Black to the Past

Chapter 48

Professor Harold had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember and he often asked about Michael and Jalen but never to so much detail as he had today. Must be a full moon, Dr. Van der HavenVan Der Haven thought to himself as he headed for the stairs to his den. He wanted to finish catching the news. It seemed that the U.S. was on the verge of war. A civil war. He couldn't imagine that. Race relations were worse than they had ever been before. He was glad that his family was settled in a diverse community and he hoped that there wouldn't be a war on his watch.

Dr. Van der Haven couldn't believe what he was seeing on the screen. Martial law was declared all over the United States. A 9 o'clock pm curfew was being established. There was looting in Atlanta, Birmingham, Jacksonville, and even as far north as Charlotte, NC. It was hard to see the amount of violence being spewed out and it wasn't just African Americans. The political climate of the world was changing and Dr. Van der HavenVan Der Haven was still trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

He reminisced about the sixties often. He'd been a young man with fresh ideas and a head for politics. He was in college and still very undecided on a major when he heard the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak. His eloquent speaking voice and peaceful movement caused Michael to want to live in the type of world that Dr. King spoke about. He remembered clear as day that Dr. King said America itself was a dream his very own grandfather had told him the same thing. He'd fought to come to America, he'd been an immigrant, he settled his family in Philadelphia and raised his sons to be kind to all regardless of race, religion, or creed.

Dr. Van der Haven felt as though he could relate to Dr. King in the sense that they shared the same first name even though Dr. King's father had eventually changed his name to Martin. Dr. Van der Haven even considered going to seminary school. He wanted to take a part in changing the world into a better place, a place where all the races and all people lived peacefully. He wanted to fight for poverty to end and for hunger to end. When he took the summer off after listening to that profound speech where he learned of the millions who went to bed hungry every night while money was spent on storing foods in store houses and military bases he'd begged his father for permission to spend his savings traveling to India.

After being overseas and seeing the extreme illness and poverty he decided that Dr. King was in his right occupation preaching equality on all levels for mankind but his calling was to heal the sick. He declared his major and went to medical school. But this was all inspired by Dr. King. There was never a logical explanation as to why Dr. King disappeared and stopped his work in 1963. What Dr. Van der Haven remembered was a new world ushered in so-to-speak.

Malcolm X's voice became a powerhouse for the black race. He preached a world that would be taken over violently by minorities. He didn't believe it possible for man to get along peacefully. X put it in the minds of any and all who would listen was that you were either for the minority races in America or you were against them and if you were against them you would be meted out with violence. White households across the country began to live in fear. African Americans, Mexicans, and Middle Easterners had already started to integrate into neighborhoods together.

Malcolm X had spun a masterful tale that it was all minorities against whites. He'd taken this approach after the disappearance of Dr. King. Prior to that he'd believed that the American system of that time was inherently hostile towards African Americans. After Dr. King left there were many people including the whites that were for desegregation and love for all people that needed to be led and from that Malcolm X formed his party separating himself from the nation of Islam. X picked up all those lost souls and formed the X Party.

The X Party proved itself in direct opposition to the Democratic and Republican Parties. And although it carried no weight in the Congress or Senate it was a Party that could not be denied a seat at the table of American Politics. Malcolm X encouraged all minority members to get educated and integrate themselves into all levels of society. They built their own neighborhoods, they had their own banks. It was rumored that the X Party had people in the highest levels of government and military all over the world and that when the time came their true loyalty would be revealed.

The wealth that they amassed was global and came in from all over the world. It was true, Dr. Van der Haven reflected when the police officer acknowledged that no man should have that much power over people. What Malcolm X taught he stood up for at the front of the trenches and the war that he promised would ensue in his lifetime had arrived.