by S. A. Miller
“That’s alright, Johnny. When we overcome, you’ll still be sitting here trying to get next to Cynthea.”
The other students crackup, oohing and aahing at Johnny. Even Mr. Perry laughs, but Cynthea isn’t laughing.
“Aw man! She killed you Johnny!” says Robert.
“Forget you, Margaret,” replies Johnny, and immediately refocuses his attention to Cynthea.
Not able to shut down Margaret, William starts a conversation with Diane at the counter.
“Margaret’s right about us being proud,” says William. “We got to be out there changing things, but not as soldiers in some Civil Rights Movement. No sir. We have to talk the only language that ‘the man’ knows. There’s got to be a revolution.”
A little tired of William’s ongoing rhetoric, Diane responds, “William, why are you always talking that revolution stuff? Who are you going to shoot? Better yet, where you gonna get the guns?”
“See, that’s the problem with you ‘White-thinking’ Negros,” replies William. Y’all just a bunch of wannabes taking the crumbs the white man gives you. My people don’t operate like that. We have the means and the will to take things into our own hands when the time comes. And when it does, y’all be marching down some street wondering what’s going on.”
Diane turns in her counter chair to directly face William.
“Who you calling a ‘White-thinking’ Negro? exclaims Diane. Your problem is you don’t think for yourself at all. When the revolution comes, who do you think Panthers are going to put on the front line? Your dumb, ignorant butt.”
William keeps his cool although Diane is clearly getting under his skin.
“You have a right to your opinion no matter how wrong it is,” offers William. “Just don’t come running to me when you need protection. If you ain’t on our side when the first shot is fired, I feel sorry for you.”
Moses hears the conversation between Diane and William and walks over to stand behind Diane. Moses is always mind-mannered except on the track and when someone messes with Diane.
“William, man, you don’t have to talk to Diane like that,” states Moses.
William replies sarcastically, “Oh, excuse me, Mr. Track Star.”
“What y’all into it about?” asks Moses.
Diane answers, “William gets on my nerves with all his radical and violent talk.”
“You can’t let that stuff bother you,” replies Moses.
“She should let it bother her,” responds William.
William points at Diane and Moses then declares: “Y’all ain’t ready.”
Suddenly NewsBoy busts through the door sweating and out of breath.
Chapter 3
The News
“Mr. Perry, Mr. Perry, turn on the TV! Turn on the TV!” shouts NewsBoy. “Somebody shot Dr. King! Somebody shot Dr. King!”
The entire ice cream shop gets quiet.
Linda chastises NewsBoy, “Come on, NewsBoy. That ain’t funny.”
Frustrated and upset NewsBoy shouts, “I’m not lying! I’m not lying! It’s just happened! It just happened! It’s on the news! It’s on the news!”
Moses stops the jukebox. Mr. Perry turns on the 19”, black and white TV setting behind the counter and turns the volume up. The students all gather around the counter to see and hear the news. On the TV, the newscaster is reporting that Dr. King has been shot.
“Memphis police say they have no suspects in the shooting, but witnesses have indicated the shots came from a boarding house across from the Lorraine Hotel. Dr. King was in Memphis to lead a peaceful protest in support of striking sanitation workers. Again, for those of you just joining us, reports out of Memphis, Tennessee say that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been assassinated. At this time, we don’t know who or how many killers were involved. Dr. King, the Noble Peace Prize recipient, ...”
Mr. Perry turns down the volume on the television. The students and other patrons kind
of mill around not quite knowing what to say or do. There is an uncomfortable silence. Margaret’s cries breaks the silence.
“I can’t believe it! How could anyone do this? Dr. King is our savior. How could they kill him?”
Diane responds, “Evil! That’s what it is. Just plain Evil.”
Margaret continues to express her pain, “What are we going to do now? Our leader is dead. How are we going to overcome without Dr. King leading us?”
In an attempt to comfort Margaret, Robert says, “It’ll be okay, Margaret. Dr. King has a lot of soldiers. The fight will continue.”
William responds to Robert’s statement, “You’re right about that. There is definitely going to be a fight. All I can say is, y’all better get your guns and get ready. The Revolution is about to start.” There seems to be a sense of satisfaction in William’s voice for the prospect of racial combat.
Johnny jumps on William, “William, Man. Don’t nobody want to hear that noise now.”
“So, what you gonna to do about it, Johnny?” replies William. “What ‘cha gonna do?”
Johnny moves towards William. William gets off of the stool and takes a defensive stance. Robert and Moses quickly step in between the two.
With a stern voice, Mr. Perry squashes the tension.
“All right now. I know everybody’s upset but we’re not going to have any fighting up in here,” declares Mr. Perry.
“Y’all so disrespectful to Dr. King”, Margaret exclaims.
“They’re just stupid,” says Cynthea. “They think they can solve everything by fighting.”
Heeding Mr. Perry’s words, William and Johnny return to their seats.
Ricky, who graduated from Central last year comes through the door. He is a boastful young man who is a member of the Nation of Islam. Wearing a brown suit, yellow bowtie, and sunglasses, Ricky moves swiftly and confidently carrying a stack of newspapers.
“As-salaam-alaikum, my brothers and sisters,” says Ricky.
No one acknowledges him.
“What’s up? Why y’all so quiet?” asks Ricky
NewsBoy responds, “Didn’t you hear the news, man?”
“What news?” asks Ricky.
NewsBoy points to the television.
“They killed Dr. King,” says NewsBoy.
“Who killed Dr. King?” asks Ricky.
“They don’t know yet. All they know is that somebody shot him,” replies NewsBoy.
Ricky starts to laugh. NewsBoy rushes out of the ice cream shop.
“Well, well, well. The mighty Dr. King is dead. What will the Negroes do now?” asks Ricky.
Margaret shouts, “Shut up, Ricky! Shut up!”
“What?” responds Ricky. “You don’t want to hear the truth? It’s all right here.”
Ricky holds up a copy of “The Final Call”, one of the newspapers he’s carrying.
“Maybe now some of you play tenders will get enlightened and follow the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” replies Ricky.
Diane chastises Ricky. “You have absolutely no sense of compassion, do you Ricky? A man just died who spent his whole life trying to make it better for people like you, and all you can do is sit up hear and promote some fake...”
Ricky interrupts Diane.
“FAKE?” interrupts Ricky. “You call the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, fake? He has done more to enlighten Black men than King. All King wanted you to do was to march and sit- in, and beg the white devil for what is already yours. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches you that you are great. You don’t need the white man.”
“You sound just like William,” replies Cynthea.
“Please! This brother don’t have a clue,” responds William.
Ricky addresses William.
“What are you talking about, brother?”
“I’m talking about your whole Muslim movement,” responds William. “What are y’all doing? Y’all talk big game, but where’s the results?”
For the first time, Ricky takes a defensive tone.
“Oh, we’re getting ready, My Brother,” replies William.
“Yeah, I bet,” responds Ricky. “I’ll come back a year from now, and you’ll be sitting on that stool, talking the same ‘ole, same ‘ole. Meanwhile, I will have led a lot of people to the truth.”
“But that’s all you do. Sell papers and bean pies,” replies William.
“And all you sell is wolf tickets,” responds Ricky.
“We’re helping people, man,” William proudly declares. “We have kitchens...”
“We have kitchens, too,” counters Ricky.
“We empower our people. We tell them to be in charge of their own lives,” says William.
“The exact same thing that we teach our people in the Nation,” says Ricky.
Mr. Perry is amused by the pseudo debate Ricky and William are trying to have.
“Sounds like you two have more in common than you realize, interjects Mr. Perry. “That’s what Dr. King was all about. He understood that we are all God’s children and we are more alike than we could ever be different. Isn’t it ironic that on the day that he dies, you knuckle heads finally learn that?”
Chapter 4
You Have to Run
As William and Ricky calm themselves at the urging of Mr. Perry, NewsBoy comes running back into the store.
“Listen everybody,” says NewsBoy. “They just closed school for Friday and Monday.”
“Who said that, NewsBoy?” asks Cynthea.
NewsBoy holds up a flyer.
“I just got these flyers from Mr. Hawkins at the school. He told me to come down here and tell y’all.”
NewsBoy passes the flyers around. Cynthea, Margaret, and Linda read one of the flyers together.
Moses asks, “What about the track meet on Tuesday? Did Mr. Hawkins say anything about that?”
NewsBoy replies, “Oh, that’s still on. They’re still going to have the meet on Tuesday.”
“Who cares about some dumb track meet,” exclaims Cynthea.
Margaret concurs, “Yeah. All hope for Black people is gone and you’re worrying about a track meet.”
Robert comes to Moses’ defense.
“Come on, Margaret. You know how hard we’ve all worked to win City.”
“Well, I’m not running,” states Johnny.
“What?” a surprised Robert replies.
Johnny restates, “I’m not going to run Tuesday.”
“Why not?” asks Robert.
“Out of respect to Dr. King,” replies Johnny.
“Come on, Johnny, you have to run. You’re the third leg on our relay team,” states Robert.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m not going to run,” answers Johnny.
Always the instigator, Williams chimes in, “He’s just saying that to get in with Cynthea. William’s militancy would not allow him to admit publicly that he has a thing for Cynthea. She is so different from him, and he knows she would never be attracted to him. And he knows he would never be able to convert her to the militant side. Nonetheless, privately, he carries a torch for her.
Robert continues his appeal to Johnny.
“Johnny, man, you have to run!”
“I’m not running, man. And you shouldn’t either. It’s disrespectful,” replies Johnny.
“How is it disrespectful?” asks Robert.
Margaret replies to Robert’s question even though Robert was asking Johnny and not her. “Dr. King was a special man,” declares Margaret.
“He was like our Black President,” responds Johnny.
“That may be true, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t run,” replies Robert.
“Well, I’m just telling you, I’m not going to run,” responds a seemingly defiant Johnny.
Ricky scolds the students.
“Listen at you Negros fighting over a dead man. I’m telling you, I’ve got the truth right here. Ricky vigorously waves a newspaper in the air.
“Whenever you want it, just let me know,” offers Ricky.
Ricky, then turns to William and says, “Even you, Brother William.”
William raises his fist in the air symbolizing the Black Power sign and responds, “I have the real truth, my brother, so why not lay those papers down and come join a real movement.” Ricky shakes his head and starts towards the door. He’s almost through the door when he turns around to address the students.
“Don’t y’all mourn too long, now,” Ricky teases. “You know ‘Massr’ won’t like that.”
And with a smirk, Ricky is out the door.
Tired of debating Robert, Johnny turns to Moses.
Though Moses and Johnny are teammates on the track team, these two have never been best buddies. While Moses is not one to embrace jealousy or envy, Johnny has always felt a need to compete with Moses. Both have had success as athletes, but Moses’ success has always bugged Johnny. Maybe he thinks he should always be the star. Today, it doesn’t help that Moses “smoked” Johnny in the 100-yard dash.
“What about you, Moses?” Johnny asks. “Are you going to run Tuesday?”
“Yeah, I guess. I haven’t thought otherwise. I mean, why wouldn’t I run?” replies Moses.
“Out of respect for Dr. King”, says Johnny.
“I have respect for Dr. King. I don’t see what running my race has to do with not respecting Dr. King,” counters Moses.
“Well, I think it’s all about you,” replies Johnny. “All you care about is winning that 100-yard dash.”
Robert challenges Johnny. “Where you get that mess from, Johnny? It’s about Central winning the championship.”
“Well you can say what you want, but I think that respecting Dr. King is more important than winning some championship,” replies Johnny.
Feeling somewhat attacked by Johnny’s statements, Moses disengages from the conversation and starts talking with Diane who has returned to her seat at the counter.
“So, are you going to run on Tuesday?” Diane asks.
Moses is a little perturbed that Diane would ask him that question. He perceives her question to be support for Johnny’s position.
With a facial expression that is more quizzical than it is angry, Moses replies, “Why shouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know, Moses,” replies Diane. “I mean Dr. King is dead. They shouldn’t even be having that track meet if you ask me.”
“But they are,” answers Moses.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to participate,” retorts Diane.
“You’re saying I shouldn’t run?” Moses asks.
“I think you should think about it,” says Diane.
“And what does not running get me?” questions Moses.
Diane knows that her conversation with Moses bothers him more than the conversation he just had with Johnny, but she is not going to let that keep her from giving her opinion.
“I mean, Moses, don’t you have a sense of loss? Don’t you feel bad about what happened?” asks Diane.
“Come on, Diane,” responds Moses. “You know I feel bad just like everybody else.”
“So how can you feel good enough to run?” asks Diane.
“Because I want to run! I hate that Dr. King got shot, but I don’t see why that should stop me from running on Tuesday,” responds Moses.
“Well, I’m just saying, out of respect,” counters Diane.
“So, you think I shouldn’t run?” Moses asks a second time.
Diane replies, “Moses Derrick, you’re going to do what you want to do. It just seems to me that you’re acting like nothing happened. Like everything is like it was before. It’s not.” Moses really doesn’t like what Diane is saying, but instead of being confrontational, he chooses to be passive aggressive with his response.
“Now, my girlfriend is going against me. Going against me because of some stupid stu
ff from Johnny,” replies Moses.
“I’m not going against you, I’m just telling you how I see it. No need to get bent out of shape,” exclaims Diane.
A frustrated Moses responds, “I’m not bent out of shape, I just don’t get how me running on Tuesday is being disrespectful.”
Diane decides to let the conversation end there.
The discussion about the track team participating on Tuesday does not hold much attention for most of the other students in the ice cream shop. Instead there is sadness. There is confusion. There is pain. Students try to console each other despite the arguments between Ricky and William, and Robert and Johnny. No one really understands what to do or how to react. Several students hold conversations with Mr. Perry maybe seeking some adult wisdom about how they should feel.
Several of the students decide it’s time to go home. It’s been a traumatic afternoon for these young adults. Now it’s time to seek comfort from parents and loved ones who, no doubt, are feeling the loss of Dr. King as well. As students slowly file out of the door, Mr. Perry reminds the students to be safe.
“Y’all be safe out there,” encourages Mr. Perry. “And don’t do anything stupid.”
Moses asks Diane if she’s ready to go.
Diane responds, “I’m going to walk home with Linda and Margaret.”
“Why don’t you want me to walk you home?” asks Moses.
“I just want to walk with Linda and Margaret,” responds Diane.
“Well, I’m going to hang out here for a while,” replies Moses.
“That’s fine,” responds Diane. “I’ll talk to you later.”
There is no hug. There is no kiss.
Diane goes over to Linda and Margaret. Robert comes and sits with Moses at the counter. Johnny tries to get some compassion points by asking Cynthea if she wants him to walk her home.
“You want me to walk you home, Cynthea?” asks Johnny.
“Yeah, I think I need to go home too,” replies Cynthea.
“Your mother’s probably at home upset too, huh?” asks Johnny.
“Momma’s working, but yeah, she probably is upset,” replies Cynthea
Johnny probes, “So, maybe I can keep you company for a while? I mean, until you feel better?”