The Leopard had an experience
like this: I grew up in a pretty diverse neighborhood at the time in Stapleton,
Staten Island. My friends were pretty mixed – Latin, Asian & white. We were
the only black family, though.
One of my little friends had a
large above ground pool in his backyard. I’d barely noticed it until a bunch of
us kids were piddling around one hot summer day and someone said, “Jimmy’s pool
is up!” Before I knew it, most of the kids had scattered to run home to get
their trunks and towels. We were all so excited for some reason. I remember
running home to tell my younger sister. When I got there, she was home watching
TV and I remember how she beamed behind me as I asked my mom if we could join
the gang.
We dressed as quickly as we could
and ran in bare feet around the block to Jimmy’s house. As we got closer, we
could hear some of the other neighborhood kids already there, splashing and
laughing.
As we approached, leaning against
the front gate to Jimmy’s house was his 7 year old sister, mouth stained red
from a cherry lollipop stuck her mouth. As we started to pass her, she said,
“You can’t go in the pool”. My sister and I looked at each other. “Why?”
“Because you’re colored.”
We were completely perplexed. We
both ran back crying and told my mother. She grabbed both our wrists and
dragged us back to Jimmy’s house. Jimmy’s younger sister was still standing in
the yard in her yellow bathing suit.
“Let me speak to your mother! My
mom said. Go get her.” When Jimmy mother’s came down, my mother told her in no
uncertain terms she had no intention of allowing her kids to play with us
anymore. Furthermore, she said, she had no need “For them to associate with
people like you.” She said this forcefully without raising her voice or using
profanity (she's a church-going woman).
Jimmy’s mother was nonplussed and
apologized profusely, saying she never said anything of the kind to her
daughter (I now think it was her father or one of Jimmy’s older brothers). When we got home,
she forbid us to play with them.
Whenever I saw Jimmy from then
on, I would just stare at a distance, not sure how I felt.
