Growing up in Chicago

By D. A. Slone

Growing up in Chicago is an overview of life in Chicago from 1965 to the present for one young black woman. It describes the hurts the author D. A. Slone experienced, beginning when she was told she needed major surgery at age eleven through her workplace battles dealing with hostile coworkers as well as her incidents with car accidents and the legal system.
Follow Slones fights through the court and arbitration systems as she valiantly tries just to protect the truth even when she seems locked in a never-ending battle just to keep her job.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504956710

D. A. Slone

This book is about D.A. Slone’s personal experiences, some frustrating, dealing with Chicago’s legal system as well as the time she spent working with various nonprofit organizations. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She lives in a suburb of Chicago. This is her first book.

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Copyright © 2015 D. A. Slone. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/20/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-5670-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-5671-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015917069

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1 Apartment on Fifty-Third Street

Chapter 2 My First Job

Chapter 3 Job Relocation

Chapter 4 New Changes at My Place of Employment

Chapter 5 Arbitration Hearing

About the Author

In memory of my father, James Latham.

Prologue

At the age of five, my grandmother use to tell me that I was a precocious child. I did not know what the word meant at that time, but I knew that it could not have meant something bad because she would have a pleasant look on her face whenever she said it.

I always enjoyed learning and I attributed this mostly to my grandmother because she was at home with me after school and each day, she would go over my homework and work with me on subjects such as reading and math.

My adolescent years were pretty much like any other kid. My grandmother had already moved into her own apartment, so she was not there to help me with my homework after school. When I was eleven years old, I had to have surgery and I was out of school for approximately one month.

After graduating from high school, I attended a junior college for a short period of time before I decided to find myself a job and move out of my parent’s house.

I usually found a job as a Secretary or Word Processing Operator. The pay was not great, but I was able to pay my rent and take care of myself.

After I started working at JDT’s Magazine Distribution Company, I discovered how different some people can be when you are making a decent salary. During the time that I worked there, I felt as if I was in a constant battle to keep my job. There were numerous occasions when someone at my place of employment made false accusations and I received a suspension or termination letter from my employer.

I always responded truthfully when these incidents occurred, but in the end, it did not matter.

In 2012, I had an Arbitration Hearing after being terminated from my job in 2011. I just knew that the Arbitrator (an attorney), would not go along with the woman who made some false allegations. Unfortunately, I was mistaken and I did not get my job back nor did I receive any back pay.

During the time that I was working at JDT’s Magazine Distribution Company, I was also involved in a couple of car accidents. I was not at fault in either accident. I was injured in both accidents, but I did not receive any compensation for my injury, pain and suffering. This was very disheartening.

I decided to write this book because I feel that I was treated unfairly at the age of eleven and throughout my adult life. I wanted to share my experiences with other people because I believe that there are far too many people in this country who have experienced the same type of frustrations and disappointments on the job and in their personal lives.

Chapter 1

Apartment on Fifty-Third Street

In 1965 I was sitting in front of the television in the living room. My family and I lived in a three-and-a-half-room apartment on the South Side of Chicago. At that time, black people could not find housing south of Sixty-Third Street because white people did not want to sell their homes to black people. This was one way whites practiced housing segregation in Chicago.

I watched the evening news and noticed a picture of some men swimming in the ocean. I called my father and told him to come see what was happening. My parents walked into the living room. My father told me those people were Mexicans who were trying to come to America.

During the newscast, there was also a picture of two trailer trucks. When the police officer opened up the backs of the trucks, we saw a lot of Mexicans inside. Some had died. There was also an incident showing a police officer beating an individual. My father said, Now they’re whipping on those poor little Mexicans. Shortly after that, my mother told us she had always wanted to be a defense lawyer.

I looked up at my parents and said, I want to be a lawyer when I grow up.

The apartment my family and I lived in was kind of small. At one time, there were at least six of us living there. We were decent people and were a close-knit family.

My relatives spent a lot of time with us during the Christmas holiday season. My mother prepared dinner for everyone on Christmas Day. The meal included a turkey and dressing, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, greens, potato salad and cranberry sauce. Two weeks before Christmas, my mother would go to the store and pick out a lot of toys for me and my brother. On Christmas Eve, after we had gone to bed, my parents would bring a large box of toys into the apartment. I found out what they were doing when I woke up and I saw the large box by the front door. I assumed that they hid the toys in their bedroom until they knew that we were asleep and then they would put the presents under the Christmas Tree. On Christmas Day we would get up early and open our presents. My parents tried to buy us every toy we wanted.

After living there for approximately four years, we grew tired of the small space—and the pests. The management company could not get rid of the roaches and mice that came out after dark. One night I went to the kitchen for a glass of water and saw a mouse sitting in the middle of the hallway leading to the kitchen.

My parents were very upset about the rodent problem. One day, my mother went into the closet to get some clothes for me to wear to school and saw a mouse jump out of a bag on the floor. It ran into the next room. My father put down mouse traps to catch them. Every month, my father told us he would speak to someone at the management company the next time he paid the rent.