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I walked
Dee to her 8th period class and started to
mine when a black kid named Cleavon came
up beside me. I've seen him around but
I've never talked to him before. I don't
remember everything he said, but basically
he told me that he didn't think I should
be going out with Dee. You know... the
color thing. He said that he and some of
the other "brothers" were not happy with
the fact that Dee was dating a Hispanic
guy.
Okay, so
I'm not saying this came as a complete
surprise to me. I mean, Marita had warned
me about this a few weeks ago, but I just
thought that she was being paranoid and
also that she wanted me to get back with
Flora. I mean, it's 1997 you know, and
this racial thing is getting pretty old.
When are people going to get off of it
already?
Last
year, in my old school, they put on the
play West Side Story and I remember when
some of us saw it we thought it was like,
real cool and that it must be some new
show or something. But then, one of the
girls who was in it said that it was
written more than 40 years ago. No way! We
were pretty blown away by that, because,
it seemed to us that not much had changed
in thirty years. Then this other guy, who
was also in the play, he said the director
had told them that West Side Story was
really based on Romeo and Juliet and
Shakespeare wrote that about
400 hundred years ago! Same exact thing!
Stick to your own kind or we'll bust your
head.
So, like
I said, I wasn't surprised when Cleavon
came up to me, but that doesn't mean I
knew what I was supposed to say to the
dude. Like I wasn't about to tell him,
"Oh, sorry man. I didn't notice Dee was
black. Now that you point it out to me,
excuse me. I won't go out with her
anymore."
No, I
wasn't about to say that. Because I love
Dee and also because I don't like anybody
telling me who I can be friends with. And
that's what I told Cleavon. I said, "Man,
I don't want to cause no trouble with you
or your friends, but Dee and I like each
other and we don't really see how that's
anybody else's business. You know?"
Then he
said he was just giving me a friendly
warning. And that next time, the message
wouldn't be so friendly. He shoved me into
the wall and walked away.
After my
last class I was getting my stuff from my
locker and I felt someone come up behind
me. I turned real fast, cause since that
thing with Cleavon I was feeling a little
jumpy, but it was just Chaz. And he asked
me for some advice about how he could get
Becca to go out with him. I like Chaz.
He's a good guy. Anyway, I told him that
since he and Becca already have this
friendship thing going that he should
stick with that for now and see what
develops. He thought that sounded like a
good idea and he thanked me. I was still
feeling a little paranoid, but I went to
meet Dee at her locker. She and I walked
out of the school together past a bunch of
Hispanic kids and a bunch of black kids. I
guess we're going to hear it from both
sides. You know what? I don't even
care!
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