Growing up in the small city of New Haven, Connecticut, I never thought about becoming an advocate of anything. Like most inner city urban communities, there was poverty, violence, drugs, and abuse. Yeah, we were on food stamps and yeah there were sounds of gunshots around the neighborhood that everyone heard, and the drugs, come on, everyone knew at least one person in their family that made you put all the valuable items away when they came by to visit. However, the abuse was swept ever so gently under the rug. Heavens no, who touched who? Girl ain't nobody touched you, get out of them boys faces, go read a book. That's how it went down around my neck of the woods.
My "neck of the woods", consisted of my grandmother (maternal), her husband (R.I.P. Granddad J.J.), my brother, my adopted uncle, my three uncles conceived by my maternal grandmother, and my other two step uncles by Granddad JJ. Yes, that's right, I was the only girl. Now I'm sharing my background with you all because it's important to see where the break down in responsibility and dysfunction began. You might ask where my parents were in all of this? Well my mother was a young single parent and because she had two children as a "teen mom" by 18, we lived with my grandparents until she got on her feet. I'll just leave it at that for now. There wasn't many programs back then that provided help to teen parents raising multiple children and integrating these children into the parent's immediate families, it just happened. With that came frustration, financial woes, jealousy, and overall complications in the black american household. You had rivalry between the children fighting over attention, finances were limited, grandparents overwhelmed, children confused to family members relationships to them, and angered resentful aunts and uncles who felt like their parents shouldn't be taking care of their sibling's child(ren). Ok, it wasn't hypothetical. These were some of my family issues.
How does one recover from so many obstacles in their way before they can even blossom? It takes resilience. Don't get me wrong, I have been a victim of unjustifiable acts, however I have developed a mindset to not be a victim. I live my life the way I want, I pick up the pace to my walk and if I trip, I walk purposefully and more careful the next. During my intensely purpose driven walk recently, I realized that I don't walk alone and that the purpose of walking is to get to a destination. My destination relies on my ministry and the lives that it touches and changes. So many people that I've came across during my journey of life are broken and torn because of deep rooted family issues that began in their foundation, and they have cut family ties and moved far away, or gone crazy because they couldn't cope. So I have been in between the fences for quite some time with starting an organization for those who have been walking with me, hence The Yellow Teddy.
The Yellow Teddy is an organization that I want to launch nationally for children and families who have faced or are facing abuse and want a way out without having to be "the victim". I have been sexually abused as a child and know what it is like to have feelings of rejection, feeling used, dirty, inadequate, confused, neglected, hurt, feelings of rage, hate, betrayal, and loneliness. There are so many more, and the list goes on. What I am aiming for with TYT is to bring awareness and prevention to the forefront and to establish a secret free generation of strong minded individuals who are able to take their lives back and pass on the message that this is a disease. Families that love one another doesn't hurt each other.
If you would like to know more about my background and upbringing continue to follow my blog at theyellowteddy.blogspot.com on blogger and become a supporter by sharing with others. If you'd like to help and or be apart of The Yellow Teddy movement please email me @ houseoffreeart@gmail.com. I can use some valuable help in getting this organization active so if you know anybody please share and send them my way.
Thank You.
"For all my yellow teddies"
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