Darts and Flowers by Dean Backus

Author:Dean Backus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBTQ+;High School;1990s;Rom-com;Romance;Young Adult;Gay
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Published: 2022-07-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

One day in the mid-90’s, it occurred to Chantel that there were no black Disney princesses.

Sure, The Lion King was set in Africa, but there were no humans in it. There was an Indian girl at the end of The Jungle Book who did little more than giggle and carry a jug of water. The two closest to Chantel’s heart were Princess Jasmine and Pocahontas—and even they looked more like white girls with really good tans.

She asked her mother about this.

“Those are the stories the Disney people chose to animate, honey.” Her mother sighed, frowning at the pile of documents she was sifting through as part of the brief she was filing. “A lot of the stories they filmed were from Europe, and there didn’t use to be a lot of people like us there. So I guess it didn’t occur to them to fix that when they made the movies.”

“But what about Jasmine, and Pocahontas, and the Indian girl? Why is the only role model from Africa a lioness named Nala?”

“I don’t know,” her mother said. “Maybe the people who decided to make those movies didn’t know enough about African history and stories for children.”

“Are there some good African stories?” Chantel twirled her braid in her hand. “Something with a pretty black girl or lady?”

“Let’s find out,” her mother said, closing the tome in front of her with a bang. It was a nice day, good for a walk to the library down the street.

So down they went, and the librarian, a stunning woman with deep brown skin, a thousand bracelets, and a necklace seemingly made of precious gems, listened to their request. Then she showed them to the Children’s section, where they checked out an animated story based on an African folktale: “Kirikou and the Sorceress.” Chantel’s mother set her up with the DVD player in the living room, gave her a bowl of air-popped popcorn, and returned to her case.

For the next hour and a half, Chantel watched the story of brave Kirikou, a West African baby who demands to be born while still inside his mother. She watched him battle the beautiful yet frightening sorceress, Karaba, who had captured all of the men from the village. Karaba was like a Black version of Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, but with wild pointy hair and exposed breasts. Chantel watched the little boy outwit the evil witch-woman at every turn, saving his friends from disaster and the sorceress’s traps. Then, at the climax, she watched Kirikou remove the poisonous thorn from Karaba’s spine, unleashing a terrifying scream but freeing her from her torment and also removing all of her evil powers. Kirikou then received a magic kiss from the former sorceress, grew into an adult man, and married her after they returned to the village.

Chantel had screaming nightmares for a week.

Her mother almost lost her case because she’d overlooked a key detail from the sleep deprivation.

Her father wrote a nasty letter to the library.

The librarian told her supervisor that it wasn’t her fault if modern families couldn’t understand a beautiful African folk tale.

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