I live in Brooklyn, New York,and I want to share a storywith you.
This is the weirdest thingI've ever dealt with on one
of my walks in Brooklyn.
I was walking around myneighborhood and I saw
a black woman pushing astroller with a white baby in
it, and that's not allthat surprising, right,
especially in certainparts of New York.
It's fair to assume thatthat's the nanny and that's
the child she's taking careof.
Now it's possible that childis that woman's partner's
child from another previousrelationship.
That's certainly possible,right?
Another possibility: geneticsare very complicated.
Maybe that was her child.
The child is much lighter,you know,
but the child had blond hair andblue eyes.
I didn't think so, but, look,genetics is complicated.
Maybe that was her child,right.
Now there's a thirdpossibility which is the
least likely possibility butthat's the possibility I
really want it to be andthat possibility is that
this is a rich black womanwho just bought herself...
the ultimate luxury item.
Now I'm trying to walk bythese two people on the
street when I overhear whatthis black woman is saying to
this white child, and this iswhat she's saying.
"Toby, your name is Toby.
"Can you say it?That's your name!
"Your name is Toby.
"Say it, your name is Toby!"
Right, it's about 30 ofyou, 30 of you understood.
You should be proud.
For the rest of you, I willexplain.
There is a book/mini-seriesby Alex Haley called "Roots."
And in "Roots," a slave,Kunta Kinte,
is brought to America and istold his name is Toby.
And he refuses to be called Tobyso he's whipped repeatedly.
"Your name is Toby." "KuntaKinte." Whip!
"Toby." "Kunta Kinte." Whip!
And it's absolutely horrific.
Flash-forward to a year ago inmy neighborhood in Brooklyn...
I saw a black woman tell a whitechild that his name was Toby...
and there was no one elsethere to witness this.
It was just me.
I'm like this the whole time:"oh, my God, this is amazing.
"Wow, what the... wow.
"Well, I, I have beenin a writing slump
"but this is perfect right now."
Now there's twopossibilities how
this couldhave happened, right?
One possibility is that thisblack woman has also not seen
or read "Roots," has no ideawhy this is magical.
Or the second possibility,this black woman
just found a revengefor slavery.