Mr. Smith was reveling in the delectable high-tea as he heard blaring commotion across his palatial house, he immediately darted towards the epicenter and became blanched at the scenery of gruesome mob lynching of another black individual, convicted of stealing a loaf of bread . This was utterly impossible for an old man in his early 60’s to brook such appalling manifestation of white’s supremacy. Regardless of sharing the same pigment- white with several spots of mosquito bites on his face, Mr. Smith   was unexpectedly an antithesis when compared with the prevalent bearings of white men.  But with growing infirmness and diminishing physical strength, he kept his rage against those bestial deeds inside his heart, and a sense of sympathy for the indigent and castrated black community grew bigger with everyday passing.

Time, as an effective healer of old wounds, started to do his job and the painful memories from that particular day commenced to fade away from Mr. Smith’s mind. After two weeks had been passed since that incident, Mr. Smith was taking a stroll on a nice balmy day, he heard a bevy of toddlers and teenagers clamoring for aid. At first, the distant voice was indiscernible, but upon listening intently, he fathomed out that it was coming from a nearby shack. He traversed  a small patch of land bristling with wild bushes and weeds towards the source of tumult , upon burst opening the entrance door , he witnessed a scene  which gave him shivers down to his spine , a black woman – seemingly in her late 40’s, was about to hang herself . He swiftly took hold of her and tried to make sense to her. Mr. Smith’s unexpected arrival was nothing short of a divine gift for the children in that room, which was very least expected from a white man at that time. Mr. Smith tried to calm her down and inquired the reason for doing this horrendous act in front her children, a sight which would have firmly embedded on their minds for ages to come. The rampantly amplifying bigotry and paucity of rations, indispensible for  the  sustenance of life, turned out to be prime reasons behind this fatal act of spurious salvation.  

This was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, and Mr. Smith embarked on a journey, which was solely meant to help the helpless. Despite the fright of inevitable vitriol that would ensue, Mr. Smith brought the whole family to his home, not as slaves but important members of the family. One of its kind , this gesture of kindness was seen with a  jaundiced eye by his peers and community members. Soon after that, white saboteurs- marauding the streets,  started to threat Mr. Smith and his newly organized family with the massive havoc- they could wreak on them. Regardless of the soaring societal pressure, Mr. smith remained adamant and unflinching in the face of adverse situation. This was inception of the new era for that family; probably the first inter-racial family set his foundation that day.

As time went by, the family flourished and thrived with each passing day. The children were taught by Mr. Smith himself and were imparted with high-quality academic knowledge, which was available for the white folks only at that time. The arts of dinning, speaking, and greeting were taught to them on the daily basis, with two  prime motives of making them presentable and mutating them into human beings with genteel bearing. These messianic deeds were less appreciated   by the white community owing to the racial discrimination they possessed, bequeathed by their antecedents. The sudden demise of Mr. Smith was a bolt from the blue, which struck the family really hard and drenched them into miasma of inconsolable loss. A man with unorthodox notions and a maverick of his times , was no longer alive to raise the voice for the underprivileged communities. Not bemoaned by many, but by a few, his death was the greatest loss of their lives. The legacy of love, affection, and amity, that he left behind was inestimable.

The American History is rife with atrocities and cruelties of white people, and many historians depict them as ‘devil personified’.  Utterly contrary to aforementioned assertion, many unsung heroes of white community took up the gauntlet and strived to subside this racial imbalance , which lingered for centuries on American Continent,  and decided to swim against the currents. The efforts of these  handful of individuals are mainly eclipsed by the dark episodes of history.    

( A short story written by : Engr. Wasif)