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Wend"gM. Qovwalez

once againa "hate stare',drew ung attention ike a yv\ag^et.tt cavnefrovna rvtidd'le-aged-,eavgset,well d.ressed.hite y^a^.He sata few gard.sawag' fixing hisegeso^ vne.Nothing candescribehe withering horror ofthis' Youfeel lost, sickat heart beforesuchunmasked.atred, notso v,nuchbecauset threate^sgou as becauset showshuyvransn such n inhuvnanlight' Youseea kind of insanitg,sovnething oobscenehe vergobscenitg fit (rather than its threat) terrifiesgou. t wasso new I could.not ake vngeges roun he vnan'sace. felt likesaging:What in eod,snayyeare goud.oingo gourself?',

A Negroporter sid'led' ver to vne glimpsed"hiswhite coatand" urned"to hivn.Hisglancemet vnineamdcovnvnunicated.he sorrow, heunderstand"ing."Where avw supposed.o go?', t asked"hilvt.He touched'vvrgarnn in that nnuteand reassuringwag of yue^ who starea vv\on^ent f crisis. Qo ahead and around. he corner of the buitd"ing.Qoahead" nd around the cor^er of the buird"ing.ou,r[find" he rooy'.,,rhe white v^a^ continued' o stare, his vnouth wisted,with loathing as heturned hishead.o watch y^ey^oveawag.ln the colored'waitit'rg oovt, which was mot abeledas such,but ratheras C2L)RED CAFE,Presuv^ablg ecause f interstate travel requlations,

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took the last evwptg eat.The roovnwascrowded"with gluvn aces.,acesdead o all emthusiasyn,acesof peoplewaiting.

As I becay^e ^e of those waiting faces", reached o vvtg ocketandtook out the book boughtearlier frovnthe CatholicBookStore.Beforeeve^got a chance o glirnpse hrough the book, heard.he busbeingcalledand I quieklggot up.As t reached,he bus I saw the Whiteshad a[readggotten the goodseats n the front of the bus.Mangof us Negroesolkshadto stand. Meanwhitehe Whitesust glancedour wagsand.srniled n adevilishwag.Suddenlg ^ urgeof angerragedout of vvre, couldn't akehow we Negroeswere beingsubjectedo segregation nd inlustice.Whgcouldn'tNegroes eallowed o stand up and fight for their rights ascitizens?BeingWhite, this avgeredvneevenwrorebecause^gpeopb werethe omeswho werekeepingNegroesn the place hat theg were.Thegsoeasilg ag:"TheunNiggers ike beingpushedaroundand.havingus teil thevnwhat to d"o.Whg if theg wamted o theg could easilg ise up and getedueated,,xcept heg too duvnb o d.o hat." Havingthisstereotgpicalivnage f Negroess what kept usas anfvvralsn their rninds nsteadof actualhuvnam eings,which is what we are.

As we got towards the town line of New Orleans, he bus vnadea haltto havea svnallbreak.Luckilg the busdriver didn't keepus captive insidelike I had previouslgexperiemced.owever,we Blaclcs eren't allowed intowhites caf6,.we had"o walk v^ore o enter the coLoRED 1AFE. justcould,n'thandlethfsangunore. s I was about to enter the COLORED AFEglancedover to where he Whiteswere waiting and enjoging heir WHtTEgonlg caf6.

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Sovvrehow got all the courage possibleand t walked in to the Whitecaf6.As soon as I walked in however I could feel the "hate stare" o^ ywe.Everg white in that caft was kitting vnewith their eAes.How ca^ w\Aow^people onlg see he cobr of vvr,gkin? How can theg act like I arn lesseronlgbeeause ng skin is dark? I was still the savll.e ld John Howard.Qriffin, onlgdifference was rng skin cobr. I grabbed.an evwptgchair and" he cafdgrewas quiet as possible. ignored evergo^e arou^d vneand gestured at thewaitress over. Shesivvrplg ooked at vnecawe over and said: "\'M sorrg wearem't allowed to sewe Aour kind." And she sffeed urious[gthe vvtenuawagfrovrt tng hands before I could eve^ ope^ ft. I felt as the cardboard paperMenu sliced through t'ng fingerSand. rippled drops of blood frorn v'nghand. Ie[osed*g hawd.he blood wouldm't all. t looked, indlg at the waitressandsaid:"l do not vnean o stir troubb or cause .isturbances.would onQ llketo buga pieceof pie amdsovvreoffee hen l'll beon MA wag)' She ookedatvne eadg a throw the vnemu t vnebut then this vvruscularwentgsovnething earold vnancawv frovnbehind he counter.He stood arwsfolded n front of me and said.: Niggertgou heard. he ladg.Your K|ND rsn'tsewedhere." stoodup and sawabout ao Me^ or so cov^e bser with bats.t felt fear, would theg actuallgattack vv\e ve^ f I didn't attack first. Justthen I saw Sterling Williarnswalk in. l didn't know if to feel relivedor tofeelworried.

Sterling Williavws ameover to where I wasstanding and.whispered:" Mr. Qrfffin, what are gou doing? told gou we Negroes on't start troubleor elsewe'{l ust give the Whitesa reason o keep us where heg havebeem,[n the bottovvt,f the chaim". loweredvng aceand said:"Sterlfmgtouknow I'vw assive, didn't Mea^ to start trouble.But I wasduvnbfounded t

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the routinelgpresence f racial inlustice".Sterling justgrabbedvvrg rvnbefore could' agor do angthingelseand led vneoutside o the front of thecaf6. l didn't v^ea^ o get gou wrapped. p in that sterling, t guessheNegro n rne ust couldn'tstag quiet ang longet'' I said to sterling. Iwomderedwhat would havehappened.f Sterling did.n'tgrab yneand weleft, and'what would havebeenof vvre lone nside he Whitescaf6.Terrorshock hrough vvreike electricitg,Mg hairsstoodup at the irnages f beingbeatup bg all thoseWhites.

I shook he ivnages ut of rng headand {ookedhrough the windowinsid'e he caf6.Thegwere laughingand, alkivygalynostike a sneeringv,nock.It was tirvre or a change; knew t had, o do sovvrethingow or mever. had.to take the next step into erasing acia( njustice owards B{aeks. knew thisevemthat I wasabout to do would.bea great step towards achievingt.Well, at least hoped"t would.be.

I stepped' losernear the window of the whites'caf6and put vng fist inthe air and.starting chanting:"The Night Cornes end"erlg, lack ike Me,,.Of course knew I wasn't reallg blackbut I wasfeelingclosero this racethat I ever did. I stavted'chantirg louder while throwing ung fist in the airand.soon I saw Sterling Williavnsdoing the savnehing right there mext ovne.unitg, that's it. what we needed, hat's what whites kept us frovn.Whites cavlr.e utside rging to shoous awag as lf we were not huvnanbeingsbut as anivwals. ithin a coupleof vrnornentsater, I sawy^oreNegroesoinus.Ernergedwith us were:Mem,wov^An,kids, gou^gand evenold..We wereBtackoined, Black like the Night. More NeEroes ept oining chantingoutside he white's caf6.The whites iv,sid.e ere getting rebntbss at shoofng

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usawag, so theg ust watched us.I thought of the irong that t ungseffwas a White yv.an tarting a riot for

Negroeswith Negroes. owever he law enforcevnenthowedup shortlgafter. Thegstarting trglng to chainusand drag us awaAget we ^evergaveup. Wewere strong amd we were going to show it this tivne.Whitesdidn'th.c[dpower cver !As,we held. cvuerover ourselves.

It was ike a rushof adrenalinegaveus motonlg valor but wil[power oo.Nothing wouldstop us.we were taklng a stand finallg and we werem'tafraid'.9ad{g we got arrested. or rioting get v.tewere pbased that tb,ewhites now kmewwe weren'tgoingto stand and watch our ow^ racegetting pushed. round and subjected o injustice.Thiswas ust the start ofwhat would become art of the Negrorevolution;of Negroes {l overstruggling for having their place in this mation.