Floyd Brown Loc: Milwaukee WI

It is my parents that had the hard times of the forties & fifties.
They paid the price need to protect me from the harshness.

The American dream was alive & well for me as I became an adult in the late fifties.

Some how I learned something when I was not quite 4.

My sister had just been born. The 4 of us were walking some distance to my grandparents. My father was carrying my sister. After a while I got tired & wanted to be carried.
My father said no. I said mother could carry my sister & he could carry me. Hesaid no she can't. I don't know just why I knew that was so, but some how I knew.

I never asked to be carried again. I just knew that I needed them & that I needed to do what was asked of me.

There was never a time that I didn't think that they loved me & that I was truly Special to them.

I have 7 children that are now doing well & living the American dream.

I did what was needed to provide the best I could to raise them.

As hard as it was, in no small way will I ever forget that being white made it easier for me.

The love my parents had for me & how they made me feel Special left a mark on me.

The mark I wish to leave on others that touch my life that they too are special.

We all have a burden to carry & if we all can carry a part of that burden we may leave this Earth while leaving a mark that will carry on to a better world.

Where we can have the best of the past, & make the future better still.