#663 It’s Life and Death at the Slush Puppie Open- Toure

#663 It’s Life and Death at the Slush Puppie Open- Toure

This is a political science lesson played out on the tennis court. Two teenagers who attend the same junior tennis academy in Harlem are playing each other at the Slush Puppie Open tennis tournament. The favorite is Kwame Christmas:

“Kwame had been abandoned by his dad, and for him, tennis was about roaring back at the world. It allowed him to exercise the anger inside him through using his arm like a bullwhip, swinging hard and free.”

The director of the academy liked Kwame because he played like Malcolm X would have played:

“Attack the weak…We’re not here to have points given, we’re here to take them! To attack those whiteboys with a fury! You must play this game the way Malcolm would’ve played it! He would’ve hit the ball hard because he was all about acquiring power for the black community! He would’ve always held serve because holding serve is like controlling your community.”

Kwame was entangled in a heated contest with a lesser player from the academy, Paul Flambe. The director did not like Paul’s game, and considered it akin to Booker T. Washington:

“Paul talked proper. He used big words and pronounced everything crisply…[he] could sit on the baseline for hours and retrieve  almost any ball…he never felt the need to crush his opponents, never wanted to attack the net, never wanted to end points suddenly.”

This practice of wearing his opponents down aggravated the director, calling it “Uncle Tom Tennis.” But this day it won, he beat the top ranked Kwame. And that was sin enough to get all the other boys at the academy to see him as an enemy. They attacked him for beating their Malcolm X:

“Paul struggled the whole time. Especially when we slipped the noose over his neck. We held him up the way people hold people in victory. Then we dropped him.”

Toure is not subtle nor does he parse his symbolism. But the stories are so well done and packed in a clever delivery system that somehow makes the lesson entertaining. However the lessons are harsh and grave and need to be discussed. Why do we treat those political opinions slightly different than ours to larger penalties than those diametrically opposed? Those who agree with the teachings of Malcolm X should not be the enemy with those who agree with the teachings of Booker T. Washington. Not at all!

Rating: 8-9-9-8 Total= 34