16854898393110119

Good evening. So this is Kimyata Patterson again with Black, the Black Appalachian Coalition. Here speaking with a young man that has been living in Warren, Ohio for how long now? All my life, 67 years. 67 years. So you talk about history right there, right? So you've been here pretty much since you was born, huh? Day one. Day one? So you never left? Yeah, I left. So how was it growing up in Warren? I remember it was real nice. And I went through hardships, but during the hardships it was still nice. Nice place to live, a lot of people. You could trust everybody. People looked out for you back then. I was about to say back then, because even when I was younger, it wasn't like you could just leave your doors unlocked, but you could trust the people. Back then, you could leave your doors locked and they would come and cook the food and eat it. So it was all good. Yeah, the neighborhood looked after one another. Everybody had fun. Kids had fun. Back then, they had the train running through here. Just the train to Cleveland to go see the ice capades. Just the train, right up there by the police station. You was a kid? I was a kid. Grandma used to take 8 or 9 that was up there at one time. Boy, also granny gown on the train. Grandma gown on the train. Go to the ice capades, go to the zoo. Okay, you talk about ice capades. What was that? The ice skaters. The ice show. Oh, okay. Yeah, up there in Cleveland. I don't know, I was young, so. Okay, so you're saying that as a matter of fact, like everybody knows what that is. Yeah. It was warm when I was a kid. Oh, okay. Or from Cleveland. Or from Cleveland. Yeah, my grandma was from Cleveland. Oh, okay, so how many of you guys were there growing up in the house? 11. 11 kids. They raised 11 of us. It was kind of hard, but we got through it. Got through it. Yeah. Everything was manageable back then. So tell me a little bit about what Warren looked like back then. So what year was that? So I was born in the 15th century, about the 16th. Warren was lit up. Little Chicago, they called it. Warren was Little Chicago. Little Chicago. I grew up on 5th Street, right in the center. Beverages. Nice. What did they call Little Chicago for? They claimed back in the day, that's where Al Capone and them used to come. I did get a chance to see Dean Martin when I was little. At a place called the Glass Hat. Okay. So a lot of famous people. A lot of famous people. That tells you a lot. It had to be a safe place. You'd see a ball, Bob Hope. People like that at Packard Park. At Packard Park. They'd be at the kidney claves. They played at the Packard Music Hall. Wow. Yeah, you'd see them guys. There was always something to see. There was always something to see. Always something to see. And everybody looked up there, everybody. Especially the black folks. I'm not going to say all white folks, but some white folks when I went to school, they used to leave milk and apples out. Milk and apples. Milk and apples at this one house on 4th Street. Healthy bones. Yeah. Because, you know, they took care of you. I mean, everybody wasn't racist, you know. Let's touch on that a little bit. I didn't know nothing about racism. Growing up in Warren, you didn't know nothing about racism. Until you go to the movie theaters. Some people say, oh, I don't believe it. But they know Robin Theodore was racist. Oh, yeah, he was telling me about. It was the movie theater downtown Warren. Downtown Warren. But they know it. Black people had to sit up in the balcony. Those who say they didn't know, liars. I don't remember racism. What? But that's basically the only place you saw it. That's the only place I ever saw it. Because, you know, we got downstairs. They had that red light. Chased you right back up to the balcony. And the funny thing about it is you get into the movie theater, you could take a pop bottle cap, I think it was Dr. Pepper. To get in. To get in on certain things. Oh, wow. Yeah. That, if you realize how many kids would be knocked in the street if they still had things like that. But if you... On Sundays, that place was packed. Black upstairs, white downstairs. It was packed. Wow. So, it was visual. As far as that, I thought it was racism. Because I went downstairs. But that's how life was back then. Tell me a little bit about downtown Warren. In the shopping center. Oh, you had what? J.C. Penney's. You had Woolworth's. Grocery stores? Grocery stores was Elwynn's. Everywhere towards the southwest. Like A&P was over there by the bridge. A&P Market. There was another market I don't remember. But, oh, it was nice. But I lived right over there walking. Yeah. From a grocery store. Okay. So, even going there, right, compares to how it is now. When it comes to having to move to this place, you literally have to have a car. Got to have a car. Got to have a car for everything nowadays. Back then, everything was in walking. Everything was in walking. Just clothes, shoes, grocery. But there was a store, like the dollar store, called the Miracle Mart. Miracle Mart? Yeah. You go in there and buy two pair of Converse for $5. Stupid in there. Stupid in there. Wow. Seriously. A lot of black folks shopped there. So. Like a dollar general for the black folks. Man. That's something. So, y'all didn't shop at the same place? Yeah, we shopped at the same place. But that was mainly. That was like for school clothes and stuff like that, you know. You know, right about the school. Yeah. Let me ask you a question. So, from then to when you became an adult, before you even had kids, that's when war started going downhill. About 75, 76. War started going downhill. They started closing downtown. Pine Street. The buildings down. The houses. The bars. Right. At Pine Street, you don't see that. My grandmother lived on the street called Silverteller. You don't even know where Silverteller at. You don't even know where Silverteller at. Is there such a thing anymore? I don't know. But it's a little bit about an old Republican still. Related to law enforcement. Which is literally up on the same street as you live on. Gosh. That's a deal, you know. But that's the street. There's a Republican still. When did they close that down? Well, they closed that down when it went through a couple of names. But they closed it down in the late 2000s. Right. Right. The town was booming with jobs. But that was the name of the Republican still. The Black still when I was a kid. But they called it the Black still or something like that? No, no, no. The Black still came here a few years ago. That's why I'm saying the same place? No. No? No, it's turned around now. They went towards Libby down? No. No? No. Stupid. So maybe I'm thinking about the wrong one. They were on Hawthorne Road. Hawthorne Road was being torn down. They tore down a lot of mills because a lot of jobs went across the border. And overseas. Yeah. So the Black people who came from the South went back to the South because that's where the jobs were. That's where the jobs were. They had to follow the money. They had to follow the money. They felt like they had to. They had to. That's why there's nothing here. So they took the mills and they took the mills which took the jobs. Which took the jobs. Which started taking the people. Started taking the people. Didn't you see the cause and effect? Yeah. One thing leads to another. That's something. I want to speak about, a little bit more about the things that you've seen. How the difference, not even just the youth, but what the differences are from then to now. What you see. It was nice, man. I mean. Rebecca Williams was always something to do down there. Basketball. Roller skating. Whatever. It was ran by the Reef Brothers. It was a good place to go to. You know. Very seldom a black would fight another black. Unless they had to be something serious. It wasn't that. Like it is today. All these gangs. You know. Stuff like that. Because there wasn't even no drug dealing going on back then. If it was, it was behind closed doors. Everybody was seeing it. Nobody knew what was going on. Nobody knew what was happening. Guns and all. That's just for kids. So when did that shift take place? When I seen it. 1982. So it starts. Everything starts changing back in the 70s. Late 70s. In the 80s. That's when the crack happened. So it had. Warned. It warned just like it would introduce it. It hard. Yeah. Brothers losing jobs at General Motors. Packers. Thomas Steel. Everything. Brothers losing good jobs. Which then again. Another call of success. Because now you got people. That had to leave. To take the jobs left. Now you got the drugs. In the community. And now it's not just. It took the jobs. But now it's tearing. Down. People's. Lives. Because of the drugs. Still. Still more than that. Because back then. I mean. Even you call. You call them projects now. Like Pivot Garden. Holla Homes. Places like that. Beautiful places. Always clean. They really were. When we first got here. Always clean. And we came in the 80s. Yeah. You know. I mean. Basketball games. On the court. That's when they had basketball games. I mean. You had the interfaith park. The first guy opened that up. This guy preaching in. Father Tucker. Catholic Church. But. They started interfaith park. I might be wrong. But. Pretty sure. Right. But yeah. Yeah. Pretty sure I am. Right. Yeah. It was. It was a good place. A nice place. Oh. It was just. Beautiful. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was.