Yeaseam Nelson: Stand Up for What You Believe In

Although Philadelphia is recognized as the City of Brotherly Love, it does not always tend to have that reputation. Life can be quite rough at times while growing up in Philadelphia, but Yeaseam Nelson focused on a positive outlook on life.

Despite all the outside noise, Yeaseam was sheltered as a kid from what was occurring in his area. By having tunnel vision, he was still able to keep that sense of innocence throughout his childhood.

On the other hand, he also admires an abundance of positive aspects of Philadelphia: the agriculture, history, and vibrance. The list can go on and on, but regardless of all the negativity in the city, Yeaseam loved growing up here.

At a young age, Yeaseam connected with Dan from the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.

“Dan took me out of the projects (where I grew up) and took me under his wing”, said Nelson.

As a result, Yeaseam was able to improve his grades in school and discovered a new path of having a better life. This demonstrates the true importance of a role model as they can make a significant change in someone’s life when an individual knows they have someone who cares for them and supports them.

During his younger years, there were times when he had some anger and aggression built up. However, he was introduced to two new hobbies that quickly turned into passions of his: football and poetry.

Football has been a key part of Yeaseam’s life because he has been able to leave it all out on the field. With all his emotions and thoughts colliding together, stepping on the football field allows him to unleash all his power.

When Yeaseam was 15 years old, Dan started showing him poetry clubs. This new interest was a more peaceful manner for Yeaseam to express his emotions.

To this day, he travels with it because it has been a constructive outlook for him all his life. He has always been fascinated with the arts, and poetry has been his favorite form.

After graduating from Furness Horace High School in Philadelphia, Yeaseam attended the Indiana University of Pennsylvania located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For him this was an easy transition; the vast majority of inner-city kids from Philly that were leaving the city also enrolled at IUP.

Since a young age, Yeaseam strived to be a positive figure in his community. By the time he reached college he decided to pursue criminal law in hopes of eventually becoming a lawyer.

In July 2010, Nelson was with his friend who received a phone call from his girlfriend who was moving out from a domestic situation.

The abusive boyfriend, Mikhail Young, was a culinary student at IUP. He arrived at the house while she was packing up her belongings; the two had an altercation and it reached a point to where it became physical. Shortly after, Nelson and his teammate drove up to the house to help his friend’s girlfriend.

Upon their arrival, Young was holding a culinary knife to her wrists. Nelson separated the two amongst all the chaos and slowly guided her safely out the door.

Once she left the room it was just Nelson and Young facing each other. Nelson stood up for the woman as he couldn’t believe Young’s actions, but Young did not care because he recently went to jail.

Nelson mainly took offense to the fact that Young was holding a knife at him.

However, Yeaseam was well-prepared for this type of situation because he took Martial Arts for seven years. He wasn’t scared of the knife because he knew he had the ability to take him out due to his years of training.

Yeaseam unravelled a shirt wrapped around his head and used it as protection the moment Mikhail swung the knife in his direction. He was able to block it and the two exchanged punches until Nelson kicked him hard in the chest. Momentarily, Young stumbled towards the window and then lunged at Nelson on the couch and threw punches at him.

Now remember this incident was occurring in 2010, so not everyone had a phone in their pocket to record anything instantly. But, whenever there was a fight happening it was the biggest craze to post it for Worldstar. In this case, his teammate’s girlfriend walked in the house to record this fight which benefited Nelson in the long run.

Eventually, Yeaseam Nelson restrained Mikhail Young, but he was still attempting to grab the knife. Nelson commanded that he stopped reaching for it and eventually Young complied and was released.

One moment that he vividly remembers is Young laying on the ground and wheezing heavily; “It was almost as if he was snoring”, recalls Nelson.

Afterwards, Yeaseam walked out of the house to make sure all his friends were okay and then he headed back to campus to clean up after a busy day.

While he was showering at his room, he received multiple phone calls to head back to the house because a nearby couple reported that Mikhail Young was still lying on the ground.

Instead of running away, Nelson called the ambulance and police himself and explained to the police exactly what happened. In his words, “we didn’t do anything wrong, he did.”

Since a homicide occurred it was required for Nelson to be held by police, and he was informed during questioning that Young died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Yeaseam was kept in the hole for 30 days in order to avoid conflict, and then he spent an additional 30 days rehabilitating into society.

He received tremendous support from his community due to being a well-respected figure. A high-powered lawyer offered to take his case for free in place of the public defender that he had.

What makes this case even more neat is since Nelson was studying criminal law during this time, he had the opportunity to practice reviewing certain portions of the case.

Fortunately, the judge agreed that it was clear-cut self-defense. This whole case went in his favor because of the cell phone evidence that proved it was a self-defense situation.

He briefly returned to classes the following semester, but it became overwhelming enough to the point where Yeaseam couldn’t attend classes.

Fast forward to 2014, Yeaseam Nelson joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

Shortly after, he received a job opportunity to become a Corrections Officer in Virginia. This was a passion of his because he wanted to be a changing light for somebody. Nelson understood what it was like to be in their shoes as well, so he could identify who was wronged in the system.

Furthermore, Nelson was tasked to be a K-9 officer and was part of the only unit in his county that had dogs. This was a lot of responsibility, but Nelson was gaining valuable experience along this journey.

In 2019, Nelson made the decision to become a full-time marine.

Now, Yeaseam still has a burning passion to become a lawyer and has enrolled in classes to achieve his degree in criminal law.

He has a strong desire to work in this field and can relate to everyone involved since he knows first-hand what it’s like to be on either side.

Without a doubt, there is so much corrupt in the prison system.

According to Nelson, “there is a lot that happens in the system that people don’t know. There needs to be more dedication to find out whether people are truly guilty or innocent.”

From his prison alone, there have been a handful of people behind bars for child support or drug possession.

While people continue to get locked up for petty crimes there must be a point where we must educate ourselves. Is it really worth the price to sentence people for these types of crimes?

Certainly, someone who is a killer or a rapist should be in prison for a long-time, but how many more lives are going to be ruined for low-end crimes? The justice system needs to examine these cases more clearly and make better decisions.

Upon reflecting on the situation, Nelson has no regrets from that night in late July. He said, “I owned up to my actions. If something bad happens, can I live with the consequences? Everything came out to, yes.”

For someone else going through a similar situation, Yeaseam recommended to find a support team that you can lean on and trust.

His old sergeant in boot camp told him, “the key to life is being a good motherf****r. If you’re a good person and have a lot of good people in your corner you can’t be beaten, you’re unstoppable.”