I didn’t feel the pressure of white bigotry while growing up in Dallas, my birthplace. That’s because my mother kept me and my siblings protected. For half of my nine years living there, I lived in South Dallas, south of Forest Ave. (now MLK Ave.) and near the Cotton Bowl. The other half I lived in north Dallas in the Roseland Home projects, never having been around white people except at the grocery store and the State Fair. My first experience of consistently being around white people was in 1956 when my family moved to Los Angeles. I was 9 and felt an intensive culture shock, especially having a white school teacher and mostly white classmates. It was very unsettling for me, especially having attended six different elementary schools between the 4th and 5th grades. But I quickly adjusted because Los Angeles was not nearly as bad as the South. My biggest struggle was with my dysfunctional family: divorced mother, different male live-ins, no role models, and no helpful churches. I grew up knowing what I wouldn’t want as an adult more than knowing what I would need until Christ came into my life at age 21. My eyes get watery when I think about it. He never allowed me to succumb to victimology but to hold firmly to victory in every situation, even before I was saved. As I look back over almost 75 years of my life, I'm reminded of the words I've often heard in a song that says, "He brought me from a mighty long way." That's my song testimony. My Scripture testimony is Gal. 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Thus, I can truly say God’s grace is amazing.
Blessings!
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