MY EARLIEST CHILDHOOD THE MEMORY IS WATCHING MICKEY MOUSE CLUB on the lower level of a bunk bed with my brother and mother. I would have been nearly four at the time and I vividly recall it was a Sunday evening and Mum was pregnant with my sister. At first we lived in the Castle Hill middle-income housing project in the Bronx and it felt like a real community, with playgrounds and playing fields amid all the buildings.
WHEN MY FATHER'S INCOME INCREASED WE MOVED TO RIVERDALE, which was a more plush part of the Bronx and, prophetically perhaps, our building was called Skyview. One day I came home and there were people protesting against Black families moving in. That was in 1964, when I was six years old, and that seemed so odd to me. I thought, Why do people feel this way? because when you're a kid you can't process complex issues, you just observe things.
MY FATHER WORKED FOR THE NEW YORK CITY MAYOR'S OFFICE under Mayor Lindsay and he became a commissioner for the manpower and career development agency, which was very much plugged into the Civil Rights Movement. Keeping New York a liveable and safe place that was free from unrest was a heroic effort at a very difficult time. There were severe riots related to equal rights and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Malcom X. Although New York had a few dustups, my dad helped keep the city calm in the face of disturbances of the peace.
Denne historien er fra February 2023-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.
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Denne historien er fra February 2023-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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