A number of people in the black community have stated that they do not feel that the African-American community will ever receive fair and just treatment in the United States. Some of these same individuals have also said that there is only one place in their world that they will be treated fairly and not be subjected to racism: Africa. Their arguments persuaded me to take action; I have begun using my own money to send African Americans back to Africa.
The first person I was involved with was a 12 year old boy from New York by the name of Tyrone. He used to live with his parents in an apartment in Manhattan. His father is an attorney and his mother is a lecturer at NYU. Unfortunately for Tyrone, even his parents' financial success could not shield him from the stinging barbs of racially motivated hatred. In late 2005, Tyrone and his classmates went on a field trip to the Smithsonian. During their visit, tragedy struck. The class was sitting in the cafeteria having lunch. Above them was a life-sized model of a blue whale suspended from the ceiling. At approximately 12:34 p.m., the blue whale’s penis broke off from the body and dropped. The giant penis landed on the students dining below. Of the 37 students that were there, 36 were killed. Tyrone was the only survivor. When I heard about this story I was shocked and appalled. What are the odds that 36 out of 37 students would be killed and the only survivor was black? This was, without a doubt, yet another blatant case of American racism. Another young black male left on the sidelines again. Absolutely appalling.
I couldn’t believe what had happened and knew I had to do get involved and help Tyrone escape this brutal discrimination. I flew down to New York and spent a few days trying to track him down. I eventually caught up with him at his school - a black-hating, cross burning, KKK affiliated school if there ever was one. I couldn’t get past the guards at Martin Luther King Elementary School, but I waited until school was out and saw Tyrone. He was a bit hesitant to talk to me at first, but when I grabbed him by the arm and told him my plans he got excited. So excited in fact that he accidentally bit me hard enough to draw blood - twice. Kids can be so cute.
After he was in the van he got even more excited and started yelling and screaming. I didn’t want to curb his enthusiasm, but I was afraid of violating New York’s noise pollution laws so Tyrone and I played a game. It’s a real simple game - all you need is a sock and duct tape. I showed Tyrone how the game worked. When the sock was in his mouth and his arms and legs were duct taped up, his eyes were wide as saucer. He was loving it!
When we got to the airport, I put Tyrone in my suitcase. I tossed in a few comics and a bag of carrots (organic of course) to tide him over until we got to our final destination: Africa!!! The food on the plane was awesome – grilled beef with rice and some superb Chilean wine. I am sure Tyrone enjoyed his carrots just as much as I enjoyed my food. After arriving in Africa (Kenya to be precise), we immediately left for Mombasa national park. I had read about the park before and it sounded perfect for Tyrone. When we got there I was amazed – a perfect blue sky, an amazing panoramic view, unreal wildlife and best of all we were definitely in the heart of Africa. The park guides at the camp we were staying at were great - knowledgeable, friendly and very, very, very black.
A few days later, I decided to show Tyrone around the park. I woke up very early the next morning and tossed the suitcase (with my favorite little buddy inside of course) into the back of one of the jeeps. I drove off with probably the biggest smile I have ever had on my face. I knew that this would be the day Tyrone would be reunited with his homeland.
After an hour of driving we were really in the middle of nowhere. It was just me, Tyrone and Africa. I jumped out of the jeep and zipped open the suitcase. Since Tyrone had spent a few fun-filled days in the suitcase, it took him a few minutes to adjust to the light and to work the cramps out. He finally managed to stand up and take a look around and then realized where he was. He was so overcome that he burst into tears of joy and slumped to the ground. I have to admit I was a bit misty-eyed myself. If that wasn’t enough, I had a quintessential African experience – I saw lions! They were only a few hundred meters away and were walking in our direction. I couldn’t believe how lucky Tyrone was. On his first day in the African safari a group of lions showed up! What were the odds of that happening? I didn’t want to intrude on Tyrone’s African experience, so I jumped into the jeep, started it up and headed back to camp. As I was driving away, I took one last look in the rear view mirror and saw the lions approaching Tyrone. I bet that little munchkin had a great time with his new African friends!!!
