(an interview) The Harlot and the Priest (video) part I

The White Boy Tantrum

Black folk,

Remember when our black mommas would beat our tail for "acting out" in public?

Let me jog your memory. It could have been something as minute as asking politely, then angrily demanding a quarter so you can play the Space Invaders game at the arcade; it could have been as simple as demanding, and crying, and stomping your feet because you wanted a piece of Bazooka bubble gum. It doesn't matter. The point is--that growing up in a black household back in the day, you knew not to act like those "bad white kids" as our parents would say. And, if we did act up, especially in public it would have been the Black World War II.

A friend of mine told me a story of how he "acted up" in elementary school. The same school that his mother taught. After his teacher told his mother of what he did in the classroom, she peeked her head into the room, smiled, waved at him and said, "After school--it's Hammer Time". No one knew what that meant. However, he did.

When he arrived him, his mother's car was gone--he thought he was safe. He went upstairs into the house, took of his clothes, opened up his closet to get new clothes to put on--and instantly, like a bat out of hell, his mother flew out of the closet, red shoe in hand, and beat the living daylights out of him. (She hid her car a few blocks away, to make sure he'd be unprepared.)

My point is--one damn severe beating, we learned.

So a few weeks ago I was with a friend of mine, eating dinner. Together we noticed this curly-haired white boy throw a tantrum on the sidewalk. His parents continued to talk to him, child-like, begging him to stand up. Then, they ignored him and talked amongst themselves.

If this had been a black family--I'm sure the outcome would have been different. Take a peek at the pics.

My Visit to a Classroom

MadLadyPoet of Appalachian Voices blog did a writeup on me when I visited her college classroom.

Here's the link to the full article:

Appalachian Voices



Here's some highlights of the writeup:

"The day of Stephen’s visit arrived and I was very excited to see what my students would learn from this lesson. I met Stephen at the fireplace at the Memorial Student Center and we went over last minute details. I would introduce him, and make sure that every student had copies of the excerpts. Stephen would then read from each chapter, explain his reason for writing it and then take discussion questions from the class. It all seemed simple enough, but I worried about how the class would react to Stephen. He was tall and slender with dark ebony skin, and dark curly hair that was shaped into a Mohawk. He was wearing jeans, a vest he had bought on Canal Street and an oversized jacket. I did not say anything, but he noticed that I was uncomfortable and he looked at me and grinned.

“You’re uncomfortable, aren’t you? he said.

I had to grin back. “Yeah, slightly.”

“Don’t worry. This will definitely shake them up a bit.” he replied.
AND


Stephen read carefully from each excerpt and then explained his reasons for writing that particular piece. He told the class that although he grew up a minority in West Virginia, that experience taught him to have respect for other cultures and that as West Virginians; they had a lot to offer other cultures. With each reading, Stephen reiterated his point that developing relationships with people of other cultures could offer this class a great deal of learning opportunities. He also spoke out on what he witnessed during the 9/11 attacks and how Muslims in New York were treated directly after the attacks. To my great surprise, the students asked many questions. What was it like to grow up black in West Virginia? Did New Yorkers make fun of Stephen because he was from West Virginia? What was it like in New York after 9/11? The questions generated discussions that went into areas I had never considered. That day, I became a student too.