R - Kansas
- Sean McBride
- Riverside
- UNITED STATES
- 22
The story takes place in the back woods of Magnolia, Arkansas. My father was born to Mary and Jacob McNair (not real names). He was the fifth of the nine of his brothers and sisters. In the late 1950's early 60's, opportunity was scarce. Being in a town where it was disrespectful to look a white person in the eye, it seemed as if life had nothing much to offer a young African American boy. Jim Crow laws were in full effect, so "separate but equal" was the state of mind southern black folk experienced. Of course, it was wrong and constantly challenged, but it was what the people knew and understood to stay safe. Mary and Jacob raised their children to believe they were capable of accomplishing anything, but at the same time, it was important to stay alive long enough to see those accomplishments. My father along with his brothers and sisters were trained to adhere to the rules and regulations in the south because it was always a matter of life and death.
In the early 60's, things changed but not for the better. My father recalls a time when he was at school, they was a code yellow because white students from another school was trespassing. They threw burning books into the libraries and classrooms. A lesson that he learned at an early age is that, the constitution is only writing, lest its enforced.
After the Brown v Board of Education declared that "separate but equal" was discriminatory, it seemed as if the barriers would have been broken and everything would be okay. But clearly in the south, the whites were not ready to relinquish authority. They were not ready to share power. Even through all the violent hate crimes that took place so close to home, my dad still found joy in his childhood. He enjoyed the country life of fishing, playing basketball and hunting with his father. My father was extremely smart through school. As he got older he gathered the necessary skills to be anything he wanted. He wanted to be a mechanic and possibly own his own business. As a high school senior, he was popular around town for his charm and willingness to help others. And he put his best foot forward in getting things in order to set up his business. In in effort to get things squared away, he decided to get some advice from his history teacher after class. He shared these ideas with his white instructor and not long before he laid out the blueprint, his teacher laughed hysterically and said, "I'm sorry boy, but it'll be a long time before they let you own anything in this state."
My father at the age of 18 had a new attitude. It was 1972, Nixon was in office, and the South was no longer looking like the place to grow. It was then, he decided he'd go to California. He'd heard stories about it from his teachers, and from the newspapers, but never met and known anybody from California. So he decided he'd see what it was like for himself. That summer after graduation, he and his older brothers set out to meet California by way of an old rust golden corvette that he had restored in his spare time. No one was fond of his leave, so no one wanted to help him find the way to California. "I remember this like it was yesterday, the only thing I ever stole in my life was a map so I could get to California!"