Sonya Washington

My father and my grandfather were Washingtons. My grandfather came to Chicago from Mississippi. To the Westside, and then had me here. And then I had a gang of Washingtons. I am giving, empathetic. Sometimes, a little too involved in people's feelings. I'm a caregiver, non‑judgmental. I'm proud to be a mother of a lot of biological children (10) and children from other mothers. I am a reader. I love nature. I am music. I love being a chocolate girl. I love being from Englewood. I love being a South Side girl. I've learned to love me for who I am. In my neighborhood, I'm called Miss Sonya. I love that. I'm Miss Sonya. Again, I'm a caregiver. Always have been. I want to be known as the one who—I saw you, I heard you. I helped take care of you. And I helped you to see that who you are is enough. That's what I want: that I loved you and I cared for you and I never judged you. I loved you right where you are. Because I just love you. And I hear you, and I see you. I took the long way home, A lot of bumps and bruises, A lot of mistakes. It was addiction. I was trying to self‑medicate my monsters, trying to squash them, not facing them head‑on. Using addiction to make them go away, but it just made the monsters bigger. And when I learned to face them head‑on, I conquered those monsters. And I also learned forgiveness. 

I have some wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful children. Despite me going through this life blindly, they turned out to be some very wonderful, wonderful human beings, smart human beings, and educated human beings. That’s my greatest accomplishment. That I have such wonderful children. I love that part, and my grandchildren. I'm very proud of that part of my life. Very proud, Super proud. I like to say I like where I've landed. I've landed in a good place. I finally learned that I am enough. However I got here, I am enough. That's what I've learned: I am enough. What does freedom mean to me? I don't want colorism to be a factor in anything. I don't want racism to be a factor in anything. Let's just be people, just people. To see me for who I am, for what I bring to the table, whatever it is that I bring to the table. That's what I want. Because all of us have something to bring.