[00:00.00]Text
[00:02.69]Little Things Are Big
[00:07.73]It was very late at night on the eve of Memorial Day.
[00:12.70]She got on the subway train at the 34th Street Pennsylvania Station.
[00:18.47]I am still trying to remember
[00:22.23] how she managed to push herself in
[00:26.38]with a baby on her right arm,
[00:29.94]a traveling bag in her left hand and two children,
[00:34.90]a boy and a girl,about three and five years old,following after her.
[00:41.14]She was a nice looking white lady in her early twenties.
[00:45.90]At Nevins Street Station,Brooklyn,
[00:49.74]I saw her preparing to get off at the next station--Atlantic Avenue
[00:55.38]which happened to be the place where I had to get off.
[00:59.74]Just as it was a problem for her to get on,
[01:03.90]it was going to be a problem for her to get off the train
[01:08.26]with two small children to be taken care of,
[01:12.33]a baby on her right arm and a medium-sized bag in her left hand.
[01:18.18]And there I was,also preparing to get off at the Atlantic Avenue,
[01:23.64]with nothing to take care of not even the usual customary book under my arm.
[01:30.31]As the train was entering the Atlantic Avenue Station,
[01:34.96]some white man stood up from his seat and helped her out,
[01:39.53]placing the children on the long,deserted platform.
[01:43.89]There were only two adults on the long platform
[01:48.25]some time after midnight on the eve of last Memorial Day.
[01:53.71]I could see the steep concrete stairs going down to the Long Island Railroad
[01:59.59]or up into the street.
[02:02.75]Should I offer my help as the American white man had done?
[02:07.61]Should I take care of the girl and the boy,
[02:11.55]take them by their hands until they were out of the station?
[02:16.10]Puerto Ricans are a courteous people.
[02:19.94]And here I was a Puerto Rican hours past midnight,
[02:25.21]faced with two white children and a white lady,
[02:29.89]with a baby on her right arm and a bag in her left hand,
[02:34.75]obviously needing somebody to help them
[02:38.69]at least until they went up the long concrete stairs.
[02:43.55]But how could I,a Negro and Puerto Rican,
[02:48.52]approach this white lady who very likely might be prejudiced against Negroes
[02:55.18]and anybody with a foreign accent,
[02:58.81]in a deserted subway station very late at night?
[03:03.35]What would she say?What would be the first reaction of this white American woman
[03:09.83]perhaps coming from a small town with a bag,
[03:14.19]two children and a baby on her right arm?
[03:18.45]Would she say:Yes,of course,you may help me?Or would she think bad things perhaps
[03:25.40]What would I do if she screamed as I went toward her to offer my help?
[03:30.86]Was I misjudging her?
[03:34.02]So many slanders are written
[03:37.47]every day in the daily press against Negroes and Puerto Ricans.
[03:42.82]I hesitated for a long,long minute.
[03:47.19]The traditional good manners that the most illiterate Puerto Rican passes on
[03:53.25]from father to son were struggling inside me.
[03:57.92]Here I was,way past midnight,
[04:01.87]face to face with a situation
[04:05.71]that could very well become an incident of prejudice
[04:10.46]and chauvinism caused by the unjust policy of our society today.
[04:16.63]It was a long minute.I passed on by her as if I saw nothing.
[04:22.87]As if I didn't see that she needed help.
[04:26.74]Like a rude animal walking on two legs,I just moved on,
[04:31.88]half running along the long subway platform,
[04:36.14]leaving the children and the woman alone.
[04:39.80]I took the steps of the long concrete stairs in twos
[04:44.66]until I reached the street above and the cold air hit my warm face.
[04:50.72]This is what racism and prejudice and chauvinism and a divided society
[04:56.88] can do to the people and to a nation!
[05:00.83]Perhaps the lady was not prejudiced after all.
[05:04.98]Or not prefudiced enough to scream
[05:09.03]when a Negro went toward her in a deserted subway station
[05:13.76]a few hours past midnight.
[05:17.23]If you were not prejudiced,I failed you,dear lady.
[05:23.19]I know that there is a chance in a million that you will read these lines.
[05:28.54]I am willing to take that millionth chance.
[05:32.80]If you were not prejudiced,I failed you lady.I failed you,children.
[05:38.86]I failed myself to myself.
[05:42.31]I buried my courtesy early on Memorial Day morning.
[05:46.96]But here is a promise that I make to myself here and now;
[05:51.92]if I am ever faced with a situation like that again,
[05:56.78]I am going to offer my help regardless of how the offer is going to be received
[06:03.05]Then I will have my courtesy with me again. |