A Sad Story

In the chapter titled "Laura," Malcolm talks about a black girl that used to come in to his drugstore everyday and get a banana split; her house was "catercorner across the street from the drugstore." Malcolm's interest in Laura grew with each passing day, until, eventually, they started engaging in regular conversation. Laura was different than the other "penny-ante squares" that would come strolling in to the drugstore, black folk trying to act white, "putting on their millionaires' airs." No, Laura had a "Nice voice. Soft. Quiet... no airs like the others, no black Bostonese. She was just herself." It is clear that Malcolm was attracted to her purity of heart and upright character, as he remarks later, "She had never been touched, I'm certain she hadn't, or even had a drink, and she wouldn't even have known what a reefer was." However, Laura soon mentioned that she was in to lindy-hopping, one of Malcolm's favorite past-times, and soon found herself out on the Roseland dance floor with old Detroit Red! The two were in perfect harmony, and Malcolm recollects, "I'd never before felt so little weight! I'd nearly just think a maneuver, and she'd respond." And so the two danced! That is...until Sophia showed up one day. Sophia was a white woman and was attracting a lot of attention being in a negro dancing hall all by herself. Malcolm informs the reader, "Now at that time, in Roxbury, in any black ghetto in America, to have a white woman who wasn't a known, common whore was--for the average black man, at least--a status symbol of the first order." So, before long, Malcolm found himself appearing with Laura, but rushing back to Sophia after he had taken Laura home for the evening. Laura, being the honor student that she was, soon caught on to what was happening, and rightfully decided to give Malcolm the cold shoulder; "Laura never again came to the drugstore as long as I continued to work there." Undoubtably Malcolm's betrayal devastated this poor girl, and was a precursor to her demise. The next time Malcolm would see Laura she would be found in a bad way, "notorious around Roxbury, in and out of jail." After she graduated high school, "she started using dope" and "selling herself to men;" eventually becoming a lesbian out of the hatred she had for the men that bought her. It would be true that Malcolm, after reflecting back on all this in writing his autobiography, would carry a burden of shame on his back for years for having dismissed Laura second-handedly, and that he would blame himself for her downfall. I think this story speaks well of the power that individuals have to influence one another, be it for better or worse, and the devastating effects that betrayal can have on a person's heart. Granted, there is always the response-ability within the victim to pick themselves up and learn from the pain, yet still, I was greatly reminded of the potential epidemic that I could cause in a person's life by my cold-hearted and selfish decisions. So, the story of Laura is a reminder to love one another, and treat one another, as we would want to be loved and treated ourselves.