Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
Negro Digest - Freedom Archives Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
his reputation tramped in front of and behind him. I remember one night we wuz at the Roller Derby and Blue wuz high . He turned to me . "Buy me sum pop, youngblood!" "Gimme duh money!" I wuz frontin to see how far I could go . And anyway it wuz better to get yo head whupped than to suck ass . "My money is in yo pocket," Blue run back . "If it is, it gon stay dere too," wuz my rap . All the other dudes had been watchin the game, but when the conversation started to lead to some serious raps, the other dudes jumped in and started to push the stuff. "I know lil Willie aint gon take dat," Tutti dropped in . "What you got tuh do wit it halfwhite nigga?" I screamed on Tutti to throw things away from myself. At that moment one of the female Westerners hit the floor and slid off the rink . The crowd roared. The humor of the moment saved me, for Blue along with the crowd wuz crackin up as the skater kept losin her footin at the edge of the rink . Blue wuz in such a happy thnng that he put off my whuppin for the moment . After the game we slid down Wabash, headin south, looking for some drunks to roll . We were almost at Eighteenth Street when we heard a familiar voice. "Hey!" We looked on the other side of the street and saw Jake . He sat in his dingy grey Ford. Jake wuz a 54 red conk-head nigga who served as Youth Officer . He seldom missed an opportunity to send us through changes . "Cmon ovah heah!" "We wuz goin home!" "I didnt ask you where you wuz goin, git ovah heah to duh cah!" We checked the traffic and trotted across the street to the car. "Where you goin?" "We wuz goin home," Tutti answered . "Where you comin from ." "We just left the Derby, heahs a program and a pennant." "You stole em, huh?" "Naw I bought dese," I said. "Yeah, well git yo asses on home befo I catch you wrong and start hangin my foot in em!" We started away from the car feeling relieved that Jake had let us slide, even though we hadnt done nothing. "Cmere boy!" Jake yelled flashing his spot on Blue . Blue drug over to the car . We stopped and waited . "I didnt call all yall, but if you got sum bisness back heah JUST WAIT THERE!" Spit sprayed through his yellow teeth . We moved on down the street lookin back cautiously . Blue leaned over to talk to Jake ; his head wuz lost to us inside the car. We heard a loud thud and saw Blues body tremble with pain . We knew that Jake had pulled off his specialty . Tell you to put your head in the car ; hit his electric window button letting the window up on your neck ; he would then tell you March 1970 NEGRO DIGEST
to take your head out when he finished talking and when you couldn't he'd club you in the head with his blackjack or his fist depending on his mood . Blue rejoined us rubbing his head, "That muthafucka gon git his ASS kilt!" We nodded in agreement . I had no strong love for Blue, but we were in total agreement on Jake. At the plate Blue stood in a stance that wuz something between Ruth, Mays, and Bushman . His sweaty charcoal-blue muscles rippled as he gripped the bat and waved/swung it on some practice swings . The crack of the bat split the air when he connected with the ball . "Dont hit on the trademark, Monkey," somebody'd yell from the side . "Tell it to yo Granmamma's man!" he'd snarl over his shoulder . Home-runs wuz an automatic thang for Blue . We used to say the nigga gotta hit a home run, cause he so slewfoot he caint walk, know he caint run. "Hey Blue, Hey Blue," voices rung from a window of a building near the baseball lot . "Cmere ." The voices belonged to two of the Archer Captivators, Duck and Bunky. "You cmon down heah if you wanna see me," Blue yelled back at the window. The Archer Captivators were socalled because they usually met at the triangle formed with Archer Avenue's diagonal cut through NEGRO DIGEST Morch 1970 Wentworth Avenue . The other base of the triangle was formed by a dirt road, Dearborn Street . At the Dearborn base stood the Archer building, a huge dirty rusted structure that had stood at least three quarters of a century . It wuz four stories and housed anywhere from four to five hundred people . The odd shape of the triangle building created long hallways which were seldom lighted by anything other than daylight dashed through the dirty, sometimes paneless, windows or trickles of light that crawled from over/under the apartment doors . The first floor contained two store-front churches, one penny candy store, one auto supply store, one gypsy fortune teller, and one herb and sacraments store that doubled as a policy station . Duck and Bunky were standing in front of the building when Blue got there followed by we hanger-on-ers . "What you dudes up to?" Duck pulled a small shiney blue steel revolver from under his shirt . "Check this out, nigga," as he handed the gun to Blue . Blue carefully checked out the piece as we peeped for the man . "Where'd you cop?" Duck spoke with a grip, "I copped from Warshawsky last night ." "Did you git any dough?" Blue licked his lips as he asked . 55
- Page 204 and 205: ~re~atorc~ ~o~e~- THE BLACK UNIVERS
- Page 206 and 207: "1lTew Creation or Familiar Deatla"
- Page 208 and 209: contradictions they entail . Furthe
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- Page 220 and 221: m~,irofir_- ~r- ir;r_ rr_~,~r; v;~~
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- Page 224 and 225: In Chicago, movement toward the Bla
- Page 226 and 227: olled . At this time, over 400 stud
- Page 228 and 229: stand and serve as a bulwark, or re
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- Page 234 and 235: Step 2-A deliberate effort is made
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- Page 238 and 239: 38 Charlie Cobb, one of the key org
- Page 240 and 241: Initial organizing efforts proved q
- Page 242 and 243: 1 . Independent African Civilizatio
- Page 244 and 245: fl Position Paper CENTER FOR BLACK
- Page 246 and 247: standards and values that commit ou
- Page 248 and 249: "Ah thought he could be grateful fo
- Page 250 and 251: Gray Ward . . . Historian Benjamin
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- Page 264 and 265: all of those persons who are not on
- Page 266 and 267: Broken down, here is how I see this
- Page 268 and 269: ,~ ~ ~z~srlvr~ ¢e° (Continued fro
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- Page 292 and 293: lishment. Drum and Spear Press is a
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- Page 300: Mod, Modish and Militant Keeling on
to take your head out when he finished<br />
talking and when you couldn't<br />
he'd club you in the head with his<br />
blackjack or his fist depending on<br />
his mood .<br />
Blue rejoined us rubbing his<br />
head, "That muthafucka gon git<br />
his ASS kilt!" We nodded in agreement<br />
. I had no strong love for Blue,<br />
but we were in total agreement on<br />
Jake.<br />
At the plate Blue stood in a<br />
stance that wuz something between<br />
Ruth, Mays, and Bushman . His<br />
sweaty charcoal-blue muscles rippled<br />
as he gripped the bat and<br />
waved/swung it on some practice<br />
swings . The crack of the bat split<br />
the air when he connected with the<br />
ball .<br />
"Dont hit on the trademark,<br />
Monkey," somebody'd yell from<br />
the side .<br />
"Tell it to yo Granmamma's<br />
man!" he'd snarl over his shoulder .<br />
Home-runs wuz an automatic thang<br />
for Blue . We used to say the nigga<br />
gotta hit a home run, cause he so<br />
slewfoot he caint walk, know he<br />
caint run.<br />
"Hey Blue, Hey Blue," voices<br />
rung from a window of a building<br />
near the baseball lot . "Cmere ." The<br />
voices belonged to two of the Archer<br />
Captivators, Duck and Bunky.<br />
"You cmon down heah if you<br />
wanna see me," Blue yelled back<br />
at the window.<br />
The Archer Captivators were socalled<br />
because they usually met at<br />
the triangle formed with Archer<br />
Avenue's diagonal cut through<br />
NEGRO DIGEST Morch 1970<br />
Wentworth Avenue . The other base<br />
of the triangle was formed by a dirt<br />
road, Dearborn Street . At the<br />
Dearborn base stood the Archer<br />
building, a huge dirty rusted structure<br />
that had stood at least three<br />
quarters of a century . It wuz four<br />
stories and housed anywhere from<br />
four to five hundred people . The<br />
odd shape of the triangle building<br />
created long hallways which were<br />
seldom lighted by anything other<br />
than daylight dashed through the<br />
dirty, sometimes paneless, windows<br />
or trickles of light that crawled<br />
from over/under the apartment<br />
doors . The first floor contained two<br />
store-front churches, one penny<br />
candy store, one auto supply store,<br />
one gypsy fortune teller, and one<br />
herb and sacraments store that<br />
doubled as a policy station . Duck<br />
and Bunky were standing in front<br />
of the building when Blue got there<br />
followed by we hanger-on-ers .<br />
"What you dudes up to?" Duck<br />
pulled a small shiney blue steel revolver<br />
from under his shirt .<br />
"Check this out, nigga," as he<br />
handed the gun to Blue . Blue carefully<br />
checked out the piece as we<br />
peeped for the man .<br />
"Where'd you cop?"<br />
Duck spoke with a grip, "I<br />
copped from Warshawsky last<br />
night ."<br />
"Did you git any dough?" Blue<br />
licked his lips as he asked .<br />
55
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