Spirits and Demons

Racism Thrives In The South

                                                          Part Thirty Nine

  Junior High was pure hell for Mike, especially since moving back to Louisiana from Texas he was forced to drop from the eleventh grade back down to the seventh grade. West Monroe is a pretty small town with only one Junior High School and just so happened the only black high school was transformed into a second junior high and all high school students were consolidated into the only high school. The ratio was two hundred black students to about one hundred white students. In the south in the early 1970's racism was still very much alive and well. There were gang fights every single day and since the whites were outnumbered they lost quite a few gang fights. Very few students were able to attend classes due to the high racism and violence daily. The police were called often to restore order and as soon as the police would leave, the violence would continue. The blacks used coke cans, rocks, sticks, pipes, knives, and belt buckles for weapons. Anything they could get their hands on they would try to use for a weapon. Most of the white kids were in shock with no idea how to fight back though there were several who did know how. No one has ever seen a junior high school fight between blacks and whites until they saw the fights at Richardson Junior High. A few of the white guys would win fights when they weren't outnumbered though they were marked for the rest of the school year and ganged up on and beaten by the rest of the blacks eventually. The fights became really awful and even several of the white teachers got involved with the fighting instead of standing by and watching innocent white females and sheltered white guys getting beaten up just because they were white. Mrs. Yeldell, an English teacher,  was nearly four hundred pounds yet she knew oriental martial arts and she was very agile. She used her training to keep several black guys from raping a white girl in one instance. She kicked and punched until there were a pile of black guys bloodied and laying on the ground. Then she was forced to pull a handgun from her purse and shoot over their heads when knives were pulled on her. She held the gun on them until the police arrived and took many of them to the LTI. It was a learning experience for Mike as well as many other students.

  In Mike's history class, Mr. Warner was attacked by two black guys and while one held a gun on him and the class, the other guy beat him almost to death with a belt buckle. Blood splattered all over the front of the classroom, onto his desk and all over the blackboard. Mike and a few of the white guys got up to try to help Mr. Warner but they were forced back to their seats by the guy with the gun. The two black guys were drugged up pretty bad and had been drinking also. Nothing could be done by anyone to help the teacher and after the two guys had left an ambulance was called. Many of the white kid's parents took their kids out of school due to the racist violence yet many remained. The principal, Mr. Thomas called a meeting with the remaining white kids and instructed them to simply leave the school immediately when violence erupts to avoid injury and perhaps death. When the high school white guys got word of the racial violence they arrived at Richardson Junior High, opened their trunks and brought out pistols, rifles, shotguns and heavy chains. They commenced to chasing the black guys down and beating them to a pulp though no shots were fired. Soon many local older blacks brought guns to face the high school whites and school was completely shutdown after the police arrived just in time to stop the violence from escalating further. All the older, violent ones were rounded up and arrested, both black and white. Two weeks later school resumed on a much more peaceful note, though racial tempers were still high and would remain that way through the rest of the school year.

  After things had calmed down somewhat, a couple of book salesmen were allowed in each class to speak with students about purchasing books. Mike was surprised to learn they weren't book salesmen at all, they were Ku Klux Klan members in disguise. When they spoke with the white kids, they opened their folders and showed them all kinds of Klan propaganda and encouraged them to join the Klan. All this was done under the principal's and teacher's noses without any of the blacks knowing what was going on though several of the blacks did have peculiar looks on their faces. Many of the white guys signed letters of intent to join the Klan and a Klan meeting was held on the outskirts of West Monroe in a field which belonged to a local businessman. Many Klansmen attended the meeting, wearing their Klan outfits and burning a large cross. Mike heard about everything that happened at the Klan meeting and was glad he didn't join for he didn't hate anyone. Him being Indian, he just didn't fit in anywhere even though many of his schoolmates tried to get him to join. He recalled the Klan recruiters were very nasty to him, asking him about his brown skin when they were at the school recruiting. Mike related to them he's Indian and they continued being rude and nasty, saying to him they thought his brown skin color is close to being a nigger's black skin color. One of Mike's schoolmates, an Italion named Jerry was accepted into the Klan and he tried his best to get Mike to join. Mike related to Jerry there was no way he'd join, especially after the Klan recruiters had been so rude and nasty to him. Jerry showed Mike the weapons he carried in his trunk, all kinds of handguns, rifles, shotguns, heavy chains, brass knuckles, knives, and even a few hand grenades. Mike told Jerry thanks but no thanks, looked over his shoulder and went on about his way.