St. Martinville High School's class of 1973 has been getting together for 40 years, and for 40 years, their reunions have been segregated. When the organizers for this year's event got together, they originally planned on it being segregated again.
This year however, they wanted to change that. They decided to have a normal reunion with everyone together. But when since prematurely leaked the old plans that had an after-party event for September 21 being for white graduates only, it has gotten quite a bit of attention.
Principal Michael Kreamer got calls almost immediately:
"I'm just a little disappointed that something like this comes up. I don't think that it looks good for the school, but again as I said it has nothing to do with St. Martinville Senior High. So I hope people don't take that the wrong way."
Even though it isn't happening the way it was advertised, some people are still looking for an opportunity to play "angry black person". I think the alumni should be allowed to party the way they choose to. It wasn't a problem in the past, and this would not been an issue if we were talking about black people having a separate event somewhere. From HBCUs to the UNCF to BET, there are plenty of "blacks-only" things going on, and no one seems to think it's a problem. I understand that once upon a time blacks weren't included in things of that nature, but now we are.
Normally, I'm not that guy who throws race all over the place. I believe everyone should be treated as humans, no one should be treated special because of their race, and no one should be made out to be a suspicious character because of their appearance.
28-year-old construction worker Ikenna Njoku qualified for the First-Time Home Buyer Rebate on his tax return. He opted to have his check direct-deposited into his Chase bank account. Since he had a history of overdrawn checks, Chase closed his account. Maybe he thought they would open it back up after they got their money. Anyway, when the check arrived at the bank, they took the $600 he owed and sent him a cashier's check in the amount of $8463.21.
Njoku took the check to the branch nearest his home in Auburn, WA. to cash it, but when he got there, the rep who handles the big checks started asking him questions like he shouldn't be holding a check like that.
“I was embarrassed.” She asked me what I did for a living. Asked me where I got the check from, looked me up and down - like, ‘you just bought a house, really?’
She told him that the check looked phony, took his license and credit card, then called Bank Support. After about 15 minutes, he told them that he had to run a quick errand and that he would be back. When he got back, Chase was closed. He called customer service to find out what he should do, and they told him to just go back tomorrow to get his money.
When he got there the next day, he was thrown in jail and accused of forging a check - a felony.
“I was like - you’re making a mistake, you’re making a mistake, don’t take me to jail, I got work tomorrow. I can’t afford to miss work.”
This was on Thursday June 24, 2010. The next day, the bank realized they had made a mistake. An investigator for the bank called the detective over the case, but she was off for the day. Njoku had to stay in jail for the weekend. He got out on Monday.
As if that wasn't enough, Njoku's car had been towed from the bank's parking lot and his check was seized as "evidence". He didn't have the money to get his car back, so it was sold. He lost his job for the no-call no-shows while he was locked up.
“They haven’t even sent me a letter or apologized. It’s been a year we’ve been trying to contact these guys.”
This reminds me of the time my cousin called home (Michigan) to have $10,000 of her money sent to her. She wanted to avoid any hassle from the banks, since they believe Blacks don't have enough money to bank here so she had the money sent as two $5000 United States Post Office money orders sent instead. Post Offices issue and cash money orders. No big deal right?
Four small towns, four post offices, and neither one had the money to cash them. She went the last Post Office in the area before having to drive to Mobile to cash it (an hour away). This Post Office was very small with one door inside marked "Postmaster". The lady behind the counter told her that she could cash the money orders, and to give her a minute. 10 minutes went by, and my Cousin was getting impatient. Just then she heard her information being repeated to someone. She looked toward the back and saw the lady in a corner talking into a CB radio receiver. She was calling the police.
My Cousin started raising all kinds of hell, but the lady just stayed back there and ignored her. She was raising so much hell, that she didn't notice the police that were standing behind her. The lady came out and told them that the money orders were fake and that she never saw one that looked like the ones she had. The lady talked bad to my Cousin. Made her feel like a criminal. Long story short, my Cousin had the newer Postal money orders that obviously hadn't reached Alabama yet. They released her from jail and she went to Mobile where she should've gone in the first place.
I called the Post Office hotline for her and found out they they strive to resolve all incidences in 24 hours. We gave all the information to the rep and waited for the next step. All Postal complaints go to the Postmaster of each location, and they call the plaintiff to rectify the problem. Guess who called back? The same lady who threw my Cousin in jail. Yep, she was the Postmaster. She basically called to let us know that we couldn't do a damn thing to her since she's the one in charge. We had to chalk it up to experience.
It's clear that certain groups of people believe that it unusual for Blacks to have large amounts of money. Whose fault is that though? If you let television dictate what's going on, Blacks are always broke and struggling and never have anything and oppressed by the man. Hence the need for our own cable channel and our own colleges and organizations like the NAACP who further promote the separation of Blacks from the population, at the same time crying that we're not equals. I know it's wrong to look at these people and judge, but why wouldn't it seem odd to "mainstream America" for Mr. Njoku or Ms. Cousin-of-mine to want to cash such large items for cash?
Do you have a similar story? Do you know of anyone who's experienced something like this? If this were you in either situation, would what you do?
Call me uppity, but I never grew up eating on the bone of a neck, the hock of a ham, the maws of a hog, and the intestines of a pig, better known as chitterlings. Hell, the same way Spike Lee movies were banned in my house during my younger years was the same way these foods were. That doesn't mean I wasn't exposed to them, my friends and certain extended family members ate them on holidays and gatherings.
Recently at a gathering, I was asked if I ate "chitlins". Of course I said no, but it was like the music stopped and everyone stared at me. See, the South is big on chitlins and they take pride in their beloved comfort food. Me, I'm not so big on eating poop. I guess I'm the anti-poop or something. Yeah, yeah, they clean the poop out of the intestines, but only about as good as they devein shrimp.
They ended up giving me this whole history lesson about how during slavery, when hogs were butchered, slave owners kept the preferred cuts of meat or ate "high on the hog". The leftovers of the hog - the neck, feet, bones, snout, skin, ears, intestines, etc. - were given to slaves. As touching as that story was, I didn't give a flying kite about a damn chitlin. Just because that happened back then doesn't mean it has to happen now. I thought Dr. King had a dream that one day we wouldn't have to eat chitlins anymore? I even wonder if all the Negroes around here even got the memo that slavery is over. Maybe that explains why so many of us talk and act the way we do. After the history lesson, I guess I was expected to try one or something. When I refused, I was told that I wasn't Black. Other points to back up his claim included how I speak and the fact that I like to read and write. Wow, I'm not Black because I got the memo? It's okay for people to know you can read now...you must not have gotten the memo. Of course I'm not letting a statement from a poop eater ruffle my feathers, but it is still a bold statement.
So now I'm confused. What does it mean to be Black? By whose definition does one go by? I honestly think none of us know anymore. It doesn't mean hate white people. I certainly don't think it means to be isolated from the rest of the population the way groups like the NAACP or TV networks like BET obviously suggest. Maybe I should refer to Webster's definition of Black and run with that.
