WHY I RAN AWAY FROM HOME

By Genevieve Robinson

Walk with me in my shoes as I share my life of love, pain, joy, and prejudice. Fortunately for me, I was a '70s baby, so I was exposed to many types of music from '80s and '90s till now. That is a multitude of change. Unfortunately for my parents, they never evolved with life. They didn't accept change as the years progressed. Times changed as did my friends. In my teens, majority of my friends were black and Hispanic. Imagine me in Texas in the '80s with racist parents in a racist state with black and Hispanic friends. I had no idea my parents were racist until I brought a black friend home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885054942

Book preview

WHY I RAN AWAY

FROM HOME

GENEVIEVE ROBINSON

Copyright © 2022 Genevieve Robinson

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2022

ISBN 979-8-88505-493-5 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88505-494-2 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 1

When I was little, I had no idea the kind of people—the ones who were raising me—would turn out to be so hateful and prejudiced. I didn’t even know what prejudice was or that it even existed for that matter! Oh, was I ever about to find out!

My mother was always so loving, fun, energetic, just full of life! And nonjudgmental, so it seemed. Mom was a single parent of four children—two boys and two girls. She struggled to take care of us. My sister remembers her taking us to the bar with her while she worked as a waitress. We used to sit behind the bar, doing our homework. My sister had to take care of us, feed us, make sure we did our homework, and get us ready for school in the mornings. Mom was always out with some guy, so we spent a lot of time alone, or we would get dropped off at our aunt’s house or Mamaw’s.

There were times we didn’t have food in the fridge, only alcohol. My mom met a man who she started to spend a lot of time with. In fact we didn’t get to meet him until she married him! I was only four years old at the time. I was the youngest. My mom was a country girl who grew up in Texas on a farm, and he was a city boy from Utah in a Mormon family. My mom was a Southern Baptist.

So here we were now with a stepfather whether we liked it or not. My oldest brother kind of had a hard time getting close to our stepfather because he had been the man of the house up till now. Our stepfather drove a bread truck, and mom worked at a grocery store. She was a clerk. We were poor, and we lived in a one-bedroom mobile home. Us siblings had to sleep in the living room on the floor until we moved into a three-bedroom, then the boys had a room and my sister and I shared. We had a little black-and-white TV. My mom made clothes for us because she couldn’t afford to buy any.

I can remember my little brown bag lunches with a sandwich, chips, and a twinkie to take to school. I always had to walk to school or take the school bus. We always had snacks when we got home from school. So here we were, our little family living paycheck to paycheck like most middle class did. My parents got along really well. Every year we would go see my grandparents on both sides of the family. I don’t think my stepfather’s parents approved of us at first because during Christmas, we would only get a plate of cookies while their other grandchildren would get presents! I was too young to know any better, but wow! Left a bad taste in my