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“Would you like me to boil water?” one of the women asked. “If you’d like,” the doctor said. “Tea would be nice.”
Money be green, we be black, and the devil be white.
That’s why I’m going to take over television and air that trash every day several times a day instead of only once a week. That way we’ll all become desensitized to its harmful and consumptive effects by sheer overexposure.
Brilliant woman. I wish I’d hired her, but, you know, I never thought to do that. Perhaps because I’m a privileged white male.”
My wealth grew, or so I was told by Ted’s accountant,
Like most people I am smarter than some, dumber than others,
“Who?” “My history teacher.” “A woman?” “Yes, a woman,” I said. “An attractive woman?” “I guess.” “Well, you know, that doesn’t sound too bad on the face of it, but it seems a little inappropriate.” Ted folded a stick of gum into his mouth. “Gum? It’s Juicy Fruit.”
I say report her. She’s contributing to the delinquency of a minor. And apparently giving defective blow jobs.”
I realized that the kids around me were now afraid of me. By so daringly stepping away from my role as victim, I was to be feared, or at least made to feel like a shit for abandoning the rules.
“News will be the new entertainment,” she said. “Trust me, Not Sidney. It won’t be enough to report it, news will have to be made. It’s going to be a bad thing, but it’s going to be.” She slid the first batch into the oven and closed the door. “That’s where we’ve gone. Everything in this country is entertainment. That’s what you need for stupid people.
I stayed away, reading and thinking. The latter activity, I was certain, would finally be my downfall.
He had pointed out to me that not only was I Not Sidney Poitier, but also that I was not Sidney Poitier: a confusing but profound and ultimately befuddling distinction, one that might have been formative or at least instructive for a smarter person.
“You’re not Omega material. I can see that now.” I nodded.
“My mother testifies before Congress and goes on television all the time talking about conservative issues. She’s trying to get rid of the welfare system because it keeps black people down and to stop gay rights because it endangers the family structure and keeps black people down and to abolish affirmative action because it teaches special preference and that keeps black people down. That sort of stuff.”
People, my friend, are worse than anybody.”
I arrived in Montgomery, and it was everything I thought it would be and less.
“Where’s the body?” the Chief asked. “Which body?” “How many bodies do you have, Donald?” “Just one.”
