Recently I was falsely arrested twice on the same truancy charge and thrown in jail. My children all had been in school. I asked the officer if I could please call my children to let them know I'm in jail. He said, "Ma'm, that's not my problem." I said, these are my children. I have never been in jail or in trouble. He said "Welcome to the club, it's not my problem." My children were screaming and crying, "Where's my Mom?" That really upset me. They eventually had to drop the charges, but I was given a mug shot. They told me Benton Harbor would never take it out of the computer system. I called Rev. Pinkney and he said, "we'll get you out," and I got out. If it wasn't for him, I don't know what I would have done.

I grew up in Benton Harbor and went to school here. Benton Harbor was nice. Clean. A lot of jobs. Whirlpool, and all the jobs began to leave and things began to fall to pieces. Nothing is the same. A lot of young men, young women, young girls and young boys are in jail here. There is a lot of injustice around--white, Black, Jew or gentile--it's unfair. We don't know if they are racist. We only know they are trying to throw the book at us. Big time. Someone does little things and they're gone for 20 years. I'm not being racist. But white people can do the same crime and get way less time. That's injustice. I love people, white, Black, whatever. That's what God wanted us to. He said love one another. He never said what color. It's them judges. They won't say, "I don't like black people." But you can feel it in their actions and in how they talk to you. What needs to happen around the country to change things is to get these people out of office that don't have justice in them. We've got to vote.

My vision of a different society is peace and love. We have to grab a hold of our children, our men, our women. In this world, that's all we got. We need to put God first. That way, we'll make the world a better place. If I need a piece of bread and you need a piece of bread, and I bring you a piece, that's love, that's help. Or if I have $2 and you have none, and I give you one of mine, that's love. We can both buy a loaf of bread. Makes no difference what color we are. If you rent a home here with M.C. Rentals, you have to make three times as much. That's why I invited people into my home that didn't have a place to go. I gave them a cover, a warm blanket, anything they desired, a bath. I have given food from my freezer so someone can have a meal. At one time I had 15 people living with me. I cannot sleep at night knowing that someone may not have a place or a child is without food or can't sleep in a warm bed. And I wonder how anyone else can sleep too.