Dooney

Johnny A. Jordan Jr.

Description

If you’ve had this conversation with family or friends, you know the need and see the void (our generation/black baby boomers) we are leaving as our legacy. Please make no mistake; what you are experiencing right now is history for the next generation. Ok, so you might not be in the Hall of Fame or have a title before your name; but you are a light to someone. Please don’t take it lightly; how many stories with no names attached to them have inspired people to action? That’s what it’s all about. Hear me when I say, “THAT’S YOU TOO”…Tell Your Story.

Sujets

• Biography
• Autobiography
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 25 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665579384
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

DOONEY
 
Why Aren’t We Telling Our Story
 
 
 
 
JOHNNY A. JORDAN, JR.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2023 Johnny A. Jordan, Jr. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 01/24/2023
 
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7937-7 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7939-1 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7938-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022924097
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
CONTENTS
‘WHY AREN’T YOU TELLING YOUR STORY’
INTRODUCTION
Did You Walk, or Did You Ride?
Breaking A Barrier
Integrating School
Boycotts
My First Band and Tragedy
And a Child Shall Lead Them - school walkout
Childhood
No Great Expectations – MVP
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I will start at the top and work my way down without having to write an acknowledgment before this. God, You are everything; even now, you are telling me what to write and say. To say thank you doesn’t come close to my gratitude for everything you have done in my life. To my Father and Mother, Johnny and Ceola, may you rest in peace. I say conceiving me must have been a fun event because mom would always say I am a happy child, but I’m sure it was also the love and care you showed to all of your children and others. Everyone was welcome at our home. Thank You. To my siblings, thank you for being the solid Christan citizens our parents raised. The word proud is what I feel when I think of you. Without a doubt, God marked us all. Finally, I say thank you to everyone who somehow appears in my stories. You made that portion of my life fun to look back on. The good and the bad, remember “IT’S ALL GOOD.’
Thank You,
 
To all the people who believe that slavery is NOT our only HISTORY and that we make history every day we live, I encourage you to tell your family what you’ve been thru and what you are presently going thru so they can learn from your accomplishments and your fail ures.
INTRODUCTION
DID YOU WALK, OR DID YOU RIDE?
JANUARY 20

Yesterday we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, and floods of thought entered my mind, from past experiences to present-day living. The conflict or paradox was so compelling that my spirit urged me to say something. Don’t ask me why because I can genuinely say that I have been abundantly blessed and experience God’s mercy and blessings every day. However, when I observe the lack of respect for the struggles made in this country appear marginalized, degraded, and wholly overlooked, I become agitated. My mother told me years ago that ignoring someone’s accomplishments is just like saying you don’t exist or that what you did has no significance. We all know African Americans’ strides and achievements in our great country. Still, for some reason, many, myself included, have yet to tell the stories of our past. No one wants to live in the past or perpetuate the things we have overcome, but it bothers me how soon we forget.
I write this, whatever it is, wondering why we, as black/African Americans, don’t tell our own families of our experiences. In many cases, it’s the direct result of so many of us doing well by the grace of God. I talked with my older sister, who mentioned that her kids showed little to no interest when she tried to tell of some of her heritage growing up in the south. Unfortunately, I see a lot of that with our youth today. So many can’t believe or are unwilling to hear anything about our struggles unless it comes from Hollywood or a textbook written from some other point of view. When they do hear or see things we experience, they marginalize it or think that it was so long ago that it makes no difference now. My heart breaks when I see our young black boys and girls oblivious to where they came from and how and where they are now. Thus I write this.
Two years ago, my mother died. My nieces and nephews were astonished when they learned what happened in our small community and how our family played a significant role in the fight for civil rights. My mother was no activist, but she believed that right was right. Whether you are black or white, we all should have high standards when it comes to justice and fair play. Her involvement, along with others, caused my nieces and nephews to ask why we never told them about what transpired in our lives to allow them to live the lives they live today. And I had to ask myself the same question, and then I noticed how this is not just our family’s dilemma. We do not pass our history down in the families at home. We may be used to letting everyone else do our job as family historians. “If you don’t know where you came from, you will not know where you are going.” I heard that growing up a lot. But it appears to have been replaced or not taught to this next generation. We often say this generation has very little to live for; thus, we have a disproportion of black men in prison, on drugs, and absent from the workforce and at home. Our kids and grandkids are paying the price for our silence. One of our main things back in the day was storytelling to pass on a family’s legacy.