Mister Jones

Growing up as an black male in Milwaukee has been nothing but an adventure for these past 23 years. I have witnessed what many wouldn't believe and did what some wouldn't dare. But those are the things that have created the person I am today. I grew up in a single parent household with my grandmother, my great grandfather and my uncle. My grandmother hand a big white and read house in the middle of the block in a neighborhood I like to call it the "Black Suburbs."  It looked nowhere near the real suburbs but thats what my grandpa referred to it as. My grandma was the breadwinner of the house, well she was the man of the house too. She took care of my great-grandfather, my uncle and I. My grandfather was a tall old man from Alabama.He was retired from Miller Brewing and helped out around the house when he could. My household was very old fashion. I was well mannered and my grandmother expected nothing but the best from me. She sent me to Congress Elementary School , which was right down the street from home. My grandfather walked my uncle and I to school everyday. He always told me how good I got it. He always mentioned how he had to walk barefoot to school by his self and how times have changed. My two best friend in elementary school were white. Matt and Catlin were there names. I had black people in my classes but we were friends every since K5. When second grade started they both went to different schools.Years later I started attending middle school at Samuel Morse, a school for the gifted and talented. Thats when I basically started finding myself, realizing I love girls and basketball.  Morse was a pretty diverse school but the hallways were always filled with mainly black people. Around eight grade my grandmother and I stayed in arguements because we just weren't getting along.  With me being a teenager I didn't wanna follow her rules and wanted to follow my own.. In the middle of the school year I moved in with my mother. I knew she really didn't want me there but she really didn't have a choice. My mother and I never had a good relationship but its something to this day we try to work on. We stayed in a small two bedroom apartment on the northwest side of Milwaukee.  My mom had her own room and my little bother and sister shared rooms.  There was no room for me so I slept in the living room on the couch. Months later my mom finally got a house that fits everyone. I could have got my own room but I decided to let my sister have it since she was the only girl. The new house was alright but I was hardly there because of my mother and I constantly arguing over stupid stuff. But when we weren't arguing she always found away to get me ready for the future. She enrolled me in Menomonee Falls High School which contain mainly white people and only twenty black people.. This was another big change for me. I kept to myself and kept my head in the books. The classes were much better than the public schools and really got me prepared for college. High School also prepared me for all the ignorant people I will encounter in life as well. My first day of school I was called the N word. The first day of school I got in trouble for fighting as well. I really didn't realize how stupid people could be until going to high school.I remember one day walking down the hall and going to my locker. This white guy kept looking at me but never said anything. He was in my geometry class to. I remember my teacher calling out his name and it was my best friend Matt from elementary school. All this time he knew who I was but never said a word to me. I tried having a conversation with him but he always kept it short. It was crazy.  I can recall one year when there was a hit list with all black students on it. We got police escorts to class and we didn't have to show up to school for the last couple of days for class. I wasn't scared by the threat at all. I was just trying to understand how could one person have so much hate inside of them at a young age. I graduated from the Falls in June 2006 and started my classes at Parkside that fall.  I was excited for my college experience but my excitement went right down the drain. My roommate was this tall, blond head kid from Chicago. I didn't have a problem with him but I guess he had one with me. He told me how intimated he was of me because I was black. I really didn't understand.