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I'M THE COUNCILWOMAN, UH, AT IN KENNER, UH, DISTRICT ONE.
UH, IN 1970, UH, WE WERE FORCED INTO INTEGRATION.
THEY TOLD US WHAT SCHOOL TO GO TO AND WE HAD TO GO TO THAT SCHOOL.
I WAS ON THE MORNING, UH, PLATOON SYSTEM WHEN I STARTED GREAT KING HIGH SCHOOL.
IT WAS SOMETHING THAT WE REALLY HAD NO CHOICE.
SO DID WE FIGHT IT? DID WE COMPLAIN? NO, WE JUST WENT.
THE SCHOOL WAS PREDOMINANTLY, UH, WHITE.
IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE 2000 WHITES TO SOME 60 BLACKS.
IT WAS ONLY A FEW OF US THAT WAS BLACK, BUT MOST OF IT WAS WHITE.
UH, A LOT OF THE, THE WHITE KIDS THAT I REMEMBERED, YOU KNOW, ONCE THEY GOT TO HIGH SCHOOL, THEY HAD CARDS AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE.
BUT SINCE I DID NOT, UM, THE, THE WHITE KIDS, YOU KNOW, THEY WOULD PICK ME UP.
LIKE WHEN WE MARCHED IN CARNIVAL PARADES OR WHATEVER WAS GOING ON, THEY WOULD PICK ME UP BECAUSE MY MOTHER COULDN'T DO IT AND THEY WOULD BRING ME BACK HOME.
AND I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW YOUR CULTURE AND TO CELEBRATE YOUR CULTURE.
I DON'T HAVE REALLY BAD MEMORIES OF INTEGRATION, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT MY PARENTS AND FOUR PARENTS AND THINGS LIKE THAT DIDN'T HAVE THOSE STRUGGLES.
LIVING IN THIS COMMUNITY, LINCOLN MAN THAT I LIVE IN, I REMEMBER THEY BOMBED THE BRIDGE CUZ THE KKK LIVED ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE AND THEY DIDN'T WANT US TO GO ACROSS THE BRIDGE, SO THEY BOMBED IT.
NOW THAT I LOOK BACK, I SEE THINGS THAT I REALLY DIDN'T SEE AT FIRST.
I MEAN, I'VE HAD REAL BAD EXPERIENCES MYSELF, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE, UH, STRUGGLE WAS NOT REAL.
I'M HAPPY THAT YOU ALL ARE CELEBRATING OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH TO SEE WHERE WE CAME FROM TO WHERE WE ARE NOW, EVEN IN MY LIFE WHERE I CAME FROM, BEING FORCED INTO INTEGRATION.