Page 45 - The Myth and the Moment

Afternoon

“And this is the kind of material they want?”
“Most assuredly.”
“Ham, what else have you sold them?”
“Oh, let me see. Oh, various bits of life in L.A. Coroner cleaning
up around the Greyhound Terminal on Sunday morning. Punk
rockers stumbling around in front of the clubs on the Strip. Maids at
bus stops in Beverly Hills. Everyday life in Watts and the barrio.
Nothing X-rated, you understand.”
Too much!
“Are you really that naive, Hamilton? You are peddling
propaganda, probably straight to Izvestia and the KGB.”
“Wow! You think so, Nate? Gosh, if I thought that—well, my
conscience might give me a twinge every so often.”
“But you’d keep the money, right?”
“I don’t believe those gentlemen would correctly interpret my
behavior should I rashly refuse remuneration.”
“Ha! Well, as you supposed, I don’t give a damn who you do
business with—as long as it isn’t Phil Kolpak.”
Did he just squirm a bit?
“I recall we used to do a lot of things the U.S. government didn’t
like. Freedom Stage was one. How many times did we get busted for
not having the proper permit, when we knew all along we didn’t need
any damned permit?”
“Yeah. Really, I don’t know about that protest scene anymore.
After the Sixties I felt like a cat that had used up eight lives. I could
have gone on banging my head against the wall until one or the other
split open, or I could have joined the bandwagon of brothers in
three-piece suits applying for grants. Please, Mister White Man, please
give us poor black people a couple of crumbs off yo’ plate, so we can
know what real food tastes like.”
“You weren’t tempted to convert?”
“To Islam? Now, you got to understand something about me,
Nate. My family wasn’t heavy into the Church, you dig? My father
tunneled into the Post Office at an early age, threw away his banjo
and watermelon, and spent his days off playing poker. I don’t need
that kind of semi-religious discipline. Still can’t see why so many
brothers want to follow the faith of the Arab slave drivers who sold
every African they could get a rope around to the Europeans. I mean,

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