Jade Rone (JR) & Stacia Parker (SP)
Jade Rone (JR): Nobody asked me how I was feeling. I just felt like I didn’t matter. So, when I was doing bad in school, I kept it to myself.
Stacia Parker (SP): So, when you came to my house…
JR: Mhmm.
SP: It was totally different.
JR: It was totally different.
SP: I knew that you were quiet, and I knew that because you were quiet and petite, that people had not paid attention to you.
JR: Mmhmm.
SP: You would just say, ‘Mmhmm.’ See how you just said —
JR: Mmhmm.
SP: You wouldn’t use your words. You had no requests, not even specific food. I said, ‘This is unusual for a teenager.’
So, do you remember the day that you came to me and said, ‘I don’t want to live here?’ [Laughs] You told me that the things I wanted from you were impossible.
JR: That sounds like something I would say. [Laughs]
SP: You said that it was no way you were going to learn to make a bed —
JR: Clean —
SP: Be on time. And I wanted you to continue your violin practice. As an African-American female, society was already going to marginalize you.
JR: Right.
SP: So, I was trying to develop your voice.
JR: You asked me questions about what was going on. You asked me, ‘Ok, so you’re failing this class. So, what we need to do?’ I’m like, ‘What you mean, what we need to do?’ ‘Cause nobody put ‘we’. It was always, ‘You need to fix this.’ So, what’s something, um, that you think I’ve taught you?
SP: You’ve taught me the power of love. You really helped me see that not only do I know what your needs are, but that I know how to meet them.
JR: I’m glad. I want to thank you for everything. Because if you would not have pushed me, I don’t think I would be anywhere near where I am right now. I’ve been searching for a mom all my life. Then I got you and we’ve been…it’s been bumpy. [Laughs]
SP: But, I’ll be here.
JR: I know you will.
