“It was against the law for my grandmother
to read,” says Toni Morrison in doc
of her life. “It was against the law for
a white person to teach a black child to
read.” Meditate on that and understand
“man’s inhumanity to man”, woman
and child. How animal fear makes us brand
another’s flesh. Terrified to insan-
ity, we must darken minds, struggle to
ruin lives, force other souls to deny
their identities. In New York not so
long ago, I shopped for CDs. A young
black man came up to me, said one word: “Miles.”
“Miles Davis?” I asked. “Yeah.” I showed him
the stack, picked out “Bitches Brew”. He just smiled
without looking at it. Took it to the cashier.
Didn’t even look at it. I thought, maybe he can’t read.
I meditated on that. It made my heart bleed.
Roger Armbrust
June 23, 2020
