NUMERICAN NATION

 

 

   "... I'll never lose the memory of your name, in the night, that I call through the lonely years; a little bit of soap will never wash away my tears..."

                            the Jarmels (1961)

   

  Just a little bit of Soap is, perhaps, the most poinantly written segment in my life:

It addresses the transitional period from "boyhood to being a man"; the chronological time-line from the Spring of 1958 to the Fall of 1967; and the reality of the trip "from reservation to ghetto".

 All I had to do was open my mouth, and you knew that I was from the South:

Shirley tried to be helpful, by telling me to learn to act like the otherboys; "dummy up and there won't be any problems."

She was right in one respect. There weren't any more problems with the teacher.

However the Simpletons became belligerent; knocking books out of my hands; assuming privilege to which they were not entitled...Which, of course, earned me several more trips to the Principal's office.

While displeased he was rather tolerant in the whole matter:

He wanted to know how a boy with such intelligence simply couldn't stay out of trouble. So I told him that I had been trying to dummy-up, but the damn Yankees wouldn't let me be.

The irony in the matter was that those "damn Yankees" were colored. I thought that since we shared the same skin tone, they would be my friends. I was wrong as they taunted, and mocked me, as though they were superior:

That I could not stand.

 The cultural problem was that I had grown up on a quasi reservation, about Liberty Hill, South Carolina, where everybody was related,..ie family:

We attended a missionary school known as the Kirkland School prior to "desgregation" in 1957. After desegregation we went to Dekalb Elementary; where the student body was still family,..ie we were cousins, and everybody knew one another.

I would quickly learn that such was not the case in New York (as far as the school system):

Not only were we strangers, we hated one another; as if the Civil War was still on.

To survive, we formed alliances with others from the South; amongst them were the Solomons, Wilsons (including Lloyd Bunch), and the Pattersons.

       Joseph "Bunny" Solomon, Lloyd A. Bunch (1998) 

        James Harris Jr., Lloyd Bunch, Danny Wilson (1999)

Danny (Lloyd's brother), was in uniform (U.S. Marines) at the time; serving the country in Viet Nam.

...By the mid 60s, the Vietnam War was a hot topic everywhere. 

Passionate funerals harbored much ill will towards the government:

Whispers about the inequity in the Selective Service System abound; and Just a Little Bit of Soap slowly gave-way to Greetings this is Uncle Sam...

 

 

 Lloyd and Patricia Bunch (1996)

Lloyd called me a few weeks after our meeting in 1999, and asked if I'd mind, ocassionally, reminding his children that he loved them very much.

He sent me their pictures for such purposes:

 

                     Tajon                                     big Kevin

 

                Lloyd (Jr.)                       Shawan and Theresa

[ Exerpts of Chapter 3 are continued under the tab: Wrestling for the Wizard]

Update on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 01:44PM by [JL Harris]

Music played an integral role in our lives.

It revealed heart felt sentiments, as well as, spoke to the character of the "inner city":

What about He Will Break Your Heart (by Jerry Butler)?  or,

Rainbow 65' (Gene Chandler)?