PIONEER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

The Shaping of My Life

            I believe in the family, which happens to be the oldest and most sacred of social institution and it represents the foundation of civilization. It was the base on which my character was shaped. The family institution has always been the depth of human existence, as well as, the future survival of the unity of a family and community. The family has a duty to provide love, care, sacrifice, and commitment to its members including any children in its care. The husband-wife relationship serves as the model of the child’s self-image, both positive and negative. During my developmental years, my concept of love was developed, nurtured and reinforced in my family between my two parents, mother and father (See Appendix 1: Genealogy).

            They exercised their obligation to express love and concern for their children to the best of their understanding. The covenant of love between them empowered my young mind, and has had a more profound influence upon me than all the efforts of my education. Thus, I am proud to offer my accomplishments as the outcome and the product of my parent’s socialization process. That process is the foundation for my belief in family and community. For these reasons I am proud that my parents believed in the concept of the union of marriage and all the concepts discussed above. My siblings and I am the beneficiary of these family concepts that are still the foundation of community and humanity. 

The Family Union

            I was born March 3, 1920, to Dan and Betsy Scott, two loving parents that I continue to be proud of their belief in the union of a father and mother raising their children together as a family. Although, I live and work in a small rich valley, Las Vegas, Nevada I am continually aware of how the African American culture has developed including their social, economic and political advancements. My parents lived and worked as tenant farmers (share croppers) and there was extreme racial repulsion directed at their lives and me during my developmental years. I was named J.D., after my birth in the year 1920; I was born in Ethel, Louisiana, a small emotionally dark and evil little town where decedents of African slaves had no predictability and no power over their owned life’s decisions. I grew up at a time when, even now it is difficult to discuss it without talking about the negative images of black men created by “Jim Crow”. These images were created by some white people to influence other white people to be treacherous to black people.

            These negative images suggested to members of the dominant society that black people were not deserving of self respect in the presence of white people. However, I recall the days African Americans were punished by city ordinances, if they made direct eye contact with a white person; on the other hand if the black person did not look the white person in the eyes that person would be referred to as stupid, shifty and without back bone to stand up for themselves. African Americans’ fear of this deceptive and illegal punishment discouraged them from committing these offenses and served to deprive them of their civil rights. These offenses were sometimes punishable by death, simply on the word of a white person or they could take matters into their own hands, issuing the same level of punishment without fear of consequences.

            What is clear, however, is that by the 1900s, the term "Jim Crow" was generally identified with those unofficial laws and actions that defined blacks as inferior to whites. To, that end, it became illegal for descendants of African sla