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”).
I’ve been a teacher for over 10 years. I will never forget at my young early stages of teaching about 20 years old. A young black male came up to me and said “your a nice guy”. I smiled and said,”Thank you” he replied with “your the first nice white man I have ever met, I was always told that white people are bad and mean.” I look at him and smiled I said “well yes there are many bad white people just like many bad black people. never judge someone off there skin tone.”
Getting my first job was a important moment in my life living around here . Nobody will give you anything , so I had to go get it. It made me a better person and now I live comfortably
I remember one night returning home and my mom looked puzzled when I looked out the window I seen this someone was breaking into my dad’s truck my dad immediately got out of the car and begin to taste the person about the person got away and the police took
When I was little times were easy. Wasn’t much crime and this was claim. But these days these kids are around here killing each other.
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 remember a school shooting happened. It didn’t happened my neighborhood. But the local high school in Boynton was supporting them. The had a moment of silence and was supporting the families.