Arthur D., 64, was born an “…illegitimate child. My mother was a chronic alcoholic and barbiturate addict. She also was mentally ill. She was in and out of state mental hospitals for 20 years of her life.”
“The atmosphere of my life was perverted, sexually and criminally. I was sexually molested by boyfriends of my mother, as were my 5 brothers. When my mother mixed Ballantine beer with the barbs, she was a sadist. She beat us with what was available… she shocked us with an electric cord, locked us in the closet long enough so that we would drink our own urine.”
“My mother used to put beer in my baby bottle to pacify me. My brothers and I grew up with a taste for beer.”
“I’m an alcoholic. I haven’t had a drink since July 1976. I have had 1 cigarette since 1986, after smoking 3 packs daily. I started smoking at age
12. I was a high roller in the ghetto. There always was a crap game on the street. While the stakes were low, it was all we had, or what we could steal.”
“I left home at age 13, got involved with a neighborhood gang… liquor was the candy of our choice. I never got into other drugs – I was scared of them because of what they did to my mother. My 5 brothers are chronic alcoholics and 3 of the 5 are addicted to heroin, cocaine, hashish and anything else that is available. They also sell drugs.”
“I was an anger rapist. I saw my mother in all women. It was an act of degradation and
humiliation. There is a child in each of us until the day we die. You have to understand what the feelings are all about.”
“I have no contact with my family. They are a high risk situation.”
“The Moving Ahead Program (MAP), and the Church are helping and supporting me… I am trying to build a life for myself.”