Black History Month

I picked up the boys yesterday, Thursday, at school. "Papa, do you know what boykati means?" I hear Cassius ask me. "Nope, what?" I respond. He then proceeds to tell me about Ms. Lucy, his afterschool care teacher, and how she got arrested for trying to drive a bus. I slowly realize what is happening here. First, Cassius is a talker as his grandfather will tell you. Second, he hasn't totally understood the story of the Birmingham Boycott and "Sister Rose" as Mace calls Rosa Parks. I let Cassius wind through the story, and then I add some facts about black folks being treated differently even though they'd paid for their seats, and how this was true in all places in the south especially--restaurants, stores, etc. When Kate comes home, I encourage Cassius to educate his mama. He trundles out of the room and into Maceo's bedroom where Kate is helping Maceo get his pj's on. "Mama! Mama! Do you know what boycotts means? Boycotts is when you are sitting in the back of the bus and you want to go to the front and you paid your money and you're black and the police come and they tell you to sit in the back and Ms. Lucy wants to be in the front and they say sit in the back. "'No!' said she and they put her in jail!" Whew! Inhale. Maceo again patiently points out it was Sister Rose and not Ms Lucy, and Cassius impatiently agrees and changes that detail and asks Mama if she did know all of that. He then rushed back in to our bedroom to tell me the story again. So, here's the third iteration of the story of the Birmingham Bus Boycott, as told by Cassius.