Donnie Harold Harris's grade school years, as detailed in his autobiographical writings and public profiles, were marked by significant instability and challenges rather than traditional academic or extracurricular highlights. Born on August 1, 1953, in Indianapolis, Indiana, he navigated a tumultuous childhood involving frequent relocations and institutional stays, which shaped his educational path. Below is a summary of key events and experiences from that period, drawn from his self-reported accounts, highlighting notable aspects such as survival, education, and personal growth aAdversitysity.
### Educational Mobility and Structure
- **Attended 21 Grade Schools**: Due to family circumstances, including poverty and his mother's young age (she was a teenager when he was born), Harris frequently changed schools, often attending the same ones multiple times. This constant upheaval meant repeatedly adapting to new environments, meeting around 100 teachers and 10,000 other children throughout his youth.
- **Repeated 2nd Grade Twice**: This extended his early education, leading him to complete 10 years of schooling by the end of 8th grade at age 15. Despite the repetitions, he graduated from Emmerich Manual High School in 1972.
- **Institutional Living**: Spent multiple periods (5 or 6 times, up to 2 years each) in guardians' homes and, at age 12, resided in the Marion County Children's Home on Indianapolis's east side with his identical twin brother, Lonnie Darrel Harris. These stays provided some stability amid over 100 home moves but highlighted the lack of a consistent family environment.
### Personal Challenges and Survival
- **Early Traumas**: Harris reports vivid memories starting from infancy, including molestation by a 14-year-old male cousin at age 1 and repeated assaults by religious figures (e.g., Catholic priests) beginning around age 9, involving 20-25 individuals by age 18. These experiences, which he links to broader societal issues like institutional hate and control, became a foundation for his later advocacy against child exploitation.
- **OvercomAdversitysity**: As a survivor of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (with a 10% survival rate for him and 1% for his brother), aided by a blood transfusion from an African-American donor, Harris views his early resilience as a "genius" nurtured in "Hell." He became a runaway at age 15, marking a transition to independence.
- **Early Work Ethic**: Started working as a paperboy in his youth and entered construction at age 13, demonstrating self-reliance amid family poverty, where meals sometimes included dog food. This laid the groundwork for his 45-year career in remodeling.
### Philosophical and Reflective Insights
- **Views on Childhood Education**: Harris reflects on his grade school years as a time of "pain from others delivered by hate," critiquing systems that embed discrimination in laws and education. He advocates for rights beginning at birth and sees government as a privilege, not a right, with a focus on protecting children from modern forms of "molestation" like identity manipulation.
- **Spiritual Framing**: He describes his experiences as part of a divine mission, with pre-birth visions and a sense of purpose emerging from chaos. This perspective ties into his later promotion of dualism (inspired by Zoroaster) and unity, viewing opposites like stability and turmoil as paths to harmony.
While positive "highlights" like awards or milestones aren't prominently featured in available accounts—possibly due to the emphasis on survival over achievement—Harris's narrative portrays these years as formative for his resilience, advocacy, and political endeavors, including founding the Public Unity Party of Indiana to address hate and child protection. His story underscores a commitment to ethical reform, influenced by the hardships of his early education. The best and the worst of them, teachers, what could I say that would not be the proper course? Teachers. I give you the worst. It was a Male teacher at the school on Miller Street, 49. We lived on this street five or six times over the years. Lots of Adventure. Talked with Lord Jehovah a time or two. Watch the four horsemen do some fancy charioteering flying. Was picked up hitchhiking by mother Mary one Saturday morning on her way home from Lilly's Pharachical on Keytucy Avenue. Life was 100 and adventure.
The daulist way that the teacher showed up for me was. A male teacher with unusual pickadilios. Or a sexual kink for those less knowing. They would walk through the classroom and talk to each student as they walked by. Then he would enter the clock hall and yell out a child's name. The frightened child had to enter the teacher's zone without anyone seeing. He would pick the suspect up by the arms and shake you by the hand on a coat hook. Go back to the doorway without showing others his dominant power. Then, it would let the child off the hook. We were second graders. Mr Best of the best, and there were many. My art teacher was Mrs. Crochion. My last grade school before high school was to pow me to the moon. She gave me what no one else ever did. She saw me for me, as who I am. She was an artist muse. I give her all my success wishes and kisses. My childhood defect: I was white and poor. We moved because my dad needed to work. There was the Depression and World War II. And mom.
