Hi. It’s good to catch up as always. I hope you’ve had a good weekend so far and have been training hard. It’s not been too shabby this week this end which is of course always a good thing. Especially when you feel wronged and victimized.

Wronged and victimized. I don’t like either one of those words. Way back when a friend of mine gave me a postcard with that photo of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston. “First minute first round.” You know the one right? on the back he wrote one thing for me.”I am a survivor.”

It was important at the time because I was a shadow of myself. I learned that I didn’t have to walk with my head bowed and my trauma there for all to see instead, I learned how to stand up. Just recently I’ve looked in the mirror and I can see the young man, still there but these days he’s learning to work from a place of strength.

Training in particular is helping me navigate a lot of damage that has been done over the past few years from police harassment and contact and is reminding me that my life is no longer the same as it was back then. These days I help people and I use my own experiences as guidance when it comes to helping people put things right. I am a survivor and because I am I pass on my knowledge and guidance and I’m comfortable in my own skin. I feel at home.

Walking into my gym after still processing that the police have run firearms checks on me for believe it or not carrying a kubotan keyring in its completely legal use as a keyring helped me manage a lot of the anger that rose to the surface. If you’ve seen my Twitter rants you’ve met younger John. I’m very sorry but he’s done nothing wrong. I have a lovely friend who I see every couple of weeks who is helping me get to know him again. When all the different parts of me are aligned just like now I go back to my centre and speak from my heart. It’s where I live.

Just recently I said to myself “they’ve racially profiled me again. The fucking bastards ran an immigration check on me. They ran a firearms check on me.” And from out of the depths of my subconscious, a voice said “they used to stop and search me for riding on the pavement.” So today I took the hurt to the gym with me and it left because all there was the gym and the second family I train with. This is how I process the damage. And how I leave it behind.

I’m currently preparing to begin legal action against Avon and Somerset Police once again for a DPA 2018 breach that has had far-reaching implications and has done a considerable amount of damage to my life. I have never been alone and I know I am in the right. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone so far who has seen it and understand what has happened to me has most certainly not occurred in a vacuum.

The police have finally crossed a line I never thought they would and as my solicitors would say, there is a legal remedy to most of the issues I have faced. This has amounted to data protection breaches, police harassment, and targeting for fighting to get a malicious prosecution overturned a few years back. You can find out more about my story and what I am currently looking to achieve by visiting my CrowdJustice here.

Staying focused and strong at present is essential especially when the truth has become increasingly traumatic but being human and giving that guy who hopes you can see him room to get his voice heard is just as essential. These days I take him to train with me and show him what he can do. I step into volunteering and use my past experiences to help others. I walk tall and I face everything like it’s never mattered at all. But that’s me. Fighting for my rights. First minute first round. Have a great weekend, and just like the last time… I’ll see you on that road.