My first best friend and baby bro Jarid, and first champion, Dad.
Jerald Braddock, Jr. (He/Him/His)
Patterson Projects, 1997-2015
I’d be lying if I said my father’s name alone wasn’t enough to protect my brother and I back in the day. I knew him as Daddy, Dad, or Pops. Patterson knew him as G-Bone, or even Monstruo to a lot Hispanic folks in the community. As a former NYCHA worker, the neighborhood grill master chef , and one of the most known dealers in the hood, there was a balance of supplying people with the best essential home maintenance, food, and Loud. Because he was such a helping hand and served the people, he got so much love back from the block, which trickled down to my brother and I. There were days I couldn’t escape doing anything mischievous as a kid without a neighbor in the community saying, “You better behave before I tell your father Lil G.” Sometimes it annoyed me, but in hindsight I see how important it was to have a community to protect me from the evils of the street, especially out of respect for my father. potential
Now my father wasn’t perfect. As tough as he looked and behaved to others, oftentimes he was just the same towards Jarid and I. He could be verbally abusive and had quite the temper for stuff that could’ve been talked out, but welcome to hood parenting 101. If we came back with bad news from our teachers or it was our ass. On top of my chores, as the eldest I had to keep my eyes and ears open for people who knocked on the door and needed to cop from my pops. Lord knows we had to avoid creasing our Jordans and Air Force 1s, which is tough for a student-athlete that I aspired to be. Most of all, we couldn’t pussy out of a challenge, and had to protect each other at any cost.
As I look back on what a lot of parents endured and how it affected their kids’ future, I’m grateful to have never wanted for almost nothing I couldn’t survive without. I’m grateful to have a father who was determined to see his boys take a road most never travel. I’m sure my grandfather’s early death forced him to be a man so early. But he insisted we never had to make that our reality so early. He risked and suffered a lot to ensure we had everything we wanted and make sure we were straight. My brother and I plan to return the favor one day and make sure the investment in us wasn’t for nothing…for both of our namesake.