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“In what year did slavery end?” Bently quizzed TJ on his history homework.
“Which one?” TJ asked.
Bently looked back to the list of questions on the paper. “Is there more than one?”
“The Emancipation Proclamation was issued January first, eighteen sixty-three. But the civil war between the confederate states of the South and the union soldiers of the North didn’t end until eighteen sixty-five. However, news didn’t reach Texas until June nineteenth, eighteen sixty-five.”
Bently searched the notes. “It doesn’t say anything about that date in here.”
“It wouldn’t.” TJ shrugged. “Juneteenth isn’t even a public holiday.”
Andre and Remy celebrated Juneteenth—he’d heard about it from them when he was a young teen. “Okay—”
TJ held up his hand. “That’s when they say slavery ended, but really it changed forms. Since you weren’t allowed to own human beings anymore, they enacted Jim Crow, segregation. They created more laws in the eighteen nineties limiting what a Black person could do, where they could live, what they could own, and suppressed their votes.”
Bently nodded. “Good thing that was a long time ago.”
TJ met his eyes. “Jim Crow didn’t end until nineteen sixty-four. Only fifty-six years ago. That means your daddy or granddaddy lived to see it.”
Bently shook his head. Heaviness settled on his shoulders for his ancestors’ crimes. His stomach churned. “Right, the civil rights movement.”
“Bingo.”
“Aren’t I supposed to be quizzing you?” Bently forced a chuckle.
TJ lifted the can of soda to his lips and took a sip. He set it down and grinned. “I got a good one for you. What year were interracial marriages legalized?”
“Uh . . . I don’t know. The same year?”
TJ shook his head. “Went all the way to the Supreme Court in nineteen sixty-seven. Loving v. Virginia.”
Bently sat back and sighed. “I don’t get how so many people could mistreat a group of other humans like that, like shit.”
TJ was quiet, staring out the window.
“Can I ask you a question?” Bently asked.
TJ turned towards him. “Sure.”
“Were you scared of me, that day with the bike?”
TJ’s eyes clouded over as he nodded. “All I could think was I’m gonna be shot and Belle’s gonna be all alone.”
Bently ran his palm over his face. This conversation got heavy fast. “I’m sorry. I hope you know that you’re safe here in Shattered Cove. My station is full of good officers who care about this community.”
TJ grunted.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I think you believe that. I’ve had a target on my back from the day I was born, simply for having more melanin in my skin than you. I can’t afford the privilege of feeling safe, or not being conscious of where my hands are at all times when I’m out.”
Bently cleared his throat. His mind reeled from TJ’s honest and heartbreaking words. “What can I do to make it better?” he asked.
“Man, I’m seventeen years old. I ain’t got the answers to world peace. Apparently treating each other with basic human decency is too hard for so many to grasp.” TJ shook his head, reaching for his soda once more.
“I’m sorry. You’re right.” He grabbed the beer he’d set on the coffee table and took a long gulp. “Alright, next question. What was the date Abraham Lincoln was killed?”
