Out of Darkness

‘Education is the key to the advancement of the Negro’ and ‘Be credit to your race,”’ Wash said, deepening his voice so the words came out like items from the Ten Commandments. “My ma’s near as bad. Every move she makes is aimed at saving up a penny for my sister and me to go to college.”

“It must be nice. To have them believe in you like that. Your teachers too.”

“I guess,” he said. “I hadn’t thought on it.”

“Our teachers in San Antonio hated teaching us, maybe hated us, too. The Mexican kids, I mean. In the high school, they gave us elementary school books, like we were stupid. Everything was either about being a good citizen or about ‘learning a trade.’ But nothing useful. Like, we learned to make mattresses. But there’s not a single mattress factory in San Antonio, so what was the point of that? And get your English wrong once, and you’re on the teacher’s bad side forever.”

Wash thought about that for a minute. “Mexican students, white teachers.”