The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter (16 page)

The union, I say.

Yes, says Mr. Talley, all in some kinda reluctant thought.

Out! says Christina.

Dammit! says Carl.

My serve, says Christina, goin after the birdie.

Yes, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. They did some good things for the porters, but you've gotta be careful. That darn A. Philip Randolph!

Fourteen serving twelve, says Christina.

Thirteen
! says Carl.

Came out of the National Negro Congress, says Mr. Talley. Know what the National Negro Congress was?

Fourteen serving thirteen, says Christina.

Communists, says Mr. Talley.

Dwight's friends with the white trash up the street, says Carl. My eyes snap to him.

Aaaah! growls Carl, even though he made me miss the birdie.

Don't say white trash, says his father.

Fifteen serving thirteen, says Christina. In official play, fifteen's game.

We said we're playing to twenty!

Lucky for you, his sister retorts an serves.

Aaaaah!

Sixteen serving thirteen.

Who's Dwight's friends? asks their father.

Up across the street, that broken-down fence broken spout, who else's yard's fulla garbage?
Aaaah!
Carl throws down his racket.

Temper, says Mr. Talley.

Seventeen serving thirteen, says Christina.

Well I'm sure they can't help it, says Mr. Talley.

They can't help being dirty? says Carl.

They can't help being poor.

Cuz all poor people are dirty?

Sorry, I say.

Aaaah! says Carl.

Eighteen serving thirteen, says Christina.

Dwight's friend's name's Porch.

Roof.
Rufus. Sorry.

Aaaah!

Nineteen serving thirteen. Game point.

Carl! Craig! Mrs. Talley callin from the back door. Could one of you strong men help me with this table? It's a little heavy.

You stepped over the serving line! says Carl.

What
serving line? says Christina.

You were practically on the net!

I was not! And there's no serving line, you can't make up rules halfway through!

She's right about that, says their father, but for future reference don't get any closer than the edge of the clothesline.

Do-over, says Carl.

No!

She was practically on the net!

Alright! For the little booby baby I'll do it over. Nineteen serving thirteen,
game point.

Out! says Carl.

It was
not
out!

On the line is out.

What line?

From now on, says Mr. Talley, the rosebush will be out.

Do-over, says Carl.

I'm not doing another do-over!

Look at me! says Mrs. Talley, her left hand holdin a wood table that looks heavy, balanced on her head, her right hand holdin a plate a cinnamon rolls. Now I know why the African ladies do it this way!

Settin on my bed I shade my sketch: me, Carl, Carl's father, an Carl's sister playin badminton, Carl jus hit it at his dad an his dad runnin for it, Carl's mother settin a apple pie on a picnic table. The apple pie an picnic table is poetic license. Everybody smilin DicknJane.

Daddy's home! Daddy's home! Eliot hoppin, statin the obvious. At supper Daddy says, I got a special guest comin in three days.

You be back three days? Eliot all grins.

Yeah, but then I work a couple weeks straight. Switched my days off special for this special guest. He be comin on the train with me, somebody real famous.

Who! Eliot practically fall off his chair.

A surprise.

Is it Gary Cooper?

It ain't a movie star, says Daddy, nippin it in the bud before Eliot start a string a movie star guesses. Eliot look confused, like how can you be famous you ain't a movie star?

Dwight finished his last report. It's a real nice one. She smilin at me.

I wanna hear it! Daddy say.

After supper, them on the couch, Eliot on the floor, me standin.

Benjamin Banneker wrote six farmer's almanacs every year from 1792 to 1797. These almanacs were unique because they didn't just predict the weather. They also had essays, which I will subsequently report on.

Benjamin Banneker was born in 1731 in our state of Maryland in what became known as Ellicott's Mills and what is now Ellicott City. Benjamin's English grandmother married her African slave Banna Ka which gradually got changed to Banneker. Then their mixed daughter married
her
African slave, and from them came Benjamin. His grandmother taught him to read and he went to a Quaker school for a time, but mostly he taught himself. He borrowed a pocket watch and after he studied the inside of it he carved wood to make all the pieces just like the pocket watch and he built a clock from the wood that chimed every hour. He was 22 when he finished the clock and it worked four decades until it was destroyed in a house fire right after he died which might or might not a been accidental.

Benjamin Banneker was a farmer. He was also a mathematician and a scientist and an astronomer. He was hired to be part of a group that surveyed the land that became Washington D.C. He used his astronomical work for this, figuring out the position of the earth by the way the stars looked. A letter in the Georgetown Weekly Ledger about Benjamin said his “abilities, as a surveyor, and as an astronomer, clearly prove that Mr. Jefferson's concluding that race of men were void of mental endowments, was without foundation.”

Benjamin Banneker was for peace. In his 1793 almanac he included “A Plan of a Peace-office for the United States” which was written by Benjamin Rush who was a founding father of the United States. What the plan called for was a Secretary of Peace.

Benjamin Banneker was against slavery. He and Thomas Jefferson disagreed about this, and wrote letters to each other arguing about it, which Benjamin Banneker published in his almanac.

White people and colored people respected Benjamin Banneker and his high intelligence. Benjamin Banneker was proud to be a Negro man, he was proud of his color. He wrote “I am of the African race, and in the colour which is natural to them of the deepest dye; and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.”

Many times through it Daddy sayin I didn't know that, I didn't know that, an now both lookin at me all proud.

In bed Eliot says, What did Benjamin Banneker invent? I say he weren't an inventor, he studied things. The stars, an the weather. An he built a clock outa wood! Eliot say. Yep. An he knew the eclipse! Yep. An he figured out the land by lookin at the sky! Yep. Benjamin Banneker was smart! Eliot say, then we play I Spy. I don't do I Spy much no more, baby game, but wunst in a while. Make him happy. Then he's yawnin. I hear his sleep breathin, I stare at the stars, the same stars Benjamin Banneker used to lay out Worshinton D.C. way
back,
way
back

I'm standin in the tower Roof an me made in the Architeck Club. It ain't that I'm small, it's that the tower got big, life-size, castle like Roof says. I'm way up at the top lookin out. An Carl's lookin out from one floor below me all smug, he don't notice I'm just above. It's like ancient times, green fields, but over yonder there's Eliot wavin at me from Colored Street, in my dream Colored Street's down there even in the meadows a Medieval an there in the middle a Colored Street cross from Eliot's this little church but Eliot's lookin the other way, his back's to the church. An I'm tryin to figure how to get Eliot up in the tower but he seem content fine on Colored, Eliot grinnin wavin holdin a white book with white raised letters on the cover:
THE MAGNET CARTER
, I see him from my castle cross Colored, an down on the groun direckly below the castle there's Roof, he wanna cross the moat to the castle but he can't swim, an I'm rackin my brain how to get Eliot in the castle how to get Roof in the castle when suddenly there's fire, the cross on the church grew huge an caught afire but Eliot don't see it, Eliot smilin up at me, then Carl from the floor below turn an glance up like he knew I was there all along, an speak: Badminton?

Nex mornin I look out my bedroom winda. Cloudin over. Carl up already. All that gray in the sky, he takin down the net fore it get wet. I do my chores quick—make my bed, pull the garden weeds—then pack marbles in my pocket. Or maybe backgammon again.

But outside I follow a ole instinct an turn leff steada right an fore I know it I'm standin fronta Roof's. I don't gotta knock on his door cuz he already lookin out at me from the second floor, his bedroom winda. From inside I hear a newborn baby hollerin.

Treasure hunt?

He stare at me a long time fore he answer.

Can't. Punishment.

Oh. How come?

I was swingin on my bedroom door an knocked it off the hinges.

Oh. Roll a thunder. If I run I can beat the big rain gettin to Carl's. Maybe we can bring Monopoly out on Carl's front porch, watch the downpourin. Carl started teachin me Monopoly but we had to quit fore the end. This time
I'm
banker.

Like Roof seen my mind wanderin to Carl's, he say Maybe treasure hunt tomorra? Somethin catch in his voice. His nose still got the scab from the fight.

Wanna play marbles? I can bring em up to you.

Roof's eyes get a startle. Much as I love his yard, most an genrally I ain't up for the obstacle course a his house, me an Roof always play outdoors or inside my house, never his. The raindrops start fallin big, hard.

Okay, he says just as it fass come to a crashin shower, an I rush in an step over Joellen's skate an Beaver's broken fire truck an some folded clean clothes an tossed-about dirty clothes as I scale the stairs up to the boys' room, Roof's an Beaver's on the left.

 

ELIOT

Here come the train! We see Daddy come off 5:30 a.m. train! Usually tired from work but today he smile big. Brung a man behine him. Tall man! Tall man!

This is my wife Claris. An this is Dwight. An this is Eliot. This is Mr. A. Philip Randolph.

Dwight's mouth fly open. He musta hearda Mr. A. Philip Randolph. Mr. A. Philip Randolph famous!

Where's Mr. A. Philip Randolph?

Worshin. Restin. He be down for supper. You wanna hop a little lighter, jumpin bean? She put extra sugar sauce on the bake chicken!

How long Mr. A. Philip Randolph stay with us?

Call him Mr. Randolph. Jus one night.

Aw!

How come he here?

Me an her look up. Dwight standin door a the kitchen.

There's a man in New York, Mr. Tompkins. Retired porter. Mr. Tompkins let the end-a-the-line porters sleep a few hours, his place, he don't charge much, then they get up, go back to work. When they awake, he tell em they got to unionize. Your daddy not sure at first, Daddy an me talk. Then Daddy helpin Mr. Tompkins, tellin the porters unionize. Mr. Tompkins preciate it, Mr. Tompkins ole an tired. Very brave a your daddy. He coulda got fired, almost did. Mr. Tompkins know Mr. Randolph an tell Mr. Randolph boutcher daddy. Your daddy meet Mr. Randolph,
big
union organizer, why your daddy all day taken him to meet the Humble porters. Right now Mr. Randolph got other work to be done, your daddy wanna be a part. He invite Mr. Randolph take his rest stop on his way to Worshinton here.

Dwight mutter mutter.

What's that?

Funny coincidence, he tell her. Mr.
Randolph's
name jus come up couple days back.

I can tell she don't like how he say
Randolph
so before she jump on him I jump in with my questions: Mama! What's unionize? What's organize?

But it ain't quick enough cuz in walk Daddy. When can I tell Mr. Randolph supper be ready?

Now, if
he
ready.

He's ready. Stop that jumpin boy, knock the plates off the shelves.

I stop. Daddy go get Mr. Randolph.

Set the table, she say.

Mama put the food on while Dwight put the plates an glasses on while I put the forks on. I can't put the plates an glasses on cuz she afraid I drop it break it on accident, but one time Dwight dropped one on accident!

Everything is delicious, Mr. Randolph say.

Thank you, Mama say. Supper is bake chicken an string beans an corn puddin. I love bake chicken! I love string beans! I love corn puddin!

You boys know who Mr. Randolph is? Daddy ask.

I look at Mama. She tole us but I didn't understand! Daddy come in, I didn't get to ask my questions!

He organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. My union!

You a porter, Mr. Randolph? I ask.

No, though my brother was for a spell. I organized the porters. I wanted the organization to be called the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids. The maids
are
represented, but I wanted the women represented in the title too. I got outvoted.

What's organize?

Bringin people together, Daddy say. For a union. Their rights.

What's a union?

Dwight sigh.

Stop playin with your corn puddin, she tell Dwight.

A union is an organization of workers, say Mr. Randolph, so they can fight collectively for their rights. Collectively. Together.

Before Mr. Randolph came along colored on the train paid half what the whites was, we expected to make up the rest in tips or starve. Had to arrive
five hours
before shiffs to prepare the train, an you don't get paid till the shiff starts. Porters made to double-out, work double shiffs, no rests! Sneakin sleep on a table, in the baggage car, I remember!

Set up straight, Dwight, she say.

Porters had to buy their own cleanin supplies! Shoeshine wax! Soap! Mr. Randolph hadn'ta come along, they still be callin me George!

George?
But your name Lon, Daddy!

I know!

Hahahaha!

Hahahaha! my daddy grin, laugh right back at me!

That
was before my time, say Mr. Randolph. White men started it. The Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters George. Gag at first. Then no gag.

All the members named George! say Daddy.

Some prestigious members, say Mr. Randolph. Senator Walter F. George of Georgia.

Senator George a Georgia say No George! Hahahaha! Daddy smile at my joke.

England's King George the Fith!

Hahahaha!

George Herman Ruth Junior!

Hahahaha!

Also known as Babe Ruth!

I stop laughin, stare at Mr. Randolph, my mouth hang open. Dwight look up.

Daddy say, Time Mr. Randolph an the union done, we up to a hundred seventy-five dollars a month, work cut down to ten-hour days, six-day weeks!

A hunnert seventy-five dollars! I say.

Firs colored union to bargain with a major corporation! Daddy say. Firs colored union get a charter with the American Federation a Labor!

Semi
-charter, say Mr. Randolph. Don't get me started on the crackers in labor.

Mr. Randolph, you think the New Deal been good to colored people?

Yes, ma'am, I do.

Mama, he said ma'am. She slap me under the table. It don't hurt.

Out of the New Deal came the National Labor Relations Board. The Wagner Act, outlawing those bogus unions created by the company, and providing for
autonomous
unions: labor bargaining with capital. All that helped Negroes. Still, we could go further. The National Negro Congress.

Of which you was president.

You know my biography well, ma'am. Yes, I was the first president.

Communists.

Everyone turn to Dwight.

They
are
!

I can tell Mama an Daddy both wanna smack him but they ain't closed enough.

Yes. Many of them were
white
Communists, and the white bothered me a lot more than the red. Don't get me wrong. I believe there are plenty of good white people in the world. I also believe Negroes can, and should, fight for themselves.

Ain't
you
a Communist?

Who told you that! she snap.

Carl's dad.

Daddy confused. New neighbors, she say, eyes rollin. White.

Ain't
chu?

Let it alone, boy. My daddy's tone.

I'm a socialist, Dwight. I participate in the struggle for righteousness, for poor people in general and poor Negroes in particular. I am not a Communist, as I believe capitalism should not be abolished but rather reaped for the communal good of all, allocated fairly, no ostentatiously rich, no desperately poor. I am not a Communist because I believe in decision making more generally shared rather than the distribution of wealth coordinated by a small coterie of individuals at the top. Still, there is much overlap between communism and socialism, and at first I had no problem working with the Communists who essentially put together the Negro National Congress. However, I have often been confused by the efforts of Communists, most notably by white Communists. They supported the Scottsboro Boys, a very just and worthy cause, but then quickly abandoned their honorable militancy against fascism the moment the Soviet Union signed its Non-Aggression Pact with Germany. Of course they reversed that decision following the Nazi invasion of the USSR, but this fickle mentality of When-the-Soviets-say-jump-we-ask-how-high I find troubling, and frustrating, and most importantly extremely counterproductive toward our goals of justice for all.

Now Dwight's mouth hang open! All the questions I got to remember to ask! Who the Scottsboro Boys? What is fascism? What is counterproductive? How come Mr. Randolph say Dwight an he ain't said
my
name wunst!

Speaking of German aggression. Mr. Randolph turn to Mama an Daddy. You both know why I'm headed to Washington.

Yes, the march, but please tell us more, Mr. Randolph. Slicin her bake chicken.

The March on Washington for Jobs and Equal Participation in National Defense.

You know what kinda jobs out there, the war mobilization? Daddy sayin to her. Weldin? Rivetin? An they been keepin colored out!

We want those jobs for colored men and women. That's what the marchers will demand.

We in a war? I thought we wa'n't in a war.

Not yet son, Daddy say to me. But soon. Probly soon, an Daddy sigh.

Lon an I have discussed this, and we will certainly be there for the March on Worshinton, Mr. Randolph.
And
our children.

We goin to Worshinton? I say.

Three-hundred-dollar-a-month jobs! say Daddy.

Mama's mouth open. Three hundred dollar???

I'm meeting with the president Tuesday. The president does not want the march to take place. Up to him, but I'll need some guarantees for Negro jobs then. Executive order guarantees.

All four of us mouth wide open.
President Roosevelt!

We goin to Worshinton? I say.

Mr. Randolph says depends on the president, Daddy say. We might.

I'm grinnin! I never been to Worshinton! I hardly been any place but Humble. Cep walk over the bridge to Mann's Addition, West Virginia. Cep Latchmore, Pennsylvania, where Aunt Beck live.

They got a plant right in Boddimore! Daddy say.

We've already chartered trains, buses. We're expecting a hundred thousand.

A hundred thousand! Mama an Daddy say.

If the president doesn't wise up. The committee at the top is all Negro, the March on Washington Movement.
All
black.

My friend Jeanine's Uncle Raymonlee say it's a white man's war.

Mr. Randolph look at me. Your friend's uncle is very wise, Eliot.

Eliot! He know my name!

And not the first Negro of that opinion. So much work to do at home, our
own
freedom, why should we be running across the ocean fighting for some European's? But I believe if we are resourceful we can use this war, since our national participation in it seems inevitable, we can use this war to stipulate our rights as Negroes. Mr. Randolph take a bite a chicken, all thoughtful. I am a pacifist. I maintain all conflicts can and should be resolved through negotiation. But if we
must
fight, if Negroes
must
serve in the military, then our recruits are owed the opportunity to show their mettle and be respected as combat soldiers.

We can fight good as them white boys!

That's right, son. Two seconds Dwight ack decent an Daddy smilin all over him.

We
can,
say Mr. Randolph to Dwight. At Tuskegee they're training Negro men to fly right now.

Negro pilots?
Dwight's face all wonder.

Negro pilots! Still. It's a segregated military, that has
not
changed. Well, one thing at a time. For now, the march will focus on jobs. After twelve years of Depression if there is suddenly money in war manufacturing for American workers, we as Negro American workers are owed our share.

What's a pacifiss?

Peace, Eliot. I believe in peace. There are people who believe in war as the means and peace as the end, people who believe in guns for peacekeeping, but I believe in peace. Period.

Me too! I'm a pacifiss too, Mr. Randolph!

You
are
?

No war no war.

No war no war, my mama join in, smilin at me. Then she go on: Jus the war buildup. Jobs!

I trust in Mr. Gandhi.
Satyagraha.
Civil disobedience.

Henry David Thoreau went to jail for civil disobedience. You ever been to jail?

He ain't no jailbird! I swing at Dwight, but my fist miss.

I have, Dwight, but never for long. Sedition. For exercising my freedom of speech at a time of war, I was arrested in Cleveland, but I was quickly released thanks to the racism of the Cleveland judge. He didn't think Negroes were smart enough to think up all that complicated radicalism! Mr. Randolph almost fall out his chair laughin!

I wish you was my granddaddy, Mr. Randolph! You smart! Hahahaha!

I'm nobody's granddaddy, Eliot. I never had children.

You never had children!

No. But I have a wife Lucille that I love very very much.

Mr. Randolph. I heard tell you were once a great Shakespearean actor.

Mr. Randolph look surprised. You
do
know my biography, ma'am! He smile, bite a corn puddin. Well. Long time ago.

Actor? say Dwight, like hopeful.

Mr. Randolph turn to him. You like Shakespeare?

In bed in the dark I go You know what's in Worshinton? Monument! Capitol!

No kiddin. Dwight's back turned away.

We might see President Roosevelt. We surely see President Roosevelt, he live in Worshinton too! Maybe we see a Worshinton Black Senator! Daddy likes em. He likes Henry Spearman on third base, he says he's a good hitter. I am a Jew I am a Jew. Hahaha! You like Mr. Randolph's speech? That's nice he done that Shakespeare for us. Hahaha! What's a Jew?

Shut up an go to sleep!

Hunnert thousand in Worshinton! I try to whisper but it a loud whisper. Hunnert thousand a us! Hahahaha!

For a second I think Dwight gone on to sleep. Then he make a funny voice. Mr. Randolph, what's a union? Mr. Randolph, what's a pacifist? Mr. Randolph, you smart! I wish you was my granddaddy! Sycophant.

What you call me?

Look it up.

Mornin! I can't wait to go to Worshinton! Starin up at Mr. Randolph, lather all over his face, twirl his blade in the water.

Gonna happen, Mr. Randolph say to the mirror, unless President Roosevelt smartens up. We'll call the whole thing off if he just make an executive order, fair hiring. Mr. Randolph mow the razor up his neck, smooth, smooth.

I seen Worshinton crostin the Potomac. And Worshinton D.C. set right
on
the Potomac. Hahaha! Humble set on the Potomac too. Hahahaha!