Black and White: A Story About Racism and Religion

"“Black and White” centers around a boy named Benny. “…Benny Anthony Wild had that unique complexion, which even the lowest bred mothers could spend a lifetime trying to wash clean. His hair was straightish, but so thick he could hide marbles in it. His face was actually cute, but his eyes were so black and piercing and desperate, that he became hard to look at. His voice and body language seemed to hide years of misery and suffering, even though he had suffered little unpleasantness in his short life…” Early in his life he is influenced by his unhinged, racist father. “…Whenever Father Wild reasoned with himself, as to how the problems in his life had come to destroy him, he would always figure out it was the black man who was destroying God’s Earth. Maynard Earl Wild believed there had to be a bad guy in the world’s invisible master plan. Some people blame the president. Some, the parents. He blamed the black man. “Don’t you see the fight we’re in? The world was given to us! The white man! The white man is making this world! The black man is only here to protest, riot, and do whatever they can to annihilate civilization! They are the bad seed! They can not rise above the curse of sin! They are the leaders of every category of sin! That’s because God created them for the wrong reason! That’s why God made them black! Nature itself teaches us that black is bad! God made them black so we could see…”” His family also includes a crazy, pregnant mother, and a playful, younger sister. “…His crazy, whimpering mother was quite childlike… No words came from her mouth… And the baby kept growing inside of her… But his playful, young sister took care of her helpless mother, because she loved her so much… And Benny loved his sister… Benny loved the act of walking his sister home from school… And holding his sister’s hand.” Our story begins with our dysfunctional family moving from the country to the city. It is at this time that he makes a new, best friend in his neighborhood who begins to teach him how to adapt to the new environment of the city. “… Joseph Owen Hennessy was a regular Uriah Heep… And the red headed monkey spilled on about the trivialities that make us whole… And he gave his own version about himself. There was no father, and dead and half dead brothers, and a rough neighborhood. Still, Joe was intent upon his mission of becoming a part of the world, and the multitude of clumsy excuses which burdened him only strengthened his resolve… And Benny and Joe became inseparable. One day they were brothers, and the next just cousins, but always either fighting or laughing, and never without each other, night or day. They threw rocks at cars, and chased the paperboy for miles. They saw and did more in the yards and alleys than the owners themselves. In all ways, they and the city became one.” But his new, best friend is also affected by racism, and Benny is influenced by this also. “…Because of the family that Joey had, it became important for him to make friends… And to bond with Benny… And there was no greater bonding agent than the sharing of racial jokes… And, one by one, the black jokes came, like a scripted conspiracy that all men had mysteriously been born with… He was amazed to see how quickly they spiritually came together… It was their rallying cry. As though, just by the existence of these black people, the implied enemy, it made them remember that they had to stick together… And Joey took all this unspoken information to heart. He decided that the telling of black jokes would be the first step in making any new friend, and the importance subliminally convinced him that all the stereotypes implied in these jokes were Gospel…” Benny is also influenced by the meetings he has with Joe’s brothers; Kenny and Danny Hennessy. “… In a series of home run blows, the dog lay still, and up above, the red headed monster, Kenny Hennessy, stood with the bat resting on his shoulder… There is no other way for the de" Read more