“Hi! Would you mind if I take your picture?”
“Sure! My name’s Grace. I live in the senior center up on Fillmore. I’m a senior citizen. I’m 72 years old. I’ve lived here since 1972 and I stayed until 1976 when I moved to Richmond because I didn’t want to raise my kids in the projects, but that was before there were all the drugs and foolishness going on out there. Me…I just liked to work, go to c
“Sure! My name’s Grace. I live in the senior center up on Fillmore. I’m a senior citizen. I’m 72 years old. I’ve lived here since 1972 and I stayed until 1976 when I moved to Richmond because I didn’t want to raise my kids in the projects, but that was before there were all the drugs and foolishness going on out there. Me…I just liked to work, go to c
hurch, and raise my kids but a lot of people out there were into that other stuff.”
“How many kids do you have?”
“6, I raised 5 of them. 1 was kidnapped when he was 6 months old. His father took him and told him a bunch of lies. He told him that he was found on a doorstep. He didn’t find out about me till he was 23 years old. Then he came out and met me at the train station. I remember he said he was going to be wearing a Bart Simpson t-shirt, but then it was too cold and everyone had jackets on. But I just went on up to the person I thought looked like my kin and asked, "Are you wearing a Bart Simpson t-shirt?” and he gave me a big hug and said, “You’re my mama!”
“That’s a great story.”
“That’s San Francisco, when I was back in Lufkin, Texas, that’s where I’m from, I told people I wanted to go to San Francisco. All that was there for me in Texas was picking cotton, the KKK and people telling me I wasn’t shit. They told me if I tried to leave I’d end up dead on the street. But you know what I told them?”
“What?”
“Dead is dead, but before I die I’m going to see San Francisco!”
“How many kids do you have?”
“6, I raised 5 of them. 1 was kidnapped when he was 6 months old. His father took him and told him a bunch of lies. He told him that he was found on a doorstep. He didn’t find out about me till he was 23 years old. Then he came out and met me at the train station. I remember he said he was going to be wearing a Bart Simpson t-shirt, but then it was too cold and everyone had jackets on. But I just went on up to the person I thought looked like my kin and asked, "Are you wearing a Bart Simpson t-shirt?” and he gave me a big hug and said, “You’re my mama!”
“That’s a great story.”
“That’s San Francisco, when I was back in Lufkin, Texas, that’s where I’m from, I told people I wanted to go to San Francisco. All that was there for me in Texas was picking cotton, the KKK and people telling me I wasn’t shit. They told me if I tried to leave I’d end up dead on the street. But you know what I told them?”
“What?”
“Dead is dead, but before I die I’m going to see San Francisco!”