“I grew up right in the heart of the West End, on Shawnee Drive. When I became an adult, I purchased a house on the Parkway. I always loved the houses on the Parkway and just wanted to live in a big house on the Parkway and now I do. I grew up pretty well. Even though we lived in the West End and it’s known for poverty, both of my parents had pretty decent jobs, so I had a pretty decent life. I just love the West End. I love the big, beautiful houses, and the community.
Being a black female is a challenge within itself. Growing up, I did not have anyone in my ear talking about going to college because it’s just not what we did. We just got jobs. Our parents worked at Phillip Morris, LG&E, and places like that and did not further their education. I just didn’t have anyone in my ear talking about that. Whereas, at school, I had white friends who knew what their plan was. With that being said, their parents had money saved for them to go to college, whereas my parents did not, well, my dad did not because my mom passed away when I was nine. I didn’t go to college until later in life and now I am forty-four trying to finish up getting my master’s degree.
I’m a registered nurse and I have my bachelor’s and now I have completed one year of my post master’s nursing in psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. I want to open up my own practice in the West End so that I can help our community with mental health challenges. One of the problems with the police is that they don’t know how to respond to mental health issues and I want to be out here to do that.
My community, my family, and my personal goals keep me motivated. It’s not normal. When I was younger and if a kid was on stimulant medication for ADHD, people would automatically think that they’re crazy. There’s this black plague over mental health in the black community. I just want to educate people of the benefits of mental health therapy, counseling, and taking medication to help.
I think we all deal with mental health issues. With my mom dying at such a young age, I was traumatized by death. It’s really hard for me to attend a visitation or a funeral. I have to talk myself up to even attend. We all struggle with mental health issues in different ways.
When my mother passed, I really didn’t know how to deal with those emotions. That’s part of the problem in our community. We need guidance and to be told that it’s okay to seek help from a provider so that we can learn how to deal with those things.
Advice to my granddaughter is to get your education, including post-diploma, whether that be a trade or a college degree. It’s very important that we continue to be in the youth’s ears about that. I’m also out here fighting for social justice because I want her to have a better life. She goes out and she chants all day long. She protesting and I’m protesting.
You can do anything that you want to do. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. Stop wasting time and get it done. Tomorrow’s not promised, so go out there and reach for your goals and reach for the stars. They’ve always told us that we can’t but we can.†- Traniece w/ her granddaughter Preston in Chickasaw
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