It was very late at night on the eve of Memorial Day. She came into the subway at the 34th Street Pennsylvania Station. I am still trying to remember how she managed to push herself in with a baby on her right arm, a valise in her left hand and two children, a boy and girl about three and five years old, trailing after her. She was a nice-looking white lady in her early twenties.
At Nevins Street, Brooklyn, we saw her preparing to get off at the next station — Atlantic Avenue — which happened to be the place where I too had to get off. Just as it was a problem for her to get on, it was going to be a problem for her to get off the subway with two small children to be taken care of, a baby on her right arm, and a medium-sized valise in her left hand.
And there I was, also preparing to get off at Atlantic Avenue, with no bundles to take care of — not even the customary book under my arm, without which I feel that I am not completely dressed.
As the train was entering the Atlantic Avenue station, some white man stood up from his seat and helped her out, placing the children on the long, deserted platform. There were only two adult persons on the long platform some time after midnight on the eve of last Memorial Day.
I could perceive the steep, long concrete stairs going down to the Long Island Railroad or into the street. Should I offer my help as the American white man did at the subway door, placing the two children outside the subway car? Should I take care of the girl and the boy, take them by their hands until they reached the end of the steep, long concrete stairs of the Atlantic Avenue station?
Courtesy is a characteristic of the Puerto Rican. And here I was — a Puerto Rican hours past midnight, a valise, two white children and a white lady with a baby on her arm palpably needing somebody to help her, at least until she descended the long concrete stairs.
But how could I, a Negro and a Puerto Rican, approach this white lady who very likely might have preconceived prejudices about Negroes and everybody with foreign accents, in a deserted subway station very late at night?
What would she say? What would be the first reaction of this white American woman, perhaps coming from a small town with a valise, two children and a baby on her right arm? Would she say: Yes, of course, you may help me. Or would she think that I was just trying to get too familiar? Or would she think worse than that perhaps? What would I do if she let out a scream as I went toward her to offer my help?
Was I misjudging her? So many slanders are written every day in the daily press against the Negroes and Puerto Ricans. I hesitated for a long, long minute. The ancestral manners that the most illiterate Puerto Rican passes on from father to son were struggling inside me. Here was I, way past midnight, face to face with a situation that could very well explode into an outburst of prejudices and chauvinistic conditioning of the “divide and rule” policy of present-day society.
It was a long minute. I passed on by her as if I saw nothing. As if I was insensitive to her need. Like a rude animal walking on two legs, I just moved on half running by the long subway platform leaving the children and the valise and her with the baby on her arm. I took the steps of the long concrete stairs in twos until I reached the street above and the cold air slapped my warm face.
This is what racism and prejudice and chauvinism and official artificial divisions can do to people and to a nation!
Perhaps the lady was not prejudiced after all. Or not prejudiced enough to scream at the coming of a Negro toward her in a solitary subway station a few hours past midnight.
If you were not that prejudiced, I failed you, dear lady. I know that there is a chance in a million that you will read these lines. I am willing to take the millionth chance. If you were not that prejudiced, I failed you, lady, I failed you, children. I failed myself to myself.
I buried my courtesy early on Memorial Day morning. But here is a promise that I make to myself here and now; if I am ever faced with an occasion like that again, I am going to offer my help regardless of how the offer is going to be received.
Then I will have my courtesy with me again.
"Little Things Are Big" by Jesús Colón. Copyright © 1961 by International Publishers. Reprinted with permission, all rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under theCC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
Notes
AllDefinitionsFootnotes
hand-held suitcase
Customary (adjective) : used to describe things that people usually do in a particular society or in particular circumstances
Perceive (verb) : to recognize, discern, envision, or understand
Courtesy (noun) : a polite, kind attitude toward others
obviously
Preconceived (verb) : to form an idea of beforehand
Slanders (noun) : an untrue spoken statement about someone which is intended to damage their reputation
Illiterate (adjective) : unable to read or write; uneducated
Chauvinistic (adjective) : aggressively and blindly devoted to a certain system of beliefs
Read Aloud
Annotate
Translate
Assessment Questions
Show Less
1
2
3
4
5
6
Which statement best expresses a central idea of the passage?
A. Puerto Rican culture stresses that people should be kind and friendly towards one another.
B. People need to remain guarded in unfamiliar or scary situations in order to protect themselves.
C. Little events can have big impacts on people, but they rarely change how people act in the moment.
D. It is important not to lose sight of one's values in an uncertain situation, even when one is afraid of the outcome.
Save & Next