Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Middle school was a tough time for a lot of us. Between puberty, social anxieties and trying NOT to stand out too much, middle school can be hard on any kid. It’s even harder on kids who move across the country in the middle of their 8th-grade year. Such was the case of young Michael Tarver, who moved with his mother and younger brother relocated from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Inglewood, California, when his mother got a new job.
Thankfully, though, on his first day of school at his new middle school in Inglewood, Mike ran smack into Lavenio “Slim” Hightower and Roland Blackmon. They saw a fellow who looked lost on the playground in the morning and realizing that he would get himself killed in those Inglewood streets without some homies, took him under their wing. Luckily, they also had the same homeroom. Things were looking up for Mike.
And then she walked into the room. She was Alicia, the most beautiful girl Mike had ever seen. Mike fell in love immediately, which I suppose happened to everybody who ever met Alicia back then. During lunch, though, Ro and Slim dared Mike to grab her booty — a terrible, terrible idea both legally and for Mike’s romantic hopes — and as you can imagine, Alicia wasn’t having it. She told Mike that she was going to tell her brother, Stacey, an older gang member in the neighborhood, who would beat him down after school. She called Mike a “punk” for good measure, and well, you know where this is going.
At 3 p.m. on that January day in Inglewood in 1986, the entire middle school waited for the fight. Mike was afraid but understood the inevitable: You do the crime, you have to do the time. Or in this case, you have to fight the fight.
Recommended Stories
…
Read the full article here
