Terri Minor Spencer Interview

Audio File

Play/Pause Terri Minor Spencer Interview

Transcript

Terri Minor Spencer, 1965. So I grew up in Broadhead Manor, Westgate Village, predominantly a black community, they’re considered the projects. When they started building the Hill, that’s around the same time they started closing all the projects and moving communities into other communities that didn’t get along. So that’s when a lot of the violence picked up like, for example, they would move- close Broadhead Manor and then move everybody there to Sinclair Village knowing that those two communities didn’t get along. I’m the baby of nine, A mom, single mom. I did not know that we did not celebrate Christmas until maybe I was like 10 or 11 because I grew up in a Jehovah Witness household. So we just never knew because we always had everything, so just never knew. The struggles, huh? At the time, you don’t think it’s struggles, right? Because I got pregnant, I was 15. I had my child when I was 16. Think that was the first time I thought there was maybe 3 months. The first time that I smoked a cigarette and then from a cigarette, It just leads to other things. So I can tell you this, back then I got caught in the crack era. Now it’s like open doors or something. But so instead of a-a judge giving me a rehab, he sends me to 16 years in prison. So I went to 16 years in prison, then came home. Yeah. That’s what makes me kind of unique. That’s where I grew up, for real for real. I literally remember me asking like, “what’s my favorite color?” because I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I-I started getting high young. I didn’t know. I was like, “am I a Democrat or Republican, why?” Why, why? Why am I saying- you know? So there is where I grew up. I was 26? 26 or 27. I came home. I was 40… No, I was 40. I left in 1992. I came home in 2007. When I left, we had everything, like we had- my community had everything. When I came home, we had absolutely nothing. And when I say nothing, I mean we don’t even have a grocery store. I am an outreach worker. I have a nonprofit organization that cater to men, women, and their families affected by incarceration. I remember I asked “Can I go-“ I was at the halfway house, and I remember I asked “Can I get a pass so I can go get registered to vote?” They told me I couldn’t. I couldn’t vote and I said “yes I can.” And they were like “No, because you have, you know, you have a felony, blah blah blah.” Long story short, they were wrong. We can vote. And I immediately realized that if they think that we can’t vote, it was my mission to tell everybody I know, like, you can vote. So that’s what made me started, and then it just morphed into a bigger organization. So when they come home from being incarcerated, or they’re in a halfway house or, you know, a lot of times, they could have been home for-for a long time, but a lot of doors are closed towards them because they have something on their record. So we teach job skills, we teach them, you know, what to say on the interview. We teach them what to wear on the interview. Yeah, we teach them anger management, resume writing, mock interview, how to tie a tie, what do you do with your napkin at the dinner interview? Things like that. What is a strong woman to me? So we’re built different. We can juggle and we can multitask. So a strong woman is someone that is not afraid to say that they need help because we don’t. As women, we will carry it all. And I think that’s a very strong woman to say I need help. We are the- we’re everything. The world don’t rock without us. Period. You want something done? Ask a woman. How do I empower myself? I don’t think there’s nothing that I cannot do if I want to do it. If I want it, I’m going to, you know, 99.99% of the time I’m going to get it. So I think that I’m very resourceful, and I love giving away what I have because I do know that if I keep my blessings to myself, I can’t get filled up with no more, So I try to give everything I have away. I think it’s very important that when you become of age that you- you know your civics. The presidential election is not the most important election in your life. It is local elections. If you do not know who sit on your school board, you’re failing your children. If you do not know who your City Council person is, you’re failing your community for the budget. If you don’t know what your state Rep does, you’re failing the district.

: :