Writing My Story

I'm in the process of writing a blog about my life it's been quite an eye opener.
I wasn't planning to write my story.  Who would want to read it?  I am not rich or famous. I'm just a poor woman from the Hood.  Then one day I wrote a facebook post about some of my life's most difficult challenges  and a good friend and wife of the Mayor of Braddock read it and texted me she thinks I should write my story down because she would read it.  I told her I would.
Well life turned upside down and I ended up Homeless.  I had to find a place to live and start over.
Now I'm settled and began the process of writing it all down.
All my troubles and celebrations.  I realized that my life is reflective of most of the people who remained in the Hood after the MLK riots. After the riots came the drugs and then the violence. Yet I remember life when it was much simpler and we were still a loving Community.  How everyone black and white knew not only who you we're but also who your people were.  People cared about each other.
We were all poor but we had each other.  I remember my friends parents we're also mine and vice versa. We rode bikes and played Release The Den and Red Light Green Light on hot summer nights
We walked to school with friends and went to Church.
So although life was hard in the Hood it was also good.
As much as our parents loved us they could not protect us from reality we we're impoverished people.  In the USA we are the Unclean,  unwanted and invisible to everyone but each other. We saw this in the teacher who segregated the poor kids into a group called the Dummy Group. The Girl Scout Leader who used Racial Slurs. Our parents had to explain to their kids that they are special and not dumb.
I still despite many bad times feel lucky I had the childhood I did growing up in 15104, the poorest zip code in the Country according to The New York Times.  They also referred to my town as Hell.  I often wonder why they would ever think it's OK to insult poor people after visiting our town call it Hell.
I will be writing more as my book develops. I want to start writing daily.