….While I was minding my own business…..sitting in a café and reading a newspaper….I noticed the guy sitting next to me was staring…..you can ignore it for a minute….so I stared back….a few minutes later he said,… “Excuse me”….I said, to myself… “Great, there goes my peaceful morning”….and then came the question,…. “Are you from America?”…..I guess the Yankees hat was a dead giveaway….and I said yes….the reason he asked was because he couldn’t understand what was going on back home….the murders….protests…..the police getting away with what he thought was wrong…..so I put my paper down and tried to explain some things to him….race relations, past history….yada, yada, yada…..and then he asked me,….. “Well, what have black people ever done for America?”…..you know that look your face makes when someone spits out  a dumbass question?…..yeah, that look…..that’s what I did……but then I realized….he’s European and he wouldn’t know….but I could tell he really wanted to know…..so I asked him….. “Have you ever read or heard of a book by Douglas Turner called….. “A Day of Absence”….no was his answer….I smiled…and told him…. it’s a book about an imaginary Southern town where all the black people suddenly disappear and the white people have to fend for themselves…..they basically have to do all the things blacks would normally do for them….but they realized they couldn’t…… because they were so used to having everything done for them….and if black people didn’t exist….their normal way of life would cease to exist…..he gave me that quizzical look?….so I whipped out my Kindle Fire and clicked on Wiki-liki and showed him a few things……

INVENTORS/SCIENTISTS….

Harold Amos….Microbiologist – Benjamin Banneker……Astronomer, Surveyor, Clockmaker – Janet Bashen……first woman to receive a patent for a web-based software invention – Patricia Bath…..first female physician to receive a patent for medical inventions…..cataract surgery, Laserphaco Probe-ultrasound technique for treatment – Keith Black….Neurosurgeon-Brain tumor surgery and research William P. Cardozo……Pediatrician-Sickle cell anemia…..George Washington Carver…..Botanical researcher Charles Ward Chappelle…..designed long distance flight airplane-Annie Easley…..Computer scientist Frederick McKinley Jones…..invented refrigerated trucking system-Jan Matzeliger…..shoe assembly machine-Benjamin Montgomery…..steam operated propeller-Garrett Morgan…..first gas mask and traffic signal-Albert Lloyd Quarterman…..worked with Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi-Jesse Russell…..wireless communication-Grainville Woods…..invented the synchronous multiplex railway telegraph-Booker T. Washington…educator, author, orator, advisor to presidents between 1890 and 1915

We ordered another Cappuccino…..and I asked him if he knew or heard about what happened during the 1800’s and 1900’s in America…..no was his answer……so I pointed out a few very important people to him…..

FREEDOM  FIGHTERS/CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS…..Thomas L. Jennings –David Walker-Reverend Henry H. Garnet- Frederick Douglas-Henry M. Turner-Ida B. Wells-Dr. William E.B. DuBois-Malcolm X-Stokely Carmichael-Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King-(the only name he recognized)-William Still-Harriet Jacobs-Thurgood Marshall-Rosa Parks-Harriet Tubman-Soledad Brothers-Mary McLeod Bethune-Shirley Chisholm-Sojourner Truth-Freedom Marchers-Barbara Jordan-Adam Clayton Powell-Madam C.J. Walker-The Black Panthers-S.D.S…..I let him know the majority of the students where white..…but they were fighting for equality…..just like the Chicago 7…..or 8.

WRITERS/POETS…..Maya Angelou-James Baldwin-Amiri Baraka-William Stanley Braithwaite-Olivia Ward Bush-John Henrik Clarke-Angela Davis-Paul Lawrence Dumbar-Ralph Ellison-Marcus Garvey-Nikki Giovanni-Henry Louis Gates Jr.-Dick Gregory-Lorraine Hansberry-Bell Hooks-Langston Hughes-Zora Neale Hurston-Toni Morrison-Walter Mosley-Alvin F. Poussaint-Gil Scott Heron-Iceberg Slim-Ntozake Shange-Sojourner Truth-Alice Walker-Gordon Parks-Alain LeRoy Locke-Phillis Wheatley-August Wilson-Richard Wright

While we spoke….I thought it was important for him to know…..our progress and forward strides towards freedom and equality would not have been possible….if it weren’t for a few people who had had enough of slavery…..he said…. “I don’t know what you mean”…….

SLAVE REBELLIONS…..Nat Turner-Cato’s Conspiracy-Gabriel’s Rebellion (Gabriel Prosser)-Demark Vesey-Toussaint L’Ouverture (Haiti)-Stono Rebellion-Louisiana Revolt-Fort Blount Revolt-The Underground Railroad-Amistad Mutiny-Creole Revolt-Harper’s Ferry

I asked him if he liked American sports…..his face lit up……Football…..Basketball…..Baseball…. his favorite sports…..so I said…..who is your favorite football team…..Seattle Seahawks….I liked the guy immediately because that’s my team….I said,…. “The next time they play….look at the offensive and defensive lines and tell me how many white players you see starting”…..and just imagine how entertaining…..sports…… would be without …..us…..and by the way…..here are a few more athletes you may….or may not know….

SPORTS……Marlin Briscoe-Lisa Leslie-Debi Thomas-Bob Gibson-Bobo Brazil-Tommie Smith and John Carlos-Magic Johnson-Tiger Woods-Jack Johnson-Althea Gibson-Hank Aaron-Jackie Robinson-Wilma Rudolph-Ernie Davis-Michael Jordan (he knew that name)-Bill Russell-Jim Brown-Jesse Owens-Muhammad Ali-Alice Coachman-Barry Sanders-Wilt Chamberlain-Venus and Serena Williams-Shani Davis-Florence Griffith-Joyner-Bob Beamon-Bob Hayes-Jerry Rice-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-Arthur Ashe-Willie Mays-Sugar Ray Robinson-Joe Lewis

And as far as…..

PAINTERS/ACTORS/-SINGERS…..You and I know it would take me a year to list all of the influential people….and if you think……..some of them you know…..I recommended a few books he should read…..I recommended films, websites….I told him to go out and talk to people from America…..and not only America……people from other countries…..there is so much you can learn….and nothing beats a face to face discussions…..his main question was still…. “Why are race relations still so bad in America?”….to honestly tell you….I can’t answer that question….but I do know….when I was a young child….and I would ask my Grandparents and my parents…. “How was it back then for them?”….from what they told me….it seems like nothing’s changed…..just a different way of going about it…. the only thing that has changed….is that I’ve lived to see something I thought would never have happened in my lifetime….I saw a black man become the President of the United States……..the best suggestion I can give you is what Morgan Freeman once said….. “People need to stop talking about race!”….I’m black….and my name is Michael…..you’re white and you’re name is…..Thorsten….and we’re talking!…..and then we both ordered a beer…..I said to him…. “Can you tell me something about your country?”…..and we kept on talking.