Marquis Johnson stood in front of his second-grade class for show-and-tell and levied a threat to those who would listen.

Hurt his mother and pay dire consequences.

Startled by what she heard, Johnson’s teacher phoned Victoria Anderson, his mother, wondering exactly what was going on at their home.

“He got up in show-and-tell and he told them he would kill whoever if they hurt me again,” Anderson said. “She thought it was my current husband at the time. I was like, no, it had to be my past. That was my first awareness of anything.

“That’s when I first started talking to him and trying to find out what had been going on before we moved to Orlando.”

Johnson had witnessed his mother being verbally abused. What his mother didn’t know was that her son also had been abused himself.

His comments in class were the first signs of how troubled parts of his childhood had been.

Now with the New Orleans Saints, Johnson is ready to speak out against childhood abuse, ready to help those overcome the struggle the same way he has been able to.

“I’m not trying to be out there to have my name out there,” Johnson said. “But I have a story to tell, a testimony, and it doesn’t just need to be used in church. I want to be able to spread the word. I’m hands-on.”

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