I Have Never Lived in America.
In 1963, I went downtown, Madison, Florida with a friend, and we had the first sit-in. I was arrested and my friend was taken home to his mother because of his age.
I later organized a NAACP Youth Council and declared an all out war on injustice in Madison County, Florida. [Madison County is between Jacksonville and Tallahassee, just south of the Georgia border.]
While I was attending a civil rights conference at Mt. Beulah, Mississippi in May, 1965, when I returned home to Madison my family had been forced to leave Madison while I was away.
I returned to my hometown in May, 1993 to give back to my community. I opened the Johnson-Brinson Center, after school program to increase educational goals, reduce school dropouts, decrease teen pregnancy, decrease juvenile criminal behavior, reduce violence and drug abuse. The local people were still holding grudges from the 1960's. My new book details my efforts: A Journey Back Home: The Story of the Johnson-Brinson Project & Break Away (www.authorhouse.com).
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