Barry Johnson:  

Ok I have decided to document my story. It started in 1958 in a small all black and historic suburb of Cincinnati called Lincoln Heights. In my early formative years I attended an all black private school called St. Simons, with uniforms and all. Well some time in 1967 my mother decided that she was not happy with my father and she packed up our things headed us for Canada so that we could attend school year round. My dear sweet mother jumped on I-75 northbound and made it as far as the Gem City, Dayton, Ohio. We lived on the west side and the first school I attended was Carlson on Gettysburg. Talk about a culture shock! The only school clothes that I owned were uniforms. So needless to say my first day of school at Carlson was eventful. All of the kids were teasing me and caling me Sidney Poitier. I even got my butt kicked by one of the kids after school and I ran home crying to my mother. Well she kicked my butt for getting my butt kicked and told me to go back to school and handle my business with the lil boy who kicked my butt. Well needless to say that lil boy got the butt kicking of his life and that day I got the reputation of being the school bully. Well we moved to the Joy Apartments and my mother transferred me to Highview Elementary. Several years later we moved again and I was transferred to Wogoman Elementary. Seems like an early nomadic existence huh? Well all of that moving and meeting new friends contributed to the development of my extroverted right brain current personality. Later on that year I was a neighborhood celebrity. I was riding down the street on my bike. I decided to do a wheelie. As I was going down the street I did not see the RTA at the intersection. Within seconds the day turned to night. I was run over by the bus. It was not my time to go because the bus ran over me length wise and I was untouched. The neighbors were holding their breath. All of a sudden I stood up brushed myself off and started to ride again. Mrs. Barnes, Doug Barnes's mother ran outside and into the street with a belt and gave me a serious butt whipping. She took me in the house and called my mother. My mother arrived and gave me a another butt whipping all the way home. To this day she still tells people about the time I got ran over by the RTA. Getting back to Wogoman Elementary. I was in I believe the seventh grade and I was invited to my first basement party with girls!!! Oh boy! I got the chance to kiss my first girl, Vanessa Martin. Wow that was the beginning of a new era for me. When Vanessa stuck her tongue in my mouth it was like a lightning bolt hit me. Later on that year our school had an end of the year trip to Philadelphia. You should have seen the gold jumpsuit my mother made for me. You could not tell me that I was not Superfly. After the long bus ride to Philly, all was going well then one day we all got together and decided to take a walk downtown and go shopping. As we were walking down the street, my best friend at the time (Brian Alford), Robert Cartwright and I decided to stop in a music store to look at some guitars. For some reason we thought the rest of the class had stopped outside and were waiting for us. Well when we finished our shopping and walked outside, the class was gone. We did not panic. We continued shopping and bought gifts for our mother's and returned to the hotel. When we got back the class had not returned so we went to our rooms and relaxed. When the class returned the male chaperone was furious! He will remain nameless because he was a flaming sissy boy and really should not have gotten as upset as he did. He bought us plane tickets back to the Gem City on TWA. That happened to be my first plane ride...YIPPE!!!! It also got me a butt whipping with a baseball bat (I was too big and strong for a belt according to mama). We moved again to Dayton View! Those of us that had parents that wanted to get us out of the hood decided to move to Dayton View. Just think how much of a dynasty Dayton Dunbar would have been if we all had stayed on the Westside and attended Dunbar. Well now I am attending Cornell Heights Middle School. I was faced with a dilemma. Join the Chains of Rap Brown aka The Little Raps or get my butt kicked on a regular basis. I chose to join. Blain Walker (R.I.P) told me where to meet for my initiation. It was behind Jefferson Elementary. I was given the choice of going down a beltline or boxing one of the enforcers or senior members. I chose to box and Robert Miles was the enforcer who was assigned to box me. My skills were a lil quicker and harder than his so I got the best of him and I was allowed to join. The Chains got involved in some illegal activities the details of which I will not disclose. I decided that I bet...Expand for more