Antonio Scott
I, Too
Thirty-three year old Antonio Scott sits perfectly still at the picnic table as the camera focuses on his crisp white t-shirt and Nike headband. He patiently waits for Geoff, the interviewer, to begin their session. Antonio’s calm demeanor is in sync with nature — stillness. The trees sit motionless, birds withhold their song, nothing moves. We’ve approached the dog days of summer where sunshine fails to cease and the heat permeates your skin. Geoff double checks his recorder, “Check, one, two, check, check. Hello!” Antonio offers a bright smile while gazing into the camera and says, “Hey!” Both Geoff and Antonio are ready to begin.
Antonio starts by describing how he heard about the protest. With a smile he says, “My wife, Aisha Scott. I'm not quite sure how she came about it, but she got inspired by all the recent events going on and obviously I was inspired as well, because of the situation with George Floyd, so that's how I got involved.” More importantly than hearing about the protest is Antonio’s why. “I think what really led me to this was the fact that it's just been going on so long. To be honest, the one situation that actually motivated me more than the George Floyd situation, was the Philando Castile situation that happened in Minnesota back in 2016, that one tore me up.” Philando Castile during a traffic stop was fatally shot by a police officer in the presence of his partner and four year old daughter. Geoff asks Antonio to tell him more. “Definitely. I put myself in his situation. I was a FOID card carrier. I used to do armed security, so I had a firearm on me all the time. I've been in situations where I've been pulled over by the police and having to do everything and say everything correctly, just to avoid any confrontation. Seeing this man on video inform the cop of his weapon and letting him know that he was a licensed carrier of a weapon, seeing this man's life being taken on video with his fiance and child in the back...did something to me. Even now I’m getting emotional.” Grimacing, Antonio continues, “I had to leave work after seeing that video. Just knowing that being a Black man, that could be any one of my brothers, cousins or uncles…like, ‘you're not exempt from this’…that could have been me.”
Realizing conversations on race and racism differ for families of color, Geoff asks Antonio about how his parents explained these concepts to him. Antonio prefaces his statement by explaining the world his father grew up in. His dad, born in the 1950’s, was a kid during the Civil Rights Movement. “His biggest memory would be when Dr. King was assassinated. He remembered the civil unrest that took place in Chicago. So growing up as a Black man in America…his main message that I can remember was ‘you’re going to have it 10 times harder than anybody else’. We already KNEW as adults, ‘whatever I do, I have to be 10 times better than my counterpart, because it’s going to be harder’. He didn’t raise us with any hate, to be angry or even to use racism as an excuse, he just told us to work hard. That’s how my father raised us boys.” Curious, Geoff wants to know if Antonio will have a similar conversation with Naima. “I don’t think (so). The world seems to be coming together…people are starting to realize and see that this is centuries of injustice. So by the time she’s 33 or 34 years old, I believe it’ll be a HUGE difference. And then, by her being a young girl, I feel that her path will not be as hard as a boy's path.”
Circling back to the protest, Geoff asks Antonio to recall his most enlightening experience during the protest. “To be honest, I was really just floored and proud to see the diversity. We had SEVERAL different races there and it was like, ‘this is what America looks like’. That was very encouraging.”
To end their session Geoff asks Antonio what Black Lives Matter means to him. He replied, “I’m going to look at it from an individual stance, as a Black man in America…my life is no more or no less important than someone who’s not Black. It’s worth the same amount as the next person. I should have the same rights, the same liberties, the same opportunities that a person who isn’t Black has. We want the freedom to be able to drive down the street and not have to worry, ‘Is a cop getting behind me?’ I should have the same abilities to live and go about my day as the next person. So, that’s what Black Lives Matter means to me.”
I reflect on Antonio’s final statement and it reminds me of Langston Hughes poem, “I, Too”. Hughes, like Antonio, wants America to know that he too is America.
Copyright © 2022 Aisha Scott. All Rights Reserved.
“I, Too”
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.
Note: I do not own the rights to Langston’s Hughes poem, “I, Too”.
References
Hughes, Langston. "I, Too." Poetryfoundation.org. The Poetry Foundation. 07 May 2013
<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177020>.