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The Knock
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I had been pondering about the time my dad had put the phonograph and all of my family was listening, the tune was soothing and calming. We were a small family of 4, me, my annoying brother, my mom, and dad. Now, back to the pondering, the room was quiet and the melody was bouncing back and forth through the white cemented walls not to mention, the entire black neighborhood we lived in. Mom and dad were headbanging with the tune as well as tapping their foot on the ground.
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My brother, who was annoyed by family night, whispered to me, “This is probably old people fun.”
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I shushed him and said, “Just shut up and listen, it's about to end.”
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Admittedly, I was a bit annoyed by it too, family night was a waste of time, I thought.
The tune ended, and we were relieved. “Ok, now both of you, go to your room and sleep,” my mother ordered us.
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“But, we don’t have school tomorrow.” I told her, “and I am not sleepy”
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“Yes, but you have to sleep early, remember? Tomorrow, Summer vacation starts, and you can’t be sleepy on the first day can you?”
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I decided not to argue with her, so me and brother, Alex, started walking towards our room. But as we were, a loud crash came to the door.
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My mother commanded me and my brother, “Hide in your room and lock the door.”
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“What about you mommy?” Alex resisted her command.
Then, father hurriedly backed up mother and exclaimed, “Don't worry, we will be safe, now go and hide,” his voice cracked.
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Then, I grabbed my brother's arm and sprinted to my room, as I firmly locked the door with a key, Alex asked me, “Do you think they are buyers?”
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“It could be,” I replied. Not knowing that as an older brother, I should have instead comforted him.
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Both of our ears were stuck to the door, we were trying to listen to our parents. Then, a split second later, we heard a loud crash and suddenly there were voices of people I’ve never known, they were shouting and I heard pieces of a metal crash. I got really scared and didn’t know what to do, so, as an instinct, I hurriedly took the key out of my pockets and unlocked the door. Next thing I knew, my brother was shouting at me from my back and in front of me, I saw my parents forced to sit on the ground and they were handcuffed. Standing behind them were 3 armed people, 1 of them told his comrade to handcuff me and my brother, who I didn’t know had followed me. I saw the tears and pain in my parents' eyes as we were captured, my mom shouted, ”WHY DID YOU --”
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Her voice was overridden by one of the man’s who shouted,” SHUT UP.”
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But I think I knew what she was saying.
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Back To The Present
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Now, 1 year has passed and we are all fortunately over the tragic events that were held. We have just been transported to a new labor camp named Swahili, and we’ve been given a small room. It’s night and my family just laid down after a long day of work, my father and mom slept on a bed with an old and lumpy mattress while my brother and I slept on the sleeping bags. Laying down, I was wondering, ”What is going to happen, how will we survive?”
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Suddenly my mom screamed, ”Abraham, go close the light switch and sleep!”
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“Yes mom,” I replied as I took off my blanket and got up to switch off the light. The switch was white, unlike the rest of the wall, which was brown and had black mold covering them.
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Soon in what seemed like a blink of an eye, it was 7 am and all of us woke up, we all quickly took our buckets and raced downstairs to fill our buckets with water from the fountain in the middle of the residential area. After we were all done, we all ate an insignificant amount of dry, old gravy despite knowing today was going to be a hard day since potato season had just come and the owners were overwhelmed. Soon after, we all headed to the field along with about 50 other slaves. There, it felt like we were in a furnace! Throughout the day, my job was to hold the ladder for my family when they were picking the potatoes from the trees, so they wouldn’t injure themselves. I had to rush to anyone who screamed my name, and even though I was the one who wanted to pick the potatoes, my dad kept telling me I was too young. Though I didn't get how that was logical, I didn’t argue because he was never in a good mood these days.
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The Escape Plan
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Soon after many tiring hours, we all gathered for dinner and my family sat on the table which was on the far right side.
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We all took deep breaths after all that work and started eating food, I must have been about halfway finishing my food when father sneakily whispered to us, “So any ideas for the escape I told you to brainstorm about 1 week ago?”
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My brother and mom stared nervously at the table, which I assumed was because they either forgot about it or were too nervous to even think about it.
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I replied silently, ”Yes I do.”
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Both of them looked relieved.
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When I got their attention, I added, “I’ve been observing the guards every day. When the guard who secures our side of the camp changes shifts at 6:30 am, there is a 35-second gap in which no one is securing it. In that window of time, we can run to the barbed wire wall beside the crop field and climb it by using the ladder which is used for picking up the potatoes, which dad will have taken the night before with the owner's permission to pick up corn over the night.
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“One question.” My dad uttered, “what are we planning to do after that?”
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“We will keep running until we are at the Nairobi Seafront, and once we reach, we can take a boat to America with our savings from mom's purse,” I answered.
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My mom continued and asked, ”When can we do this?”
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I nodded towards my father, we all knew it was his choice.
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Father told us, ”We will gather our supplies tomorrow, since the day after, we will escape.”
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As soon as he said that, we all fell back to our chairs, relieved, the plan was made and we wouldn't have to whisper anymore.
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Ready! Action!
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The next day, my mom asked me about how I was feeling about the escape, I said, “I’m ready,” but deep inside I knew I was nervous and not ready because all of this was happening quickly, but for my family’s sake, I knew I had to be brave and put on a little acting. Throughout the day, I waited eagerly thinking about our old life, ”It seems like it was a lifetime away,” I wondered, missing it.
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As darkness hit, we were discharged, all of us gathered in the room and got ready. My mom packed all our valuables like money, snacks, and sleeping bags, while dad went outside to ask the owner if he could borrow the ladder to pick crops during the night and earn extra money. Once everyone was back, we all went to sleep, but I couldn’t. I kept thinking about any flaws in the plan and wondered if there were, it would be my fault. “What if they changed the shift timing? What if we can’t run quickly while holding the ladder?” I thought. After a lot of committed tries to fall asleep, I did.
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A few hours of rough sleep later, I heard someone saying, ”WAKE UP,” it was my dad who had managed to wake all three of us at the same time. I looked outside the curtains and it was dawn, we all got ready in a rush and now it was time for the time of my life.
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While we were in a hurry, in the middle of everything, my mom named my Alex and I to the corner of the room. “Are both of you sure you are ready? And please, you don’t need to lie for the family.” She begged.
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My dad asked us,”Is everybody ready?”
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We all replied with, “Yes,” and we walked outside.
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My mom and brother were carrying the sleeping bags and the necessities while my dad and I were carrying the long and heavy ladder. Outside, it was silent, some of the room lights were already open and people were beginning to wake up, it made me less nervous. Once we were a few meters away from the barbed wire, dad told us to stand still and silently behind a wall and then checked his watch, “1 more minute left.” At that point, I was sweating and my heart was pounding, ”This is it,” I thought,” Either escape now or stay here for the rest of your life.”
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Then dad said,” Go,” and we all ran, as planned me and my father quickly put down the ladder and mother went first. Once my mother jumped to the other side, I asked her, ” Are you okay,” and I heard,” Yes.” Then my brother went with one of the sleeping bags, I followed him with the other one, then finally my dad climbed it and we were all outside!
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“Everything went to plan,” I thought,” But it’s not over.”
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The Silent Run
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All of us took deep breaths knowing it was going to be a long sprint, then we started to run. We must have run a few hundred meters when we were beginning to see the coast, which was about 2 miles away, I estimated. After a few more minutes, we all stopped to breathe again, mom especially looked like she was derived from oxygen.
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“I don’t think I can do it,” she muttered while breathing continuously.
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“No mom, you have to.” Replied Alex,” Or we will get caught.”
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“Alex is lucky he went to the sports program,” I thought during that time
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Suddenly when we were standing still gasping, I heard footsteps behind while my family was busy in a conversation so I decided to look behind. I saw four guards running towards us, I screamed at the top of my lungs to my family and warned them, ”FOUR GUARDS ARE COMING FOR US, LOOK BEHIND! RUN RUN”
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All of them got a glimpse of the guards. Hastily, we all gathered around our mom and ran as quickly as we could and dad shouted, ”Try to run quicker if you can, they are catching up.”
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I looked behind and while they were catching up, luckily for us, we were about to reach the Seafront so we could blend in with the other slaves. I told my family, ”We could blend in with the others, and the guards won't be able to follow us or they will get beaten up inside.”
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I don't know if anyone heard me since they were focused on sprinting but the guards stopped and we reached. As we entered, I noticed my father went into deep and dark thought, I wondered if he had bad memories of here, I but didn’t ask him knowing he wouldn’t give a correct answer. Soon after, father told us to wait and asked my mom to take out the money, as he counted it, he told us he has an old friend here and wanted to ask him for a cheap boat price.
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When my dad was gone, I had a terrifying talk with my mom about the long voyage and out of the blue, she started to cry.
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I replied, ”It’s okay mom, we will get through it.”
Then my dad came sprinting and sarcastically said, ”I managed to get a boat ride but it's leaving as we speak so I suggest walking a bit faster.”
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My mom hesitated for a split second.
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“They won't wait for us mom,” my brother reminded her.
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“Okay, let's go,” said mom.
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Boarding
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It was a small boat, at the front of it was a room for the helmsman, in the middle was a space for the slaves to put their sleeping bags on and at the back part, was a deck for people to stand on. The floors were wooden and the color of the ship white. We realized we only brought two sleeping bags so my brother was sharing with my father and my mom and I was sharing, luckily though we had brought food for multiple days. People were settling in so we decided to also do it and find a good spot in the middle instead of the edge. All the people were saying bye to their loved ones over the loud noise of the ocean and soon the boat took off.
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As the land disappeared, father went to the helmsman and whispered, ”Don't tell the family I’ve worked on this ship, I told them I went on business trips when I was required on long voyages.”
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“Roberto, my friend, don't worry about it, they will never know. After all, you were saving lives.”
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“Thank you Francisco!” Roberto muttered respectfully.
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“That’s what friends are for!” Exclaimed the helmsman.
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“And Francisco, one last question, how long will it take to reach America? Never been there before.”
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“About three weeks,” Francisco replied.
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“Alright Francisco, I will go take a nap.” Said, Roberto
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“Bye, old friend, we will be meeting each other a lot in the coming weeks, like the old times,” said Francisco as he sat on his seat and stared out on the big blue ocean.
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That whole day all of us slept, we were all exhausted from sprinting, when everyone woke up I asked my father,” How long until we reach?”
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“Three weeks,” he replied, ”I know it’s tough here but we gotta make it, we’re so close.” As he realized everybody was staring at him, he added,” We will make it safely,” trying to comfort us.
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On the ride, everyone was quiet and greedy, nobody shared anything knowing they might run out of it themselves. My brother hadn’t spoken anything since we had taken a step on this ship, I could tell he was nervous and seasick. All he did was lay on the sleeping bag with the blanket over him, his skin was pale and he hardly ate. My mom asked him multiple times to eat or to even talk but he just nodded his head in disagreement. During the night, it was extremely cold and the days were passing by slowly.
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One day, I noticed my mom was feeling tired and looked like she was depressed, so I decided to ask her, ”Are you okay?” It took me a while to find the courage for that because we never had a close relationship.
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“I am not a son, don’t think like that.” She replied.
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I knew she was lying but I just said, ”Okay,” for her to not get pressured. That night, I was thinking about my family worriedly and just like before yesterday, I couldn't sleep. So this caused me to stand up and go to the back of the boat to hear the ocean sounds and feel the breeze.
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As soon as I stood up, my heart sank! My whole life was about to change, millions of questions went through my mind at once!
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I screamed over the ocean waves, ”MOM, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
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She looked at me and replied, ”NOTHING SON, LOOK BEHIND.”
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“NO MOM DON’T SAY THAT,” I replied in horror.
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She stood up on the railing and was ready to jump, tears were running down her eyes. Unfortunately, I didn't consider just one flaw, feelings. A few minutes later, my brother came and stood right beside me.
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“Mo-,” he cried, “DON'T DO THIS,” he said as he teared up.
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During this time, I was going closer to the edge as mom listened to Alex. I knew as soon as Alex stopped, I had to run and risk it. My father also joined, with a blank face and was shook in surprise.
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Soon after, my brother was forced to stop talking to hiccup and that’s when I knew I had to run, so I started. Weirdly, I was just standing there, I knew I didn’t have the guts.
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My mom read her prayers and said, ”Bye. It's been a pleasure, Roberto, from the moment I met you till now. You two, never give up and move on, I love you the most.”
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All three of us shouted, ”NO STOP,” but she knew she couldn’t change anything now.
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She jumped into the cold ocean.
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All of us sprinted towards where she was, but she was gone, there was nothing to do now. Father hugged us tightly and muttered with his cracked voice, “Move on, listen to her final wish.”
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I felt empty throughout the trip as if a piece of my heart was broken. I cried every day and every minute, I held my brother during those days knowing he was my responsibility and told him, ”This is not the end, it’s a new beginning.”
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Deep down in my heart, I knew it was my fault she was gone, if I had the guts to sprint she would be alive. I told my father about it and he said, ”It’s not, it’s nobody's fault.”
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The rest of the trip was unclear to me, we reached America but no happiness went through me or my remaining family. We all had lost the most important person in our lives. A new chapter had begun.
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Settling In
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Settling into the States was a pain, especially when we were just dropped off in a cargo port with nowhere to go. We were owners of just a little money which mom had left behind in her purse and didn't have anywhere to go, no relatives, no friends, and no final destination, we just needed to survive with each other.
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“So, any ideas?” Asked my brother.
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We were all drifters.
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“No,” I said.
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“We can go to a camp until conditions get better I guess,” Father said
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This was the first time I had seen him clueless, and unfortunately, it was in the worst possible condition.
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“But, which camp?” I replied
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Father nodded towards a street sight, it said, “International Rescue Committee of Charlottesville, Virginia, 4 km North.”
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“Ohh, so this is where we are. History teacher told us that Virginia is in East America towards West Africa,” my brother realized.
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“Anything more that can help us?” Dad asked
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“No,” Alexy sadly replied.
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New Home
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We quickly speed-walked there and what I saw was beyond my imagination. The camp was a HUGE slump looking area, tents were cramped and it made me miss my old house even more. But I wasn't going to say that out loud, because I knew both of them were going to give me that disappointed look.
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“So this is our house for the next few months huh?” My brother muttered.
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“Yup, I guess so,” dad sighed.
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Afterwards, we went to the small reception building and my dad told us to shush ourselves and behave if you don't want to be homeless.
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As my dad went to the counter, the unusual white lady, like everybody else in this new country, said, “Hello sir, would you like to ask anything? My name is Raisa.”
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“Oh, well hello Raisa, is it possible for me and my two kids to live here for a couple of weeks? Oh, and my name is Arthur.” informed father kindly.
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“Well I am certain you can, follow me. Also, don't mind my curiosity, but where's your wife?” Raisa curiously asked
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My dad teared up a bit as the bad memories flushed through him, “She passed away a few days ago,”
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“Oh, I'm so sorry for reminding you, hope you get better.” Raisa apologized.
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Then she showed us to our tent, it was considerably big and was brown. In front of it, was a zipper for the main door. Then, she showed us through the entire camp, the kitchen/dining area, the fountain in the middle of the entire camp, and lastly the small school they had.
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“I hope you don't have any more questions?” Raisa said
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“Nope that's it, thank you,” dad replied
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“Bye,” Raisa said.
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“Bye,” dad replied too.
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The school had no walls, but was enough for studying. Inside our tent, were 3 sleeping beds, a small side table and carpet covering the entire inside.
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“It's pretty cozy,” my Alex said.
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My dad and I said nothing, not because it was bad, but because we were too sleepy.
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School Time
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“WAKE UP WAKE UP, ITS SCHOOL TIME.” dad screamed at the top of his lungs
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“Okay okay, gimme a second, stop shouting!” My brother angrily replied.
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Dad gave him an eye, “Keep your manners, doesn't mean you lose them if mom is not here ok?”
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“OK, I'm sorry, now will ya leave me alone?” Alex said rudely.
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And dad did, he walked off angrily. I did feel bad for him and scolded him.
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“Why did you speak like that huh?
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“I am sorry, just got pissed off when he said the mommy part, I don't know how to apologize to him now,” Alex replied
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“Just… do it later, right now, get ready.” I commanded him.
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I was kind of nervous for the first day of school, “Would the boys like me? Would I get bullied?” All these questions were going through my head.
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As I walked off, my brother to the so-called, “School,” I went to my class. It wasn't really a class, the children were sitting under a huge tree to avoid the shut and in the front of the students, was a blackboard with chalk and the teacher standing there. There were all kinds and races of students, black, white, Asian, etc… The teacher was an American, she was white and to me, very unusual looking. That's what I liked about this school, different types of kids all in one place learning together, this proved that diversity is better than superiority.
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“Class, this is Abraham,” the teacher announced, “He will be joining our class now on and will be studying with all of you. Abraham, my name is Emma, you can call me Em,” she said as she smiled at me.
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“This class is welcoming,” I thought.
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“Now, class, give Abraham a welcoming introduction.”
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“ Good morning Abraham!” the kids screamed.
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At this point, a smile broke out, I already knew this was going to be a good year.
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Finally, after the long introduction, my teacher showed me where I was supposed to sit, it was a concrete pavement right at the edge of the class. The teacher told me today was, “ Humanities,” class. She told us to write an essay just to test our skills, she even gave us a paper and pencil, which came as a surprise to me!
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Days were passing, and it was quickly. Day by day, we were all getting used to the camp, “It's not half as bad I thought it would be here.” I said after a few weeks.
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One day when we woke up for school, my dad was wearing a fancy suit, “Special occasion?” I asked
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My brother was in the tent too.
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“Yup! It's the interview for the job I was talking about since last week.” My dad said excitedly.
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“Woo-Hoo,’ my brother got nervous too, we had been all waiting for this moment, a money source.
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As he got out of the tent, he told us to take care and reach school, “I shouldn't get a letter from mrs. Em today alright?”
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“Yes,” both of us replied
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As I reached school, all the kids were settling into their places, and mrs. Em got the board ready. Weirdly, she was actually very silent with a grim face today.
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Today was Maths class, we were finally going to learn what was named, “Algebra.”
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Our teacher had been preparing us for this topic for a long while now, and once we started, I wasn't happy. I raised my hands and told the teacher, “Mrs. Em, this is just ABC, aren't we supposed to study like in KG 2?”
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“Abraham! GO BEHIND THAT TREE AND FACE THE OTHER WAY, DO NOT DISTURB THE CLASS ON THIS IMPORTANT TOPIC!” screamed mrs. Em
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Believe me, she isn't always like this, something must have gotten to her today. The rest of the day was boring, Maths was my least favorite subject, I thought. And ofcourse, she told me to pass on a letter to my dad, even though I just said a single sentence.
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When I was walking back home after picking up my brother, he told me, “Man, I am excited to see what happened to dad's job.”
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My mood suddenly became excited, I had totally forgotten about that.” Oh yeah, me too!” I squealed.
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We walked faster and reached the tent. My brother opened the zipper as I was standing beside him, as soon as we entered, we saw dad looking grim.
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“You didn’t get the job huh?” I muttered as I realized our one chance of earning money was gone, erased.
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“Nope, I did-“
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“I’m waiting for the ‘but’ par to come,” Alex interrupted him.
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“But, we will have to shift...by tomorrow.”
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“WHAT!?” Both me and my screamed, “YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME, WE JUST GOT SETTLED IN.” My brother got angry, both of us were staring at him.
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“I’m sorry Alex, but it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. And, I have found a good apartment in the city for us to live in, I mean aren’t you just getting tired of this tent?” My dad said this to try to convince him.
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“I am, but I have better things here, such as friends and an actual life!” Alex replied.
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“Well, I guess it’s our destiny then, we have to move, I am sorry Alex.”
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Alex teared up and went to his bed and covered himself with his blanket.
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“Whoof… that is one kind of a child, isn’t he?” My dad asked me.
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“Yup, it will take a while for him to understand I guess.” I replied
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Bye, Camp.
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The next day, me and my brother both said a tearful goodbyes to our classes, as we went back home, our father was ready with our belongings and a Taxi was waiting for us.
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“Ready?” My dad asked, “Yup,” we both replied.
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The ride was silent, it was a half an hour trip to the city and our building, it was a big brown square with white windows, “This is so dead,” I thought to myself.
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We used to lift, and pressed floor 9, when we reached our doorstep, it said, “Room 209,” and we lifted the carpet to get the key. As we entered, my brother, the most excited, rushed inside. “Not gonna lie, it does feel good to have a home.”
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“Agreed,” I followed
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“Me 3,” my dad again followed, all of us had smiles.
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The main room had yellow lights and a 4 seater wooden table, better then what we had. There was still one room though, but we did have an extra mattress, so we decided my brother would sleep with my dad in the bed and me on the mattress. There was also a kitchen, similar to the ones in hotels, with small cabinets and a sink, with an oven and a microwave.
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The next day we were to visit our new school, “Virginia International School(VIS).” As I reached, I noticed that it was a huge school, “Does the whole Virginia come here?” I thought. It had a huge bell in the front and was made out of maroon bricks, old school style. But of course this meant one thing, more children, more bullies. I had really hoped this was like my last school, but it wasn’t. As I entered Mrs. Olivia's classroom, she quickly introduced me in a bad manner and a couple of kids from the back shouted, “DWEEB, MRS. Abraham,” and guess what?
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“THE TEACHER IGNORED THEM.” I thought, “WHAT A BAD TEACHER,” I I thought again but this time, angrily.
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At recess, I wanted a friend, but obviously couldn’t, all the students were white, and I was black, “The ‘INTERNATIONAL’ part in the name was clearly a lie,” I told myself.
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More bad things happened in recess. As I was sitting at the corner behind a tree, 3 kids came up from my classroom, Elijah, Lucas and James. They were absolutely huge, but I didn’t have the guts to tell them. As they walked right towards me, they clenched their fists in a tough manner, their leader James screamed, “GIVE ME YOUR LUNCH MONEY RIGHT NOW, OR GET AN ABSOLUTELY FREE PUNCH, NERD.”
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I stood up and clenched my wrists too, “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?”
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“I SAID, GIVE ME YOUR MONEY, NERD.”
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The anger got the best of me. I punched him right at the nose and he fell down, just like my father had taught me.
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His other sidekicks stared at me and came to attack, I hit one on the ribs with my shoes, and one punched another one on his stomach, all three of them had fallen down.
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I felt worried about the consequences, “But they deserved it,” I thought.
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“What’s wrong with you, FREAK?” Asked James rudely.
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I thought of a reply quickly and said, “Well, I was raised in the slumps, wasn’t I?”
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Everybody who was staring at us, screamed, “OOOOHHH,” happily, I felt like I had done the school a good deed, especially to the new kids.
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The next day, my dad came to the school during after-school time, we went to the principal's office and while we were walking there, he said, “Did you really humiliate that kid? Who was he? Are you a bully?”
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“Yes, his name is James Fielder, but believe me, I might have humiliated him but he’s the bully here, he takes everybody’s money in the grade, and when someone stands up, his knuckles clench. So when he asked me for it, I gave him and his squad of hypocrites a beating.”
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“Ok, don’t tell that to me, tell that to the principal.” My father was relieved.
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When we sat at the chairs in front of the principal's metal desk, he introduced, “Hello sir, my name is Oliver, I’m the principal.”
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“Oh, hello principal, my name is Arthur, I am Abraham’s dad.”
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“Thank you. Ok, so your son Abraham, just yesterday bullied three kids and their parents were complaining to me, Abraham would you like to describe what happened?”
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“Yes sir, here’s the story, I might have humiliated them but he’s the bully here, he takes everybody’s money in the grade, and when someone stands up, his knuckles clench. So when he asked me for it, I lost my anger and gave him and his squad a beating. You can ANYBODY and I mean, ANYBODY in the grade to back that up.” If you hadn’t noticed, I was mimicking exactly what I had said to my dad, with polite words.
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“Ok, he might be a bully, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to break his nose and severely hurt his friends. Mr. Arthur, I will decide the consequences with the teachers over the weekend, until then, wait.”
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My dad and Oliver stood up and shook their hands, I just followed my dad out of the gate where the Taxi and my brother were waiting.
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“What happened Abraham?” Alex questioned
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“Nothing, I just beat up bullies since they started to fight me first.”
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“Oh, okay, hope you beat me up real good.”
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“Oh boy, you have no idea..” I said as I silently giggled with my brother.
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Turns out my dad was listening from the passenger seat and got angry real quick, “YOU JUST GOT NAMED TO THE PRINCIPAL AND ARE STILL LAUGHING!? I HAD TO CHANGE TO NIGHT SHIFT JUST TO COME TO THE SCHOOL!”
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“I am sorry dad, won’t do it again,” I comforted him.
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Over the weekend, we just stayed at the house, we hadn’t really found a place to have fun. On Sunday, finally, we went to the post box office and retrieved the letter. As soon as we entered our house, my dad ripped open the paper with his hands.
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Name: Oliver, headmaster of school
Date: 26 August of 1963
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Dear Arthur,
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I, regretfully announce that your son, Abraham, will be expelled from Virginia Middle school, effective immediately. This decision has been made with the school board and is irreversible. We have chosen this path since Abraham broke James Fielder’s nose and assaulted his friends. We have checked for all of Abraham’s personal belongings, none are here at school.
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Regards, Oliver
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Addressed To: Arthur Queen
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“Martin Luther King Jr, well well well, finally, it’s your time, go on that stage and tell the world about all the racism around the world,” said the assistant.
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Luther replied, Yup, it is my time, and yours, don’t forget, you helped me write it too, we will tell the world about, “I Have A Dream.”
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“Ok, now go on, show the world what racism is,” the assistant replied.
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Luther walked on the stage of the Lincoln Memorial, he paced around and started saying, “I say to you today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream.
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I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; thal all men are created equal.”
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Abraham, Arthur, and Alex were all staring at the television, it was live broadcast of Martin Luther King Jr, the man who later abolished slavery.
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“I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.”
To give a bit of background information, after Arthur opened that letter and read it, he scolded Abraham A LOT, and then grounded him for six days in the house, no television, no getting out of the house, no entertainment at all! He had hoped this would be enough to, “Fix,” Abraham.
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Even Alex had felt bad for Abraham, for his punishment, he knew that what Abraham did had to be done, he knew the real story. Alex had always been annoyed by this, he knew that adults were too arrogant because of their age, and never actually focused on the full story.
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I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father died, land of pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring".
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
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Literal tears were popping out of Arthur’s eyes, both the children were surprised to see that. For them, their hero was Martin Luther King Jr., they had given him all the hope and were rooting for him to convince the government to abolish slavery, all around the world with the United Nations.
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Days were passing by quickly, again. It was usually the same, boring old life. There was one tist, Abraham was now getting homeschooled by his father, whenever his father came back from work, he taught him Maths, and Science. Abraham had begged him to go to school, but his father won’t allow him even though he wanted friends and wanted to be a normal child, most importantly, he wanted to be white.
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He always told his father, “Why aren't we white? Why did mom have to die?”
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His father always replied with the same thing: “Be proud to be black. One day we will have money and will be eating in a house in Africa, we will have the perfect life.”
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“But when? When?!” Abraham screamed, “Martin Luther hasn’t done anything, we haven’t even had a proper funeral for mom!” he cried.
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Everytime you thought things were getting better, they didn’t. All of them were beginning to get tired of living like this, and wanted to go back to where they belonged: Africa. And while you might have thought that they were over the mom, they weren’t, Alex openly said we can start facing it after we can have a funeral, not before.
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The only good thing was that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Martin’s organization, was progressing slowly. The request had been sent to the United NAtions and they said they were processing it. The 3 of them thought that meant slavery probably still wouldn’t be abolished, but there opinions were about to chnage, not only that, also their life!
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“Today’s finally the day our destiny will be written eh?” father said
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Alex and Abraham nodded, they watched their father walk out the main door to the mailbox. “UH UH!” Arthur exclaimed, “I have the newspaper.”
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He rushed back inside to the house with the newspaper in his hands, they all waited eagerly as his father opened the newspaper.
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BREAKING NEWS!279Please respect copyright.PENANAz5anYGaEat
ONCE IN A DECADE!
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July 2nd of 1963th:
Today, our reporter from the Guardian Newspapers reports from the Lincoln Memorial that the president finally announced the news we had all been waiting for! Here's a look at what John F. Kennedy had to announce:279Please respect copyright.PENANASAYeOoVFMI
Today, my fellow American citizens, and citizens from around the world, I happily announce what all of us have been rooting for. As I have said before, not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or an equal motivation, but they should have an equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves. We have a right to expect that the Negro community will be responsible, will uphold the law, but they have a right to expect that the law will be fair, that the Constitution will be color blind, as Justice Harlan said at the turn of the century. This is what we are talking about and this is a matter which concerns this country and what it stands for, and in meeting it I ask the support of all our citizens.
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Slavery is no more.
Thank you very very much.
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