Caleb
Caleb Currie was a friend of mine back in my hometown--we graduated together. His father was a preacher and died when Caleb was young; his mother raised him and his older sister--Twimeter Enzyme Currie--I will never forget that name as long as I live. Caleb was my friend, and he was black.
You have to remember that this friendship began 37 years ago. Whites had their place and blacks had theirs. The tolerance level was very low then, even when it came to basic friendship. BUT we were 7 and oblivious to the harshness and prejudice of the world--man, I miss that...All I knew was that he was sweet, and all he knew was that I was too. We didn't know all of these other things that complicate life as you grow older. For us, he was Caleb; I was Gaye; plain and simple.
I continued to be naive until one day Caleb said something to me that even a 7 year old found unsettling. Caruthersville is a river town. Every year the students of the elementary school would walk from school to the river and tour the Delta Queen while it docked there. Mrs. Carnell, our second grade teacher, arranged us into two's for our walk to the river. We were given instructions to hold hands with our designated partner--Caleb was my partner. Before he took my hand he asked me if I wanted him to put on a glove. Dumbfounded, but innocent...I grabbed his hand and we skipped hand in hand, arms swinging, down main street to the river. I thought to myself, why would he think I would want him to wear a glove--his skin felt the same as mine?...
As we made our way to the Delta Queen, my dad was standing in the window of the AP&L building where he worked, waiting for his baby girl to walk by so he could wave. Me and Caleb skipped and waved; daddy just waved. He wasn't mad; just confused maybe; confused the same way Caleb was that day. Both of them had the same goal in mind; to protect me from the intolerance in the world.
Caleb never mentioned the glove again--he knew that I saw him as a person, not a color. I learned a very important lesson that day--grab hands and skip--skip past the intolerance and prejudice in the world; and holding hands with someone along the way--well, that's just icing on the cake!
Hope--Faith Evans and Twista
You have to remember that this friendship began 37 years ago. Whites had their place and blacks had theirs. The tolerance level was very low then, even when it came to basic friendship. BUT we were 7 and oblivious to the harshness and prejudice of the world--man, I miss that...All I knew was that he was sweet, and all he knew was that I was too. We didn't know all of these other things that complicate life as you grow older. For us, he was Caleb; I was Gaye; plain and simple.
I continued to be naive until one day Caleb said something to me that even a 7 year old found unsettling. Caruthersville is a river town. Every year the students of the elementary school would walk from school to the river and tour the Delta Queen while it docked there. Mrs. Carnell, our second grade teacher, arranged us into two's for our walk to the river. We were given instructions to hold hands with our designated partner--Caleb was my partner. Before he took my hand he asked me if I wanted him to put on a glove. Dumbfounded, but innocent...I grabbed his hand and we skipped hand in hand, arms swinging, down main street to the river. I thought to myself, why would he think I would want him to wear a glove--his skin felt the same as mine?...
As we made our way to the Delta Queen, my dad was standing in the window of the AP&L building where he worked, waiting for his baby girl to walk by so he could wave. Me and Caleb skipped and waved; daddy just waved. He wasn't mad; just confused maybe; confused the same way Caleb was that day. Both of them had the same goal in mind; to protect me from the intolerance in the world.
Caleb never mentioned the glove again--he knew that I saw him as a person, not a color. I learned a very important lesson that day--grab hands and skip--skip past the intolerance and prejudice in the world; and holding hands with someone along the way--well, that's just icing on the cake!
Hope--Faith Evans and Twista
posted by Gaye at 10:03 PM
3 comments
