"Say, Jukie, where you from?" Donna asked, as they sped down the streets leading to the highway.
Well, Jukie thought. Might as well tell her a little bit about myself. This is as good a time as any. First, let's get us some tunes, though. He switched on the car radio. He was tuned to the black R&B station from the City, so he knew the sounds would be fine.
Well, Jukie thought. Might as well tell her a little bit about myself. This is as good a time as any. First, let's get us some tunes, though. He switched on the car radio. He was tuned to the black R&B station from the City, so he knew the sounds would be fine.
Soundtrack: Change Is Gonna Come---Sam Cooke
"Lessee," he began. "Where do I start? Well, I was born down south, North Carolina, but my Moms, me an' her, we moved to the City when I was two, I think. So I really grew up hereabouts. Went to school in the City 'til… well 'til I quit high school and went into the army."
"Why'd you quit school?" Donna asked.
That hit a raw spot. Really, Jukie had flunked out, so Donna's question immediately put him on the defensive.
"Lessee," he began. "Where do I start? Well, I was born down south, North Carolina, but my Moms, me an' her, we moved to the City when I was two, I think. So I really grew up hereabouts. Went to school in the City 'til… well 'til I quit high school and went into the army."
"Why'd you quit school?" Donna asked.
That hit a raw spot. Really, Jukie had flunked out, so Donna's question immediately put him on the defensive.
"All kindsa’ reasons! First off, these honky teachers had no understanding of me or any other ‘Negroes’, like they called us back then. Books they used was racist. American history textbook? It started right off talking about how Columbus ‘discovered’ America. Well, what about the Indians who was already here? Oh yeah, the way the book told it they was ‘savages’ that slaughtered and scalped settlers. And on it went like that."
Of course, at the time Jukie hadn't known any better; it wasn't until he'd taken more liberal American and Black history courses in the army that he'd started to learn the truth about the savagery of the white man in settling America and in building its economy on the backs of African slaves like his forefathers. But now he was on a roll and he decided to impress Donna with all he'd learned about American history since high school.
"Yeah, back then in high school, all the heroes in the textbooks was white. No mention of Crispus Attucks, Harriet Tubman or Sojourner Truth. I didn't learn about them 'til I was in the army taking a Black History course. According to my teachers in high school, Nat Turner wasn't nothin' but a crazy nigger; meanwhile, John Brown, a white dude, he was a martyr. Seemed like there was no black people who did nothin' important in history. Abe Lincoln, he freed the slaves, but then, wouldn't you know it? Them ignorant ex-slaves and the corrupt Carpetbaggers screwed it all up during Reconstruction, excetra, excetra, excetra."
Donna seemed impressed with his explanation, so he went on. "English class was the same way; every book we read was written by some white man about white men. No Frederick Douglas, no W.E.B. DuBois or Langston Hughes or Richard Wright or James Baldwin. And in science class all the scientists we studied was white. Never no mention of George Washington Carver or Benjamin Banneker or Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. And the way the teachers treated us? Making us take off our caps all the time, like we was still slaves or something! Giving us Fs on papers cause we was using language they didn't approve of or understand."
Jukie paused to take a breath. Donna remained silent, listening.
Jukie took that as encouragement to continue, which he did, "Not that my life has been all that tough, not compared to lotsa’ niggas. No, compared to most of my family and the guys I came up with, my life has gone pretty smooth. But back then, though, it seemed like I wasn't going nowheres in high school. So, after being kept back twice, I just quit and joined the army."
"What was that like?" Donna asked. She seemed to be truly interested.
"Well, it was O.K. Spent my first year in training and taking a bunch of courses, most of them pretty inerestin', so I did real well in them. That got me my high school diploma and a promotion to Corporal. Trouble was...it also got me sent to Nam."
"Really?" Donna gasped. "That must have been awful!"
Jukie was tempted to lie, to exaggerate his experiences in Vietnam, but, for some reason, he decided to level with Donna. "No, not really. I totally lucked out, got assigned to a construction unit, ran a bulldozer, building roads and airstrips in the jungle. Hard work, but mostly safe. Once or twice, maybe, I heard gun and mortar fire nearby, but I never so much as saw a gook the whole year I was there, except on leave in the cities and they was mostly whores and kid hustlers."
"I'm glad," Donna said sympathetically. "I know quite a few guys who weren't so lucky. The war totally fucked them up!"
Jukie felt a little ashamed of his good luck. He knew he'd been spared the horrors that so many fellow soldiers experienced, both brothers and honkies. "Yeah, I know some totally fucked up cats who served in Nam. I was damn lucky. I got home from there in one piece, physically and mentally. And with my honorable discharge and vet status, I shot to the top of the list for one of them Great Society jobs programs in the City. And with my bulldozing experience I qualified for a real good paying construction job, knocking down tenements in the inner-city so's they could put up this big fuckin' shopping mall and parking garage downtown."
Donna's eyes flashed a look of disapproval, "The Midtown Mall? But…"
"Yeah, I think I know what you're gonna’ say," Jukie interrupted. "It's fucked up awright! The fuckin’ mayor of the City was this Kennedy-type liberal, except that his whitey heart was made of concrete and steel."
Jukie liked the way he'd put that: a liberal whose heart was made of concrete and steel! Damn, that was almost like a poetic figure of speech! This Donna seemed to be inspiring him.
"Anyways," Jukie continued, now combining his own life experiences with what he'd learned in a course on Urban Sociology, "The Mayor, he figured the best way to deal with ‘urban unrest’--- that's liberal code for ‘niggers rioting’--- was to tear down the ghetto, move the poor folks outtathere into so-called ‘mixed neighborhoods’ and then lure the white suburbanites back into the city they'd recently fled… at least to shop at the Mall. Well, the old intact ‘colored’ neighborhoods were demolished awright, but the white folks didn't flock to the mall; instead it became what you see now--- a hangout for angry, young, jobless black kids, predatory drug dealers, winos, and hookers. And, as for the ‘mixed neighborhoods,’ wasn't long before they became all black, overcrowded, and really dangerous."
"That's for sure!" Donna agreed.
"Yeah… like my Mom's house, which represented her life savings from doing housework for rich white folks… it was once in the middle of a racially mixed block---clean and safe. That's where Patsy Richardson--- you know, the Law School Queen--- that's where Patsy and I grew up together. Now, it's in the middle of a block of buildings that were mostly burned out during the riots or just abandoned by white slumlords when their skyrocketing back property taxes were more than the property was worth."
"Does your Mom still live there?" Donna asked, a note of concern in her voice.
"Nah! I convinced her to sell when the old neighborhood got so dangerous I was afraid for her safety. ‘Course, she lost a bundle when she sold. The house was practically worthless ‘cause of the neighborhood and the taxes. So, now she lives in an apartment here in U-Town, which is where I been staying since I started the U last summer. I help with the rent and she does my laundry. Pretty slick deal all around."
"That must be nice for both of you. I mean, I wish I was that close with my parents. They pretty much disowned me after… after last year. But, I wasn't getting on with them too well even before that."
"Why was that?" Jukie asked. He was trying to figure this chick and having no luck whatsoever.
"Well, it's a long story, but the short version is simple: they didn't like me going out with 'niggers.'"
The word stopped Jukie cold. Hearing it in a white person's mouth always got him mad, even now, although he realized that Donna had used it as if her parents were saying it. Funny thing, the word ‘nigger.’ It was O.K., as far as he was concerned, for black people to use it --- he and his bros did it all the time, only they pronounced it "nigga"---but when a white person said it--- well, it was a fighting word. He wasn't gonna’ fight Donna about it, of course, but…
"Hey, baby… do me a favor. I know you didn't mean nuthin' by it, but please don't use that word with me. O.K.?"
Donna seemed surprised, "O.K., Jukie. Whatever you say. Just that the brothers and sisters I hang with use it all the time, so it jes' sorta's become part of my vocabulary, you know?"
Jukie considered this statement and found it filled with meaning. First off, he was beginning to get a handle on this chick. She was a nigga lov… he stopped himself. She dug Afro-American men. Probably some kinda’ rebellion against her southern parents. Second, maybe he and his buddies should think about their own use of the word. Like, if it hurts when your white friend or white girlfriend uses it, then maybe it ain't right to use it yourself even if you're black. He had to think about that one some more, maybe talk it over it with Utsie. He was a pretty deep cat.
Links
The lies surrounding Columbus' "discovery" of America
Crispus Attucks
Harriet Tubman
Sojourner Truth
Nat Turner
John Brown
Carpetbaggers
Frederick Douglas
W.E.B. DuBois
Langston Hughes
Richard Wright
James Baldwin
George Washington Carver
Benjamin Banneker
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
effects of urban renewal on black communities
use of the word nigger or nigga
Sam Cooke
Sources
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Go to the next scene in Jukie's story
New Year's Eve 1968: Jukie, Scene 8 "Black Boy at the U"
Go to the previous scene in Jukie's story
New Year's Eve 1968: Jukie, Scene 6 "Splittin' the Scene"
Of course, at the time Jukie hadn't known any better; it wasn't until he'd taken more liberal American and Black history courses in the army that he'd started to learn the truth about the savagery of the white man in settling America and in building its economy on the backs of African slaves like his forefathers. But now he was on a roll and he decided to impress Donna with all he'd learned about American history since high school.
"Yeah, back then in high school, all the heroes in the textbooks was white. No mention of Crispus Attucks, Harriet Tubman or Sojourner Truth. I didn't learn about them 'til I was in the army taking a Black History course. According to my teachers in high school, Nat Turner wasn't nothin' but a crazy nigger; meanwhile, John Brown, a white dude, he was a martyr. Seemed like there was no black people who did nothin' important in history. Abe Lincoln, he freed the slaves, but then, wouldn't you know it? Them ignorant ex-slaves and the corrupt Carpetbaggers screwed it all up during Reconstruction, excetra, excetra, excetra."
Donna seemed impressed with his explanation, so he went on. "English class was the same way; every book we read was written by some white man about white men. No Frederick Douglas, no W.E.B. DuBois or Langston Hughes or Richard Wright or James Baldwin. And in science class all the scientists we studied was white. Never no mention of George Washington Carver or Benjamin Banneker or Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. And the way the teachers treated us? Making us take off our caps all the time, like we was still slaves or something! Giving us Fs on papers cause we was using language they didn't approve of or understand."
Jukie paused to take a breath. Donna remained silent, listening.
Jukie took that as encouragement to continue, which he did, "Not that my life has been all that tough, not compared to lotsa’ niggas. No, compared to most of my family and the guys I came up with, my life has gone pretty smooth. But back then, though, it seemed like I wasn't going nowheres in high school. So, after being kept back twice, I just quit and joined the army."
"What was that like?" Donna asked. She seemed to be truly interested.
"Well, it was O.K. Spent my first year in training and taking a bunch of courses, most of them pretty inerestin', so I did real well in them. That got me my high school diploma and a promotion to Corporal. Trouble was...it also got me sent to Nam."
"Really?" Donna gasped. "That must have been awful!"
Jukie was tempted to lie, to exaggerate his experiences in Vietnam, but, for some reason, he decided to level with Donna. "No, not really. I totally lucked out, got assigned to a construction unit, ran a bulldozer, building roads and airstrips in the jungle. Hard work, but mostly safe. Once or twice, maybe, I heard gun and mortar fire nearby, but I never so much as saw a gook the whole year I was there, except on leave in the cities and they was mostly whores and kid hustlers."
"I'm glad," Donna said sympathetically. "I know quite a few guys who weren't so lucky. The war totally fucked them up!"
Jukie felt a little ashamed of his good luck. He knew he'd been spared the horrors that so many fellow soldiers experienced, both brothers and honkies. "Yeah, I know some totally fucked up cats who served in Nam. I was damn lucky. I got home from there in one piece, physically and mentally. And with my honorable discharge and vet status, I shot to the top of the list for one of them Great Society jobs programs in the City. And with my bulldozing experience I qualified for a real good paying construction job, knocking down tenements in the inner-city so's they could put up this big fuckin' shopping mall and parking garage downtown."
Donna's eyes flashed a look of disapproval, "The Midtown Mall? But…"
"Yeah, I think I know what you're gonna’ say," Jukie interrupted. "It's fucked up awright! The fuckin’ mayor of the City was this Kennedy-type liberal, except that his whitey heart was made of concrete and steel."
Jukie liked the way he'd put that: a liberal whose heart was made of concrete and steel! Damn, that was almost like a poetic figure of speech! This Donna seemed to be inspiring him.
"Anyways," Jukie continued, now combining his own life experiences with what he'd learned in a course on Urban Sociology, "The Mayor, he figured the best way to deal with ‘urban unrest’--- that's liberal code for ‘niggers rioting’--- was to tear down the ghetto, move the poor folks outtathere into so-called ‘mixed neighborhoods’ and then lure the white suburbanites back into the city they'd recently fled… at least to shop at the Mall. Well, the old intact ‘colored’ neighborhoods were demolished awright, but the white folks didn't flock to the mall; instead it became what you see now--- a hangout for angry, young, jobless black kids, predatory drug dealers, winos, and hookers. And, as for the ‘mixed neighborhoods,’ wasn't long before they became all black, overcrowded, and really dangerous."
"That's for sure!" Donna agreed.
"Yeah… like my Mom's house, which represented her life savings from doing housework for rich white folks… it was once in the middle of a racially mixed block---clean and safe. That's where Patsy Richardson--- you know, the Law School Queen--- that's where Patsy and I grew up together. Now, it's in the middle of a block of buildings that were mostly burned out during the riots or just abandoned by white slumlords when their skyrocketing back property taxes were more than the property was worth."
"Does your Mom still live there?" Donna asked, a note of concern in her voice.
"Nah! I convinced her to sell when the old neighborhood got so dangerous I was afraid for her safety. ‘Course, she lost a bundle when she sold. The house was practically worthless ‘cause of the neighborhood and the taxes. So, now she lives in an apartment here in U-Town, which is where I been staying since I started the U last summer. I help with the rent and she does my laundry. Pretty slick deal all around."
"That must be nice for both of you. I mean, I wish I was that close with my parents. They pretty much disowned me after… after last year. But, I wasn't getting on with them too well even before that."
"Why was that?" Jukie asked. He was trying to figure this chick and having no luck whatsoever.
"Well, it's a long story, but the short version is simple: they didn't like me going out with 'niggers.'"
The word stopped Jukie cold. Hearing it in a white person's mouth always got him mad, even now, although he realized that Donna had used it as if her parents were saying it. Funny thing, the word ‘nigger.’ It was O.K., as far as he was concerned, for black people to use it --- he and his bros did it all the time, only they pronounced it "nigga"---but when a white person said it--- well, it was a fighting word. He wasn't gonna’ fight Donna about it, of course, but…
"Hey, baby… do me a favor. I know you didn't mean nuthin' by it, but please don't use that word with me. O.K.?"
Donna seemed surprised, "O.K., Jukie. Whatever you say. Just that the brothers and sisters I hang with use it all the time, so it jes' sorta's become part of my vocabulary, you know?"
Jukie considered this statement and found it filled with meaning. First off, he was beginning to get a handle on this chick. She was a nigga lov… he stopped himself. She dug Afro-American men. Probably some kinda’ rebellion against her southern parents. Second, maybe he and his buddies should think about their own use of the word. Like, if it hurts when your white friend or white girlfriend uses it, then maybe it ain't right to use it yourself even if you're black. He had to think about that one some more, maybe talk it over it with Utsie. He was a pretty deep cat.
Links
The lies surrounding Columbus' "discovery" of America
Crispus Attucks
Harriet Tubman
Sojourner Truth
Nat Turner
John Brown
Carpetbaggers
Frederick Douglas
W.E.B. DuBois
Langston Hughes
Richard Wright
James Baldwin
George Washington Carver
Benjamin Banneker
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
effects of urban renewal on black communities
use of the word nigger or nigga
Sam Cooke
Sources
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Go to the next scene in Jukie's story
New Year's Eve 1968: Jukie, Scene 8 "Black Boy at the U"
Go to the previous scene in Jukie's story
New Year's Eve 1968: Jukie, Scene 6 "Splittin' the Scene"
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