"The Run of my Life"

Gail Harper Yeilding ? May 20, 09

At the permission of Tre'darius Ratcliff I would like for you to read his story about walking home from lacrosse practice at Crestwood Field.


4/24/09, Tre'darius Ratcliffe

It was late at night and we were walking. It was Jarvis, Damon, Troy and me. We were coming across the train tracks and Jarvis was listening to music. Damon had a lacrosse stick and I think Jarvis was trying to argue with me about which way to go.

Damon, Troy and I went one way and Jarvis went one way. Then we met out on the tracks and Jarvis still had the MP3 player, singing. We saw a truck back up really fast. Damon and Jarvis yelled, "What in the world?" Some white man said, "I got you niggas now!" We started running. Damon and Jarvis fell. Jarvis scarred himself up and dropped the MP3 player while it was still playing. They trapped him just like a river. One was driving a truck and two came from the back.

They were talking to us. Then they let us go. Jarvis was still hiding and he finally came out, but we were already across the tracks. When he ran they came back again and said, "We got you niggas now," again.

They turned back around, but we were gone.

If I got to pick what I wanted to do to them I would boycott their business because they accused us and we didn't do it.



4/30/09

What strikes me about this story is the frustration in issues that continue to plague our city. As a teacher and coach, it is very frustrating because all three students were in the midst of trying to make good decisions and putting forth a tremendous effort in walking to Crestwood to play lacrosse, a sport invented by Native Americans and picking up a great deal of momentum in both the suburbs and the inner city. How can I continue to teach students to dream and dare to see things differently if this is what they are met with?

When I found out about this story I made Tre'darius show me where this happened. I walked in and tried to get a better idea of the story, fearing also that it very well could have been my students that were in the wrong. The owner acted like nothing had happened and denied any of the story. An excuse given was that most of his business was indeed "black" and for some reason this would excuse this behavior. Tre'darius would not even walk in, the first time I had seen fear in a student who in class acts with little fear.