Palm Beach County residents were asked:
Please tell us about an important moment in your life that would help someone understand what it’s like living in your neighborhood.
The stories and micro-narratives they submitted (as part of the We Are Here SenseMaker project) are listed below. Click ZOOM IN to learn more about the community member and how they interpreted their submission. NOTE: Some stories were partially transcribed by volunteers who shortened the narratives and referred to the storytellers in the third person (e.g., “her experience was” instead of “my experience was”).
There was recently a shooting at a corner store in the police officer went around asking questions to everyone I stood outside and listen to everyone’s response and every single person said the same thing they didn’t hear anything they didn’t see anything and didn’t know what was going on I did not personally know the person who had got shot but I felt bad because there’s no way this person would get justice with the way everybody was taking the situation and the responses the police officers we’re getting
I was about 13 years old. I began to be bullied by the kids in my neighbor hood because my mom white and my father was black. What I didn’t know the was the my family was also being bullied too. I can still hear my father say to me “Son they talked about Jesus, the greatest man that walked the earth what makes you think they will not talk about you
Once i was walking with my grandma. She lived by my school so she would walk to pick me up everyday and while we were walking we heard arguing and my grandma gripped my hand and started walker fast she said come on boy walk fast i said grandma we should help them she said shut you mouth and mind your business i wouldn’t dare say another word because my grandma didn’t play the radio. When we had walked into the house she fixed me a snack as she usually would and we heard gun shots I looked at ,y grand,a and she acted like nothing happened she looked at me and said eat your food and we never brought it up again
Growing up In Boynton Beach in 1963 it was very tough for a young black person segregation and racism was still in affect and the civil rights were still going on
I raised 6 boys into men and 4 girls into women. I currently have 22 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren. I raised them off a salary of being a gardener during a time when it was very difficult to be anything. I now have Doctors , Lawyers and Business Owners
I’m Boynton Beach I didn’t have work I had to pick up things people threw out that they didn’t want any more So I used to take it to the Junk yard to get paid because I couldn’t get a real job because the people I was gonna work with didn’t like the colored folks .