FacingRacismLR

I Was Mad, Real Mad
Rashid Shabazz’s story by River Lin
Rashid is 73 years old.
Mad. Real mad. That’s how I feel about racism.
I’ve been facing racism since the day I was born. Since I was a baby, every day, racism
was just a part of life. Bad, unfair things happen to you over and over again and it makes
you mad. Real mad.
One time I was at the fair trying to win a Teddy Bear for a little baby. Down to my
last quarter and the man in the booth told me, “You get the best 2 out of 3 and you can
have any Teddy Bear you want.” I said, “OK, I can do that.” I got the first one, missed
the second one, and then I got the third one.
That man said no. He said I had to get the first 2 out of 3.”
I was mad. Real mad.
We argued. Klansmen came around the corner. Crowbars, chains, sledgehammers. All
this over a Teddy Bear. Can you believe that? I was thinking how to jump them all: One
foot on this guy, another foot on that guy, one hand here, my other hand there.
Then 10 black men from the community came. One of them said to me, “What’s happenin’
Lil’ Ticket?” Yeah, he called me “Lil’ Ticket.” Then he said to the clansmen, “What you
gonna do with them toys you got?” I liked it that he called them weapons “toys.”
But I was mad. Real mad.
Another time, the Klan set up a table to recruit for new members. Teaching hate.
Recruiting so they can do more harm to us.
I was mad. Real mad.
We had a confrontation, and one of those guys had a gun. You can’t bring no gun to
the fair! And there were all these little kids standing around! Everyone started yelling,
“He got a gun! He got a gun!” The police, sheriff, all them came running. That man
started shaking, just shaking. I thought he might shoot himself in the leg the way he was
shaking.
I was mad. Real mad.
I was one of the greatest basketball players in the country. In the world, really. But
racism dogged me so much. By the time I got to high school, I didn’t want it no more.
I was just mad. Real mad.
But I was a good player, so they wanted me to be a Bear Cat. I said no, but they got
me. See, we had a race riot in the high school and I was right there in the middle of it.
Then they gave me an ultimatum: play ball or get kicked out of school.
Oh, no, no. I couldn’t face my mother if I got kicked out of school. So I signed up.
But I was mad. Real mad.
In practice I could out-run, out-jump and out-shoot those guys, but in the games,
they got all the playtime.
I was mad. Real mad.
Then tournament time came. When we got to the sectionals, we had to play two
games in one day, and those white guys, they weren’t up to it, so they had to put me in
the game.
And I got down!
75