Damitra walked across the stage with a smile as big as Texas but if you knew her journey you would understand why she was beaming like the Las Vegas strip. You would have thought that she had won the Pulitzer or Nobel Prize given the way her friends, family and well-wishers were celebrating. Rather than keep you in suspense any longer let’s take a peak at Damitra’s journey up to this point.
Damitra
was born in 1997 to a single mother, LaShawntaniqua, who was only 15 when she
became a mom for the second time. With a
name like LaShawntaniqua a nick name is mandatory so she answered to Lala. Lala needed another baby like she needed a
hole in her head, at least that’s what her grandmother said just before she
cussed her out for about 30 minutes.
Lala was used to her cussing so she tuned her out until she heard her
string words together that she had never heard before and made a mental note to
use them in the future. She always knew
when granny was done cussin’ because she would end the PG-Rated temper tantrum
with her favorite phrase: “wit cho dumb a%@!!.” Lala lived with her paternal grandmother
because her mother (LaShawn) died giving birth to her; her father (Sal) went to
pieces after her death and granny “rescued” her because her dad was drowning in
his bottle and it would have killed her too.
Damitra
and her brother Wayne, Jr. grew up in the house with their great-grandmother
whom they called Granny Fran, mother, their alcoholic grandfather and sometimes
one of their mother’s boyfriends whom they were told to call uncle.
Tania
not Tanya moment: Can someone please
tell me why some women tell their children to call their boyfriends, “John’s” “tricks”
uncle? I guess the rationale is that
they believe they are protecting their reputation, maybe? But it just seems so
odd to me because the picture that is engrained in a child’s mind has to be
confusing when they finally realize what an uncle really is and does.
Wayne,
Jr. was as smart as s whip. He loved
school, he was obedient, courteous, respectful, almost the perfect child. Damitra was just as obedient, courteous,
respectful, etc. She was an amazing math
wizard, could calculate practically any numerical combination you threw at her
(that was age appropriate) but she was an even better artist. She could draw anything she saw almost to the
exact likeness, it was amazing. But with
all of that talent she had grown to hate school. She started lying about having a stomach
ache, headache and any kind of ache you could think of. When she was forced to go to school she spent
the majority of her time in the counselor or principal’s office. No one could figure out why this beautiful
creative little girl was having such a hard time learning and why she was
trying so desperately to stay away from school.
Her mother, Lala was busy working two jobs to keep a roof over her
extended family’s head, her grandfather was too drunk most of the time to offer
any assistance so the responsibility fell on Granny Fran to handle the
behavioral issues at school. No one
could figure out why Damitra was so angry at school but so well-mannered at
home, it was as if she had a split personality.
Because
of her poor performance she was held back and ultimately assigned to a special
needs class which was absolutely humiliating for her. In one of those rare occasions when her
grandfather was sober enough to have a cohesive conversation with her, he
encouraged her to make the most of her situation. He reminded her how beautiful and smart she
was and told her that she could help the other students in her class with their
math and art. She decided to give it her
best and followed his advice. She
learned very quickly how to put up her defensive wall and tune people to avoid
trouble because Granny Fran had threatened to come up to the school and “beat
the ‘stupid’ out of her if she got one more call about her showing her tail.
Her
teacher, Mr. Promise, was amazing, he saw her giftedness and was able to use
her as his helper for both math and art which gave Damitra the confidence
booster she needed while she was in class.
Outside of the class was a completely different story. She put up her wall as soon as she left the classroom,
however, some of her peers insisted in climbing over the wall she had so
adequately erected to antagonize her even more and they decided to show up
every day at the same time. They assumed
because she didn’t lash out at them the first few times they climbed over the
wall that it was all good. The names
they used were cruel, especially when they called her a “stupid retard” with
extra “dumbness”. She decided she wouldn’t
get them at school, she was going to wait until they got off the bus when they started
to go their separate ways because they weren’t as brave when they were separate
as they were when they were together. Damitra
wasn’t scared of anybody because Grandpa Sal had taught her and Wayne, Jr. how
to fight. She didn’t fight because she
was afraid of Granny Fran but enough was enough.
There
were approximately 4-5 girls that hung out regularly in this pact and they all
rode the bus to and from school. The two
primary culprits got off the bus at the same stop as Damitra and lived within
about one block of each other. Damitra
picked this rainy Friday as the payday for them because Granny Fran had a
doctor’s appointment so if she was late coming home, she wouldn’t know it. They got to their stop, the two girls got off
first and she followed. They laughed at taunted Damitra as they walked down the
street mean mugging her intermittently as they walked carefree down the
street. Joan, the big fat “Shrek”
looking girl turned the corner and went down her street. Shirley and Damitra continued walking toward
their homes and just as Shirley was about to turn the corner she turned to mean
mug Damitra one more time and her mugging was met with a punch right in the
face followed by rapid punches to the head and face. Damitra beat Shirley so bad that she fell to
the ground in a fetal position and wet her pants. Damitra picked up her stuff and walked home
feeling on top of the world.
She
didn’t ride the bus to school Monday because she had a morning dentist
appointment but she did ride the bus home after school. She never said a word to Shirley but she took
the seat right in back of her which was rare. Baby Shrek who was sitting next
to Shirley turned around and mean mugged her but Shirley never said a word
which was odd to Baby Shrek. When they
got to their stop, Shirley walk ran and Damitra went to town on Baby Shrek as
soon as the bus took off. They were
right across the street from the playground and before they knew it a crowd of
kids had surrounded them as they yelled “Fight, Fight”, “oh” “awe man”. Unfortunately Damitra didn’t get to finish
because Baby Shrek took off running.
From that point forward no one dared to call Damitra stupid, dumb,
regard or anything else, at least to her face.
I’m
out of time, we’ll have to pick it up tomorrow.
In
His New Excellence
Tania Not Tanya
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