during the fall of '66 i was in 1st grade.that was the year when my front baby teeth fell out all around the same time,leaving me without front teeth for most of the year. that was when i still thought my dad was superman.
one day that fall i walked home from school for lunch.my friend Benny's family lived down block from us; only he took his lunch with him that day so he stayed at school.
there was a giant burning cross erected in his front yard. curious and angry i went down to his house,hoping to help my friends family in time.the KuKluxKlan raped his mom in front of me and Paco, Benny's 4yrs old brother. me and Paco each threw toy pickup trucks at him, trying to hit his head and knock him out and rescue her. toys against evil. then the creep tied us up to some chairs. as he was tying me up i squirmed and grabbed a extra loop of the rope,plus i had on my winter coat already,so as to make my chance of escape. then he set about to setting the very house on fire with us trapped inside. i managed to squirm loose,i tried to undo the knots on Paco, i couldn't they were tight. so i ran out, 2 yards behind the Klansman.
they were getting their photo taken for the local newspaper [Hammond,IN] next to the burning cross!
being royally pissed off i yanked the nearest pointy hat off of one of em and threw it at the flames and yelled at em 'liar liar pants on fire' and ran away.surprise,the white klan outfit is flammable.i got away while they put out the flames on one of their own.Benny's house burned to the ground that day in broad daylight. the fire department was five minutes away.either they were out on a call putting out a fire somewheres else,or the fire department was in on it; as in they set the fire,or were complicit in the arson/murders.
i tried to call the FBI when i got home,thinking that they would come immediately and catch the bad guys down the street.my mom stopped me from calling em. i called her a coward and got spanked for that. it was only later on after 3 dead college students bodies were found in the south,[they were freedom riders: and had gone to the south to register black voters to vote] and it was revealed to the rest of the country that the FBI was corrupt and some were complicit in the death of these 3.at the time and for a long time afterwards i blamed my mom for not calling the police when the Klan showed up and erected that cross in Benny's front yard.and for not letting me call the FBI.
i had to eat lunch and go back to school after going through that. Benny didn't know his house was gone,his mom and brother dead.i had to take a letter from my mom to explain my being late and traumatized.
for día de los muertos i think there should be chocolate cookies with nuts shaped like the klansmen with skull faces made with white icing. bite their heads off and stop the hate.make tacos not war,or cookies...
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