
knew Santa Claus wasn't real, I thought, well, God ain't
real either. So at that age, around nine to ten,
I didn't believe in God because I knew Santa Claus
wasn't real and I thought they was hooked up together.
So I started just hanging out in the streets, stealing candy,
(05:42):
doing things that I knew I shouldn't do, because I
wanted what everybody else had. I wanted candy, I wanted toys.
I wanted a bike, I wanted a big wheel, and
I knew he was poor. I knew I couldn't ask
my mom and dad for it, because for one, my
dad wasn't around, and for two, my mom done, she
had her night train. She really didn't care, and why
(06:03):
would I ask her? And she lied to me and
say I'm gonna get give it to you on check
date because I found out we was on welfare. Then
she don't give it to me. So I'm hanging out
of the street. I'm going back and forth to youth homes,
juvenile centers and things like that. Normally, when you a kid,
if you get arrested, you can be released as long
(06:24):
as your mom or dad come sign you out. If
they don't come sign you out, they pull you into custody.
Otherwise they would release you from the police station. So
I had a lot of times I would have to
go to the juvenile center because my mom's and dad
was nowhere to be found. So at that point, I
got it attracted to a gang. Gang members was coming
(06:45):
to school. You know, they was dressing nice, they was
had food, you know, all the girls was with them.
I maybe was around ten or eleven at this time.
And one of my friends his uncle is his cousin,
cause his people were gang members. So I hung out
with them, and we hung out with them all together,
(07:08):
so we was part of them. They would feed us,
we had a place to stay, they would protect us
and things of that nature. And I trust them for
some reason. I believe if they say, hey, we're gonna
buy you some food. They bought me some food, some
French fries, some hot dogs, some chicken, whatever. And I
basically started living at one of the hangouts which was
(07:30):
owned by one of the gang leaders. Basically, I was
on the payroll narcotics, drugs, and things of that nature.
When you're a part of the gang culture, whatever gang
that you're in, you basically played your alliance to them.
So my alliance was no longer with my family, but
(07:51):
my alliance, my loyalty, was for the gang because they
provided the food for me, they provided the protection for me,
the house hold of me, and I believe that they
was out for my best interest. The gang lifestyle may
seem attractive, but it's a lie. It's a big lie
(08:14):
that the enemy feed these little kids today because it
tricks them into believing that it's going to be glamorous.
But the only outcome is death, being shot in a
hospital or prison, and prison is not fun overall. All together,
with six months here, eleven months here, a year and
(08:34):
a half, they're eight months here. All together, over all,
I spent maybe around ten years, around ten or twelve
years in jail, and I'm forty four years old now.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
During prison, Karl found the father figure in his life
that he was always looking for God, And now out
of prison, he's trying to live a life anew.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Now the Lord has put on my heart to reach
back and help those who have went through some of
the things that I went through. I have lived that lifestyle.
I've been shot, I've shot. I understand what it is
like to hold a gun, to carry a gun, to
have a gun be used on you. I know what
(09:20):
it's like to be in the audi home, the prison, jail.
I know what the understanding that would take for a
person to be able to overcome some of those different challenges.
So now the Lord has put on my heart a
desire and a passion to be able to share Jesus
with some of these kids who has never been exposed.
When I was thirteen fourteen and I thought Santa Claus
(09:43):
and Jesus was fake, if I had somebody would have
shared the love of Christ on me, I really believed
that my life would have been transformed. So I believe
God is going to use me now to go share
with some of these individuals, some of these kids who
need to know about God and how real he is
and his desire to love on them and have them
(10:04):
be saved.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
And great work as always to Joey on that story,
and again thanks to Don Albert for graciously giving us
the access to the interviews from his documentary The Father
I Never Knew, which is again available on Amazon. And
What words of wisdom, What beautiful words the story of
Karl Montgomery. Here on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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