Black, Blind, & In Charge by David Paterson

Author:David Paterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510763098
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2020-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

NOW SPEAKING ABOUT this time period, I am reminded of a story.

August 15, 1987:

We were arranging to rename Mt. Morris Park to Marcus Garvey Park in honor of the famous black nationalist leader. Ironically, my grandmother Evangeline Paterson had served as Mr. Garvey’s secretary in his Harlem offices during the early 1920s. Many of the community activists in Harlem, the same ones who attended the Anti-Apartheid rally two years earlier—joined by Muhammad Ali—would be included in the ceremony, and we were having a meeting to determine the program. A longtime activist, known as Queen Mother Moore, who was nearly ninety years old, announced that Marcus Garvey had a childhood friend with whom he had communicated through his entire life, and that she would be coming all the way from Jamaica to attend the rally. She also added, that the woman, known as Nurse Anne, was a hundred years old herself.

As circumstance would have it, Nurse Anne was the first member of the committee to arrive at my office this warm August morning. The uniformed nurse was escorted in by my assistant Anna Barrow. Sitting with her in my office, I introduced myself and asked a few questions when she abruptly asked in a pronounced Jamaican accent, “Where are the other members of the committee?”

“They haven’t arrived yet, nurse,” I responded, thinking it would be great because I would get a chance to know a little bit about Marcus Garvey in his younger years. However, Nurse Anne was having none of it as she summarily scolded me.

“I hope you are aware that I do not sit in a room with a man unaccompanied.”

This had been an exciting opportunity for me because at the time I was thirty-three years old and had never met anyone who was over one hundred years of age. I was crestfallen by the implication that I had any designs on Nurse Anne, but conceded to her that I would wait in the lobby for the rest of the guests, rose from my chair, and walked to the door. As I was turning the knob to leave, Nurse Anne had a second mandate.

“Young man, come back and sit down.”

Puzzled but patient I complied with her request. She asked, “do you happen to be married, young man?”

“No, I’m not.”

She grabbed my hand and said, “Then you can sit next to me.”

Well, it turned out that Nurse Anne had quite a sense of humor and she completely enjoyed the achievement of baffling and unnerving her host that day.

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