Darrell "Jam" Miller

I refuse to limit myself to a few characteristic traits or temporary rolls I play throughout life.

professional picture of Mr. Miller as a child. He is Black with medium skin tone and short hair and about 10 years old. He is in a white t-shirt and green basketball jersey that says ZPD. He is holding a basketball under his right arm.
Darrell "Jam" Miller, undated (Do not use without permission of author.)

“Who Are You” By: Darrell Miller #M48858

Who Are You?

This ? bounce around in my head like a Wilson basketball when NBA players warm up for a game. The answer remains elusive falling in the category of the many misses they attempt, it seems like I never make the shot. An answer I’ve come to halfway accept is that I am an evolving being growing everyday into my true identity. I refuse to limit myself to a few characteristic traits or temporary rolls I play throughout life. Then on the other end of that conclusion is honestly I just don’t know who I am? This truth scare me the most. It amaze me how as a people we have contributed so much culture to society yet still lack identity. This lack of identity caused me to look outward for an answer that I must find within. This lack caused me to join a gang thinking being part of an organization would stamp me as a “real niggs.” This lack drove me to lose my virginity at an early age thinking it would make me a man. This lack is why I sold drugs because to have money equated success. When I took a more thorough look at my life and who I am I realized that I was many other things than myself. I didn’t realize being myself was hard. I guess it was only hard because I didn’t know myself. Ralph Ellison said in his book Invisible Man, “All my life I had been looking for something and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it is. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions (page 2] which I and only I could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectation to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself.” Ralph Ellison summed up my journey in finding who I am and who am I? I am nobody but myself. I am a reflection of all my life experiences that’s being molded into the ultimate being that I was destined to be.

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MIller letter part 1

Handwritten letter. Text in paragraph above.

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Handwritten letter. Text in paragraph above.
MIller letter part 2

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