At a panel presentation held at the Brooklyn Historical Society in 2008 called The Impact of Listening and Being Heard, Rudy Thomas said the following:

My grandmother raised me from 2 months old. She brought me here at age 16, I never lived with my mother, and I visited, but never stayed with her.

I had the opportunity to see [her] after 30 years and I wanted to talk to her about my life, One of the first things she said to me was,