Don't Forget to Write

Let's All Try to Stay Out of Trouble

One day I was walking home from class and the little black boy who said I looked like Harry Potter was hanging out on a bench in front of the park. He was with a couple of other kids who were all standing and talking in hushed but excited tones. The boy was shaking his head and refusing something. The other boys call him a pussy as they crossed the street, and I turned my head to find them getting into a running SUV. The tallest of them got in the driver's seat, but could barely see over the steering wheel. The little black boy just stood on the sidewalk and watched them with concern drawn on his face. I walked back to him. "Hey," I said to him, "don't worry about it. Just walk away."

"But they're my friends."

"You can find better friends than that. C'mon let's get out of here. You'll get in trouble just being around that kind of thing."

"But I didn't do anything.

"Yeah, but you're still standing here, and you of all people will definitely get in trouble, even if you don't do anything."

"Because I'm black?"

"Yes, because you're black. Now come on, let's go over to the courts. We can kick a ball around." He walked next to me, and as soon as we began walking away we heard the engine roar as the SUV swerved at a dangerous speed down the road. The stolen vehicle went into the oncoming lane (luckily nobody was driving on that side) and bounced off of a parked car, then swerved to the other side of the road and scraped a handful of other parked cars until it got to the street corner and rammed into the back of a large parked truck. The SUV got stuck, maybe they didn't know how to reverse. There was a trail of shattered side-view mirrors on the street and an obvious trail of scratches along the cars.

The kids jumped out of the SUV and sprinted away, all of the pedestrians watching them, a couple screaming at them to get back, but those kids ran fast as lightening and were out of sight before we could even get a good look at them. A few people were already calling the cops.

"On second thought, I think I'm gonna go home."

"No, not yet. What do you see out there?"

"People."

"What kind of people?"

"I see a couple white people."

"If a white person sees you right now, don't you think they'll assume you're one of the kids that stole the vehicle? You stick with me for a while, they see you with a white guy like me they won't think you're up to anything suspicious."

"I thought you were Hispanic?"

"You said I was white!"

"I changed my mind."

"Whatever, just stick with me for a bit and you'll be alright." We went into the courts and there were a couple of guys kicking a soccer ball around so we joined them and I showed off some juggling tricks, catching the ball on my back and on my chest and doing fancy footwork. The boy, whose name I learned was Isaac, was amused and impressed. I was explaining to him how to do a trick when the cops showed up on the scene. As the officers were inspecting the damage, I told Isaac to follow me, and we walked around, a few blocks north of my apartment and of the incident. These blocks were occupied by mostly old Dominican men playing dice on the corner while younger men played music from a stereo as they showed off some dance moves. Isaac said to me, "You know, I always thought you looked like Harry Potter, but now that you have that big scar on your head, I know you have to be Harry. Good ol' HP"

I shrugged. "Just don't tell the muggles." I pulled my hat low over my head - these damn beanies kept sliding up to the top and revealing my forehead and its nasty scar. A couple of officers were walking at a brisk pace, clearly on their way to the accident. They gave Isaac a suspicious look, but I stared back at the cops and put an arm on the boy's shoulder, and they looked away, giving me the "white guy nod". As if to say Ah, is this black with you? Good. Us Whiteys gotta keep 'em in check. Of course, I'm not sure that's what the cop was thinking, maybe he was just nodding. But I find it hard to trust cops and not think of them as being racist at the moment, with racial tensions higher than they've been in decades. A few racist scumbags caught on camera had ruined the public's opinion of police officers, and it was a burden all of them, regardless of whether they were racist, or abusive, or power-crazed, or just a friendly guy just trying to keep the neighborhood safe, had to deal with.

At the end of the block, I said, "Later kid. You did the smart thing today."

"Thanks, HP," he put up his fist and we tapped knuckles. "I'll see you around."

He crossed the street and toward this home in the projects, and I turned around to walk back to my apartment.