Chapter 15
The next morning, on February 18th, Ciara came downstairs for breakfast, and her eyes bulged in surprise when she saw that her brothers and sisters were sitting at the dining room table to eat breakfast. Normally, they had breakfast in the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Ciara asked. "Why are you all eating here?"
"Mom's using the kitchen table," Moesha explained. She then smiled and said, "She's making campaign signs because she's today going to start her campaign against the current school superintendent!"
Ciara beamed. "Wow, that's great!" She then skipped into the kitchen and found Marcus, Chloe, and Aretha sitting around the kitchen table with several pieces of cardboard and markers of various colors.
"Good morning, Ciara," greeted Chloe.
"Morning, Mom," Ciara said as she grabbed a bowl and started pouring herself some cereal. "I heard that you're going to campaign today against the current superintendent!"
"I sure am," Chloe said. "I'm going to call for his resignation and for me to take his place. It's just absurd how much racism still occurs and is allowed in our schools. Kids are allowed to bully blacks, employees do nothing about it, and they even assume that we are poor and have no documentation." She then sighed and said, "Winning will be an uphill battle, though. I'm a black woman, so it will be tough for anyone to take me seriously."
Ciara poured some milk into her cereal bowl. "Well, Mom, don't let the white man get you down. You can do it! You HAVE to do it!"
Aretha smirked and pointed her thumb at Ciara. "I like that girl's attitude!" The others at the table laughed a little, and Ciara took her cereal bowl into the dining area.
A short while later, the Bradys' station wagon rolled to a stop at Clinton Avenue Elementary. Ciara stared nervously out the window as she watched the mostly white student body stare at her. She now had first-hand experience with racism, and she knew that her family experienced it as well, so she feared that she would experience more of it.
Ciara turned to look at her parents at the front of the station wagon. "Mom? Dad? Everyone? C-could you lead Bobby and me into school?"
Marcus and Chloe looked at each other and smiled. "Sure, honey," Chloe said. With that, Marcus parallel parked the station wagon, and both parents got out – as well was Grady, Moesha, Prince, Jade, Benjamin, and Ciara. The youngest girl was again wearing her white dress, and her heart pounded nervously as she slowly walked toward the double doors leading into the school – flanked on her left and right by her family members. Ciara saw the rather scornful faces of some of her classmates, and she shivered a little. Marcus grabbed her hand in support, and Grady did as well.
Once Ciara reached the double doors, she sighed in relief. "Thank you so much, guys," she said.
"You're welcome, Ciara," Chloe said. She then started to head back to the station wagon.
"Good luck in your campaign!" Ciara said.
Chloe smiled and said, "Thanks, Ciara!" With that, Chloe and the other Bradys headed back to the station wagon.
During lunch, Ciara took a tray of food and looked for Camille – whom she had been sitting with since becoming a black girl. Unfortunately, she had trouble finding her friend, and she wondered if Camille had even attended school that day.
"Ciara – over here!" she heard a voice call.
Ciara turned and looked in the direction of the voice and at last found Camille. To her surprise, she was sitting with three other black kids. One was a skinny boy with a big afro, one was overweight and had glasses, and another was a girl with straight, dark black hair. Ciara smiled as she walked over to Camille. "Hey, Camille, what's up?"
"We're planning, girl. Allow me to introduce you to Martin, Steve, and Rose," Camille said – referring to the skinny boy, overweight boy, and straight-haired girl respectively. Camille smiled as she looked at the other kids and said, "This is my friend from history class – Ciara Brady."
"Nice to meet you all!" Ciara said – smiling as she sat next to Camille. Martin and Rose gave a nod, and Steve fist bumped Ciara. The youngest Brady turned her attention back to Camille. "So…what exactly are you planning?"
"We're going to have a protest soon," Camille said. "We're going to round up as many black kids as we can to support it, and we're going to not only raise awareness about racism in this school, but we're going to use any means necessary to actively defy it."
Ciara smiled. "Just like Malcolm X! That sounds like a plan!"
"We're glad that you think so," Steve said.
"Yeah, we're so tired of these white people harassing us," Martin said. "It's time to stand up for our rights!"
"We have to end the injustice against us once and for all!" Rose declared – raising a fist in the air – attracting a few stares from other people nearby. She glared, stood up, and snapped, " What are you lookin' at? "
"Rose, calm – calm down…" Steve said as he gently guided Rose into her seat. "Not yet. Our protest will be much more effective once we have more of our brothers and sisters on our side."
Ciara smiled. She liked where things were headed.