thru a DJ friend of his he had worked with. The DJ friend warned X that the bitch was seriously fucked up, as well as family but the initial meetings with the woman gave X the sense that , although Neal’s life was extremely fucked up, she herself was a good person just unblessed with circumstance and family. According to X:” biggest misjudgment in my life with this lowdown bitch.”
Neal and her brother Juan, who at the time was a part of the Army Reserve, were children of a very alcoholic mother (if alcoholism can be measured in degrees).Neal’s mother as always drunk, and mean as hell. This as how Neal and her two brothers grew up. The Neal’s, according to how X relates it, were a family of alcoholics from a larger prominent African American family in the St. Louis area known for hair care products. Only problem was, the Neal’s father and mother were stone cold alcoholics. The alcoholism was so severe that physical traits could be seen in both the Neals, as well as the second brother, who was literally kept locked in the basement of the home that Kim Neal purchased with grant money from her time at UMSL. Juan Neal’s skull was very flattened in the back, causing his head to appear to be more egg shaped than the normal rounded head. The shape of his head is a classic symptom of a mother who was an alcoholic and drank thru uturo. The disease is known as FETAL ALCHOHOL SYNDROME, and is quite prevalent in communities of color, especially Native American communities in America. The disease is