There Is No Difference !
Rosalind, a fourteen year old student, was hurrying home while busily writing her
homework. Her mother never let her do anything unless she finished all her work. When she got home, she still had to play the piano for a hour, finish her crochet (which would take one more hour), and play the violin for half a hour. If she was late for piano practise her piano teacher and mother would both be furious! !
As soon as she put her homework down by the door, she turned around and saw her
mother, fuming... !
“Your class was dismissed at 2 oʼclock! You should have come straight here!” she
screamed, then struggled to calm down for a heartbeat. She then said in a low growl, “Your piano teacher is waiting next to the grand piano.” !
From upstairs she heard her teacher sing in a sweet voice. “Hurry up, we need to
prepare for the recital.” !
Sprinting up the spiral staircase, she ran into the family room and sat down on the
chair in front of the piano just in time, so when her teacher turned around from watching a protest outside, Rosalind had sat down. !
After her lessons, she went straight to her homework in her room, locking herself in,
hoping her mother didnʼt mind if she didnʼt finish her crochet today. She suddenly stopped doing her homework and walked around her room, stopping to raise her nose slightly to find the smell of freshly made wheat bread. Following the scent she found herself in the kitchen right in front of her maid Cecilia. !
She was taking fresh wheat bread out of the oven while keeping one eye on the riot
out the window and listening to screams of people being hosed with powerful water. Sadly, she could not fight with her brothers and sisters, she was trapped in the house because of skin color.
Sabrina D.
!
There Is No Difference Out of nowhere, Cecilia whispered. “If only I wasnʼt trapped, then the tables would
turn, making the whites taste their own medicine. I will make them-” she suddenly stopped, stunned, then spoke straight to Rosalind. “I made some bread for you, I know itʼs your favorite.” !
“Thank you, but I donʼt want any now,” Rosalind said steadily, then Rosalind spoke
with sorrow. “Iʼm sorry my mother is keeping you here, but wouldnʼt you rather be in here safe and dry?” !
“But mistress treats me like dirt, it is better outside than in here, I donʼt even get paid
fully most of the time,” she mumbled. !
Rosalind suddenly realized how segregation was effecting the life of the blacks daily.
At this moment she thought everything her mother told her about blacks failing the human race was all a lie to get her to support segregation. !
“I will fight with the blacks to stop segregation,” she declared.
!
“No you wonʼt,” Her mother had overheard her, she realized with a jolt. “Have you
forgotten everything you have learnʼt? You will not throw away your life like this,” her mother ordered. !
Sitting in her room was terrible. Rosalind felt her own room should be a happy place
you want to be in. Finishing her crochet and homework, she went to bed early that night. * !
*
*
The last couple of days she had been coming home from school slowly, allowing her
time to make a new friend, Sana. Sana, a fourteen-and-a-half years old, may have been a black and misunderstood, but she was a great friend and Rosalind couldnʼt wait for her mother to meet her. Mother would love Sana as soon as she gets to know her, she thought as they walked down the road. All of a sudden Sana stopped and she could see why... !
Standing right in front of them was a person from the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), the
murderers of Sanaʼs parents and only sibling. Sanaʼs parents and brother died when they Sabrina D.
There Is No Difference went to an adult-only service at the church for blacks five months ago. That night, the KKK dropped a bomb on the church, killing them. !
In fear and anger, Sana ducked and slipped past with Rosalind just behind her,
holding their breaths. Scared, Rosalind and Sana ran back to Rosalindʼs house, knowing it was the only safe place. !
As soon as they entered the house, the panting Rosalind stopped in her tracks. Her
mother was standing with her arms folded crossly and her shoe going “tap,tap,tap”. She was speechless. Her mother was supposed to be at a White Women Meeting. !
“Rosalind Rushul! You should know better than bring this filth in my house, itʼs bad
enough to have Cecilia here,” she hissed. “Get her out of the house and play the violin for me right away.” !
She started at her mother in disbelief. “But sheʼs my best friend-”
!
“No ʻbutsʼ young lady! I want this filth out of my house,” her mother demanded. “She
is making everything dirty with black stuff.” !
Iʼll just leave. I donʼt want to cause anymore trouble,” Sana muttered while she
picked up her bag and started to slip away to the door. !
“No, Iʼm not letting her win this battle,” Rosalind snarled without taking her glare off
her mother. !
“Let her go. Then go to your room while I sanitize this place,” her mother roared.
Without looking at her, Rosalindʼs mother pushed Sana out the door and locked it behind her, then pushed Rosalind towards the stairs. Rosalind stumbled and tripped on her way before staggering up the stairs. !
Rosalind locked the door behind her and sat down, depressed. She fell asleep until
a clanking on the door woke her up. While she was still sitting down, the clanking turned into banging and it was buzzing in her ears. Standing up,she realized the clanking wasnʼt from the door at all - it was the window. She walked forward, surprised, and opened the Sabrina D.
There Is No Difference window with a gush of wind and the smell of roses. Looking down she could just make out the shapes of Sana and Sanaʼs Grandma furiously throwing pebbles at the window. !
“No one insults my granddaughterʼs skin color straight to her face and gets away
with it,” the grandma shouted up. !
“I agree with you, but my mother doesnʼt,” Rosalind hollered down.
!
“Your her friend!” She screamed. “Do something!” Sanaʼs Grandma was furious now.
She stomped away, leaving Sana all alone. !
“Come up the tree ladder, mother hasnʼt found it yet,” Rosalind called to her worried
friend. Rosalind had put up a tree ladder a few days ago because she wanted to wait until the time was right to let her mother meet Sana again. !
After Sana clambered up the ladder and Rosalind dragged her in, they both sat
down, exhausted from the effort. Rosalind knew that Sana was sorry about her grandma without even looking at her. They had a special connection where they could sense what the other was feeling. !
“I wonʼt let your Grandma down,” Rosalind whispered to Sana, who was panting
hard. “I have a great idea.” !
The next day was Rosalindʼs recital and she hadnʼt practised since she met Sana.
The performance felt like it took forever to get over with, but Rosalind made it through. After the performance, her teacher gave her a talk about how she could play the notes longer, but Rosalind wasnʼt listening at all. !
Several days later, Rosalind decided Sana should come to her house after the days
completely apart, but Sana must come in through the tree ladder, because her mother was still furious. Rosalind, during their separation, had planned and wrote out her idea and she was prepared to show it to Sana. !
“Hi, what did you do while I was locked up?” Rosalind muttered, hoping Sana didnʼt
get a new best friend. Sabrina D.
!
There Is No Difference “I just sat around the house and played with Lola (the only baby in the house, which
she shared with two other families). The only time I left the house was to go in the backyard to wash clothes and went to the market to get some food,” Sana replied. !
“Okay,” Rosalind said with a smile. “Guess what I came up with? We can get all the
grown-ups into the same room and persuade them that we arenʼt that different.” !
“We canʼt do that! My grandma will not go near your mother without making a face or
yelling at her,” Sana corrected. !
“Well, what do we have here, a dirty street rat?” A deep voice sounded from the
door. Rosalindʼs mouth dropped open in shock. “Are we taking in dirty people now, little sis? Does mother know she is here?” !
Rosalindʼs brother was home from a trip to go give a pep talk to the KKK members,
reassuring them that whites are better. Scared, she got up without thinking, pushed her brother away, and locked the door tight shut behind him. She was shaking with fear. !
Rosalind whipped around with a brilliant idea popping into her head. “Thats it! A
speech, and leading up to the speech, a protest held by other children with similar problems,” she blurted out. !
“But how can we afford it?” Sana was suddenly worried. “I donʼt have enough money
to spare to support this event.” !
“Donʼt worry, I know where my mother keeps her money, and the other kids will do it
for free if they want their friendship to survive,” Rosalind was thinking clearly now after the blur in her mind while they were separated. !
“You Know, Iʼm amazed that youʼre younger than me, but still youʼre more confident,”
Sana said with a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. !
Rosalind was hurrying home with a bunch of kids from her class running right behind
her. As soon as her house came in sight, Rosalind quickly turned and headed straight for the backyard, where the kids can go to her room in peace. As quick as lightning, she Sabrina D.
There Is No Difference herded all the kids into the shed and closed the door behind them. She sped up to her room, got the supplies and went back down to the shed. !
Rosalind was walking inside the shed, looking at all the poster boards being made
and approving them. Once all of them were done, all of the kids went home leaving Sana and Rosalind to write the speech. !
“The speech is almost done, just a few more lines,” Sana said with a great big yawn.
!
Rosalind snapped awake. “Okay, how does this sound...?
!
It was the weekend and Rosalind woke up to the smell of poster boards. She was
just stretching, then with a jolt she remembered that today was the big day. The smell of poster boards filled the room, coming from her closet, where she had hid them. !
Running down the stairs, stumbling now and then, she exploded into the kitchen.
She gobbled down her pancakes, and sprinted up the stairs to get changed into her suit. Bursting out her room with the poster boards clamped between her arms and body, she ran out of the house to the meeting place.....the school. !
“Sorry Iʼm late, but if I didnʼt sleep in my mother would get worried,” Rosalind panted.
!
“Okay, letʼs start,” Sana announced. Rosalindʼs house was just down the road and
so were the other kidsʼ houses. !
Marching down the street, the kids were yelling things like, “We can choose our
friends!” , “Stop this segregation, itʼs useless!” and more. !
Parents started to appear in the windows, until they realized what the kids were
doing. They started hanging out the windows, screaming. “Stop this nonsense, they are filthy beasts!” , “You are getting yourselves dirty!” and so on, but one adult yelled. “We may be dirty but we are proud!” It was Sanaʼs grandma. !
“If you want us to stop, then follow us,” Rosalind screamed. Sana gave her a worried
look. Sabrina D.
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There Is No Difference With all the parents following, Rosalind lead the group straight to her house and they
busted open the doors. All the kids flowed in and directed their parents to seats and Rosalind and Sana took their places on the podium. Horrified, Rosalindʼs mother ran into the room with her jaws dropped as the other kids directed her to a seat at the front. !
Rosalind took a deep breath. “We Have gathered you here today because we
disagree with you. Skin color makes no difference. We are all people and we should treat each other like we treat anyone else - with respect, not spraying them and sending dogs after them. What is the difference other then skin? We all have feelings and perspectives, so tell me, what is the difference? There is no difference, there is no difference.” !
The parentsʼ jaws dropped while the kids just nodded, after about 10 minutes of the
parents thinking they all started to apologize. Parents started crying everywhere and there was a sadness in the air. Turning around, Rosalind looked at Sana. She was crying. !
“If only my parents could see this now,” Sana whispered between sniffles. Rosalind
held her breath, she couldnʼt cry now that she had to comfort her friend and show her that she was there for her. !
“Come here darling, its okay no need to cry,” a voice sounded from behind. Rosalind
turned around. It was Sanaʼs grandma. She turned to Rosalind and spoke with sorrow in her voice. “What a beautiful speech. I am so sorry, but we still need to protest. The whole town wasnʼt here so there is still work to be done.” !
After that the parents of children from that school let their kids be friends with who
ever they wanted, as long as they were good. Many of these families went to protest in the future. !
Sana and Rosalind continued growing up together and were truly friends forever.
Sabrina D.