Audio File
Transcript
My name is Diane Henderson Webster. I grew up with Whiteside Rd. You know, I was a big part of the Hill District. The neighborhood when I grew up, it was a wonderful neighborhood. You know, we all loved each other. We all stuck together. We played ball, we did volleyball. We did a lot of things as we were growing up, and we looked out for each other, you know? But I enjoyed when I was growing up. I had three sisters, three brothers, and we all stuck together. Oh yeah, I faced struggles. My mother wasn’t there. My mother passed away, and so my dad had to raise us so that was struggles. That’s why we did the best we could do because people- when you don’t have no mother and your dad’s raising you, people just kind of look at you a little bit different. But you got to prove to them that, you know, I’m not going to walk around here, get pregnant at a young age because we never- none of us never did. We grew up, we got an education, we went somewhere, and then we wasn’t no young parents, you know? So my dad did an excellent job raising us, and he worked in a mill, so he had to struggle hard, and he did. So we tried to, you know, help him out and not be in the wrong direction. It was easier back then. It was much easier. You could walk around, walk at night, leave your door open, lock and all that. Even if you wanted to just sit out and go to sleep on the porch, you were able to do that there, and no one bothered you or anything. Today you almost scared to walk at the bus stop. It’s just so sad, but where is it at? Where is it going? Who’s- who’s, you know, who’s doing it? That means we all are. We all are part of the problem. We got to be a part of the solution instead of the problem. Young people just are totally different than they were when we were growing up. We listened, and parents was allowed to tell us, you know, like if I’m in trouble with the lady down the street, she can tell my parents if she wanted, she’ll get me in trouble. It was wonderful. It was good. It was good. The young guys out here with these guns and these killings that they doing, and I can say my son got killed. My son got killed up in Oak Hill. He was 21 years old. So many young people just passing away and dying because of gun violence, and if they can do away with some of that, it will be a better place. But I expect it to get the way it used to be. We coming together and doing the things that we love to do or like to do in the neighborhood, cause there’s so much going on now that it’s unbelievable. But I really like it, and because I care about the people and people, it’s going to be a little different. I believe it’s going to be different down the line. I try to stay around positive women, people that are about something, people that love me or have their best interests at heart, because I know the nega people is not going to do me no good. That’s the way I am today. That’s what kind of people I’ll be around. Some people that are helping me out and give me direction. If I fall, they help me get back up. I worked in the school board for eight years. I worked at Gladstone in Hazelwood. I just like to be around- I just like young people. They need guidance and directions, but I like young people. I watched them as they grew up, they became adults and then I worked in downtown, worked in the Housing Authority. I worked in the Housing Authority for 28 years, and then I retired. And I’ve seen a lot of them come down there, you know, to apply for housing. So I have seen me get a lot- a lot of young people that was trying to do the right thing housing. And I see a lot of them today and they in housing or they even better their life. They went in the right direction. My advice to girls in this generation is, believe me, be the best that you can. Follow directions, get an education, because if you don’t have no education, there’s nothing you can do. You can’t do anything without life without that education. Find out which you want to be at an early age. You have to work hard at whatever you believe in. But just has some direction as y’all young now, because y’all have some good- y’all beautiful. Y’all look like y’all going in the right direction.