Onyx

This weekend a friend came by that I had not seen in awhile. Nice guy with the prettiest white teeth, dazzing smile, witty, and wise way. As he caught us up on the current events in his life, I looked at his smooth onyx skin and thought to myself...wow his skin is so beautiful. I know that years ago (and not that long ago)..many people would have shunned him for his dark skin. It took me back to MLK Elementary and my 5th grade pal, Lisa. She was a dark beauty with dark, smoldering eyes. She too had a million dollar smile but I rarely seen it since she was the subject of many tauntings by the other kids at school. It was already hard enough to be black in the early 70's in a predominately white community, a mostly white school. (don't be fooled by the name of the school) She had to be very dark on top of it. One particular day, these rowdy bunch of boys sat near our table in the cafe. I knew we should have moved but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they would be engrossed in talking about the last episode of the six million dollar man and starsky and hutches red car to notice us there. I was wrong. It started with them calling her name and then when she looked at them, huddle with their private joke and laugh hysterically. I told her to ignore them. We continued to talk. Then the worse happened. They started chanting...who is the coolest boy in the 5th grade? Derek! Who is the baddest cat in the 5th grade? Michael! Who is the prettiest girl in the 5th Grade? (I was not surpised that they said my name..not because of my look but only because Derek was calling himself my 'boyfriend'). Lisa looked at me and smiled. I was not impressed. Then there it was like a knife being thrown. Who is the blackest, ugliest, looking guerilla in the 5th grade? Lisa! I gasped. I could not breathe. They just kept saying her name over and over. I sat there and stared at Lisa...she never said a word...just kept picking over her lunch. Big crocodile tears flowing down that beautiful skin. Her lashes so long that some of the tears just hung there a minute before falling onto her sandwich; now soggy from her tears. I ached for her. I wanted to tell her that I was the one who was ugly with my caramel colored skin. She was a pure beauty. Like africa..exotic and wonderful. My tears began to flow too. I wanted to hurt those boys including and especially my so called beau who was the same dark complexsion. How dare they? When they were done, they left laughing and patting each other on the back like they had accomplished some amazing thing. What they did was destructive, ugly and hurtful. At 41, it still haunts me. I can only hope that Lisa has healed from those wounds. I have a feeling that she grew up so pretty. Tall and graceful...and successful. Lisa, wherever you are, I hope that God has blessed you till your cup has run over. He already made you a precious jewel with that Onyx skin.