JUNE 2017 | SCENE 85 on the town representative. They didn’t mean us. They were talking about foreign students — African students and Asian students. All those people were there. But it didn’t say that so I filed to run for the government under that ruling. They had to put me on the ballot and I won. I was the only black in student government at Indiana University and they had 14,700 students. But the point you’re referring to is when our fraternity bought a house in a white neighborhood. We moved into the house and didn’t say a word, because the campus didn’t want to recognize another black organization. The house was set on a little hill, and we got this big sign for our fraternity and put it out front. That’s when the people knew that we were there. The top athletes all had to live off campus until we made our move. One night I was walking home after class about two blocks from the fraternity house. I noticed this car slowly following me. I kept watching it out of the side of my eye. A block before the frat house, the guy pulled up in front of me and he got out of the car. He was a cop. He put a gun right under my nose and said, “Now listen to me you %#$@&!, we know who you are so we can blow your black ass away.” The only thing that I thought about was, “I’m not going to lose control.” I just looked at him. I didn’t say a word. I didn’t change expression. We knew how to deal with police. Every black father teaches his son how to deal with the police. He got back in the car and left and I kept on walking into the fraternity house. How did that incident change you? It didn’t change me very much. It just confirmed what I already knew about blacks and police and how to handle yourself. That was the main thing - stay alive. Don’t antagonize or confront anybody who has a gun. I didn’t say a word. What’s the greatest lesson you hope that whites and blacks in America take away from your memoir Colored, Negro, Black; Changing the American Dream? And do you think it’s the same thing? I don’t think it’s the same thing. What I’m doing in this book is setting the context of a time when I grew up, and what was happening to me at each stage in my life, so people can see what it means on a personal basis for people my age, my generation and those circumstances. It gives not only white people, but black people and other people an idea of what it was like. It’s not a sociological look as much as it is a personal look at what I went through during these times. I just want people to read it and understand how one person handled that kind of situation. Other people could handle it a different way, but this is how I handled it. I never intended to write that as a book, but my children said, “As close as we are, we don’t know anything about you when you were our age.” I promised them I would put things down and it just Finish the following sentences: A good education is important because… It’s a passport to the future. When Barack Obama was elected President… I was stunned that we would have an African American president during my lifetime. My greatest quality is my ability to… Pursue. Persevere. And work harder than most people. Something I need to work on is… Everything. If I could do one thing for the youth of the United States it would be to… Convince them that they are in charge of their future more than any other person. In my life, I’m most proud of… My family. In my time at Temple University I learned that… That institutions can change. When I served with the William Penn Foundation I was most grateful for… The opportunity to carry out the values of the people who founded that because they coincided with mine. The Barnes collection is in better place because… It is available. I can sleep well at night because I know that in my life I have… Been lucky. kept growing to the point where it became a book. I remember after my late daughter read half a chapter, she got up and walked out of the room, with tears in her eyes, saying, “As close as we are, I learned more about you as a person, just from that, then in all of the years that I’ve known you.” As an educator, what is it that all kids and young students need more than anything to be successful? What they need to know is that they are in charge of their lives. That’s the most important part. They come from different circumstances, some more difficult, some awful, some very privileged, but that does define who you are what you can be. You have to decide. We all need encouragement, but you must decide what you want out of life, and then you have to work your ass to go get it. All the while, you must understand there are going to be people trying to stop you from doing it, people who’ll try and test you, people who will divert you, and some who will do all they can to try to make the decision for you. You can’t let that happen. You have to pursue your destiny. What is the one thing you would do to improve America’s educational system? The biggest investment that this country can make is in its youth. The best way to make that bet in your favor is to have an informed and educated youth, because they’re going to inherit this country whether we want them to or not. We’re going to die and
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