Donnie, his younger sister, his mother and his father all lived in the house across the street from my family when we were growing up. Although Donnie's father was one of the best paid men in the neighborhood, Donnie's family was always dirt poor because Donnie's father always kept an expensive new car and drank night and day. They constantly "borrowed" sugar, milk, eggs and flour to cook their meals. Donnie was only slightly younger than me.
During the school year, Donnie and his sister would go to school with new bruises almost every day. The teachers all knew how they got the bruises but nobody did anything. My Daddy had been known to give my brothers and myself some pretty good whippings but never anything that left bruises and never did he hit us in our faces. Never did Daddy hit us with his fist or anything that could even remotely be considered a weapon. Donnie seemed to always have black eyes, busted lips and a broken nose. His mother and little sister often looked the same.
Because no one had air conditioning in those days, on summer nights the entire neighborhood would listen as Donnie's father came home drunk and beat Donnie, his mother and his younger sister. Night after night we looked out our windows hearing their screams, knowing what was happening without ever really seeing anything. But like good conservative folk everywhere, we minded our own business and did nothing. It was after all, the 1960s and this was in East Greensboro where the cops never answered calls in those days. (Just for reference, while it was 40 years earlier, Donnie lived in the house next door to where Demarcus Wrenn was murdered on November 4th of 2012. Almost every house in my neighborhood has nightmares associated with it, most several. Even my own home has nightmares but thankfully none came from the inside.)
Always, the next day my mother would bandage their wounds. As tough as Momma is, I never saw her turn away a child or an abused woman. Other neighbors black and white did the same but nobody did anything more.
One summer night when Donnie was about 14, his father came in drunker than usual and minutes later the screaming started. We ran to our windows but this time it was different. This time it was Donnie's father screaming and begging as Donnie pounded on him with whatever he could swing. A minute later we heard the sound of breaking glass and watched as Donnie pushed or threw his father out the only unopened window in the entire house.
Nobody did anything then either.
The drunken fool crawled on his hands and knees to his car leaving a trail of blood across the driveway, drove away and never came home again. Finally, after 14 years of waiting for his chance, Donnie did something. Donnie was still a child but he stepped up and did something because no one else would. Some will argue that violence is never then answer but in this instance it was all Donnie was left with because no one else stepped in to help him. I doubt Donnie's life ever became great but it improved.
Maybe it's time Greensboro threw a few abusers, drunk with money and power, out some windows as well? Maybe it's time we, conservatives and liberals alike, did something, anything... before someone like Donnie is backed into a corner and comes out swinging with everything he's got. If it happens we'll only have ourselves to blame.
During the school year, Donnie and his sister would go to school with new bruises almost every day. The teachers all knew how they got the bruises but nobody did anything. My Daddy had been known to give my brothers and myself some pretty good whippings but never anything that left bruises and never did he hit us in our faces. Never did Daddy hit us with his fist or anything that could even remotely be considered a weapon. Donnie seemed to always have black eyes, busted lips and a broken nose. His mother and little sister often looked the same.
Because no one had air conditioning in those days, on summer nights the entire neighborhood would listen as Donnie's father came home drunk and beat Donnie, his mother and his younger sister. Night after night we looked out our windows hearing their screams, knowing what was happening without ever really seeing anything. But like good conservative folk everywhere, we minded our own business and did nothing. It was after all, the 1960s and this was in East Greensboro where the cops never answered calls in those days. (Just for reference, while it was 40 years earlier, Donnie lived in the house next door to where Demarcus Wrenn was murdered on November 4th of 2012. Almost every house in my neighborhood has nightmares associated with it, most several. Even my own home has nightmares but thankfully none came from the inside.)
Always, the next day my mother would bandage their wounds. As tough as Momma is, I never saw her turn away a child or an abused woman. Other neighbors black and white did the same but nobody did anything more.
One summer night when Donnie was about 14, his father came in drunker than usual and minutes later the screaming started. We ran to our windows but this time it was different. This time it was Donnie's father screaming and begging as Donnie pounded on him with whatever he could swing. A minute later we heard the sound of breaking glass and watched as Donnie pushed or threw his father out the only unopened window in the entire house.
Nobody did anything then either.
The drunken fool crawled on his hands and knees to his car leaving a trail of blood across the driveway, drove away and never came home again. Finally, after 14 years of waiting for his chance, Donnie did something. Donnie was still a child but he stepped up and did something because no one else would. Some will argue that violence is never then answer but in this instance it was all Donnie was left with because no one else stepped in to help him. I doubt Donnie's life ever became great but it improved.
Maybe it's time Greensboro threw a few abusers, drunk with money and power, out some windows as well? Maybe it's time we, conservatives and liberals alike, did something, anything... before someone like Donnie is backed into a corner and comes out swinging with everything he's got. If it happens we'll only have ourselves to blame.
