For the Equality
Note and Disclaimer: M*A*S*H will never be ours. Enjoy the next part of "After My War"!
Some people have it easier because of their social status, color of their skin or who they married. Others have to work their way through the ranks to prove themselves. Maybe for Oliver Wendell "Spearchucker" Jones, life should have stayed where it was. He came from a long line of slavery and oppression and shouldn't have expected much. His family was stuck in the same old town, scrounging from the mud and wistfully fantasizing of a better life.
Spearchucker wanted none of that and sought to take the dream forward. He knew from the beginning that his life would be filled with unfairness because he was black. For that, he had to hold onto something in his life – equality. He had to believe that he and many others would eventually be treated with the same dignity as a white man. Even though it failed time and again, Spearchucker was always grasping onto that concept.
One way he managed to gain some sense of equality was through sports. After graduating high school, Spearchucker wanted to go through medical school and did not have the means to. The only way he could afford it was to play football, where no man was ever beaten for bring the wrong colored skin. Thus, he took his dreams further than his parents even expected and graduated top of his class (in an all-black college) in neurosurgery. All the while, he was better known for being on the field.
And that was what Spearchucker did not expect. Although he appreciated that he didn't have to be threatened by asserting himself, he still did not like the fame that came with being a football player. While it was assumed that, as a black man, he was naturally good at his trade, he did not appreciate the attention. It was an uncomfortable prospect, even as he established an office of his own.
Equality did not mean that he was idolized as the stereotypical black man and demonized as a dark figure. It meant that he could drink from the same water fountain. He would be able to sit at any lunch counter. Parks did not have to be designated for each race. Drugs did not have to be associated with black men. He could talk to whom he pleased and not have to be segregated to another section on a bus, restaurant or grocery store.
Oddly enough, it was being drafted Korea that sort of saved him. Spearchucker could not hold onto equality in a country that despised him amidst the evolving change in beliefs. He had to accept that going to a foreign nation was going to help him and that he'd find equality there. After all, the Army was no longer divided by color.
What Spearchucker did not expect was that equality was going to find him and embrace him in Korea. His arrival at the 72nd Evac Hospital merited the interested of Hawkeye Pierce. He saw a kindred spirit in this loner. It took some weeks and a transfer to the 4077th M*A*S*H later, but Spearchucker soon saw that equality was indeed alive and well. He was holding into it tighter than ever before. It was his sole consolation in war that demanded all of his time and energy.
He was also pleased to meet more people like Hawkeye. Life was well for a little while. He drank with the guys. He dated a black nurse and asked out the rest with success. Life was pretty good. Spearchucker was beginning to loosen up and detach from his loner label.
But it all came to an end too quickly. While Spearchucker enjoyed the idyll workplace and kept equality on his mind, he soon realized that there were limits. For one, war was an entity of its own, counting its numbers and turning his life into a living hell. Another was that the Army didn't appreciate silly antics that broke the monotony of the day. Lastly, racism was alive and well and nobody cared about policies.
Spearchucker held onto equality when it came crashing around him. Even though the blows had been softened, that he was sent to another unit where he was better needed, he felt the hit. He had been used unfairly. But his new friends didn't cause it. Indeed, they celebrated the time they had together and gave Spearchucker the biggest farewell party ever. It wasn't what he expected, but it made Spearchucker smile. Yes, he still could hold onto that wonderful concept. Not everyone considered him lower than dirt at the 4077th.
After his war, Spearchucker was discharged from his last station and rejoined his practice. He continued to treat anyone who came to his door. He did not care what color they were. Everyone was one and the same to him. They all had the same blood, feelings and pain. Human beings suffered and none of them differed.
It wasn't desirable. Equality did not flourish there as it did with his comrades in Korea and he did not relish fighting a new confrontation. But Spearchucker continued the fight when the opportunity rose. He sought every way to hold onto equality in his every action. He saw it thrive when he was in Korea. He was sure that he could replicate it.
I am Death though…and there is always a way to me. Spearchucker Jones never thought that someone could die for their ideas. Holding onto the simple human right of equality was what managed him through the worst and he believed that he could continue to live that way. However, one wrong move will cost him his life…and almost his family too.