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Transcript
My name is Jacqueline Kelly Wright. We grew up poor in the projects. It was called at the time, Elmore Square, which is now called Skyline Terrace. Back then we had a community. You can go from house to house. It was 1 village. Everyone took care of everyone. There wasn’t any fear and you can stay out as you had to be in front of the door in front of your house when the street lights came on. So no, your mom, we didn’t have watches and iPhones and iPads. When that street light came on, you had to be in front of your house but we didn’t also have toys, so we did a lot of two to peg and four corners, and dodgeball, that was our activity. We weren’t allowed to stay in the house. I came from a family of 8, so your punishment was to go outside.
I come from a long line of entrepreneurs, and we used to own the Flamingo, which is way before you guy’s time, it was up in popular years ago. Famous people we had Sammy Davis Jr. , different entertainers used to come to the Hill District. People used to come there, famous people, to sing and dance and we owned a tavern at the time. So I started when I was 18, working for our family by the age of 20, I was running hotel bar and restaurant.
The Hill District needs more houses. We need more stores. We need more black-owned businesses. We need more community based projects. We need so much there. We need to go back to the beginning. How on every corner we had our own stores we took of ourselves. We never shopped outside our community. Now we have to travel so far to go get something to eat, we have to travel so far to purchase stuff, we never had to do that growing up. We need to be together. There shouldn’t be no, just us and them. It has to go back to one family and family is every color.
Right now I’m an educator. I have two daycare centers and I’m branching out. I’m launching a new food truck. I don’t believe I went to sleep at night and dreamed to wipe butts and wipe noses. It just like, fell in my lap. God always told me that I was gonna be around kids or working with kids, and I was like, no, you got the wrong person, an educator I never thought but I love kids and it’s a passion. I walked away from my position. I was working at Bell Atlantic at the time, and I was in the repair department in a good position. I was always sitting in for my supervisor. I was making good money and I walked away to start a business that doesn’t give you money. It gives you little hugs and thank you but you can’t pay your bills with that. 18 years now, I have two locations, and I’m hoping to pass it to my grandkids. Both of my kids have degrees because education was a must for them. They couldn’t be like mom, but I wanted them to go to school for education so we can open this great big daycare center and we can sing songs and be happy and it was like, no. That’s your dream, mom and they say that all the time. Now, I didn’t go to college. I had my children young and I went to different schools to get certifications, but I was a young mom and my mom was not proud or happy that I did that. However, she still supported me but made me work. It’s nothing that I was proud of, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. However, education is the most important thing you can have, but school is not for everyone.
We have to fight all the time and I don’t mean what your fist. I mean with your mind, because if they require 100% we have to give them 150 and I don’t care if it was back in the 60s to right now being an African American woman, you have to give extra and it’s required of us and we do it without even noticing that we do it, but to be held back? No. Because if you close the door here, I’m going to run the other way.
My advice for African American girls today is to be proud of yourself. Be strong, know that a lot of people went before you to make you who you are today and it’s what you make of yourself. I don’t care what you came from or what you didn’t have. You have to be determined. To be better, we have so much knowledge in us. Women are strong, so I would just pray that you girls pull off your resources and be great. Be great, but find your passion, whatever it is.