AFRICAN AMERICAN PROSE

The Wish

A humorous and revealing story is told about a group of white people who were fed up with African Americans, so they joined together and wished themselves away.

They passed through a deep, dark, tunnel and emerged in sort of a twilight zone where there is an America without black people.

At first these white people breathed a sigh of relief. At last, they say, no more crime, drugs, violence and welfare. All of the blacks have gone!

Suddenly, reality sets in. The "NEW AMERICA" is not America at all—only a barren land, since...

...very few crops flourished because the nation was built on a slave-supported system.

...there were no cities with tall skyscrapers because Alexander Mils, a black man, invented the elevator, and without it one finds great difficulty reaching high floors.

...there were few, if any, cars because Richard Spikes, a black man, invented the automatic gear shift, Joseph Gammell, also black, invented the Super Charge System for Internal Combustion Engines, and Garrett A. Morgan invented the traffic signals.

...furthermore, one could not use the rapid transit system because its precursor was the electric trolley, which was invented by another black man, Elbert R. Robinson.

...if there were streets on which cars and a rapid transit system could operate, they were cluttered with paper because an African American, Charles Brooks, invented the street sweeper.

...there were few if any newspapers, magazines and books because John Love invented the pencil sharpener, William Purvis invented the fountain pen, Lee Burridge invented the Type Writing Machine and W.A.Lovette invented the Advanced Printing Press. They were all, you guessed it, black.

...even if Americans could write their letters, articles and books, they would not have been transported by mail because William Barry invented the Postmarking and Canceling Machine, William Purvis invented the Hand Stamp and Phillip Downing invented the Letter Drop.

...the lawns were brown and wilted because Joseph Smith invented the Lawn Sprinkler and John Burr the Lawn Mower.

...when they entered their homes, they found them to be poorly ventilated and poorly heated. You see, Frederick Jones invented the Air Conditioner and Alice Parker the Heating Furnace.

...their homes were also dim. But of course, Lewis Latimer invented the Electric Lamp, Michael Harvey invented the Lantern and Granville T. Woods invented the Automatic Cut off Switch. Their homes were also filthy because Thomas W. Steward invented the Mop and Lloyd P. Ray, the DustPan.

...their children met them at the door—barefooted, shabby,motley and unkempt. But what could one expect? Jan E. Matzelinger invented the Shoe Lasting Machine, Walter Sammons invented the Comb, Sarah Boone invented the Ironing Board and George T. Samon invented the Clothes Dryer.

...finally, they were resigned to at least have dinner amidst all of this turmoil. But here again, the food had spoiled because another black man, John Standard invented the refrigerator.

Now, isn't that something? What would this world be like without the contributions of Black folks? Martin Luther King, Jr. said, " that by the time we leave for work we have been dependent on half the world. Modern America is created by dependencies on the inventions from the minds of Black folks ."

Black history includes more than just slavery, Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and Dubois. Black History is American History, and the history of America would not be so without Black people. And if ya didn't know, now ya know.

Peace!

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Submitted by Greg Brown

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