BRAINWASHED

I WAS BRAINWASHED! It is not just white people, nor certain white judges @ the female Canadian judge, who admitted after a lecture, that she had been intimidated by throngs of "dark" people to whom she had spoken. I was also such black racial infidel myself. As a pubescent black boy who grew up amid a small minority of black people in an otherwise overwhelmingly white context, I had similar apprehensions to those among whom I usually assimilated. I learned to ice skate, before I ever learned to roller skate, for example. But, the prettiest black girls roller skated; and our roller-skating rink, named "Steinberg," was located in Forest Park, downtown, in the City of St. Louis, Missouri. It was the haunt of throngs of "dark" people in the summer months, who were gaily skating away in sync with the latest soul music, rhythmically, synchronously, fluidly. First, I scouted it out from the confines of my car, which was no fun, at all. Finally, throwing caution to the wind, I got out, closed the car door and entered the thrall, secretly fearing that "they" would know that I was an interloper, an intruder! Au contraire! No one noticed me at all. Then, I became indignant. Can't you see that this is me; that I am not one of you, technically; that I am different than you dark people! Nope! They skated, dated, "conversated." So, I rented some skates and found out there is more to roller skating than just walking, like there is more to rapping than just talking. Be that as it may, I merged with the masses of my beautiful black people that night, the pretty one, ugly ones, skating ones, non-skating ones. Then, I later realized that I too had been brainwashed, history books, notwithstanding, soul music or not!