I've told this story before.
It was 1968. Years after Ax-Handle Saturday - that was in 1960. The business was never settled in Jacksonville until the early 1970's. I'm not sure, now, if it was ever settled.
Hubert Humphrey was campaigning for President in Hemming Park. The crowds pressed in, waiting. I was in the group holding the protest signs. Nobody knew. I would lose my job and maybe my husband.
Something he said - I didn't hear it - set the crowd yelling back and forth. People started shuffling, pacing, muttering. You know. When crowds become mobs. Somehow my toes got broken. I never should have worn those heels to a political rally.
I handed my sign to a man who didn't have one. Took off my shoes. Headed to Woolworth's. Back in those days, you could order a fountain Coke with a dose of ammonia and an Aspirin over the counter. I don't remember how much the price went up. I don't know if it did.
Woolworth's was nearly deserted. Even the employees were out in the park. I limped to the soda fountain - I also don't remember how many semi-circles made up the lunch counters with swivel seats. They were all full. Black faces.
Sit-in.
An older lady got up and gave me her seat. Not because I was white. She saw me in my bare feet with all the toes on my left foot sticking up at odd angles. A soda jerk (white boy, of course) was standing by the wall, under the mirrors.
"May I get a Coke with ammonia and an aspirin, please." Pitiful and whining.
"Sorry, Lady, the lunch counter is closed." He folded his arms.
"I work way down Duval Street across the street from the YWCA. I'll get fired if I can't walk back in time."
"Fired? For coming to a political rally?"
"No. For holding a sign."
Dead silence.
"The manager is in the Park. The cash registers are closed. "
An old man stood up. Spoke in that soft but forceful way, like a southern Negro preacher. He could have been arrested. Or beaten.
"In the name of God, Boy! Give the girl an aspirin and something to wash it down with."
And the soda jerk did.
That was forty seven years ago. What the hell went wrong? Why are we still seeing black and white when the world is full of enough technicolor for everyone? Praying for Mother Emanuel A.M.E. and for Charleston. June 18, 2015.
