The story is all too familiar to too many: a young man, shaped by his environment--for better or, most likely, worse--makes a decision. A criminal decision.
In 1996, Christopher Ruffin, a then-22-year-old product of the Kingston housing projects, acted as lookout as a friend and an acquaintance robbed U.S. Post Office employees at gunpoint in Tarrant. A year later he pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to 75 months in a federal prison.
He was released on April 25, 2003, according to court records.
Next Wednesday, the Board of Directors of the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority is slated to vote on its motion to elevate Ruffin, a Birmingham native who began working at the authority in 2010, as a bus driver, from interim executive director to the top position.
He has served in the role on an interim basis since April when executive director Barbara Murdock was suspended without pay for the alleged use of the authority credit card for personal expenses. Ruffin, now 44 and a 6-foot-4-inch former football player at Miles College, had been head of operations.
On Thursday, when initially shown an indictment and judgement regarding the case, Ruffin perused the documents for a couple of minutes, then said: "Yes, it's me."
"I grew up in the Kingston projects," he continued, "in an environment where you had to be hard to survive. I made mistakes and it was a mistake.
"I was a young man hanging with the wrong crowd. They said I didn't have to do anything, but they needed someone to be the lookout.
"I made a bad decision to go with them. It was a mistake. I've learned from it. I got a second chance [at the BJCTA], and now I'm a better man, a better person."
Board chair Darryl Cunningham did not return telephone calls or text messages seeking a response.
Frankly, it's not surprising. Lackluster leadership and ambivalent direction are hallmarks of this board.
Prior to last Wednesday's committee of the whole meeting, when approached about whether the board would conduct a national search or a new executive director or perfunctorily elevate Ruffin, board members were mixed about how to how to replace Murdock.
Long-tenured board member Johnnye Lassiter was unequivocal about her preference for a national search. "Why promote a novice?" she said.
Board member Donald Harwell, however, vacillated: "I've seen them bring up people in the ranks, sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn't."
Board member Ted Smith simply said. "No comment."
Then he offered; "We're about to do some big things here."
The big thing was voting to promote Ruffin to the top position without conducting a nation search.
Ruffin, a dedicated success story to many, may very well be the best person to lead BJCTA at this critical time, in the aftermath (and midst) of turmoil and doubt. But how do we know? How do we have confidence in a board that has inspired confidence in, like, no one, if it does not exhibit the rigor necessary to earn it?
Last Wednesday, the board made it very clear it was not interested in conducting a national search for its next executive director. It allowed Ruffin, and only Ruffin, to make a passionate and persuasive pitch for becoming the next leader of the embattled authority.
Since being named the interim executive director, Ruffin has intentionally and willfully guided an embattled organization crippled by senior executive resignations, internal strife, and an investigation by the state attorney general's office into alleged wrong-doing by his predecessor and potentially others.
"Addressing the crisis at hand has been a struggle for me," he said. "I didn't know I would go through all the things I went through. I've been baptized. I've made mistakes. I'm not perfect. No one will be more committed [to the job] than a citizen of Birmingham.
"We need to show the world that we are stable, not inept. I will provide that."
Ruffin was passionate and persuasive. After he spoke, the board voted to recommend that he be named executive director.
Ruffin was on vacation with his wife and daughter when he learned he had been named to the interim position when then-executive director Barbara Murdock was suspended without pay for alleged misuse of the authority credit card. She was terminated in May.
Since then, three senior staffers have resigned: finance director Karen Jacobs; Mike Sims, the interim director of human resources and Ron Sweeney, the long-time head of maintenance.
In May Birmingham mayor Randall Woodfin threatened to slice the BJCTA's funding if it did not meet three conditions related to leadership stabilization and in June the City Council passed a budget that chopped $5.4 million from the city's $10.8 allocation because the board had not yet met the conditions.
According to a judge's detention order regarding Ruffin's crime, "three persons were involved in the robbery; two of them confronted and robbed the postal service employees, while the third person drove the car. Two persons who confessed to the crime identified Ruffin as the third perpetrator and as the one who possessed the pistol used in the robbery.
"Although the defendant [Ruffin] denied to a postal inspector any involvement in the crime, Ruffin made statements. Recorded in a conversation, from which it could be inferred that he was one of the persons involved in the case."
He was ordered held without bond, pending the disposition of the case.
Seven years after his release, Ruffin, a life-long bus rider, applied to be a bus driver.
At the time, the application included a question regarding whether the applicant had an arrest or conviction within the previous seven years.
Based on that timeline Ruffin did not have to answer affirmatively.
"The BJCTA," Ruffin says, "is a second-chance company."
In 2016, then-Birmingham mayor William A. Bell signed an executive order calling for the city to "ban the box" on job applications asking potential employees about their criminal conviction or arrest history.
"There is no such thing as a disposable person," Bell said at the time. "We must take the time and make the effort to offer second chances to the thousands of people impacted by these statistics."
Currently, 31 states and more than 150 cities have some form of a "ban the box" policy for public job applicants, according to the National Employment Law Project. In the South, only Georgia and Louisiana have such policies.
Eleven states have gone further, banning private employers from inquiring about an applicant's criminal or arrest history at the initial stages of the interview process.
In April, Birmingham mayor Randall Woodfin announced the creation of the Re-Entry Task Force to help the formerly incarcerated re-acclimate to their community and reduce recidivism.
"Clearly, there is a need, a genuine need, and a sense of urgency to examine how we can improve the system and help those wanting to be helped," Woodfin said.
Ex-offenders who gain employment are about half as likely to re-offend as those who cannot find employment, according to data.
Ruffin says he is guided by his faith, work ethic and the realities of his past.
"Black people in this city have all gone through some situations," he said. "A lot of them, the system has taken them away. A lot of them alcohol. Some of them drugs.
"There has to be someone standing, and if God can use me as a vessel to show that then I am ready."
Next Wednesday, or perhaps sooner, we'll learn if the BJCTA board is ready, too.