Kaffir Boy Journal # 8 On Being Mistreated

One day I was playing with some boys in the neighborhood, when a poopman came picking up people’s waste. We would then start singing a song about these people who collected poop. Then these men started chasing us and I was caught. I was taken to my front door and was forced to get naked and get into a bucket of poop and other nasty things and who knew what was in there. I was told to start marching in it and the stuff would splash on my body. The nastiest thing was that as I was marching, the poop splashed on my face and a spot splashed me on the lip. It was so uncomfortable. After laughing at me and making sure I learnt my lesson, they told me to get out and then before they left, they spilt the poop right at our door and left. When my mother came back, I cried and told her exactly what happened. She lectured me afterward telling that I shouldn’t ever make fun of them because it’s not like they had a choice with that job. She also said that I shouldn’t ever make fun of people who have unpleasant jobs. From that day on I never made of people who had bad jobs. That day was such a nightmare. Boy haven’t I learnt my lesson? It taught me a lesson. It taught me that not everyone will be blessed on the earth. I still have the creep about that day. I’m telling you you don’t want to make fun of those who do unpleasant things; because you’ll regret that you did when you get caught. Trust me! At that time there is no other choice of things you can do. I had to remember that life for blacks was just horrible and there was nothing else you could do. Those who were arrested had to do hard labor which would drain people’s energy. It also seemed like they weren’t feed nicely either. I wondered how long this thing about black not treated equally or given fair opportunities would last. What if it lasted long enough where I couldn’t get a job either? What if I had to stay poor all my life too? These thoughts made my heart sink. I didn’t want to live the way I do now, without food and without a nice place to sleep.