When I come outta the dressing room tonight, Devon was already in the lobby talking to the boy from Vicksburg, Jacob. Devon was askin’ ‘bout where he’ll be going to college, New Jersey Institute of Technology.
When he saw me, Jacob smiled. “There’s the Gator Girl.”
Like I said b’fore, the school he thinks I went to has a mascot, the Gators, so I smiled. “Hi.”
It was a little awkward for a second, ‘cause he moved in between me an’ Devon. “How was the show tonight?”
I talked about how it went until Addison come out. I tol’ how we do improv based on the audience. Improv is what Addison tol’ me it’s called.
Once Addison come out, we all went to the pizza parlor and I made the picture for this post.
Jacob looked o’er at me at one point. “How do you like Brooklyn?”
“I like it fine. I got some good friends now.”
“Sure ain’t like Vicksburg,” he replied. “It must really feel different to you, huh?”
Addison looked at me and raised her eyebrows, smiling, ‘cause she knows just how different it is, an’ I think I had a good answer. “You can’t even imagine how different it feels to me.”
Addison was sipping her water and choked a little.
Jacob nodded. “Being black in Mississippi… Sure, Dr. King got the ball rolling, but it sure has a long way to go.”
“What do you mean?” Devon asked.
“Racism… The laws say one thing. Not all the folks listen. Equal opportunity might be legislated, but that don’t mean it’s operationalized.”
Addison had recovered from choking and said, “Well, I hate to say this, but not all white people in NYC will think of you as an equal. Racism might be lurking just under the surface.”
Jacob nodded. “Oh, I’m not blind to it. But, believe me, there’s a lot more under the surface down south. Not just Mississippi where we’re from… but I guess everywhere. Nasty business, racism is. Like a cancer in our culture.”
We talked on like that for a while, and it felt real honest. I think I got to see things in a different way, thanks to Jacob. I know I got a lot to think about.
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