CHAPTER ONE
Jim Crow and the Detested Number Ten
I swear to the Lord
I still can’t see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.
—Langston Hughes
Claudette Colvin: I was about four years old the first time I ever saw what happened when you acted up to whites. I was standing in line at the general store when this little white boy cut in front of me. Then some older white kids came in through the door and started laughing. I turned around to see what they were laughing at. They were pointing at me. The little white boy said, “Let me see, let me see, too.” For some reason they all wanted to see my hands. I held my hands up, palms out, and he put his hands up against my hands. Touched them. The older kids doubled up laughing. My mother saw us, and she saw that the boy’s mother was watching. Then my mom came straight across the room, raised her hand, and gave me a backhand slap across my face. I burst into tears. She said, “Don’t you know you’re
not supposed to touch them?” The white boy’s mother nodded at my mo ... read full excerpt from Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice ebook