Sociology Student for a Day
By Olivia Scott-Berry / Spinebreakers Crew
Man, I can’t believe that Sudhir got me into this. Ok, this is the thing, my man Sudhir, he’s at University, right? He got good grades, good reputation, but for some dumb reason, he wants to come see what a gang’s like, firsthand, he says. Matter of fact, he’s writing my biography, so the whole damn world will respect me, JT. Anyways, Sudhir, he been hanging around my old ends, and my shorties, they wanted to sort him out. But once he told us all about his project, I thought it might be fun to let him hang round. So when I moved to a new area, Sudhir came too, got friendly with the tenants, even came round to my Mom’s regular for food. Hell, with all the snooping that boy’s been doing, he could write five books about me!
Anyways, Sudhir, he said he wanted me to see what his life was like for a change. At first I said hell no, but he got talking to my Moms, and she told me what for. So there I was, at Sudhir’s place. He made me wear some scratchy tie, and eat his kind of breakfast- I can see why he be needing feeding up by my Moms. He told me that, seeing as he had to do mostly everything that I would do when he was Gang leader for a day, I’d be doing everything except for really important stuff.
I didn’t like getting the bus, no air con, and all them people, man, I’d rather be in my Malibu, cruising by. But Sudhir said I had to do everything that he did, so we got the bus. When we got near the university, all these white kids were giving me these looks, like they either hated my guts, or were scared for theirs.
He took me to meet some Professor of his, he really liked this guy, so he told me I had to be polite. “Whattup, Doc?” I said, trying to be friendly like, cos this guy was as stiff as my Mamas perm. Then he started talking like I was some kind of kid, asking me all this stuff, ‘How does it feel to be black and poor’. I mean, damn, hell of a way to make people feel like crap. Then he told me he ‘sympathised with my situation.’ “What the hell for?” I said, “I got loadsa money, loadsa respect, loadsa girls. I got an empire, man. What you got?”. After that he didn’t speak to me no more, starting talking to Sudhir, telling him to be safe. I swear, when we left his tiny office, I heard a tut.
Sudhir’s lessons were boring, a load of math and talking about feelings. I nearly didn’t go to his last lesson, but he said I had to, so I did.
And, man, what a load of crap. Some egghead was droning on and on and on about poverty in projects, he got me well angry. Saying about how black men don’t want to get out of the projects. I couldn’t take it no more. I stood up and told him what for, and then he got all excited, asked the class for contradictions to my ‘observance’. I didn’t like some fancy white kids telling me why I was failing so I told them what for again. Then the professor went “You see, this is exactly the kind of behaviour one would expect, fascinating really, denial, confidence-“, so I told him exactly where he could stick his ‘observances’ and left.
Sudhir found me outside, smoking a cigarette I bummed off the janitor. “I can see your point, but maybe your last comment about a certain sunless place and what he could put there was a bit much.” He said, sitting down next to me. “Man, I can’t take it no more. All these white people, telling me why I live my life the way I do, why I’m a failure, why I’m always gonna fail. They don’t know nothing. I could get out of the projects if I wanted to, I’m working towards that.” I said, offering him the fag. He said no, and got right up to my face and said “But, JT, what exactly are you doing to get out of the project, I mean, right now? I mean, maybe he kinda has a point.” He went to put his hand on my shoulder and but I furiously shrugged it off.
“You don’t know nothing about my situation” I yelled. “Yes I do,” Sudhir said. “Don’t forget, I been with you for like ten years now. I’ve seen you selling crack, beating up old men, getting money of prostitutes, hell, you have five girlfriends. How’s that gonna get you out of the damn projects!”
“Damn, pussycat, you getting angry for once. What, someone drink all your milk? You like a fancy white boy!” I said, and then, Sudhir was on top of me, punching my face. I decked him easily, then stood up wiping blood from my lip. As he held his stomach, I said.’
“If you can ignore that inner white boy, I’ll be seeing you at my Mom’s tomorrow.” As I walked off, I started to thumb the keypad of my phone. T-Bone picked up “You need a ride, boss?” I was about to say yes, and then I thought about what Sudhir said, what was I doing to get out of the projects? I dropped my phone, T-Bone was yelling from the sidewalk ‘Boss? Boss?”
And then I walked over to the stop and got the bus. I’ll be damned if I’m not gonna prove Sudhir wrong, next time I see him, I’ll tell him all about it, and he’ll tell the whole world, in my biography. JT ain’t gonna go unremembered.