country—and we do, although anybody who says things aren’t a whole lot better than they were twenty, thirty, forty years ago is not telling the truth, whether through ignorance or something worse—doesn’t that maybe mean we don’t want to keep doing the same old things? Only harder and costing a whole lot more money? And how does it help to bridge the racial divide if we go bringing race into each and every discussion, anyway?
Way too many people go quoting maybe the single greatest thing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ever said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” And then they turn right around and try to make everything be about skin color? Who does that help?
Actually I have a pretty good idea who it does help. But I’ve shot off my mouth enough. And I don’t want to go offending any of our sponsors or anything.
And while I’m busy making right-thinking folks everywhere mad at me. I’m not going to join the chorus of approval about this whole Egypt thing, either. We’re told these ace kids are going to fight some atrocities; they’re told that too. I surely don’t blame them for their idealism and enthusiasm. But maybe they should look a little deeper than just the emotions whipped up by the media and the politicians. Isn’t that part of using their power responsibly? Because what it looks to me like we really got is Westerners going over to beat some more dark-skinned Third World people—for their own good, of course. Maybe they’ll save some innocent people from getting hurt. That’s good. How many innocents are going to get hurt, though, as a result of their actions? So to those kids over there, I got to say: along with asking yourselves if maybe what you’re really doing is helping exploit Third World people, maybe you might also ask, are you letting yourselves be exploited too?
Of course, I don’t worry anybody’ll pay attention to anything I say. I doubt they’ll even bother to censor this or refuse to broadcast it. I’m just a crazy old black dude who won’t get with the program. Dissent’s freely allowed in this country—so long as you go along with the 90, 95 percent where the supposedly opposing factions totally agree with each other.
Like I say, there’s reasons I’ve tried to stay out of the spotlight.
But like I also said, being with the show’s had its rewards. Made some good new friends. Seen some good kids get some kind of start in leading responsible, useful, rewarding lives. And maybe helped people see those of us who’re touched with the wild cards as real people and not just as freaks, because yes, that kind of bigotry still goes on too. Sure, in the course of the show you’ve seen a lot of us aces and jokers acting venal or backstabbing or self-centered or just being fools. Just like you and your mom and sister and everybody else.
Meanwhile, it’s gonna be a real relief to me to get back to Harlem and the shop, and not have to address problems much weightier than Lefty forgetting to order in more motor oil, or Muhammad forgetting to clean his tools before putting them back in the chest.
Hope y’all enjoyed the show. And I hope some good comes of it for everybody concerned.
A Judge’s Verdict: Melissa Blackwood aka Topper
I’m not exactly sure why I even agreed to be a judge on American Hero. I’d never even seen a reality television show when the producers approached me. But I knew Peregrine and respected her. She’s had to balance the triple threat of being a victim of the wild card, being a great beauty, and being a woman. It makes it very hard to be taken seriously. Knowing Peregrine helped me make the decision, but really what decided it for me was the kids.
When my card turned I was nineteen years old. It was the trauma of a car wreck while I was at college that triggered the virus and ended my dreams of a brilliant career in ballet. So, now I was an ex-ballerina and an ace, and the world doesn’t offer you a lot of guidance. In fact, no guidance.
I bounced from career to career—SCARE agent, private detective after I got sick of government work. I finally opened my own firm