The Nation's Capital
Washington, DC in the 1950s was a city marked by the stark realities of the Jim Crow era. Discrimination and segregation woven into the fabric of everyday life, impacting every aspect of society.
1953: A Precarious
Beginning
In the early hours of a day in 1953, precisely at 2 AM, I was born at Freedman's, now known as Howard University Hospital. Born into homelessness, my arrival in this world on the 12th of October under the auspices of Social Service. My biological father’s brother sexually abused my mother, creating a rift into what would have been another broken family.
Being married with children of her first marriage of three, having three more sons, I’m the second middle child.
The mother, widow with five of her own, two clashing brothers became our legal guardian to two of the new born. Third new born is unknown to me as of this day.
1957: Early Encounters with Inequality
By September of 1957, at the tender age of 4 years and 11 months, school age denied, I started working a domestic job. It was a harsh introduction to the responsibilities of life at such a youthful age. The very same year, the continuum of public discrimination using the National DC Transit bus and street cars.
Learnt a lesson “target the cultural norms of any targeted market” my Guardian displayed her little white hankie from her breast pocket fanning to wipe the seats off encapsulating her target market, any privilege white man, a lesson repeated in an MBA undergraduate course, maybe this is why I never finished college.
1959: Unusual
Experiences
The year 1959 brought with it a series of peculiar events. A strange interaction with a tall gray stranger. It taught me a geometric design for my kite tail. I master the sky leaving an indelible mark on my memory. The same year, the first of legal incidents, operating without a license a Hammarlund two-way Radio Studio ended by the presence of two men dressed in black, mysteriously disabling the equipment, a curious episode that added to the tapestry of my early life.
These experiences, set against the backdrop of a city grappling with the complexities of race and social justice, began to shape the foundations of my Plutonic journey.