“For my family, city, and country”: Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker's Legacy

13 steps. That’s the distance the 5’6” prized boxer Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker walked to cross the street from the Young Park housing projects where he grew up in Norfolk, Virginia to Scope Arena--the publicly funded complex that anchored the city’s urban renewal. It was only 13 steps for “Sweet Pea,” but the distance between the two publicly funded p…