Free Put on Your Crown by Queen Latifah Page B

from a distance. They didn’t like the fact that
     my mother was just passing through. Even though my mother was scrubbing toilets to make ends meet, people assumed she had
     a silver spoon in her mouth. They resented her for wanting a better life for her kids.
    She promised to move us out of there within the year, and she delivered in just eleven months. She worked her ass off to get
     it done. That Christmas, my mother took extra shifts to earn enough money to buy us presents so we wouldn’t feel deprived.
     She hid our toys, already gift-wrapped, in the trunk of her car so we’d be surprised Christmas morning. But somebody must
     have seen her doing this, because they gave my mother her own nasty surprise. They broke into the car on Christmas Eve and
     took it all. So during our short year in the projects, we were robbed not once, but
twice
.
    Our previous home was in a quiet area outside of Newark. So when we first moved to Hyatt Court, my brother and I saw adventure
     everywhere. I’d say, “Look, Winki, smokestacks!” My brother would say,“Oooh, ’sis, I wonder what’s over by those train tracks!
     Let’s go find out!” We were fascinated by all the activity going on in the courtyard. We wanted to know what all those kids
     were doing over in the corner. No wonder my mother was always trying so hard to keep us occupied!
    But you’d never know anything was wrong. Mom never complained. She was always pleasant to everyone. She’d say, “Good morning,”
     when she passed someone on the stairs on her way to work, and, “Have a pleasant evening,” to whomever she saw on her way back
     home. Never “How ya doin’?” or “Whaassuup!” Rita Bray Owens was, is, and always will be a lady, and she wasn’t about to drop
     her standards just to fit in.
    “You persevere,” Mom said. “You don’t hold your head down and become part of the problem. You hold your head up and keep on
     moving.”
My Mother’s Voice
    This is Mom’s chapter, and it’s all about love. I’m sharing this moment in her life with you because it says so much about
     who she is. It’s the strength of character I see in my mother that makes me who I am today. I know I’m blessed to have a role
     model likeher in my life. She always had my best interests at heart.
    The generations that went before us have lived, and they know a thing or two that we don’t. Respect that, and take all the
     wisdom you can from the loving heart of your mother or, if she’s no longer in your life like that, any worthy maternal figure
     in your life—be it a mentor, teacher, older sister, or true friend.
    We can’t do it all alone. We can rise up only when we stand on the shoulders of those who went before us. You need an older,
     wiser person in your life to give you advice, support, and strength. We all need someone who will listen and care, with no
     agenda. Our moms can see the beauty and potential that we can’t always see in ourselves, and we need to be open to their unconditional
     love to help us as we struggle to accept who we are.
    My mother showed me what’s possible by doing. Her life was hard, but she never claimed to be a victim. As a single mother,
     she worked around the clock to put herself through college to become an art teacher and give her two children a better life.
     She clipped coupons and made personal sacrifices to make sure we got a good education. She made sure our home was always well
     kept, no matter where we lived. She stretched out every meal and used every resource she had to make sure we never felt deprived.My brother and I didn’t have everything we wanted, but we got everything we needed.
    But it was the nurturing she gave to our souls that made me who I am today. As an artist with a passion for beauty and self-expression,
     my mother taught us about primary colors, took us to museums, and kept books around the house with artwork by Salvador Dalí
     and Romare Bearden. She brought home culture magazines and
The