Perfect Strangers: Echoes of a Black Suburban Youth

FEATURED AUTHOR: Justin Marlowe

Used with permission from the author

This is an excerpt from Chapter 8 of my memoir where I’m discussing a fairly seminal moment in which I experienced conflict upon my family relocating from Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas to DeRidder, Louisiana between 1991 and 1992.

This was my first, and only, introduction to the Deep South. It’s integral I put the timing of our move into context, as it was roughly one year prior to the gubernatorial run of David Duke. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Duke, he’s certainly an enigma drenched in right-wing conservatism, racism, veiled bigotry, xenophobia, and tailored suiting. In general, I wouldn’t presume politics would enter into the realm of the average third or fourth grader. But in this case, it permeated our school hallways like a disease. I use the term, “disease,” because in this situation, the nature of David Duke’s White supremacist message hit at the core of voters. When a hot button issue affects the voters at their ethical center, the consequences can bleed into the home, and then inherently into the minds (and mouths) of children. An environment built on the notion of polar opposites ensued. The concepts of “good vs. evil” were flaring up on a daily basis.

Even as a school aged child, I observed my fourth grade peers at Pinewood taking political sides, and I was not an exception. The offspring of the Duke supporters would constantly call the non-Duke supporters, “nigger lovers.” As one would expect, most of the Black population was anti-Duke. After all, this was a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard running for the highest political office in the state. One would hope that this would have transitioned into votes, but in the early 1990s, many African Americans living in the south were still reeling from the residual effects of the civil rights movement. Some of my classmates even had relatives that were still working land that was owned by whites. Regardless of perspective, it wasn’t uncommon for voting to be the last thing on the minds of many African Americans. This was built into the culture as a result of generations never being “allowed” to use their constitutional right. It was sad, to say the least.  Nevertheless, this David Duke shit was real. Too real and too divisive. 

The lunch room was a powder keg of explosive rhetoric. Teachers were obviously taking sides as well. Imagine being a Black child and seeing a David Duke sticker on a teacher’s vehicle. Obviously, any teacher has the right to support whichever political candidate they choose, but supporting Duke was a bit more telling regarding one’s moral compass. I suppose one could claim they were in favor of Duke because of his fiscal agenda, or maybe even liking where he stood on an issue like education. But voting for a former Klansman seemed way different. It’s not even like he was a “reformed” Klansman or rebuked his former organization. This man was a full-fledged White supremacist that was running for Governor of Louisiana. I wondered if there was any middle ground for someone like Duke, from a moral perspective. Was it possible for someone to support the ideals of the KKK and be a good person on the inside? A man from the most non marginalized dominant group in America was readily arguing for the sake of white pride. It just didn’t seem okay to me.  Everything was wacky.

            At one point during the election, my father and I took a mini vacation across the state to New Orleans. If I remember correctly, it was for a Tae Kwon Do tournament I was competing in. The event was underwhelming, as I recall, but one of the standout aspects of the trip was there being David Duke banners placed across the city in predominantly African American areas. Even as a kid, l was shocked and disgusted with this. I couldn’t figure out why Duke’s political banners had been hung in these locations. Something about it seemed corrupt.  Had members of Duke’s street team put them in Black neighborhoods as an attempt to be insulting? Was it all just a joke? Were African Americans actually supporting an extreme right-wing candidate that had previously been a grand wizard in the KKK? My guess would be “no.” Nevertheless, the question ran through my head. Scary hours were upon us. Hell, I guess this would have been true regardless of the era within American history. Couldn’t someone from the federal government step in and prevent such a person from running for office? Clearly I didn’t understand how the government worked. Even though these issues appeared to be relegated to the south, weren’t we supposed to be a united country? This was never really the case. I know it’s a lofty goal, but having the former head of a domestic terrorist organization taken seriously didn’t seem like something that should have been able to occur during the late 20th century. At least not in the United States of America. Obviously I was confused about a lot, but maybe I was the crazy one.  Nothing really seemed certain. From a moral perspective, has the nation been lost throughout its entire existence?