Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
Negro Digest - Freedom Archives Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
eing good enough to feel the Holy Ghost. "I've lived a good life," Mama continued . "Didn't go running around and carrying on and leaving a child to go every which way ." "Don't talk about my mama," Janice said . She was breathing hard now . Mama looked at her sadly . "I don't fault the child none . Lt's your teachings that's making her what she is . Look at Betty . She never talks back . Knows better than to try it . Miss Ruth glanced at me quickly and I tried to back away from her look . "Don't you say . . ." "Be quiet," Miss Ruth said harshly . "Then make her shut up," Janice screamed . "Make her shut her damn mouth!" Miss Ruth released her robe and slapped Janice across the face . Bewildered, Janice backed away from her mother . They looked at each other for a long time . They looked as if they, both, were going to cry . Janice's mouth trembled . She jumped off the porch steps and ran down the street . Miss Ruth looked at Mama with tears in her eyes . "I'm sorry," she mumbled . "I don't know what's wrong with me . I know better than to fuss with you in your condition . I know I ain't living right, Miss Dorothy," she said . "But I don't mean no harm . I just can't help myself . I don't mean to hurt nobody . 62 Never hit the child before in my life . Don't know what's wrong with me . Pray for me, Miss Dorothy . Pray for me!" Mama wiped the perspiration off her forehead with the back of her hand . "I'll pray for you," she promised . I looked around for Mike . He was whispering something to Jim and Tina . They were probably making up a new game or thinking of new ways to play the old one . I didn't want to be with any of them anymore . While Mama and Miss Ruth were discussing Mama's condition, I walked off the porch . Then Mama yelled at me . I didn't run or anything . I just kept walking down the street. "Betty," Mama yelled, "you get yourself on back here ." I didn't turn around, I just kept walking . I found Janice in the alley, about a block from the house . She was lying, face down in the middle of the street. "What're you doing?" I asked as I walked up to her . "Go away," she said . "I hate you, too ." She looked funny . There was dirt and blood all over her face . "C'mon, get up ." "I'm gonna stay here forever," she said, "until I die ." "You gonna get run over," I said . "I don't care . I wanna die ." "Why?" I asked . "Who cares?" she asked . I thought about her question for March 1968 NEGRO DIGEST
a while . I didn't know what she meant by it . But I knew that I didn't hate her, and I didn't want to make fun of her anymore . "I . . . I . . . care," I said . "C'mon Janice, get up ." As usual, Janice didn't pay any attention to me . "I hate everybody," she said . "I hate mama, too . I'm gonna stay here till I die . Then she'll be sorry ." i I was already sorry abo~ everything . "Please get up," I said, fighting back the tears . She wouldn't move . I walked over to the sidewalk and sat down. I wasn't in any hurry to go home . I knew I was going to get it when I got there . It wouldn't be any little old slap either . Besides, I knew Janice couldn't lie in the street forever . People drove their cars through that alley . And one way or another, they would make her move . I sat for a long time thinking about Janice, Miss Ruth, and Mama . Finally Janice got up and came over to the sidewalk . She sat down next to me . I didn't know why she moved from the street . Maybe she thought that someone cared after all . Maybe she just got tired of lying there . Anyway, she moved . We sat there for a while longer . I didn't look at Janice because I didn't want to cry ; and I think maybe she didn't look at me because she didn't want to cry either . Christine Reams, author of the short story, "'The Game," is a student of History at Washington University in St . Louis, Mo . After graduation in June, Miss Reams plans to join the Peace Corps for a period of two years . This is her first published story . NEGRO DIGEST March 1968 6 3
- Page 11 and 12: acial group with rites and loyaltie
- Page 13 and 14: might well be that, to meet the nee
- Page 15 and 16: A distinguished young educator from
- Page 17 and 18: come to accept the judgment . Conse
- Page 19 and 20: ditional knowledge required for the
- Page 21 and 22: Faculty, Curriculum, Research . . .
- Page 23 and 24: passive role and assumed that the e
- Page 25 and 26: ante is formidable is obvious to an
- Page 27 and 28: Social Change in the Sixties THE BL
- Page 29 and 30: trends in the black community to sh
- Page 31 and 32: ployment rate for black youth betwe
- Page 33 and 34: For Our People - Everywhere "By far
- Page 35 and 36: analogues for possible study . ) We
- Page 37 and 38: World publication of the Caribbean,
- Page 39 and 40: NEGRO DIGEST March 1968 39
- Page 41 and 42: NEGRO DIGEST March 1968 4 1
- Page 43 and 44: make Howard "sixty per cent white"
- Page 45 and 46: Simultaneously there arose a hybrid
- Page 47 and 48: NEGRO DIGEST March 1968 In the days
- Page 49 and 50: A Call To Concerned Black Educators
- Page 51 and 52: BOOK "Great Literature i.s simply l
- Page 53 and 54: the members of Miss Brooks' worksho
- Page 55 and 56: BY CHRISTINE REAMS ' . . . Ifo .sat
- Page 57 and 58: as Mike and Jim dashed down the ste
- Page 59 and 60: "Oh, my hair i~ so curly, so curly
- Page 61: one of them a good whipping, no mat
- Page 65 and 66: Since sufficient teachers cannot be
- Page 67 and 68: NEW PROGRAMS AND EXPERIMENTATION Th
- Page 69 and 70: TRUSTEES If I seem indifferent to t
- Page 71 and 72: years when '`Christian character an
- Page 73 and 74: leaders and professors posing as mi
- Page 75 and 76: out of "The Punch Out" and other st
- Page 77 and 78: penniless writer, he travels the ga
- Page 79 and 80: No doubt about it, Mr . Williams ca
- Page 81 and 82: esearch crying for the kind of clar
- Page 83 and 84: lightly as Western intellectual imp
- Page 85 and 86: as a white man with a similar educa
- Page 87 and 88: lacks are better off, but we must a
- Page 89 and 90: income blacks and better for the mi
- Page 91 and 92: compared to white men had not impro
- Page 93 and 94: "iON ONYE LOCKARD is a selftaught a
- Page 95 and 96: Plea ForA Second Chance : Work-worn
- Page 97 and 98: That something is gravely wrong wit
- Page 99 and 100: THE DUKE NATURAL SET MAlR SHEEN lea
- Page 101 and 102: Edgar F . Beck Vincent Hard min E .
- Page 103 and 104: C®i'y~'>~' i'tw'~'~ Editor's Notes
- Page 105 and 106: An Open Letter to Black Students in
- Page 107 and 108: mentarily bolstered (or our minds m
- Page 109 and 110: plications of such attitudes as you
- Page 111 and 112: 7 . Have you given serious thought
eing good enough to feel the Holy<br />
Ghost.<br />
"I've lived a good life," Mama<br />
continued . "Didn't go running<br />
around and carrying on and leaving<br />
a child to go every which way ."<br />
"Don't talk about my mama,"<br />
Janice said . She was breathing hard<br />
now .<br />
Mama looked at her sadly . "I<br />
don't fault the child none . Lt's your<br />
teachings that's making her what<br />
she is . Look at Betty . She never<br />
talks back . Knows better than to try<br />
it .<br />
Miss Ruth glanced at me quickly<br />
and I tried to back away from her<br />
look .<br />
"Don't you say . . ."<br />
"Be quiet," Miss Ruth said<br />
harshly .<br />
"Then make her shut up," Janice<br />
screamed . "Make her shut her<br />
damn mouth!"<br />
Miss Ruth released her robe and<br />
slapped Janice across the face . Bewildered,<br />
Janice backed away from<br />
her mother . They looked at each<br />
other for a long time . They looked<br />
as if they, both, were going to<br />
cry . Janice's mouth trembled . She<br />
jumped off the porch steps and ran<br />
down the street .<br />
Miss Ruth looked at Mama with<br />
tears in her eyes . "I'm sorry," she<br />
mumbled . "I don't know what's<br />
wrong with me . I know better than<br />
to fuss with you in your condition .<br />
I know I ain't living right, Miss<br />
Dorothy," she said . "But I don't<br />
mean no harm . I just can't help myself<br />
. I don't mean to hurt nobody .<br />
62<br />
Never hit the child before in my<br />
life . Don't know what's wrong with<br />
me . Pray for me, Miss Dorothy .<br />
Pray for me!"<br />
Mama wiped the perspiration off<br />
her forehead with the back of her<br />
hand . "I'll pray for you," she<br />
promised .<br />
I looked around for Mike . He<br />
was whispering something to Jim<br />
and Tina . They were probably<br />
making up a new game or thinking<br />
of new ways to play the old one . I<br />
didn't want to be with any of them<br />
anymore . While Mama and Miss<br />
Ruth were discussing Mama's condition,<br />
I walked off the porch . Then<br />
Mama yelled at me . I didn't run or<br />
anything . I just kept walking down<br />
the street.<br />
"Betty," Mama yelled, "you get<br />
yourself on back here ."<br />
I didn't turn around, I just kept<br />
walking . I found Janice in the alley,<br />
about a block from the house . She<br />
was lying, face down in the middle<br />
of the street.<br />
"What're you doing?" I asked as<br />
I walked up to her .<br />
"Go away," she said . "I hate<br />
you, too ." She looked funny . There<br />
was dirt and blood all over her<br />
face .<br />
"C'mon, get up ."<br />
"I'm gonna stay here forever,"<br />
she said, "until I die ."<br />
"You gonna get run over," I<br />
said .<br />
"I don't care . I wanna die ."<br />
"Why?" I asked .<br />
"Who cares?" she asked .<br />
I thought about her question for<br />
March 1968 NEGRO DIGEST
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