calculate how many days in jail it would take to work off this amount,
but we couldn’t remember if they subtract five dollars or ten dollars for each day
served. Aisha’s aunt said she thought it was less than that. Aisha concluded that
Tommy would lose his job at the hospital whether he spent two weeks or two years in
jail, so the exact amount he would work off per day was of little consequence.
Tommy looked at Aisha somberly and said, “If I run, is you riding?”
“Yeah, I’m riding.”
A neighbor’s five-year-old son started to cry, claiming that an older boy had pushed
him. Aisha yelled at him to get back onto the sidewalk.
“If they come for me, you better not tell them where I’m at,” Tommy said quietly.
“I’m not talking to no cops!”
“They probably don’t even have your address. They definitely coming to my mom’s, though,
and my baby-mom’s. But if they do come, don’t tell them nothing.”
“Shoot,” Aisha said. “Let them come. I’ll sic Bo right on them.”
“Yeah?” Tommy grinned appreciatively and nudged Aisha with his shoulder.
Aisha’s aunt turned and eyed her skeptically, shaking her head.
“I’m not letting them take him,” Aisha fired back. “For what? So he can just sit in
jail for four months and lose his job? And don’t see his son?”
Aisha and Tommy began dating shortly after I first met her, when she was a high school
freshman. What she liked about him then was that he was gorgeous, for one, and dark
skinned, even darker than she was. Tommy, she said later, was not only her first;
he was also her first love. They kept in touch for years afterward, though Tommy had
a child with another woman, and Aisha began seriously seeing someone else. When Aisha
turned twenty-one, this second man was sentenced to fifteen years in a federal penitentiary
in Ohio. About six months later, Aisha and Tommy got back together. Soon after that,
Tommy began working as a custodian at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
When he got the call for the job, they cried and hugged in the living room. Aisha
had never dated a guy with a real job before, and became the only woman in her extended
family with this distinction.
. . .
“If they lock me up, you going to come see me?” Tommy asked her.
“Yeah, I’ma come see you. I’ma be up there every week.”
“I know that’s right,” Aisha’s neighbor said. “Them guards up there going to know
your name. They going to be like, ‘You
always
coming up here, Aisha!’” 2
We laughed quietly.
Later that evening, two of Aisha’s girlfriends came by. She told them about her conversation
with Tommy: “He talking about, ‘if I run, is you riding?’ Shoot, they ain’t taking
him! They’re going to have to kill me first.”
For Aisha, the news that Tommy may be taken came as a crushing personal blow. But
it was also an opportunity to express her devotion, meditate on their relationship,
and contemplate the lengths she would go in the future to hold it together.
Other women considered their family member’s pending imprisonment in more political
terms. Mike’s mother, Miss Regina, was in her late thirties when we met. A reserved
and proper person, she had made good grades in high school and got accepted to a local
college. She became pregnant with Mike that summer. The way she told it, Mike’s father
was the first person she had ever slept with, and she hoped they would get married.
But the man became a heavy crack user, and was in and out of jail during Mike’s early
years. By the time Mike was ten, Miss Regina told his father to stop coming around. 3
By all accounts, Miss Regina worked two and sometimes three jobs while Mike was growing
up, and she raised him with little help from her own parents. Mike got into a lot
of trouble during his high school years, but managed to get his diploma by taking
night classes.
By the time Mike came of
but we couldn’t remember if they subtract five dollars or ten dollars for each day
served. Aisha’s aunt said she thought it was less than that. Aisha concluded that
Tommy would lose his job at the hospital whether he spent two weeks or two years in
jail, so the exact amount he would work off per day was of little consequence.
Tommy looked at Aisha somberly and said, “If I run, is you riding?”
“Yeah, I’m riding.”
A neighbor’s five-year-old son started to cry, claiming that an older boy had pushed
him. Aisha yelled at him to get back onto the sidewalk.
“If they come for me, you better not tell them where I’m at,” Tommy said quietly.
“I’m not talking to no cops!”
“They probably don’t even have your address. They definitely coming to my mom’s, though,
and my baby-mom’s. But if they do come, don’t tell them nothing.”
“Shoot,” Aisha said. “Let them come. I’ll sic Bo right on them.”
“Yeah?” Tommy grinned appreciatively and nudged Aisha with his shoulder.
Aisha’s aunt turned and eyed her skeptically, shaking her head.
“I’m not letting them take him,” Aisha fired back. “For what? So he can just sit in
jail for four months and lose his job? And don’t see his son?”
Aisha and Tommy began dating shortly after I first met her, when she was a high school
freshman. What she liked about him then was that he was gorgeous, for one, and dark
skinned, even darker than she was. Tommy, she said later, was not only her first;
he was also her first love. They kept in touch for years afterward, though Tommy had
a child with another woman, and Aisha began seriously seeing someone else. When Aisha
turned twenty-one, this second man was sentenced to fifteen years in a federal penitentiary
in Ohio. About six months later, Aisha and Tommy got back together. Soon after that,
Tommy began working as a custodian at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
When he got the call for the job, they cried and hugged in the living room. Aisha
had never dated a guy with a real job before, and became the only woman in her extended
family with this distinction.
. . .
“If they lock me up, you going to come see me?” Tommy asked her.
“Yeah, I’ma come see you. I’ma be up there every week.”
“I know that’s right,” Aisha’s neighbor said. “Them guards up there going to know
your name. They going to be like, ‘You
always
coming up here, Aisha!’” 2
We laughed quietly.
Later that evening, two of Aisha’s girlfriends came by. She told them about her conversation
with Tommy: “He talking about, ‘if I run, is you riding?’ Shoot, they ain’t taking
him! They’re going to have to kill me first.”
For Aisha, the news that Tommy may be taken came as a crushing personal blow. But
it was also an opportunity to express her devotion, meditate on their relationship,
and contemplate the lengths she would go in the future to hold it together.
Other women considered their family member’s pending imprisonment in more political
terms. Mike’s mother, Miss Regina, was in her late thirties when we met. A reserved
and proper person, she had made good grades in high school and got accepted to a local
college. She became pregnant with Mike that summer. The way she told it, Mike’s father
was the first person she had ever slept with, and she hoped they would get married.
But the man became a heavy crack user, and was in and out of jail during Mike’s early
years. By the time Mike was ten, Miss Regina told his father to stop coming around. 3
By all accounts, Miss Regina worked two and sometimes three jobs while Mike was growing
up, and she raised him with little help from her own parents. Mike got into a lot
of trouble during his high school years, but managed to get his diploma by taking
night classes.
By the time Mike came of
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