#137 The Genius- Jabari Asim
The stories of this excellent collection are all connected,
surrounding the life and circumstances of Crispus, his family and his
neighborhood in the summer of 1968. This story is about education in the black
community.
“Thirteen years after Brown…and Gateway City Schools are
still separate and still unequal.”
Roderick is a rare 13-year old genius and beyond most people
in the neighborhood. Only Orville, a genius in his own right can think on his
level. But like most geniuses, while everyone else worries about your mental
abilities, his thoughts lie elsewhere:
“For all his legendary skill with solving equations,
conjugating verbs, or computing faster than the cash register…he had no
knowledge of his own origin. He didn’t know who his father was…He’d gladly give
up everything—his intelligence, his health—to hear a man call him son.”
He thinks Orville is his father but cant be sure. His
bigger, more immediate problems are the local bullies. They resent his brains,
his weakness, and dog him at every turn:
“Go on using those big words all the time and you’re just
begging for someone to beat you up.”
What’s the value of education, what is it’s worth, to the
individual, the family, the community?
Notable Passage: “Tout a ete realize, a l’exception de la
facon de vivre…Everything has been figured out, except how to live.”
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