Black AF History by Michael Harriot

Author:Michael Harriot
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-07-13T00:00:00+00:00

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In 1969, before I was born, my grandfather was killed in a traffic accident by a drunk driver as he drove his last customer home. The white teenagers were never prosecuted; all I know about him comes from other people’s stories. I have seen pictures, so I know he smoked cigars, served in World War II, and often wore a white shirt. I cannot tell how tall he was or how his voice sounded, but he remains a mythic figure in my life.

I knew my grandmother well. She passed down my family history and protected her family’s legacy. She could make ice cream from scratch and patiently put up with my constant haranguing for more stories. She worked the same “good job” at the same factory as my grandfather, yet she was not larger than life to most people.

One time, while waiting for biscuits to come out of the oven, I asked her if she was afraid on that night that the men could just kick that fragile door off its hinges. She insisted that she was not scared because my grandfather had assured her that his prayers were more powerful than all the men on all the porches in the world.

“You weren’t praying, Grandma?” I asked.

She pinched her apron with her right hand, used it to pull the pan of biscuits out of the oven, and just shook her head from side to side. “No, Mikey,” she said. She did not answer proudly, as if she wore her response as a badge of courage; she did it matter-of-factly, like doors and Black women sometimes will.

“I didn’t wanna close my eyes,” she said. “Not with that pistol in my hand.”

She was something else.

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