Welcome to My World by Curtis Bunn

Author:Curtis Bunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Strebor Books

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: A SEAT OF THE COUCH

RODNEY

I was surprised at myself. Instead of walking and sleeping, I spent much of the day using the cell phone Brenda got me. I read about what was going on in the world, something that had been a pastime for me.

Brenda had encouraged me to read and to scan the newspaper websites to learn what was happening in the world. I had not read a newspaper in two years. I kept thinking I’d see my face in the paper as the man who killed his family.

Enough time had passed for that to not be a possibility, and I dug into it as if I were famished. My mind felt open and fresh to process new information. Not all the news I read was good—much of it was disheartening, in fact—but I was reminded how much I used to love to learn.

I spent more than three hours reading about President Obama and his family and his accomplishments. I had proudly voted for him twice and I cried in the voting booth, when he won and at his inauguration.

Often I heard people at the shelter, black people, talking about “He didn’t do enough for the African-American community” or “He could have done more.”

I was ready for the next person to say something around me. I had read so much about the value of the symbol of a dignified black man as president. I was going to tell that person: “It’s OK to try to be fair and even critical about President Obama and what he did or didn’t do for black people. But you cannot deny and you cannot put a value on what he represents to all of us.

“I read about old people who said they could die in peace because they saw him serve the country with class and grace. I read people, the toughest people, who melted at his presence because he represented them in such a dignified manner. I understood that because as a black man, every time there was tragic news—someone being raped or killed—I literally prayed it was not a black person who did it. The black man’s reputation was a lie, but to white people, it was real, and the more cases of a brother doing something horrific, the worst we looked in the eyes of others. Every bad case was an indictment against us.

“But here was the most popular and important man on earth who, for all his time in office, lifted up black people by his mere presence. No scandals. No angry black man. No indignant comments. He personified elegance and intelligence and strength. And our children got to see that. He had been the best example of a leader and a man and husband and father and a black man.

“So for anyone who said he didn’t do enough for black people, I say he did more for black people than anyone on earth. Here I was, a man living on the streets who felt pride knowing he represented me.

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