This.

This is my home.

This is where I live my whole life.

Bridgeport, Connecticut.

When you think of Bridgeport, you might think of the abandoned buildings, Violence, broken glass maybe.

But this is my city.

For as long as I can remember I've lived here with my grandmother, Pauline.

I've never known much about her past.

I just know that she was way happier living down in Georgia, her home state.

She doesn't tell anyone much other than random stories about her mother.

Every time we go down on a visit, I can see how much happier she is just by being down there.

So because of that, I wanted to finally take a look into her past and see how much it's affected her life living in Connecticut.

Sometimes I think my grandmother takes good care of the yard because it reminds her of her youth.

My grandmother grew up on a farm in Carlisle, Georgia, with her 12 siblings, and her mother.

It was like taking on a lotta responsibility with the other kids.

Because I had to make sure to help clean, which they never did.

We picked cotton, we pick peas, we pick beans, tobacco.

We will go out at 6:00 in the morning until about six in the evening.

My mama, she used to have us makers, We had to pick at least a 100 pound of cotton.

If we didn't, we had something for us.

My mama was all right.

After my father died, she helped and raised us.

Work, did housew whatever work she could do and work in the field.

My favorite memory with her is when she came up north to visit and we all took a family photo.

I think I was around nine at the time, but she was always so lovely and it was always so much love whenever we saw her.

My grandma's favorite memory is growing up in the church.

It was like a medium sized church.

Sometime it'd be overpacked.

People stand outside the door to listen to the service.

It was all Black.

If she didn't have White friends.

All of her friends were Black.

She didn't make her first friend that was White Until she moved up north, actually.

I left, moved out of Georgia in 1970.

It was kind of scary.

I really prefer coming down south.

The air is much cleaner down the south than here.

Now presents: [gunfire] Johnnie Ringo.

I always wondered why my grandmother was always so interested in watching westerns and karate films.

When she moved up here, she was surrounded by violence.

I wonder if she was desensitized after a while or not.

Despite being around a lot of violent crime, though, she was able to make a living for herself.

Her first job after moving up north was at a factory.

Soon after, she met my grandfather James, and had her first child and then many, many more.

Raising my kids was it was okay.

I didn't have no problem with 'em, because I raised them the way my mama woulda did it.

If she raised all of her children, and then her grandchildren in the church, just like how her mother raised her and the rest of her siblings growing up.

I personally grew up in the church here in Bridgeport.

My grandma and my grandpa were both big factors in me attending church every Sunday with my cousins and having a home there.

Caught on camera now; two men shoot up a grocery store in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and customers ran for cover.

Connecticut, and customers ran for cover.

[gunfire] Johnny Ringo.

Police say it happened around 9:45 Tuesday night at the Sunshine Deli on Stratford Avenue.

The gunman hopped out of a black car and fired more than a dozen shots into the store.

One of them was armed with a rifle.

Police are still looking for two suspects.

In the city, I was always surrounded by violence or any other crime.

My mom, my sister and my grandmother always tried their best to keep me away from the lifestyle that plagued so many people living here.

Yay!

[clapping & chatter] I always kept my head down and stayed out of the way from everything happening in my city.

Crime is still, to this day, a mark on Bridgeport.

At times I've had to question my own family, why we're still living here.

But my grandmother and the rest of my family was always there to cover me and keep me on track to help cover me and bring us closer to my family.

Every year, my family would travel down south to Savannah during winter break.

I consider Savannah my second home.

It's harder now to travel down to Savannah because everyone is older now.

Sometimes I think that the family is more separated than ever.

We don't have family trips anymore.

We don't see each other anymore.

We used to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas together every single year as one big family.

I miss that.

I'm not as close to my cousins or even my sister anymore.

We used to hang out all the time and now it's gone.

Sometimes I'm scared of getting older because of this.

The distance between us would just grow more.

I think in the same way that I miss sharing those moments with my family, my grandmother misses sharing those moments with her mother down south, with the rest of her brothers and sisters.

My mom passed away in 2016.

It's kind of difficult cause I missed her, going to visit.

Every time I go visit, She ain't there no more.

I remember my grandma being so devastated when she found out she was no longer with us.

Since then, we have only traveled back to Savannah as a family once.

But when we go, she's not there anymore.

It's different.

But even though we don't see my great grandmother anymore, I'm still in love with the beautiful weather that is always just right.

The vibrant trees and overall culture down there.

Most importantly though, I love how close the rest of my family is down there.

My grandmother always says she misses being down in Savannah.

I understand why.

But I do think she still has a lot of love for Bridgeport as well.

She just won't admit it.

After all, she did raise a family here.

She did work here, and she still lives here.

I don't doubt that she misses Georgia, but I feel that her heart can be in both places, just like mine.

Yes, I wish that I was still as close to my family.

Yes, I still advocate for change in the community but I still love it here.

In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests, I got to sit back and observe a lot of what was happening around me and made me think a lot about the importance of sharing stories and how I wanted to make work that I think is important to my community.

By doing this, I want to make progress in addressing the violence that's not only surrounding me but my grandmother as well.

Part of who I am today is because of Pauline.

I now realize that I am an artist that is here to tell stories that shed light on topics that I think are important because of her taking care of me and sacrificing a lot to make sure I was safe, I can now look back at what she did and look ahead into both of our futures with love and acceptance.