Living In Piketon Ohio: Black Is Black

I like "Chuck". He's a laid back kind of guy who enjoys the simple things. He works a lot and when he's not working, he's chillin at home and doing his thing and .... staying out of the line of fire. He lights up a Newport when saying, "You don't know how lucky you got it, Carroll."

"How you figure?"

He places the lighter down and draws in some smoke before letting it out to hang in the room. "I get what you're doing," he says, "and I can appreciate that. But if I tried to do what you did, standing up to those good ole' boys, I would be laying in the middle of the street right now with twenty bullet holes in my body and a planted gun by my side."

I could see by the look in his eyes that he was serious. You see, if you haven't already guessed it, Chuck is black. "I remember when I first moved here." he began telling me, "Shit, I thought I hit the mother load. I'm making decent money, I find a nice affordable place to live where it's quiet as mother-fucking Mayberry, you know?"

Do I ever.

He continued. "In the first thirty days I thought I would walk to the local stores around here and become like, a good member of the community. Six times I took a walk and three times, I got stopped by the community action team known as the local police."

"Why did they stop you?" I asked him. He looked down and shook his head. "For being black." He told me, then elaborated. "The first time I was called 'Hey, you', the second time I was called 'boy' and the third time, I was called a nigger."

Now I was shaking my head. "By the same cop?"

"No," he fired back, "three stops by three different cops, but they might as well have been the same cop, they represented the same organization."

"That sucks." I said. Not knowing anything else to say.

"You white boys got it good. I got the message real quick. Now I do all of my shopping, laundry, socializing, you name it, in Waverly, Chillicothe, or Portsmouth."

"Didn't you at least try and contact the Mayor, Billy Spencer?" I questioned. He semi-glared at me. "Really? How did it work out for you?" He rhetorically wondered. "I just did what all black men do when they realie they are in Klans land, keep your mouth shut and keep to yourself."

"You think some of these cops are in the KKK?"

"Dude," he replied, "I don't think it, I know it."

"That is messed up." I mumbled. "I never even thought about color."

"White people never do. Let me ask you something; in the fourteen or fifteen years you lived here, how many black police officers you see on the Piketon police force?"

I took no time in answering. "None."

"And how many black deputy sheriff's you see working for the Pike county sheriff's office?"

Again, I said, "None."

"I rest my case, bro." Chuck gets to his feet. "You wanna beer?"

"Sure."



Look for my next post as I rehash my second encounter with a Piketon police officer.