This was a question that became a question in my life a few years ago. I always knew I wanted to be a Sociologist, I just didn’t know I wanted to be one. Sounds strange??? I know, just stay with me…
I was born in a housing project in Memphis, TN. I was an only raised by my mom (who’s father died while she was in the womb and never married) and grandmother-never married (God rest their souls in Heaven). My grandmother would eventually buy us a three bedroom in a nice area. We were excited!!! That excitement soon turned into a miserable condition. We were the first Blacks in that general, and boy did our white neighbors remind us of that fact. They decided to leave us some well-thought art work that was spray-painted in our driveway, “Niggers Go Home!” My grandmother broke down and simply said to me, “We are at home son…” I saw the hurt in her eyes. I saw the anger in my moms eyes. The irony, we had been living in a housing project and never had experienced that kind of hate before. The police came out, and of course no one was punished. They protected each other, they protected their kids through lies and deceit. By the way, all those “good” neighbors who claimed to be totally ignorant of who did it was eventually outed by a neighbor YEARS later after “white flight” (that is another blog…). It was hell over there for years. My neighbor’s pit bull would mysteriously “escape” whenever my cousins and I played outside, but I never once saw Greg, Scottie, or the others ever have to run from that dog when they would be outside playing with their remote control cars. I wondered I wondered… I grew up hearing the stories, but I didn’t know what was going on. I soon learned by the age of 9 years old. Why did a 9 year old boy have to experience that?
That was the start of this journey to understand this world I live in. A funny thing happened. I wanted to know why people treated people like this. I wanted to know what caused people to hate and mistreat one another because of how they look. I read a lot of news and articles concerning Sociology, but something was missing. I am embarrassed to say that it wasn’t until 2014 that I began to scratch the surface of this Sociology thing. I began to uncover exactly what it was. I FOUND MY CALLING!!! I wanted to scientifically study the society that I live in.
Stay tuned as I briefly share another irony as it relates to my journey to becoming a Sociologist.
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