Category Archives: Sent Away

Sent Away: Part II
By: Mia L. Hazlett
3/5/08

“Don’t worry we are not sending you away. Look at it like boarding school or overnight camp.” That’s what my parents had the nerve to say to me, like I’m stupid or something. Ah hello, you send your kid away for boarding school and overnight camp. And they basically are sending me away to boarding school. My aunt and uncle’s house is the dorm and I get a stupid roommate. Not only are they going to say that to me, but then they are throwing me a GOING AWAY party. Hello, like duh! I’m thirteen. Don’t lie to me to soothe your insecurity and guilt of being horrible parents, I don’t play that. I just hate them so much.

I sit on my bed with Keisha so we can try and figure out how to get me out of this situation.

“Don’t you know when I asked my mother if you could stay with us, she had already talked to your mother about it? Ain’t that a mess? How did she know I was going to ask her?” Keisha joins my mother bashing session.

“My mother has probably told everyone in the world. She keeps trying to say it’s because they love and care about me. But like hello? If I’m not happy about it, than how can you love me? They are just trying to make excuses for getting me out of here.” I plop on my stomach and start to cry. This just isn’t fair.

“Girl don’t cry. We are gonna figure this out. They can’t break up the Four Blackateers. Uh-uh girl, I ain’t havin’ it.”

There’s a light knock on my door and Keisha and I turn to find my mother in the doorway.

“What’s going on ladies? Tanisha what’s wrong with you. Why are you crying baby?”

I sit up and wipe my tears with the back of my hand. She is the last person in the world I want seeing me cry. She sits down next to me and puts her arm around my shoulder.

“Baby I know this is hard for you to accept. I am sure that you hate me and your father right now, but I’m okay with that. You can hate me all you want when your alive baby. Because I rather have you hate me when you’re alive, than love me when you’re dead. These schools out here aren’t safe, never mind the streets. But I’m not going to lose you the way we just lost your cousin.”

I pop up because I have had enough from her and my cousin stuff, “When will you get it through your head that I’m not like Vaughn?” I’m not sure what just happened, but I know I just caught my mother’s backhand. I don’t know exactly when she stood up, but she is maybe an inch from my face right now.

“Child, I’ve been patient enough with you. I have allowed you to wallow around this house for the past three weeks with your pissy little attitude. But so help me God, if you ever come out your mouth again the way you just did, I will kick you into tomorrow and slap you back to yesterday. Do you understand me? You don’t get it yet Tanisha, because you are not a parent. You kids think you are invincible. And yes that means I’m talking to you too Keisha. I admit your cousin hung around a tough crowd, but the other kid that got shot, was walking to his history class minding his damn business. I’m not gonna try and be at work all day wondering if you are going to come home at night. That’s the end of this conversation. You’re going to live with your aunt and uncle.”

(to be continued)

Sent Away
By: Mia L. Hazlett
3/4/08

I can’t believe my parents are doing this to me. This has to be illegal or something. There has to be someone I can report this to. They can’t just send me away to live with my aunt and uncle if I don’t want to. There has to be some sort of law they are breaking and I’m going to figure out which one it is. I mean I am about to go to high school. They can’t take me away from all of my friends. I absolutely refuse to spend my last four years in school away from my best friends in the whole world. There is not another, Tonya, Keisha, or Marcus…I don’t care what my mother says. We have been friends since elementary school. You can’t replace all that time.

How could they do this to me? I have been on the honor roll. I don’t do drugs. I’m on our basketball team and the swim team at the Y. And I don’t want to be away from my parents. They say I will still be able to see them every weekend and they will be right there if I need them. I know that’s a lie. I barely get to see them now. We live under the same roof and they never make time for me. Now they expect me to believe that if I call, they will come…whateva.

This all comes down to the high schools not being safe in the city and the quality of education is better where my aunt and uncle live and blah, blah, blah. My parents are just scared of black people. There, I said it. They think all black teenagers, are about nigga this and nigga that, but that’s not me. I can’t believe they don’t trust me enough to know that’s not the clique I hang with. I mean if they don’t have the faith in me, that I won’t make the right decisions, than they should at least have enough faith in themselves that they raised me right. I mean they always tell me they are so proud of me. Yeah, right…”We’re so proud of you, now go away.”

I feel like they set me up. They have always told me we could talk about things and that they would include me in any decisions that were made concerning my well-being. But I have fought this the whole way and they have completely ignored me. My aunt and uncle have had more say, in this whole move, than I’ve had. Of course they think it’s okay, because they are all about white people. I think they think that they are white or at least wish they were. Now they think they can get me out there and turn me into my cousin.

Oh and I so can’t wait for that, sharing a room with my cousin Kara. I give it about a week until we are rolling on the floor getting into it. It’s like every chance she gets, she is all about calling me ghetto. I don’t even have the time for all that. Just because I prefer cornrows over curly Q’s, that doesn’t make me ghetto. Just because I know how to dribble a basketball between my legs, instead of play a concerto on the piano, it doesn’t make her better than me. And just because my parents want to send me away, while her parents are planning their next summer family vacation, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with me. It only means that my parents got sick of me and don’t want me anymore.

(to be continued)