Jerome Washington, PhD

Through divine providence, I made it past the first year, because they tell me that I almost died from double pneumonia. I had four brothers and four sisters. None of us were really raised by my mom, because she had her own issues during that time. And this was the 1950s, and social programs weren't in place to help people, especially Black women, make it through. So, I was raised by my auntie. She took four of the boys into her household: James, Eugene, Harold, and me. Now, that's a saint to do something like that. For me, my teen years were tough. I'm at Inglewood High School, and it was a culture shock, because I had been raised Catholic, you know, holy, and I get to Englewood with the gangbangers and all that's going on there, and it was a culture shock for me. So I couldn't make it. They had this citywide essay contest at Inglewood, right? My essay was on Law Day: ‘No man is above the law, no man is below the law.’ I wrote an essay that was entered into this big citywide bowl. We ended up winning it, based on my essay. They had me give the essay at the school assembly the next week. And then two weeks after that, I drop out. That's pretty dramatic, but that's what happened. I had too many cut slips, I didn't like school, and I didn't like the environment. So I ended up eventually taking time off until I was old enough, and I went into the service. 

I joined the U.S. Marine Corps. My cousin was in the Air Force, Eugene was in the Navy, Michael was in the Army, so me, going deep, decided to join the Marine Corps, because I said, ‘Okay, Auntie, I'm gonna give you all four uniforms.’ It was 1967. The Vietnam War was going on, so I went to Vietnam. I got wounded rescuing somebody. I ended up earning a Purple Heart for that. But these are just pins that you put on somebody acknowledging a certain event, an event that may have been guided by just adrenaline and fear. It did not change me internally at all. Because I was still just an 18-year-old in a big old world, not knowing what I was going to do. The one constant spread, though, was that connection back to my spiritual upbringing. And it started to grow inside of me. Maybe this is what people mean when they talk about the Holy Spirit and divine guides. I'm building toward that divine providence and the inner man. Years went by. I kept researching, learning, and ended up getting a master's in religious studies and theological studies. And I'm picking up a PhD in a month. I’ve written a book. I’m a great-grandfather. When you finally arrive at the season I am in life, and reflect, you can see nothing but God's divine providence that lives in where you are.