The Foster care system through my eyes Pt 2.

   Once the Adoption was official I had to use this new last name.  I knew this last name already but part of me wanted to keep my old name.  But I smiled because I knew how much it meant to my foster mother.  When I went back to school all the kids had questions and I didn't want to tell them the answer.  I came up with the clever idea that my parents were recently married and I wanted my dad's name.  I guess that worked because nobody ever asked again.  This was a secret I was willing to keep for a long time.

     

     Back at school I carried on as normal.  But all my teachers seemed to feel that I talked too much in class.  Several notes were sent home and things just stayed the same.  The teachers were surprised that even though it seemed as if I was not paying attention in class I aced every test.  So now the argument became that I was not challenged enough.  Their decision was to stick me in an all Spanish speaking class.  True I did speak the language fluently but I couldn't read it or write it.  I went from being the smartest kid in the class to feeling like the dumbest kid in the room.  Everything was written in Spanish and I didn't understand.  It took about six months but I was able to advance very rapidly.  Before you know it I was ahead of the pack writing and reading in Spanish.

    

     Over the next two years I stayed in bilingual classes. I was finally ready to graduate to Junior High School.  At the time my mother still took in foster children and we had so many it's impossible to name.  She ran a very tight ship at home and was very strict.  The only time we left the house was really for school.  In my mind I always thought she treated us this way because we weren't really her's.  I always use to run different scenarios in my head where I would transform into her real son.  One thing I can say is that we never needed anything.  We weren't rich but we were far from poor.  

     

     My adopted mom and father traveled from Costa Rica in the 60's with their three daughters.  Being immigrants at that time did not provide a lot of opportunity.  But my father was a hard worker and worked as a shoemaker in Manhattan.  They had no vehicle so my father used to walk to Manhattan every day from Brooklyn.  When food needs to be put on the table there is no such thing as too hard.  As the years went buy things got better and they were able to buy property.  Fast forward and now it was me my brother, three foster sisters and a younger foster brother.  Me and my brother were the only ones that knew we were adopted.  

     When I graduated form elementary school and went to junior high.  I didn't know what I was going into.  I went to I.S. 291 and was introduced to gangs and lots of violence.                                                                                  

I.S. 291 Roland Hayes Intermediate School

The school had a bad reputation in the neighborhood.  The cops were constantly called to break up riots. The most insane thing was that I lived across the street from the house.  I could see the action happening from across the street.  Put it like this the school was so bad we had to go through metal detectors to walk in the school.  Not just a little wand detector but the same type of security you find at airports.  Ex-Ray machines for the book-bags and anything you were carrying.  Crazy thing is the metal detectors were only for the students and not the teachers.  I was 9 going on 10 being searched for drugs and weapons.  Who was supposed to protect me in school? Now you can understand why I was nervous to attend the school right across the street.  Once again I was in school with a secret I was not willing to share with anyone.  The kids in the school were much older doing things I only saw grown ups doing on TV.  Being a freshman in Brooklyn you knew that Friday was freshman day.  Freshman day is a ritual that I don't know if it's still around now, but basically freshman got beat up on Fridays.  So you already know I had a clear path to run home every Friday!!!!!  

     

     After the first few months I got used to the new school and actually made a couple friends.  I also discovered that I was infatuated with breasts.  I had major crushes on every girl with a training bra on.  I remember writing one of those infamous letters with the whole check mark box and everything.  But of course I got shut down hard.  She checked the no box!!!!! I wasn't the most popular kid in school because I had reject sneakers and tight pants. (I'm from an era where it was NOT cool to wear tight jeans).  So I constantly got made fun of and it was to the point where I was already use to it.  But I hated to wake up and go to school every morning knowing what I was gonna go through.  This girl I had a crush on had a boyfriend in another class.  His name was JP.  It was him who made me really realize that the streets were in the classroom.  It was near the end of the school year and everyone was trying to rush out of the school at three o clock.  When I reached the front door I noticed that there was more students piled up in the hallways.  Finally I stepped outside only to be greeted by total chaos.  In all my years of living I still have not seen a bigger riot than that day.  There must have been about 15 kids fighting what looked like grown men.  One of those kids was JP.  In the blink of an eye about twenty more guys came from around every corner holding bats and chains.  Things went from bad to worse in a second.  The biggest problem wasn't that there was a fight but the fact that so many people were watching the fight it was impossible to get away.  The entire street was filled with utter chaos.  After about ten minutes the police arrived (83 precinct was around the corner).  

83 Police Precinct

This is where things really got wild.  The police could not get through the crowd.  I remember finally being able to get through the crowd and headed towards my house.  As I turned to look at the police officers closing in on the crowd, I noticed they all had their weapons drawn.  I turned and began running toward my house as fast as I could.

To be continued........

Photo credits. Daily news and NYC.gov

I hope you all enjoyed this post.  Just in case you guys missed the first one here it is check it out.

https://steemit.com/life/@mrviquez/the-foster-care-system-through-my-eyes

Until the next post 

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