From that point on, whenever I spoke to Duke on the phone I always found a point in the conversation to inject a question that incorporated the word “are” in it except I would pronounce it like a “nigger,” “are-uh.” This was my symbolic way of sticking a finger in Duke’s eye and an extended middle finger in his face to show him that this high school–educated black man with only twenty college credits was smarter than he, a college graduate with a master’s degree.
