I remember the first time we prayed to
God to pay our rent my two sisters and I
were kneeling on the living room floor
listening to my mother cry afterwards we
dug for pennies in the couch and I was
convinced that God must have a hearing
problem because we lost our home anyway
over the next few years we would sleep
on strangers floors and the back of our
hair salon in our car because no matter
how hard my mom tried she couldn’t do it
alone with three girls my mom used to
love to braid my hair
she would always smell the soft spot on
the back of my head she said it was the
spot that made me her baby no matter how
old I was she wanted us to smell good
she didn’t want us to smell like dirt
and soft rain because she was afraid
that if we didn’t smell good our
teachers wouldn’t help us I never had
problems with my teachers not helping me
in fact it was the opposite I was the
kid on the last day of kindergarten that
got invited to her house to swim in her
hot tub I was the kid that loved school
so much I wore this turtleneck when I
got the chicken pox just so I could keep
going
in second grade I had this teacher named
Mrs Weaver Mrs Weaver had us make a doll
named flat Sammy flat Sammy looked just
like me she had golden yarn hair and a
whole jean outfit and I was proud of her
and Mrs Weaver told us that we needed to
give our doll to an adults that loved us
and that adults would take our doll with
them everywhere and take pictures and
write letters to me about their
adventures I didn’t have anyone to give
my doll to so I gave mine to Mrs Weaver
and she took that doll with her and she
wrote me letters about how they ate raw
cookie dough together and I imagined
myself there with her in her kitchen
laughing with my sweet flat Sammy my
sisters and I were left alone a lot as
kids and when we’d get tired of playing
school I would go outside and I would
climb my favorite tree and I would push
my heart into that tree because for some
reason I always knew that there was more
to life than listening to my mother’s
head hit the back of some man’s palm
claiming that he loved her when I was in
eighth grade she went to jail
and I thought that there would be
somebody that would be there to claim us
someone in our bloodline but no one did
it was my best friend’s mom who took my
two sisters and I in so we wouldn’t be
separated
it was my seventh grade teacher who
started to write me these beautiful
letters words of encouragement that I
always needed and she listened as I
expressed my fears of becoming a mother
figure to my two sisters years later
after she was released we were getting
ready to be homeless again and I was a
senior in high school and I couldn’t do
it I went to my principal at the time
and I said I’m done I don’t want to be
here anymore I want to drop out and he
said wow you’ve come this far and you
want to drop out you have so much
potential why don’t you take school with
you wherever you’re going and so I did I
did independent study across state lines
which is something they had never done
before because he believed in me I moved
to Kansas and I met this woman along the
way who I called my Kansas mama she took
me to a college campus and she asked me
why wasn’t I here she told me I was made
of great things that I could do this he
seemed I could have been the girl with
the needle in my arm I could have been
addicted to drugs
I could have been in the criminal
justice system I could have been
homeless I could have had children that
I couldn’t feed if I didn’t have people
all along the way telling me that I am
strong powerful that resiliency rests in
my bones and my mom thought that this
whole time that she was raising us on
her own and their range loss all along
the way most people think they need to
lead a march or start a movement to
leave a legacy but I am a living
testament to the value of kindness of
telling someone that they are worth it
that you believe in them and sometimes
that can be just enough to save a life
[Applause]
God to pay our rent my two sisters and I
were kneeling on the living room floor
listening to my mother cry afterwards we
dug for pennies in the couch and I was
convinced that God must have a hearing
problem because we lost our home anyway
over the next few years we would sleep
on strangers floors and the back of our
hair salon in our car because no matter
how hard my mom tried she couldn’t do it
alone with three girls my mom used to
love to braid my hair
she would always smell the soft spot on
the back of my head she said it was the
spot that made me her baby no matter how
old I was she wanted us to smell good
she didn’t want us to smell like dirt
and soft rain because she was afraid
that if we didn’t smell good our
teachers wouldn’t help us I never had
problems with my teachers not helping me
in fact it was the opposite I was the
kid on the last day of kindergarten that
got invited to her house to swim in her
hot tub I was the kid that loved school
so much I wore this turtleneck when I
got the chicken pox just so I could keep
going
in second grade I had this teacher named
Mrs Weaver Mrs Weaver had us make a doll
named flat Sammy flat Sammy looked just
like me she had golden yarn hair and a
whole jean outfit and I was proud of her
and Mrs Weaver told us that we needed to
give our doll to an adults that loved us
and that adults would take our doll with
them everywhere and take pictures and
write letters to me about their
adventures I didn’t have anyone to give
my doll to so I gave mine to Mrs Weaver
and she took that doll with her and she
wrote me letters about how they ate raw
cookie dough together and I imagined
myself there with her in her kitchen
laughing with my sweet flat Sammy my
sisters and I were left alone a lot as
kids and when we’d get tired of playing
school I would go outside and I would
climb my favorite tree and I would push
my heart into that tree because for some
reason I always knew that there was more
to life than listening to my mother’s
head hit the back of some man’s palm
claiming that he loved her when I was in
eighth grade she went to jail
and I thought that there would be
somebody that would be there to claim us
someone in our bloodline but no one did
it was my best friend’s mom who took my
two sisters and I in so we wouldn’t be
separated
it was my seventh grade teacher who
started to write me these beautiful
letters words of encouragement that I
always needed and she listened as I
expressed my fears of becoming a mother
figure to my two sisters years later
after she was released we were getting
ready to be homeless again and I was a
senior in high school and I couldn’t do
it I went to my principal at the time
and I said I’m done I don’t want to be
here anymore I want to drop out and he
said wow you’ve come this far and you
want to drop out you have so much
potential why don’t you take school with
you wherever you’re going and so I did I
did independent study across state lines
which is something they had never done
before because he believed in me I moved
to Kansas and I met this woman along the
way who I called my Kansas mama she took
me to a college campus and she asked me
why wasn’t I here she told me I was made
of great things that I could do this he
seemed I could have been the girl with
the needle in my arm I could have been
addicted to drugs
I could have been in the criminal
justice system I could have been
homeless I could have had children that
I couldn’t feed if I didn’t have people
all along the way telling me that I am
strong powerful that resiliency rests in
my bones and my mom thought that this
whole time that she was raising us on
her own and their range loss all along
the way most people think they need to
lead a march or start a movement to
leave a legacy but I am a living
testament to the value of kindness of
telling someone that they are worth it
that you believe in them and sometimes
that can be just enough to save a life
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: