An Event of Oppression | Teen Ink

An Event of Oppression

May 24, 2023
By CharlesK23, Wentzville,, Missouri
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CharlesK23, Wentzville,, Missouri
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Author's note:

This story is based off of real life events that occured and still occur today. 

The author's comments:

This could have been more well together but at least it is thought out decently.

It was August 21, 1965 and Rodney Keith Williams Jr, an African American young man who lived in Capitol Hill, Washington, was preparing to go to college after being accepted into Howard University in Washington DC. “Keith, are you ready to head off?!” says Keith’s mother, Elaine. “Yeah I’m almost ready, momma!” says Keith. Keith stood at about 6 feet tall, had a medium dark skin tone, a short afro, a lean muscular build, and wore a blue dress shirt, red striped tie, gray slacks and black work shoes. Keith packed up his bag with his books and made sure he had everything he needed. “Looks like I got everything,” exclaims Keith. His younger sister Elsie suddenly came up and pushed him, making him trip over his book bag. “WHOAH!” he yelped. “Haha,” laughed Elsie. Keith looked up and frowned at her, annoyed. “Girl you almost made me bust my head!”, yells Keith. Elsie simply scoffed at him and walked away. Elsie was 3 years younger than Keith and has always loved to play tricks on him. Keith rolled his eyes and got up to pick up his book bag.


Once Keith is finished getting ready to go, his family comes outside to say goodbye to him. “Good luck son, remember we’ll be here when you need us,’ says Keith’s father Rodney. “Bye bye Keith. I’m really gonna miss you,” says his youngest sister, Sadie. His mother then walks over to him and hugs him with tears in her eyes. “Remember, what you did is a big accomplishment. Not many colored folks get a high education like this, but you did it. Now go out there and make momma proud,” says Elaine with enthusiasm. “Thanks mom, love you guys, I’ll talk to you soon,” says Keith. He then gives them a great big hug. They then say their final goodbyes and Keith hops in a car that his dad bought him when he got his license, which is a red 1961 Chevrolet Impala. He then started driving off as his family waved goodbye to him. 


Keith is then driving on the highway on the way to DC. As he drives up to an intersection, a white muscle car slowly approaches on his left side. Keith notices it and looks at it intuitively. The windows were tinted so he couldn’t see who was inside the car. “Man, something about that car doesn't feel right,” says Keith. When it was his turn to cross the intersection, he slowly passed through while doing his best to avoid the white car. After a while, he started to feel safe again and was back on the highway. He then looks at his rear view mirror, sees the white car again. All of a sudden, the window on the passenger side rolls down and a young white man pops out from the window. He had long blonde hair and sunglasses and looked young, only a few years older than Keith. Keith is puzzled by this, then all of a sudden, the man pulls out a pistol and starts shooting at him. Keith, startled by this, slams his foot on the gas pedal and speeds ahead. The white car chases after him. 


Keith sped through the highway as fast as he could. He then found a turn where he could lose the guy in the white car. He quickly made the turn just as traffic started to slow. He was then relieved that he had lost the white car and the shooter, as well as the fact that he didn’t end up with a speeding ticket. But then realized he was late. “Dang it, I’m gonna be late!” he exclaims in frustration. He then notices a street that looked familiar, and realized Howard University was close by. “Huh, guess in all that commotion I made it,” exclaimed Keith as he realized he was just in time for orientation.


Keith then pulled up in the parking lot of Howard University and noticed all of the students walking in. “Man it sure is packed here,” he exclaimed. He then got out of the car and got his book bag. As he was walking up to steps and through the front door. As he was walking up to the receptionist desk, he bumped into a girl carrying books, causing her to drop them on the floor. “Oh, sorry about that,“ he said sincerely, helping her pick up her books. “Oh it’s ok," she said assuringly. When Keith got a good look at the girl, she looked fairly attractive. She was slim and slightly curvy, had shapely legs, stood at about five feet six inches tall, with dimples on her cheeks and flashy white teeth. She wore a seafoam green short sleeved knitted cardigan, a tight black miniskirt, and white flat shoes. Her other features looked rather unfamiliar to Keith. She had a light skin tone that wasn’t quite pale, but wasn’t dark either. She had brownish green eyes, and her hair was dark pale brown in color and curly, but rather loose and not tight or closely packed. She looked up at him shyly and smiled. Keith found this girl rather cute, but her features were unusual to him. “Hi, my name’s Rodney, but you can call me Keith, what’s your name?” he asked, trying to get acquainted. “My name’s Jennifer, but you can call me Jennie, nice to meet you,” she said in a friendly tone. “You too, Jennie, well, are you ready for orientation?” asked Keith. “Yep, I can tell this is gonna be a great year,” she said optimistically. “Yeah, I agree,” exclaimed Keith. “Well see you at orientation,” she said shyly. “See you,” said Keith nervously. Keith had a funny feeling about this girl, and found her quite attractive, but the way she looked had him in awe. Keith then walked up to the receptionist’s desk. “Excuse me, what’s my dorm room number?” he asked.” Room 514,” she says unenthused as she gave him the key. “Thank you, ma’am,“ says Keith politely. The lady gave him a glare, which threw Keith off, but he decided to walk away.  

The author's comments:

Not

Keith then took the elevator to his dorm room and walked to where it was. Once he reached his dorm room, he took out his key and unlocked it. When he got inside, he noticed someone already there. He had dark skin, a flat top haircut, and was somewhat short and pudgy. He wore spectacles, a white dress shirt with a blue sweater over it, a black bow tie, black dress pants, brown dress shoes and an overall nerdy appearance. He was sitting in a chair reading a book when he noticed Keith,“ Oh, hello there, you must be my roommate,” he said. “Yeah, my name's Keith,” says Keith. “Nice to meet you, my name is Raymond, are you ready for orientation,” he asked. “Yeah, it starts in like 5 minutes, we should head down there. “Oh yeah, I forgot, well let's get going,” says Raymond. He puts his book down and quickly walks out the door. Keith puts his stuff down and follows after him. When he opened his dorm room door, he noticed Jennie walking out from the room across from him.”Hey, you're on the same floor as me,” exclaims Keith. “Yeah, it looks like it,” says Jennie. “You want to head to orientation with me and Raymond,” asked Keith. “Sure,” says Jennie, nodding. They then head down for orientation. 


After orientation, Keith was getting ready for his first class along with Raymond. “Orientation sure was amazing wasn’t it?” asked Raymond. “Yeah, this college is pretty cool so far,” says Keith. “I was originally aiming for the American University, but based on what I heard about this college, and orientation, I love it here,” exclaims Raymond. “Yeah, it’s not half bad here, welp, guess it's time to go to class,” says keith. “Oh yeah right, see you later buddy,” says Raymond as he grabbed his stuff and left. Keith also began to grab his stuff and followed after him. The rest of Keith’s day consisted of him discovering his classes and meeting new people. He made sure to make a good first impression on his teachers and interact with the other students. Once it was the end of Keith’s day, he decided to go out and check out a little bit of DC. “Hey, Raymond, I’m gonna go out for a while, you good here by yourself,” asked Keith. “Well, is it alright if I go too? I have nothing else to do today,” states Raymond. “You know what, sure man, come on,” exclaims Keith. They then proceeded to head out the dorm room. As they were walking out, Keith noticed Jennie walking out of her dorm room. “Hey, Jennie,” says Keith. “Hi, Keith, are you going somewhere?” asked Jennie. “Yeah, we're just going for a ride around the area, you could come too if you wanted,” suggested Keith somewhat nervously. “I’d love to go, maybe we can stop for sodas while we’re out, I can pay for them,” offered Jennie. “Ok cool, well in that case, let’s go,” exclaims Keith. They then got on the elevator and headed down to the entrance of the University.


Once they were outside, Keith then realized something. “Wait, my car only has two seats, we won’t all be able to fit in,” exclaims Keith. “That's fine, we can take my car,” stated Jennie. Keith was somewhat amazed at how nice Jennie was. He had a couple of girlfriends in high school and neither of them were this nice. “That’s awfully nice of you, " said Raymond. “No problem, you seem very polite and friendly so the least I could do was take you two out for a couple of sodas,” she said sweetly. “Well, then, I guess we can get going,” exclaims Keith.They then walk over to Jennie’s car, which was a green 

1964 Ford Falcon. “Wow, nice car you got,” says Keith. “Thanks, my dad bought it for me to drive to college,” says Jennie. “Cool, well let's get goin’,” exclaims Keith.They then hopped in Jennie’s car and began driving off campus. As they were leaving from Howard University, there sat the white muscle car behind some other cars on a street. “Hey, Rich, isn’t that the same kid we saw on the freeway?,” asked the driver. “Yeah, it is, Carl. Let's go see if we can get their attention,” said Rich. They began pulling off the sidewalk and conspicuously followed after the kids. As they were getting on the highway, they decided to start getting to know each other. As they were a mile away from the soda place, out of the corner of his eye, Keith thought he saw the white muscle car again. “Hey, how about we take another route?” asked keith. “Why, we're almost there," said Jennie.Yeah, we’re only a mile away from the closest diner,” exclaims Raymond. “Well this street looks dangerous, so we should probably take another way around,” stated Keith. Jennie and Raymond look at Keith puzzled. “O-ok…I guess,” says Jennie. They then take another street up and turn at it.


Once they made it to the diner, they took a table and sat down.”So, why did you want to take another street when we could have just turned on the last street?” asked Jennie. Keith knew he couldn’t lie for much longer, so he decided to tell them what had happened, “Look, when I got here earlier today, two white guys in a muscle car chased me down the highway and shot at me,” confessed Keith. Whoah, what?!” exclaimed Jennie. “I know, I didn’t want to tell anybody because I was afraid of what my parents would say about it,” says Keith. “If someone shoots at you then you should definitely contact the police,” stated Raymond. “Yeah but if my parents knew about it, they’d be trippin’,” says Keith. “You have to tell someone about this so whoever those guys are don’t hurt you,” says Jennie. “You're right, I guess I should tell somebody, have you guys ever had to deal with this?” asked Keith. “My dad dealt with it four years ago, there was a drive-by in our neighborhood in Seattle and he was shot in the shoulder by someone in a van, but nothing ever happened to the guy who did it,” confessed Raymond. “Man, sorry to hear that,” said Keith as Jennie sympathetically patted Raymond on the back. “Have you ever experienced that, Jennie?” asked Keith, curious. Jennie looked at Keith puzzled. “N-no,” said Jennie, confused. “Really, how did you avoid it?” asked Keith. “T-that’s because I’m biracial, my dad is European and my mom is Jamaican, people like me are treated differently than fully colored folks,” confessed Jennie. Keith, realizing now why Jennie looked rather different from the average colored person, she was mixed. “Wait, isn’t interracial marriage illegal?” asked Raymond. “Yeah, but my parents don’t go out in public together often and they’ve had to keep it a secret for years,” said Jennie sadly. “Man that’s messed up, people should be able to fall in love and marry who they want no matter the skin color!” said Keith angrily. “It's too bad, not many people think that way,” says Jennie disheartened. “It's good doctor Martin Luther King Jr. is trying to make that happen for colored people,” states Raymond. They continued to chat about the matter and share their individual experiences with oppression.

The author's comments:

No.

After a while of talking and getting to know each other, they then paid for their sodas and left. 

When they got back to Jennie’s car, Keith noticed the white car on the side of the street. The window on the driver’s side rolled down, revealing a large, pale-skinned chubby guy with curly chestnut hair, and a more slender guy with long blonde hair and sunglasses. “Oh shoot, those are the guys I saw earlier today, step on it, Jennie!” exclaimed Keith frantically. Jennie, perturbed by his sudden outburst, did what Keith said and hit the gas pedal hard, zooming out of the parking lot. Rich fired a shot at Jennie’s license plate right as this happened. “Let’s give them a chase they’ll never forget, step on it Carl!” exclaimed Rich deviously. “Right,” said Carl as he stomped on the gas. They then sped around the corner after them. “We need to tell the college about this!” says Jennie fearfully. “Yeah, those guys have a fast car so we need to maintain speed,” stated Raymond apprehensively. “Hey, that turn at the light is a short cut, let’s cut them off there!” said Keith. Right!” exclaimed Jennie. They then made a turn on the light, right before Rich and Carl made the turn behind them. “Where’d they go?!” asked Rich furiously. “I don’t know, I could have sworn I just saw them,” said Carl. “Make a turn on that light, then we'll get’em, " said Rich. Carl then made a turn on the light and continued the chase.


Thankfully, Keith, Jennie, and Raymond made it back to Howard University safety. As they rushed out of the car, they saw a campus police officer and ran up to him. “Sir, sir, there are two guys in white muscle car who are chasing and shooting at us and are probably on their way here!” said Jennie frantically. “Settle down, settle down, I’ll notify the state police,” states the campus officer. “Thank gosh,” exclaimed Keith. As the words came out of his mouth, the white muscle car pulled up behind the three of them. ”Alright, no more games!”  said Rich. He then took out his pistol while Carl took out a revolver. “You two better get in the car before you get a bullet in both of your skulls!” threatened Rich. “Hey, leave them alone!” shouted Jennie. Carl grabbed her by the arm and put the gun to her head.”You keep quiet!” said Carl firmly. “Don’t hurt her!,” yelled Keith. “Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, understand?” he stated bluntly. As he said this, a police car pulled up in front of the University, as well as the campus officer. “FREEZE, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!” shouted one cop. Rich looked behind him in awe. The main reason he didn’t do anything at that exact moment was because the police caught him by surprise. “Richard White and Carl Abrams, you're under arrest  for gun charges, assault with a deadly weapon, and speeding,” says the other officer. They then walk over and handcuff Rich and Carl to the police car. “Thank goodness they caught those too,” exclaimed Jennie. “Yeah, I thought we were goners for a minute,” says Keith, relieved. The two officers then put Rich and Carl in the back of the police car and drive off. “Good thing you kids notified somebody of this, it could have gotten messy over here,” says the campus officer. “It's a good thing no one was really hurt,” states Raymond. Keith and Jennie nod at this. “Yep, well, you kids should head back inside, it’s nearly time to shut down,” stated the campus officer, walking off, wishing the kids goodnight. 


As they headed back inside to their dorm rooms, Keith stopped in the middle of the hall. “Hey uh, Jennie?” says Keith nervously. “Yes, Keith?” says Jennie. “I know we just went through a lot today, but I’ve kinda been holding this in all day,” states Keith. “What is it?g” asked Jennie. “Well, you're very pretty, funny, kind and nice, and I’ve learned these things just within the day we’ve known each other, and even though I was confused about your skin color at first, I really like all of those things about you,” finished Keith. “So, Jennie, what I wanted to ask you is…would you like to be my girlfriend,” asked Kieth nervously. Jennie looked up at him surprised. She then gave him a warm smile. She was touched by his words and knew that he meant them. Then she made her decision. “Yes, Keith, I would love to be your girlfriend,” she said sincerely. She then wrapped Keith into a hug. Keith returned the hug and grabbed her cheeks and put her lips to his in a kiss. Raymond, who stood outside of his and Keith’s dorm room, watched the sight and smiled. 



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