MI PPC note: Ms DuPree shared this story at a community meeting in Ypsilanti and later gave us permission to post it here.
Hello, my name is Krystle DuPree. I am a black single
mother and a Veteran ... both a DPS
and Eastern Michigan University alum, now a Graduate Student at The University of Michigan. I cannot
help but thank God for my blessings. I recognize it is only his mercy that
allows me to tell my story. I hope to do so in a way that employs sincere
thought and consideration.
As My story is merely one of about 4.1 million residents within the state of Michigan who are living at or below the poverty line. Over half of us are Black or Latinx.
My family and I became routine residents at shelter after
shelter. Public housing and, just so you know slum lords usually offer the
cheapest rent. As time progressed school was truly a place of refuge. Although the schools I attended were
gravely underfunded, they proved to be an essential layer of resilience before
and after I left home and became an emancipated juvenile. Through choir I found
my voice, through dance I found my rhythm, and through poetry I bore my soul.
Throughout my senior year, I was blessed to have peers with caring parents who
let me sleep in their homes and helped me feel as close to an “average”
teenager as I could. I was “adopted” by the community; they helped me to see
the uniqueness in my reality and the beauty in its imperfection.
After high
school, thanks to the lingering effects of redlining and budding
gentrification, underemployment took me out of my community like many people. Only
to be deflated by the reality of layoffs vs rent. Once the likelihood of
homelessness began to linger yet another time, I reached out to an old friend. We
talked about his choice to join the Army. At the time I was devoutly
apolitical, and the choice to wear a uniform initially, felt like an assault on
my soul. Yet as time progressed I had recognized the same thing that many my
peers had. For me this was the only valuable option for educational advancement
and upward mobility. In indentured servitude or the Army, I found the pseudo
sense of stability, I had been seeking. All I had to sacrifice was my mental
stability. Almost like flipping a switch in attempt to ignore the gender bias
and supremacy.
Leaving, was also like entering a world of unknowns. Unknown
possibilities yet also unknown barriers as I began to navigate single
motherhood, divorce, the Veterans Administration and my education. The bottom began to shake until
it fell out. Yet by then I had made my way to Washtenaw Community College and fortunately met
councilors, teachers and peers who again adopted me and motivated me to keep
moving forward. This is how people help each other. There is nothing wrong with
my work ethic, my story is not a tale of laziness and entitlement. It is the
story of many who wake up every day and do what they have to, to make things
happen.
In this nation the value of humanity has an asterisk and the
fine print reads, “ There is a complexion for progression. If you are
affluent you are influential. If
you are impoverished, you are invisible.” Every day we wake up to a society
whose moral fabric is swiftly and steadily eroding, just as our roads and the
pipes that carry our tap water. We have so called leaders condescendingly
imitate empathy by offering, food boxes and less than affordable fair housing. This
is not The American Dream but an American Reality, a ghoulish nightmare where
slavery exist on plantations behind barbed wire yet some folk think we still need
more policing in black and latinx communities. Where black men are six times
more likely to be incarcerated.
I fear the world that is awaiting my beautiful, sweet and wise son.
I fear what will happen to my Cousin, his name is Deonte
Newsome. He is 20yrs old and he is in jail on false charges. Awaiting his
second trial on the 27th of this month. We cannot afford to stand
idly by and allow our elected representatives to continue to fail at
representing us. The speakers that came to you today shared their stories of
dedication to the tenants of this campaign as we stand against, systemic
racism, poverty, ecological destruction, The War Economy and Militarism. Recognizing
their interconnectedness, we see that we cannot address one issue with fighting
them all.
We stand together to uplift this
nation and build communities that are adequately equipped to foster mental and
physical well-being. A place where healthcare is universal, where housing and
water is affordable, where people can live without fear of the law or fear of
their neighbor. Where the roads
aren’t crumbling and pipelines aren’t destroying our mother earth. Where I
don’t have to go broke on child care, and my son can be guaranteed a quality
education no matter where his school is located. Now is the time, it the time to
flip the narrative and fire those who aren’t doing their job. Which is to work
for us, November is coming. It time for us to send some folks home. Move
forward together not one step back. As you think over the stories that have
been shared today and the work that still needs to be done think about how you
can join in on that work and help to cultivate a better future for our kids,
through creating a better Nation.