NOTHING IN COMMON?

My first experience with Alcoholics Anonymous was in 1973. I was only eighteen but I knew I had a problem with alcohol, and I made up my mind that I really wanted to stop drinking. I didn't know who to turn to, so I went to a local church to talk to a priest. He told me about an AA meeting that met right down the block from the church and advised me to go. The meeting started at seven o'clock that evening, about three hours after my meeting with the priest. I somehow managed to stay sober for the three hours, and when I arrived a few minutes after seven that Thursday evening, I walked into a small, well-lit room filled with about eight white men. This was in the middle of Harlem. At this time, Harlem was a predominately African-American community, so I found it strange that I was the only black person in the room.