Karma by Diane Godfrey-Doherty (ebook reader macos .TXT) 📕

continue to live there long after the children leave home. Sometimes a homestead can be handed down from generation to generation.” “Our homestead belonged to my great aunt.” “It was left to her when her parents died. She never married and when her parents died she still lived there”. “So her parents left it to her”. “When her sister, who was my grandmother moved back home when her husband died, my great aunt help to raise the children”. “That’s how things were done in those days.” “My great aunt would say it takes a village to raise a family”. Has anyone ever heard that saying? he asked. No, a few of the class replied. What is South Africa like? I asked. Well Ms Lea, when I was a child of only 12 years old I could remember a lot of fighting in our neighborhood. I lived in a town that had more white people than black people. It was called Cape Town. See here, this is where it is on this map. Come see, he continued. There were many men who fought to have control over our town. One man fought for what we call apartheid. Do you know what apartheid is, ladies and gentleman? Is it a kind of ant eater? Betty replied. No, no, sorry my dear, Mr. Doucette said. Apartheid is racial segregation. It is when white and black people are kept apart. To give you an example of this, he continued. When I was about your age my mother had given me 2 pennies to buy myself an ice cream at the corner shop. When I got there I hadn’t noticed the sign that was posted in the window that read; FOR USE BY WHITE PERSONS. It had some more information below, and of course I didn’t read that either. All I wanted was the ice cream; it was a rare treat to have money to buy that. Once I was inside the shop, the store clerk ordered me out right away. When I went outside I couldn’t understand why I was asked to leave until he came out to tell me to read the sign. That’s when I knew how hard the world can be. My mother and grandmother always did the shopping. We kids never needed to go to a corner shop. We didn’t experience or see any segregation first hand.
As Mr. Doucette continued his story of his childhood, I couldn’t help but think of how similar things in his life are to mine. We may not have signs posted in store windows for whites only, but the way people acted was the same. I didn’t know much about voting and politics in my country, and I know even less about politics anywhere else in the world. But I understood when Mr. Doucette shared with us of how 20,000 women marched in protest when colored people lost the right to vote in 1956. I was fascinated by everything he was saying. Was this where I was from? Was this where my birth Momma was from? I sat in awe, listening to every word.
What does this have to do with us? Kevin Cousins said. Well Mr. Cousins This is a very short lesson on human rights. Do you know your human rights Mr. Cousins? Well, not really, maybe, ya, ya, I think I do, he continued sounding confused. Ok, Mr. Cousins I will give you a brief description of human rights, Mr. Doucette began. Human rights are basically just that, a human’s rights to be able to live a free life without judgment, harassment, hatred and fear. Do you live that way Mr. Cousins? Yes, Sir I do, he replied. Well that is wonderful, I am so happy to hear that you do. How about you Ms Fitzgerald? Oh Um, yes I do sir, she replied. Wonderful, wonderful, Ms Fitzgerald. Now how about you Ms. James? His question focused on Ally now, she looked shocked and seemed not to know how to answer. After some silence she replied, No! Sir. No! I do not live my life without hatred or fear. Oh my Ms. James, do you know why that is? he pressed. Well, I can guess Mr. Doucette but I don’t know for sure. I do know that a lot of kids here in school don’t like me or Karma. Some teachers too, she blurted out at the end. Well, well that is very disappointing, don’t you think Ms James? Ally didn’t reply to that. I was in shock that Ally actually said, what she had said. I was shocked and proud of her for saying what needed to be said. Mr. Doucette continued by telling the class that the entire school would be learning about tolerance and acceptance. And that our principal Ms Weber would be having a racism rally in the gym next week to announce a new code of conduct for students and teachers at West Park Elementary School.
I couldn’t wait to see how that was going to go over with everyone else in the school.

Chapter 14


It was my class’ regularly scheduled library time, and after our librarian Mrs. Gravely read us the story of the week we all were able to go in search of our next book. This was what I looked forward to the most when we went to the library. I know Ally wasn’t much of a reader; she would usually go looking for graphic novels. Lots of pictures was more her style. As I began my search I liked to sit on the carpeted floor and scoot along the floor pulling out any book at random. Nancy Drew was one of my favorites, and when I had read all of them, I turned to The Hardy Boys Mysteries were always good. As I looked for the latest Hardy Boys Mysteries I came across a book on American slavery in the 18th and 19th century. Even though I didn’t understand much more than the titles of the books, I tried to look for was I thought I could read and understand? For some reason I was drawn to this, I wanted to know more. I pulled out The Slave Exploitation written by Richard Vender and as I flipped through the pages I wasn’t sure if I would be able to read it at all. It was also a very long book, with about 458 pages.
The next one I pulled out was Slavery and the Cotton Boom which was 452 pages long. There wasn’t many to choose from and I didn’t know where to begin. So I decided to begin with the first one I saw The Slave Exploitation and I would read each one, and whatever I didn’t know I would ask Jen or Lucy to help me with some of the words. When Mr. Doucette began to tell us stories of his home country and of apartheid I wanted to learn more, so much more. I wished he would tell us stories every day. I wondered why Mrs. Gravely hadn’t put these books out on display like she does with other new books she gets for the library. I might not have seen them on the bottom shelf. I wonder how long they have been there, maybe she had them all along, and I just didn’t know it? Well the books looked new; the binding hasn’t even been broken on the one I chose. As I began to pull the other books off the shelf, they too had not had they binding broken. This meant that no one has read them. No one now, but me. The thought of being the first to read these books set a fire in me. I wanted to get lost in the stories of slavery, of my heritage, my birth family. What would I find out? The possibilities scared me in so many ways.
I was lost in my thoughts when Ally came to get me. She said, Mr. Doucette is calling everyone, can’t you hear him? We need to go back to class now. Oh, ok, I replied. I closed the book quickly and returned the other to the shelf of another time. Scrambling to my feet, I ran to the check out desk where Mrs. Gravely was signing out books for everyone.
Oh dear, this book is a little to advanced for you, Mrs. Gravely remarked. I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to take this one out. But…….I really want to, I told her. Well, Karma I really don’t think you are going to understand the language and the meanings behind this book. Is it not English? I asked. Yes dear, it is English, she returned but this is very advanced reading. It’s ok Mrs. Gravely, I’ll ask my sisters Lucy of Jen to help me with the hard words and if I’m having a hard time understanding things in it.
Well Karma, you seem to have it all covered. I hope you enjoy it. Let me get the sign out card from the index box. When she turned around with the card to sign the book out in my name, she tells me that I am the first one to sign it out. I signed my name on the first line and then quickly got into line with the rest of my class. As we headed up to the classroom I stared at the cover of this new precious book I carried. I hoped our teacher would give us at least a little bit of time to start reading when we got back. Once back at our seats, Mr. Doucette asked everyone to stand up one by one and share what book they chose and why. When it came to my turn, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to share it with everyone else. What would they think or say? Then I remembered the quote “rising every time you fall”. That gave me the courage to rise, and if I fell, I would rise again. This book would tell me more about me and I was excited to get a chance to read something like this.
I stood and said, “I found a book on American Slavery, it’s called The Slave Exploitation”. “Really, Ms. Lea? How did you come across a treasure such as that”? He asked. “Well I just happened to see it on the bottom shelves”. “At first I was really looking for The Hardy Boys Mysteries.” And why did you choose this kind of book Ms Lea? Well I’m not sure but maybe it will tell me more about my real family. Mr. Doucette looked at me with confusion in his eyes. Your real family? What do you mean by that, he asked. Well I am adopted. My family is white and I don’t know anything about my birth mother, I replied. Oh I see, Mr. Doucette said back. Well, what kind of things do you hope to find in that book? I don’t know, but I’ll know what it is when I find it, if that makes any sense, I continued. Great choice then, Ms.