Like One of the Family (22 page)

My hand started jumpin' and I was twitchin' my pocketbook, tryin' my best not to pop her in the mouth with that heavy plastic bag. All of a sudden, Marge, something hit me! I could feel a hotness creepin' over me from my feet on up and when it hit my head, bells started ringin' and I hollered at her, “What the hamfat is the matter with you?
Ain't you mad?
Now you either be
mad
or
shame
, but don't you sit there with your mouth full ‘tut-tuttin' at me! Now if you mad, you'd of told me what
you done
and if you shame, you oughta be hangin' your head instead of smackin' your lips over them goodies!”

… Now wait a minute, Marge. Please let me finish. Mr. B. stops chewin' with the jam fairly skeetin' out of his mouth and says, “Don't upset Mrs. B. We were only tryin' to be sympathetic.” Marge! I whammed my pocketbook down on the table, put my hands on my side and started pattin' my foot, and I yelled at him: “Don't you worry about Mrs. B. bein' upset 'cause if she gets too wrought up she can
scream
and the law, the klan and them men that ganged up on that young lady to keep her out of school, that's right, every one of 'em will come runnin' in here and move me off the premises piece by piece!”

At this point, Marge, he was gaspin' and sputterin' while she was puffin' and blowin' and I wheeled on him and said, “You tryin' to tell me about you bein' sympathetic … how do I know you wasn't in sympathy with them grown-up men that was throwin' eggs and stones at a defenseless colored woman? In the first place, you are white and you haven't opened your mouth to do a thing but put toast in it, and first thing I walk in you come askin' me what am
I
gonna do.”

Then guess what, Marge! Mrs. B. jumps up wavin' her newspaper at me, talkin' about “Go home, go home
immediately
, you're in no condition to work here today!” Honey, never fear! I reached over and snatched that paper out of her hand and says, “Don't you be wavin' and fannin' nothin' in my face! My mama don't do that!” Then Mr. B. jumps up and hollers “Are you out of your mind, snatching things like that!” … “Well,” I told him, “you can thank your lucky stars that paper is the only thing I'm snatchin' this morning!” He tried to cut me off, but I wouldn't let him, “If you ain't got the grace to stand up and fight for your own decency and good name, don't you dare ask me what I'
m
gonna do, because as long as
you
ain't
doin'
I ain't gonna tell you, 'cause then you'd know as much as I do, and that might be too much!”

Marge, I didn't want to cry because it do look so weak, but the tears were streamin' down and it seemed like their faces were floatin' in a sea of water. I could hear their voices but no words, just a rush of murmurin' in my ears. “Yes,” I went on, “black folks want decent educations and the right to work at decent jobs and also every kind of right there is! And we bein' mobbed and killed and shot at…. That's right, they're shootin' at little children ridin' school buses! They're shootin' down their fathers for tryin' to get 'em into the schools, they won't sell us no food because we want our children educated, they turnin' us off of jobs and tryin' to drive us out of our homes, they draggin' people out of their beds in the middle of the night and burnin' them with oil and fire. And you ask me what I'
m
gonna do!”

Marge, the next thing you know he says real nasty-like, “When there's a Negro crime wave, I don't throw it in your face.” … Sit down, Marge, keep still. Girl, I opened up on him and said, “You better not! 'cause whenever a Negro does somethin' it's a
wave
, but your doggone newspapers is full of nothin' but white folks murderin' and robbin'
every day
that the Lord sends ever since there's been a newspaper and you folks done got so numb inside 'til you think that's how it
should be!”
Then I says, “Why, I can't turn on the television without seeing you all killin' each other up just for the sake of
entertainment
. So you just keep on eatin' your breakfast same as ever, you just keep ‘tut-tuttin'. The world's just goin' to pass you by.” He jumps up again and says, “Go home!” … “I'm goin',” I says, “but remember this: everybody that don't like the idea of white folks warrin' on my people, everybody that feels they don't want to be included in the mob crowd, all those kind of folks speak up and let the world know!” Yes indeed, I told him, “All those that keep quiet are with the mob whether they agree with 'em or not!”

And with that, Marge, I walked out and left them sittin' there big-eyed…. Yes, dear, I'll take a cup of coffee—strong. Yes, your friend Mildred is
upset!

M
ARGE
, I don't usually interfere with strangers on the street and neither do I butt my nose into people's business 'cause folks have been known to get killed on account of that sort of thing, and I want to be around here for a long time to come … but as the man says, it's the exception that proves the rule.

Girl, I'm not interested in how much you spent on your Christmas presents 'cause that money is as gone as yesterday's snow, I don't care how you figure it. Let's talk about
now
…. Of course, I liked my present, and by the way, how did you know I needed a sequin bed jacket? … Well, you sure are a good guesser because I know I never mentioned it!

Getting back to my story, when I was comin' home from work this evenin', I passed one of them step-ladder speakers, and I mean to tell you he had some lot of people standin' around listenin' to him. There he was just a-wavin' his arms and hollerin' real loud 'bout food prices bein' so high and the bus and subway fares goin' up, and honey that cold weather wind was whippin' his coattail to a frazzle, so I thought to myself, “If he got the gumption to stand on that cold corner and talk, I'll have the grace to stay with him a while.”

Well, he did right well, although I figured he jumped around too much instead of stickin' to one subject…. You know what I mean. He'd talk about Jim Crow a bit and just when you got interested in hearin' all about that, he'd go talkin' about unemployment, and then on top of that he was talkin' too long, and I got to go to work in the mornin', so as much as I wanted to hear it all, I had to leave….

No, Marge! I didn't tell him all that! I just left peaceable and quiet…. Well, another woman was leavin' at the same time and I heard her grumble, “
If he don't like it here, why don't he go somewhere else!”
I turned around to look at her and she looked a whole lot better than she sounded, so I said to her, “You better wish he stays right here, if you know what's good for you.”

“Well,” she says, “if he's discontented he oughta go where he'll be content. After all, everybody ain't dissatisfied!” Since she was travellin' in my direction, I walked right along beside her. “Listen here, lady,” I says, “you work eight hours a day instead of twelve or fourteen because a gang of dissatisfied folks raised sand until they made it a law, and if they had all gone somewhere else you would still be on the job now instead of on your way home for supper.

“Discontented brothers and sisters made little children go to school instead of workin' in the factory. A whole lot of angry, discontented women fixed things so that we womenfolk could vote. All these different denominations of churches were set up because folks were discontented with one or another of them. Look at these housing projects—they were built because some folks were fightin' mad about livin' in slums. And you get paid a certain amount of money per hour 'cause folks were discontented with less, and if you belong to a union you know full well that it wasn't started by folks that loved their bosses.

“Another thing … public schools were not started by parents who were content with private ones. Why, whoever invented a washing machine must have figured that an awful lot of women were discontented with washin' boards … and when it comes to your remarkin' the fact that everybody ain't dissatisfied, all I can say is there was a whole gang of folks who didn't think Social Security or Unemployment Insurance was necessary,
but try to take it away from them now that they've got it, and you'll hear a different tone!”

… No, Marge, she didn't get mad. All she said was, “My, I never looked at it that way, I guess you're right.” We parted good friends and the last thing I told her was, “When we get peace in the world it will only go to prove my point: people are sure discontented and dissatisfied with war!”

… That's right, Marge! Why if man was content to walk there would be no airplanes or trains! Girl, some people spend a lot of time fightin' advancement, but after all the Good Book says,
“Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge; but he that hateth reproof is brutish.”

G
IRL
, I
TRIED
to hold my peace, I tried to let things go by the board, I did my best to remember all the things you told me, but before the night was over, I just had to speak my mind! … Yes, it was a nice meetin' as meetin's go. Of course you know I don't consider a meetin' to be the last word as far as a good time is concerned. I go to them 'cause sometimes folks got to meet in order to straighten out things, and I feel that it's my beholden duty to be right there meetin' along with everybody else.

Marge, the church was crowded, and it would have done your heart good if you could of been there to see that fine turnout! … It's a good thing that you had a toothache 'cause I wouldn't of taken nothin' else for a excuse! … No, I don't mean that I'm glad your tooth is achin', and you know it! … Why do you always twist and turn every word I say…. I don't mean
every
word, I only mean
some
words! … Are you feelin' better now? … Well, that's good. Do you want me to tell you 'bout the meetin'? … All right, I'll begin at the beginnin'.

Honey, they raised some money this evenin'! This civil rights business has got folks so tore up 'til they're really ready to dig down in their pocketbooks and put some money where their mouth is! The whole idea of givin' the money is simply this: they're gonna send it down South to help out people who are catchin' a hard time 'cause they want to vote and ride the buses and things like that…. Yes, they had several speakers there and they spoke right well.

The minister introduced one white man who got up and started his speech by sayin', “The South today is in a state …” and then he went on to tell us all about the state of things. After he finished a colored man got up and started his speech by sayin' “The South has
always
been in a state …” Then he went on to further tell us 'bout the state of things. Two or three more people spoke a little bit, and I'm here to tell you that they gave the South a
hard
way to go! Oh, it was the South this and the South that and by the time they got through, I don't think there was another bad word to say 'bout the South 'cause they had said 'em all!

When the question and answer time came, everybody started in on the South all over again and took it from slavery and traveled each day and year right back on up to nineteen hundred and fifty-six. I learned a lot, but it seemed to me that we was forgettin' that this land also has a North, East and West to it! Since I didn't think we should be so forgetful I got up to say my say.

When it came my turn, I said, “We have heard a great deal about the South tonight and rightly so, but I'm wonderin' if we got room to just low-rate the South in such a sweepin' manner….” Marge, before I could go on with what I had to say, there was a little disturbance in the back of the auditorium, and one squeaky-voiced little man jumped up and said, “Yes, that's right,
before
we get on the South, let's take care of the North!”

… Now, he wasn't doin' a thing but tryin' to mislead the people, so I kept standin' and got him out of my way! “Never mind that
before
business,” I says, “but let's take care of the North
while
we're gettin' on the South! To hear us talk, anybody would think the North was some kind of promise-land come true. All is not sweetness and light just 'cause we're on the North side of the Mason and Dixon line!

“But the main thing I want us to remember is that there's lots of
good
people down South!” Marge, they started to mumble then, and I could see that I wasn't gettin' too much agreement on the last thing that I had said, “Yes,” I says,
“good
people. When we talk about slave days let's bear in mind that there was plenty of white folks who helped the slaves to escape, Southern folks. No, they didn't get the honor and the glory like the Abolitionists in the North 'cause they had to work quiet and secret and it was worth their lives if they got caught. I heard about them Southern ship captains who took slaves out of the South and hid them 'til they got to freeland, I heard about Southerners who bought slaves in order to bring them, to the North and set them free, I heard of Southern homes where the poor ‘run-away' found rest and food and hope. Believe me, when I say that it took nerve and courage to fight slavery right there in the teeth of it, so to speak! It wouldn't be right for us to forget those things 'cause even though there was more help comin' from the North, it was harder to get help in the South and for that reason it was worth its weight in gold!”

One woman sittin' behind me, whispered, “We don't want to make them Southerners sound like no angels now.” And I said, “We got to give credit where credit is due at the same time that we're puttin' the blame to the South! Are we goin' to forget the judge in Carolina that spoke up for us, are we goin' to forget how he had to leave his home for sayin' what was on his mind? … Are we gonna forget the man in Kentucky who sold a colored family a home and got put in jail for it? Are we goin' to forget those youngsters in Alabama who signed a paper sayin' that they didn't want to have nothin' to do with mobs and that they were for the right of a colored student to go to their college? Are we gonna forget the folks who
refuse
to join up with klans and such? Are we gonna forget them Southerners who made trips to people's homes to warn them that bad white folks was comin' over to molest them? Oh, yes, there's been a lot of good Southerners who took a stand for the right even when the goin' was lonely-like and frightenin', when they got chased from their homes, when ‘friends' wouldn't talk to them, when they got ugly telephone calls and letters. Oh, my, but it ain't easy to do right in the midst of all that killin', burnin' and mobbin' that's goin' on!”