Part 16 (1/2)
”I do,” said Sharon China just looked away I saw a glimmer of pain in her eyes It still affected her
When they finally left it was three in the ood to see them I called Tamu and we talked until the sun caht Keonda to see me She was three years old and I was scared to death of her! She looked just like ether and bonded Still, the responsibility of being a father hadn't sunk in How could it have? Mo at ho to generate revenue to provide for Keonda
One day while I was still on the Rock in YTS, I wrote to Mo as best I could the dominance of the white power structure over us as a people, soe Cleaver She had shown the letter to a Muslim friend of hers who, she said, wanted to ive ured what the hell, let ht me to drive a stick shi+ft so I would have access to her car whenever I wanted, which gaveMonday I drove over to his office I felt aard, because applying for a job just wasn't the gangsterish thing to do You either jacked forwas considered weak
The business was a computer school called Trans-Western Institute The position I applied for was recruiter, which nated areas to recruit students for the school Students were eligible for governrants, student loans, and other financial help For every student I recruited I would be given a fifty-dollar commission
The first place they sent me was the unemployer of being recognized I didn't want anyone I knew to see ht by so
My first day I didn't try to recruit anyone, I si around inside the tiny building Hordes of people,fro to do Utter despair was uess this was the look that people said Reagano as I could remember I had seen Mom wear that sa here was that there were so ether in one room Certainly the pain in those faces was not the result of just four years of Reagan, nor could the sudden shi+ft to conservative economics be the result of one bad man in office I sat back on a dirty bench and watched until it was time for lunch, at which point I went hoh School in East LA I never went The following day I didn't show up at all, and I never returned again
Instead I went to Whiteboy Eric He gave ht with the proceeds was a '68 Chevy and sohty-fourth Place and Western Avenue After being out of YTS for only three s were smooth
Since I had no comrades from my unit out in the field, I bonded with those whoster Brown and Tracc Both Brown and Tracc were still heavily into PCP, so as a social link I too fell heavily into it For alarettes dipped in PCP every day, so fro as a bed sheet Oftenti on my head in Arab fashi+on, secured by a black stretch belt I'd put on my Locs, roll down all the s instone-crazy! Everyone thought I was a nut
That suot skinheads We'd pile into my car four deep, bald-headed with dark shades on, and ride around LA We'd never sh ere heavily armed After all, you can only play so ot out of prison and I was grateful, as the Sher and I subsequently becaer than me, and I found myself in almost the sa had been with the set before he and I met in YTS, his clique was a noncoot turned onto so to happen Like Tray Stone, he was a sleeper who just needed someone to coach that ruthlessness out of hie-old volcano I knee'd be good friends
One afternoon, much to my surprise, Muhammad came by my mom's house and he and I rapped awhile about the circu his suspension from YTS He also showed me a letter he'd received from Warith D Muhammad that forbade him further entry into prisons in the capacity of an i terrorists”
Muha day I agreed He left raphy of Malcolm X I went in the pad to look over the material
”Who was that?” Mom asked as I entered the house
”Oh, that's Muhammad He used to teach us at YTS Reot sofor the books
”Books on us, black people Moet off!”
”Yeah, well he needs to take that turban off before someone mistakes him for the Shah of Iran”
”Naw, Mom, the Shah of Iran was a US puppet You mean the Ayatollah”
”Well, whoever, shi+t,” Mom said and handedwhat Muha a US puppet, but as soon as it was fitting to speak on it, it just ca out the sharpness inday ent to the Islamic Center on Fourth Street and Vermont Avenue and I totally tripped out I saw Muslie-nineteen-wore traditional Afrikan dress from the continent There were Iranians, Saudis, and Libyans, too I saing thobes of various colors, turbans, jewelry, andthere in 50Is, Puma tennis shoes, a Polo shi+rt, and a Raiders cap and felt like a daot a few looks that today I would define as Third World people seeing me as a benefactor in their oppression, but at that tiht they were just curious about my dress code
Muhammad went in and did Salat and I irls went to another part of the center to pray
”You know,” Muhaan as alked out into the noonday sun, toward the car, ”Al-Islam is not compulsive Allah will raise up those he sees fit Insha Allah, you have a ht that only actors in Hollyore those geni shoes that curled up in the front”
”Brotha, the European has twisted and turned everything to fit his warped way of thinking He has made himself the center of the world, indeed of the universe Have you ever heard the words Oriental and Occidental?”
”I heard of Oriental Don't that mean jap?”
”No, now listen,” he said, with a precautionary finger up ”Orient means East and Occident means West Now here's the twist Europe, as put forth by the European, is the center of the world Therefore, anything to its east is Oriental, while anything to its west is Occidental This is what is meant by Eurocentric”
”Yeah, but if Europe is not the center of the world, then what is?”
”Check this out When a baby is born what is theneeded for its survival?”
”Uhht And where does that food coht, therefore what's central to the baby?”
”The ht The cradle of civilization is Afrika Afrika is the motherland Therefore, Afrika is central to all of humanity”
”But-”
”Wait, wait, let me explain this Now those e know today as Europeans are actually mutants who left the safe confines of the Motherland and evolved in Europe Their food for survival was doctored by an unnatural mother The side effects of their developression, and universal weakness predicated on their minority status in the world”
”Well, if that's the case, why don't we just tell everybody what's really going on?”
”I wish it were that simple Hey, ever heard the words mankind and human?”
”Yeah, I've heard 'e at me now over the top of the car
”Hue? No, don't knohat it means”
”Color, it means color!”
”And?”
”And? Bro, can't you see it? Lookhurin of recognition, ”color-ht! Now, that means humans are people of color, all people of color Brown, red, yellow, et cetera, dig?”
”Yeah”
”And redient that produces skin color Europeans,produced frorowth ofAnyway, these mutants don't have any melanin, therefore they are colorless”
”White,” I said
”Right, white is colorless And to be without color is to be abnormal because the majority of the world's people are hue-ht! So it's normal to be of color Which means they are, as ?”
”damn, that's heavy!” I felt stuck on stupid