A Drop of Midnight: A Memoir

by Jason Timbuktu Diakité

“I mean, can you imagine what it must have been like for a young, pregnant black girl in South Carolina a hundred and fifty years ago? You had absolutely no rights. You don’t know if your child is going to be strung up in a tree, sold, or just worn out in a cotton field. Now, that’s trauma. And now, my government spends billions of dollars a day fighting terrorism on the other side of the world. Well, fuck, we’ve been terrorized all along. Who’s fighting the terrorism African Americans have

been dealing with in this country for four centuries?” Her voice rises in tone and volume. “What psychologist gives us therapy? PTSD, my ass. We’re all suffering from it. It’s become part of our DNA.”