Blog 3 (Creative)

Creative – Construct a creative story that captures the plight of the negro living in a country which promotes racism and segregation.

Carniel always took Lafayette avenue home, even though it was much quicker to cut through Norstrand. It was the winter of 1977 in the Brooklyn suburb of Bedford-Stuveysant. Maggie Eldrich lived just off Lafayette and he would purposely walk that way for the opportunity to see her. Carniel wasn’t the best looking young man from the neighbourhood, nor was he the smartest, but he had a heart the size of gold. On this particular day, he had on his best slacks and his afro combed out to perfection – it formed a sort of halo around his head. His favourite yet tattered brown turtle neck hugged the lower rim of his neck and adorning his body was his dads black leather jacket. This weekly routine was risky business. If Carniels grandmother new he was cutting class to come and see a girl – a white girl, the consequences would be dire. He remembered the fiery rebuke last time he was caught truanting to explore the white parts of his neighbourhood.
“Boy, what are you doing running round Lafayette, are you tryin’ to get yourself killed? You dont have no business being around there. Those folks will never accept you!”
He pleaded his case, a case of love, but that only further goaded her rebuke.
“A girl, a white girl? Whats wrong with you Carniel, I raised you better then that! What you need is a nice young black women, a women with soul, a woman of faith, a woman of beauty!”
“My dear, even if things worked out with her, what about the family? They will never accept you!”
The words of his grandma, as powerful or true as they may have been, did not deter him from his mission. As he reached the corner of Lafayette and Marcy, he defiantly turned his head towards a place he knew he had no business in, to a suburb where he was not welcome and to an area that would put him in danger. He didn’t care what anyone said or thought, he didn’t even care about the risks involved with courting a white girl from a different area. Love was more important, his heart spoke louder then the logic of his grandmother.
Head held high and in his best outfit, Carniel marched forward down Lafayette avenue, excited, nervous, and longing for the day that he can freely walk around his own town without want or care, a day were he could be free to be who he wanted.