The Chronicle of the Black Cult

One day, all 75 black students at Cass Middle School in Howell, Michigan, decided to wear white. Shirt. Pants. Shoes. Socks. The girls wore long white skirts.

The black students cut their hair off, girls and boys, and they were driven to and from school on special buses leased by their parents. They stopped speaking in class to anyone and only answered questions from their teacher when asked. When the roll was called, they raised their hands.

Cass Middle, as it was known, had about 750 students, most of them white. There were Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latino students, but whites made up more than 80 percent of the students.

It was a sudden decision. On the first day it happened, it threw the school, a public school of mostly white children, for a loop. Many of the white students were stunned and made fun of them and took photo after photo of them on their phones and posted the pictures on various social media sites.

Yet, the black girls and boys did not respond at all. They didn’t react to anything. They went to class, their lockers, the cafeteria, and the library and didn’t say a word. The black students who had friends who were not black still socialized with those friends, but they did not talk. And if they were asked why they wore white, they excused themselves, apologized, and left the group.

No one knew what brought it on. It came out of the blue. The city of Howell had a terrible racial reputation over the years was one reason people said. Years ago, the Ku Klux Klan set up shop in Howell and began spewing its racist madness to the locals. No one knows if it took hold in Howell, but Howell had an awful reputation afterward.

But at Cass Middle, as people called it, the teachers and administration worked extra hard to create an environment that rejected this history and racist ideas. There had been only a few overt racial incidents over the many years. When anyone crossed the line into a racist act, the punishment was harsh, usually suspension and detention. On many occasions, the student committing the act just transferred to another school.

After a week of the black students, the principal of Cass Middle, Matilda Malone, called a meeting with the parents of the students to find out what was going on. So many white parents had complained about the change that they decided to find out what had caused it. A few had alleged that their child was afraid to go to school because the black children had formed a black cult.

When the school investigated, they found no evidence of a cult or anything. The decision by the parents of the black children was something they decided over some time, and no child was obligated to be part of it.

Nevertheless, the school called a special PTA meeting at the local school board. The parents of the black children decided it wasn’t helpful for all of them to attend. They sent two parents and an attorney to the meeting.

Attendance by the white parents was massive. It was so crowded at the meeting that everyone could not fit in the board meeting all at once. And though there were various viewpoints, the dominant view was set forth by several school board members. They stressed that how the Black students were dressed was divisive and threatening. They wanted to know why it was being done and who was behind it.

The lawyer for the Black children and parents refused to explain.

“No law, rule, or state or district says these students cannot do this. This entire process is inappropriate and unconstitutional.”

The school board and many parents (not all) did not see it that way. They decided to pass a temporary school rule that banned coordinated dressing by students. If the Black students wanted to continue to attend school, they could not all dress the same. They had to stop dressing like they were dressing.

The Black parents went to court and got an injunction delaying the rule.

Afterword

Derrick Bell, the late civil rights lawyer and law professor, used chronicles like the one above to spark discussion. This is my attempt to start such a conversation. I will add nothing more. If no one comments, blame it on the algorithm or the failure to read to the end.

Thanks.

Disclaimer: All characters and events in this article, even those based on real people and events, are entirely fictional. It is written to attempt to start a discussion. It is speculative writing.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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